Glowing embers, saunas

[Tom H]

I'm not enjoying the way these activities are effected. With no precise measures, one finds oneself burning large amounts of branches or firewood, only to be told there were not enough embers or the stones aren't hot yet.

Seriously, how hard would it be to shove turnips into the coals from a large fire? How is it I can't roast even a single turnip after two hours of burning wood in my fireplace? What percentage of a tree must be invested in either of the mentioned actions?

I just think it needs a more user-friendly procedure. 

[PALU]

I think the problem is largely one of timing. The window during which you can use a sauna after firing it up is very narrow, so you have to get the timing just right.

When trying to smoke the meat from a mature elk, I've found that I have to start a new fire at least once, and frequently more than once, when all I do is to smoke batch after batch.
I've had the same issue with sauna baths, i.e. after a lengthy fire burning session of undefined length you have to return within a narrow window of time, or you've missed it. Given that most activities in the game take variable amounts of of a fairly long time, doing something productive that takes the required time isn't really feasible.

The embers from a small fire are probably available only for a few minutes. I've seen them once...

[Saukko]

I always seem to miss the windows of opportunity for roasting, I either haven't burnt enough wood to produce enough coals, or I've missed the time period it was available because I was doing something else. I did manage it once when I set fire to a dismantled shelter - that produced large enough a fire with embers that lasted long enough and were easy to notice; embers in a fireplace are quite easy to miss, especially if the fireplace is against a south wall because then you can't see the ember graphics, which is quite subtle in any case.

[Tom H]

I always seem to miss the windows of opportunity for roasting, I either haven't burnt enough wood to produce enough coals, or I've missed the time period it was available because I was doing something else. I did manage it once when I set fire to a dismantled shelter - that produced large enough a fire with embers that lasted long enough and were easy to notice; embers in a fireplace are quite easy to miss, especially if the fireplace is against a south wall because then you can't see the ember graphics, which is quite subtle in any case.

I'm standing there, waiting for the fire to go out. It's not poor timing. A simple fire from 3 branches will continue roasting a pike even after the fire dies out, right? That's simplified. So, why must our fire be JUST SO in order to roast a turnip? Who designed this procedure, Rainman? (hehe)

[Sami]

Be it the turnip roasting or sauna the trick is simply to burn your fires long enough. Simple as that.

Just tested, warmed up sauna for some 5 hours, and even after 10 hours I could still get mild steam from the stove.
I don't get what's the small time window people are talking here?

Then made about 2 hour lasting fire, and threw the turnips in there after 90 minutes of burning.
If you read the news you find this can be done when the small fire is still burning to make the timing more convenient.
Worked okay.

With 40 firewood fire, it burned roughly for 3 hours, I could still toss the turnips to roast after one hour from the fire dying.
Again, failed to see the small time window.

TL;DR;

Make your fires big enough and you're good to go.
Heating up a smoke sauna can take 3 to 10 hours, depending on how long you want it to stay hot.
Roasting turnips in embers is lengthy and heat intensive process, a lot of warm embers is needed.
Read news.txt.

[Saukko]

I think this comes up mostly because for normal cooking, you don't need a big fire - I can't even remember when was the last time I used more than 9 firewood + 9 branches (9 because that's the max you have to only press one key for), because for normal cooking, that's typically all you need and using more would be wasteful - and that doesn't give you enough embers to roast with. I don't often warm up the sauna either, because other than roleplaying, it doesn't have any purpose outside of some very rare occasions when you get the flu in winter (if it helps even then?).

After having tested this a few times based on the way I play, you need about 30 wood to have enough embers and you have to start either while the fire is still burning or right after (30 wood doesn't give you the ember graphics, but you can still roast) - if you start when the fire is out, you have about a 30 minute window during which to do it. But using up 30 wood almost never happens, so I would have to light up the fire especially with roasting turnips in mind; and this would be a bit pointless, because their nutritional value is so low. Basically, it comes down to needing so much firewood to have enough embers that it doesn't really come up in the normal course of play - even in winter I usually don't heat the fireplace for all that long in one go, because I'm out doing other things.

[Sami]

I think this comes up mostly because for normal cooking, you don't need a big fire - I can't even remember when was the last time I used more than 9 firewood + 9 branches (9 because that's the max you have to only press one key for), because for normal cooking, that's typically all you need and using more would be wasteful - and that doesn't give you enough embers to roast with. I don't often warm up the sauna either, because other than roleplaying, it doesn't have any purpose outside of some very rare occasions when you get the flu in winter (if it helps even then?).

After having tested this a few times based on the way I play, you need about 30 wood to have enough embers and you have to start either while the fire is still burning or right after (30 wood doesn't give you the ember graphics, but you can still roast) - if you start when the fire is out, you have about a 30 minute window during which to do it. But using up 30 wood almost never happens, so I would have to light up the fire especially with roasting turnips in mind; and this would be a bit pointless, because their nutritional value is so low. Basically, it comes down to needing so much firewood to have enough embers that it doesn't really come up in the normal course of play - even in winter I usually don't heat the fireplace for all that long in one go, because I'm out doing other things.

Yes, exactly. Roasting turnips isn't your everyday quick outdoors meal, that why it's said loud and clear in the news.txt:

"Roasting in embers requires good amount of embers so it can't be expected to work in the remains of just any little fire. The fire should be burning for several hours before enough hot embers will remain for the method to work. For this reason roasting in embers is usually proceeded after substantial fire was lighted anyway out of necessity. It takes about an hour for turnips to cook in embers."

If you want to minimize the effort 20 firewoods is enough if you start cooking while the fire is still burning, and even a smaller fire will still display embers graphics but it's just smaller.
It's wiser to produce large amount of ember roasted turnips in a good fire, and then carry them with you as a food, rather than carry the raw turnips and roast them every now and then.

[Saukko]

So the most typical situation for roasting turnips would be when you raze down the camps or villages of your enemies, rob their turnips and roast them on the embers of their burning houses?

[Sami]

So the most typical situation for roasting turnips would be when you raze down the camps or villages of your enemies, rob their turnips and roast them on the embers of their burning houses?

Hehe. Well, that may be the most typical for someone's playstyle, but for those who dig deeper into cultural aspects and ways of the era there are way better scenarios.