# Campfire - can it be longer?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [August 17, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352 "2015-08-17T16:34:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vylaern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecd19e/32.png) [@vylaern](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/vylaern)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352/1 "2015-08-17T16:34:07Z")

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Hi,

I can easily set-up a fire at home, which takes long time, but I have a problem with campfire. I put a fire into a small pice of paper and eg. wooden stick, but the fire was very short and the heavy stick was untouched. I was trying with old cloths, as some here advise this, the fire was bit longer (I think). Is it possible to have in this game fire for longer, or it is just for very short time? I dosent want use 5 charges of lighter to boil 5 bottles of water.

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**Author:** ![Shopkeeper](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/shopkeeper/32/453_2.png) [@Shopkeeper](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Shopkeeper)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352/2 "2015-08-17T17:16:36Z")

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Like in real life everything has a certain level of flamibility. Firegear and things like it made out of nomex are incredibly resistant to burning while hay and loose sheets of paper catch very easily. In order to get a proper fire going you’ll need a good bit of tinder (paper and the like) to burn long enough for your larger kindling (tree branches, two by fours, clothes) to catch fire.

Also, when crafting things like water and you want to make a bunch at once (like say 15 units to empty one gallon jug and fill another) hit ‘b’ on the crafting menu to bring up batch crafting. This will let you craft it all in one session, even if the fire runs out in the middle of it so long as you sucessfuly complete the recipe it’ll finish fine. With batch crafting you can easily just use a single match to ignite a bush near your base for both the light and fire to craft whenever you feel like.

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**Author:** ![vylaern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecd19e/32.png) [@vylaern](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/vylaern)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352/3 "2015-08-17T17:56:19Z")

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Many thanks for the fast reply.

So what should I do fire wooden have stick? Start with a paper, and after a while put another one, and then another one, and then another? Or maybe should I put a stock in one place of eg. 1o pieces of paper and wooden stick?

p.s. I couldn’t use a batch, as I had only 1 bottle.

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**Author:** ![Dlightfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Dlightfull](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Dlightfull)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352/4 "2015-08-17T18:37:53Z")

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maybe it’s raining?

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**Author:** ![Submarine](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/submarine/32/423_2.png) [@Submarine](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Submarine)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352/5 "2015-08-17T18:45:44Z")

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After a little testing as i got the same issue as you I think a 2by4 have the longest burn time.  
Add new 2by4s on a already lit fire does not improve burn time so far I seen.

Also burn time seems a bit of random somehow.

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**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/campfire-can-it-be-longer/10352/6 "2015-08-17T22:59:06Z")

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Burn time of wood is quite random. Depends only on wood object’s volume and fire’s size.  
There is a minor exploit: you can start a fire with a stick, then craft said burning stick into a cudgel. The cudgel will not be burned and will fuel the fire for longer.

Fires with nothing to burn will quickly die out, especially if they’re big.  
A fire that burns a single small (\<=10 volume) piece of wood should be stable (except in the rain) as the stick adds 1 “fuel” per turn and the fire burns 1 “fuel” per turn.  
If you add a second stick, it will gain 1 fuel per turn. Once it has nothing to burn, it will lose 3 fuel per turn (if small, 5 and 7 if medium or raging).