Asynchronous Smelting Time?

[Blaze]

I was smelting ore not too long ago, and I noticed that - even though all ore was placed there before lighting the fire - ore that I placed first and left for a bit melted faster than ore that was placed right before lighting the fire.

Basically, I put my ore in the smelter, ran back down to get some more, and put that in before lighting it. The older ones melted with only 3 charcoal, while the newer ones took 4.

[Öx]

Perhaps the smelter was still lit from the last load when you started putting ore in?

[loftar]

Yes, that is another one of the current bugs with the ovens. It will be fixed when I re-implement them.

[kaka]

The reason for that is that the time that a piece of ore has been in the smelter is not counted
from when it is put in the smelter, but from the first "tick" that the ore has been in the smelter
and the interval is about 5-6 minutes.
I think that ore has to be burned for three ticks, so if you time it right (or wrong), the first batch
will have been in the smelter for three ticks while the second batch has only been in there for two.
Thus, the second batch will need to stay in there for another 5-6 minutes.

[Blaze]

I made sure all the ore was there before lighting it. It was completely empty of both stone and fuel when I started.

[kaka]

What matters is when you put the ore in the smelter, not when you light it, unless of course if
you wait for 5-6 minutes from the last piece of ore you put in till you light it.

[theTrav]

Does that mean I can smelt all the ore I have using only a single piece of charcoal if I put it all in, then wait for a fair while, then light it?

[loftar]

I see that I have to fix the ovens soon. :)

[kaka]

Does that mean I can smelt all the ore I have using only a single piece of charcoal if I put it all in, then wait for a fair while, then light it?

Indeed, you can, till Loftar has fixed it. :)