Charcoal

Charcoal is a tool added to The Long Dark.

Overview[]

It can be acquired easily after lighting a fire and allowing it to burn out or by looting containers, either outdoors or in a firebox. Once a fire has burned out, the charcoal can be looted from the remnants. Stoves and naturally-generated campfires normally already contain some charcoal.

A fire must burn for at least one hour before charcoal can be found. A fire will generate one charcoal per hour (but no more than 24 per fire).

There is no Charcoal in Wintermute.

Charcoal Surveying[]

The primary use of Charcoal is sketching Maps. The player must be outdoors, and only the area within the player's view can be sketched. Equip the Charcoal and an option will appear asking the player if they wish to survey the local area. The player can't sketch map when visibility is poor (dark nights without moon, or blizzard weather for example). Each piece has one use.

Surveying takes 15 minutes of in-game time, which will be sped up for the player. This will fill out the map with the player's immediate surroundings, including resources and carcasses that are directly visible to the character. Surveying can also be used to "ping" the area a player is in, even if it is already mapped. This can be useful if you find yourself lost.

Crafting[]

Charcoal can also be used to craft a Can of Gunpowder, by combining it with Stump Remover and Dusting Sulfur.

Products[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

In real life, Charcoal does not form in significant quantities when a wood is burned in a fire. This is because the draft produced by the burning charcoal tends to draw in enough air to keep itself alight. This is not the case in a camp fire, though, because some wood near the edges won't be fully consumed.

Update history[]

UPDATE 1 August 2017 (Update):
- Inventory icon updated.
UPDATE 8 June 2017 (Update):
- Added to game.