Making fire
Nothing else in the early game is hot enough.
A torch is cold. It gives light and no heat. Lava is behind a layer barrier and sparks need iron, which needs a fire — so without one item the game would have no way to start its first fire at all.
That item is the Flint Striker: two stones knocked together, 4 Stone by hand. It reaches ignition temperature and not one degree further, on purpose.
You will need
- A Flint Striker — 4 Stone, by hand
- Something that burns. Wood catches at 80 °C, Coal at 90 °C.
Steps
- Pile up what you want to burn. One cell will light and go out; a pile sustains itself.
- Strike it. The striker heats the cell just past ignition.
- Let it spread. Fire heats its neighbours, and anything above its own ignition point catches in turn.
- Feed it the right fuel for the job. What you burn decides how hot it gets, and that decides what you can smelt. See Ore into bars.
When it works
The pile is alight and staying alight, throwing light and heating the cells around it. Wood leaves Wood Ember; coal leaves Ember.
What burns, and how hot it gets:
| Burn this | Catches at | Leaves | Which sits at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | 80 °C | Wood Ember | 130 °C |
| Coal | 90 °C | Ember | 185 °C |
| Leaves, cotton, rope, straw | 60–95 °C | Fire | 205 °C |
| Fuel | 135 °C | Fuel Fire | 202 °C |
| Coke | 150 °C | Coke Ember | 215 °C |
The surprise in that table is the third row. Leaves and cotton burn hotter than coal — 205 °C against 185 °C — because they flash into open fire while coal settles into embers. The cheapest thing on the surface is hotter than the thing you went underground for. It just does not last.
When it does not
The fire goes out immediately. One cell of fuel cannot sustain itself. Pile more.
It will not light at all. Check what you are striking. Stone, dirt and metal have no ignition point — they cannot burn at any temperature.
Water put it out. Water quenches fire on contact. That is also how you stop one.
The fire spread to your base and took the lot. This is the real hazard. Fire heats its neighbours and anything flammable nearby catches. Build with stone near a fire, keep a wall of something that does not burn between your fireplace and your wooden anything, and remember your bed and workbench are made of wood.
The fire is hot but nothing melts. Match the temperature to the job. An ember bed at 185 °C melts copper at 165 °C, and will never melt iron at 190 °C no matter how long you wait. That is the whole of Ore into bars.
Next
Digging properly — the mining ladder, and the thing about it that nobody guesses.