Improvements to fire mechanics, changes to smoking mechanics

[Sami]

So it was said earlier - quite a long time earlier actually - that fire mechanics are about to undergo some improvements. Now there's some concrete upcoming features highlight on that as follows. Lots of adjustments have been done and all the fire stuff has become more flexible to allow numerous little features still to follow. Let's see where it goes, but at least these are in already:

- improved: fire mechanics

          Various features have been added to make fire burning, its' warming effect, obtained information and visual appearance more detailed.

          * Burnt-out fire graphics is related to the amount of fire burned at the site. Small fires leave small remains, large fires leave large remains.

          * Remains of fire accumulates over time so sequential fires burned at the site will increase the remains.
The remains will still eventually disappear with few days pause in fire burning.
 
          * embers graphics has been and remains of burnt-out fires will be now glowing red for awhile. For how long the embers will be glowing depends on the amount of fire burned.

          * when looking at burnt-out fire it's now also told if there are glowing or still warm embers. This information gives an idea eg. about how recent a campfire found in the wild might be.

 - added: smoking requires continuous maintaining of fire

          In the previous versions smoking succeeded if the room was heated once, and the process required no further maintenance. Now the heating must be maintained through the whole process.
          It's not critical to maintain an exact temperature but the fireplace in your smoking cabin should be warmed up properly on daily basis. Should you forget it one day it's still possible to compensate by heating it up even more the next day.
          If the heating is completely neglected you will find your smoked foodstuff all spoiled. If the heating has failed only to some extent you may find some of the smoked foods spoiled.

These are upcoming features, not yet functional in current version 3.62.

[Privateer]

 - added: smoking requires continuous maintaining of fire[/b]

          In the previous versions smoking succeeded if the room was heated once, and the process required no further maintenance. Now the heating must be maintained through the whole process.
          It's not critical to maintain an exact temperature but the fireplace in your smoking cabin should be warmed up properly on daily basis. Should you forget it one day it's still possible to compensate by heating it up even more the next day.
          If the heating is completely neglected you will find your smoked foodstuff all spoiled. If the heating has failed only to some extent you may find some of the smoked foods spoiled.

These are upcoming features, not yet functional in current version 3.62.

 Couple questions.. Like; What?    and Are? and You thinking?    (Intended as humor)

Seriously though, will prepare times be modified? Being home for 16 days straight, to tend the kitchen is way to familiar

[Sami]

Couple questions.. Like; What?    and Are? and You thinking?    (Intended as humor)

Seriously though, will prepare times be modified? Being home for 16 days straight, to tend the kitchen is way to familiar

No changes to preparation times. You don't have to stay home, just warm up the fireplace on daily basis and mind your business the rest of the day.
Or heat up the room to greater extent every other day and you're good to go as well.

To answer the first questions I guess I was thinking the smoking process has been too easy and gamey for all too long. 

[Privateer]

To answer the first questions I guess I was thinking the smoking process has been too easy and gamey for all too long. 

 I think this will be a wonderful mental stressor 'tension' addition. Fish farm tries to accomplish something similar with repeating task(s) and loss / spoilage as the risk.

 I look forward to all your additions

[JP_Finn]

Awesome news with fire mechanics improvement! Will hot embers of campfire/bonfire count as heated fireplace for cooking stews?

Re: smoking, is daily burnt minimum fire enough? 16 branches or 4 firewood as that heats up the fireplace? Or do we need to start burning slender trunks or blocks now? Little hint would be appreciated!

Will Kota be considered heated room with fire/embers now?

[Dungeon Smash]

Wow, this is amazing!

One more question... If we leave meats to smoke in a village, will it be assumed that villagers will continue to periodically light the fire?  Is the game able to track this sort of activity, even if the player is far away?  Or, must the player be continually present to smoke his own meat?

[JEB Davis]

I really like these fire realism changes.

Hopefully you're not *guaranteed* to have villagers maintain the smoking fire. It would be neat if you had to ask first, and pay them an agreed price in goods for them to maintain the smoking fire for you.

[Dark Art]

I always found the mechanics of smoking meats in the game are bit odd to say the least, but since its been like this for a very long time, I guess I got used to this and never mentioned it. But now... Lets be honest here - if we want to do anything even remotely resembling proper smoking - this will not do. I guess the game is trying to simulate cold smoking, but as far as I know this method will not work with raw meat. In fact, it will not work so badly that if you'd try it, its almost certainly will lead to mid-level food poisoning at best and the brave food experimentator will need proper medical assistance. Sami, since you are taking a second look at this, maybe it would be a worthwhile effort to add a proper smoker building? Cold smoking does not need lots of heat, but it needs constant smoke source - aside from taste, it serves as natural anti-bacterial preserver. Fire source is not needed as such, as long as there are at least some embers under some moist wood shavings - its perfectly fine. So the smoke house can use a special fireplace with much longer burning fires (literally for days) that give almost no heat and cant be used for cooking or heating up.

I know its quite a step and probably would need quite a bit of work, but maybe its something to concider since this will give yet another long-ish term goal to look for.

Another thing I keep hoping for is cheese. We got milk, we got salt, rennet we can get from any cow's or deer's corpse, so the next very logical thing to have is cheese. Of course milk spoilage will need to be added, but come on man! Cheese is a very staple of the olden days. Its not that hard to make (just time consuming), the ingredients are right there, so why not have it?

[Tinker]

Cold smoking. There are a few requirements, fist the temperature needs to be below about 30 for the whole process, meat should be cured or salted for a couple of days first. Meat is then hung in a cold smokehouse and smoke is fed into it for 8 to 16 hours, the meat is then left for a month to completely dry.

Hot smoking. Here the temperature needs to be about 70 for the whole process but the process only takes about 16 hours. Hot smoked meat is usually eaten fresh from the smokers as the process does not do much to prolong preservation.

Warm smoking. As the name implies it is somewhere between hot and cold but for preservation the meat needs to be cured first.

[Erkka]

Cold smoking. There are a few requirements, fist the temperature needs to be below about 30 for the whole process, meat should be cured or salted for a couple of days first. Meat is then hung in a cold smokehouse and smoke is fed into it for 8 to 16 hours, the meat is then left for a month to completely dry.

It is a long time since we checked real-life references for the smoking mechanics. But as far as I can remember, it is namely the cold smoking process we are simulating in the game. So, the fire is not needed to generate heat, but mostly to generate smoke - and to keep the air circulating to boost the drying process. I can't remember our sources any more, but I do recall that the smoking process simulation was based on a few articles about primitive cold smoking methods, and Sami adapted a version which was possible to implement with the game mechanics.

But, of course, for the sake of realism it would be perfection have different kinds of smoking processes available. Just like we could use different kind of buildings, like something in between a shelter and a log cabin. I mean, I remember that historically for cold smoking people have used constructions with a fire box dug into soil, some 15 meters of underground flue to cool down the smoke, and then a small wooden smoking box at the top end of the flue. Additions, additions, there would be that many additions to buildings, cooking processes and all. And now we have some fire handling improvements, good! More improvement in the future, I'd guess 

[Dark Art]

You dont really need anything complicated like a separate building or a deep hole. It would be a nice touch and something to look forward to in later game, but you dont NEED it. I use two metal barrels (one for smoke source and another one for items to be smoked) connected with a pipe and a small fan to speed things up and it works just fine. I guess even a wooden barrels, or two not very deep pits covered with a few planks and earth and connected with a leather sleeve would work - there isnt much heat, just lots of smoke.

I know its all not really necessary for the game, but it would be a very nice to add a bit more realism and provide more later game things to look forward to.

[JP_Finn]

That 3-4 days is "hot curing" smoking which is far more recent method than what was in use at the time of the game. I dearly wouldn't count on preservation of few months with that, unless it dried up to "beef jerky" fashion.

What we refer to, is explained by Ilmar Talve in "Finnish Folk Culture" simply as:
"The meat was smoked in the sauna, to begin with at a low temperature for 1-2 weeks ('cold-curing'), after which it was kept at a high temperature for 2-3 days to make sure it war properly done."

I've not tried that method, but drying first and then hot smoking, does give good flavor on jerky. Rather than using liquid smoke on the jerky-marinade. Drying in 145F or 63C for 8h cures thin cut and 36h marinated beef or venison. The strips stay good in pantry for at least 5 months. Both in ziploc bags and wrapped in paper towel and wrapped in cotton towel.
Just need to be sure to trim any thick fat deposits, as they could contain moisture 'pocket' and cause the strip of meat to mould. Not that 63C is warm enough for a proper sauna bath.

There's also option to use smoking teepee, instead of parachute, I'd reckon cavemen and folks since could've used animals hides.

[Dark Art]

There's also option to use smoking teepee, instead of parachute, I'd reckon cavemen and folks since could've used animals hides.

Stuff like this is exactly what we need (IMHO of course). Nothing complicated, historically accurate and definitely flavour adding. Just gotta make sure there is room for cheese. Gotta have, just GOTTA HAVE smoked cheese man!

[Dungeon Smash]

I've used tarp smokers before in the past and they work great.  Not hard at all to set up, and the jerky comes out great.  As long you smoke it thoroughly, it really doesn't need to be eaten straight out of the smoker either.  It will basically be regular jerky such as you would buy in the store.  It will keep for several days, probably longer in dry conditions. 

I was always sort of surprised you couldn't do this in the game.  You have to build a whole log cabin just to smoke meat, rather than just some animal skins draped over a tripod.  I always figured maybe it was a historical cultural thing, or maybe for gameplay balance.

[Dark Art]

No man, if the food lasts for only a few days then its "hot smoking". While it would be a very fun addition, in practical terms it wouldnt add much into the game since we dont have a morale system that could be improved with tasty foods (unfortunately). We are talking about "cold smoking". It takes much longer and is more about preserving food and much less about adding flavours.