Charcoal Kiln

This mod adds 3 permanent and reusable charcoal kilns, giving the overall charcoal-making process a proper next step starting in the Copper Age. Version 1.2.0 carries that process on into the Iron Age with upgrade kits for the regular kiln and a separate Industrial Charcoal Kiln for charcoal by the thousand.

The kiln can be built as a smaller 5x5 walk-in structure or the original 7x9 walk-in structure. Both use the same door, chimney, materials, sealing rules, and 18-hour burn. The 5x5 makes it possible to build a charcoal kiln earlier or fit one into a smaller build. If you later want to expand it, you may reuse the same chimney, door, and materials to make it into a 7x9. Both sizes stay where you build them and can be used again and again.

What it does

• The 5x5 kiln holds one to 18 full firewood piles, while the 7x9 kiln holds one to 91. That is room for up to 576 or 2,912 firewood.
• Regular firewood, aged firewood, and a mixture of both will work.
• A regular burn takes 18 in-game hours, or 14 or 12 hours once the kiln is upgraded, and keeps the vanilla yield of four to eight charcoal per full pile.
• The chimney smokes, the door tells you what is going on when you point at it, and the lower shutter gradually heats and cools like hot metal.
• Each size has its own structure preview to help with the shape.
• The in-game handbook explains how to build and operate everything, including the upgrades and the industrial kiln.
• Chiseled masonry is supported as long as it keeps the inside sealed.
• A lit kiln is hot inside. Anyone or anything still in the chamber about fifteen seconds after lighting takes heat damage until the burn ends or is interrupted, the same as in the industrial kiln.

Choosing a kiln size

Place the kiln door with its metal face pointing outside. Use Shift + right-click on the door to show the 5x5 layout. Use Ctrl + Shift + right-click to show the 7x9 layout. Repeat the same shortcut to hide the highlights, or use the other shortcut to switch between sizes. Highlights update live while you build. Point at the door to see kiln status without clicking.

Upgrades for the regular kiln (new in 1.2.0)

Once you have iron, three installation kits improve a regular kiln. Each kit is a crate of parts made from iron or steel. Hold the kit, keep a hammer in your other hand, and right-click the place it belongs. None of them changes how much charcoal you get; they shorten the burn and make the kiln easier to run. Breaking an upgraded block later gives you the kit and the original block back.

• Lining kit. Lines the inside of the chamber with metal. One kit for a 5x5, three for a 7x9. The lining is required before the heating system can go in.
• Heating system. A firebox under the ground in front of the door with passages under the floor and up the back wall. It burns a small charge of firewood or peat and brings the burn down to 14 hours.
• Chimney draft kit. A flue liner, damper and rain hood for the kiln chimney. The draft alone gives a 14-hour burn; together with the heating system, it lowers it to 12 hours.

Industrial Charcoal Kiln (new in 1.2.0)

The late-game kiln for people who need charcoal by the thousand. It is a 5x9 walk-in machine hall: seven Hearths in the floor, fourteen three-shelf Retort Cassettes, ducts and gas headers in the roof, an Afterburner and a Chimney, all wrapped in a ceramic or ashlar shell. A full batch holds 1,344 firewood (or 2,016 peat bricks with More Uses for Peat) and finishes in five in-game hours, giving up to 1,008 charcoal.

Plan on the Iron Age or later: apart from the shell, everything is iron or steel, about 472 ingots in total. The door shows you where every piece goes, stage by stage, and its handbook page walks through forging the parts, assembling the machines, loading, lighting, and collecting.