Common tactic that feels very gamey and stupid. stuborn devs who wont add starting fires by friction, firebow. Lazy or ignornant. not sure which

"but you have to carry a torch around, and that only has a limited burn time."
You can put the torch out. Just light the torch when you want to light a fire. Also as prior commentor said, pull torches from the fire to have a few, and juggle them. Drop the lit torch before it goes out, and light another torch with the one you dropped while it's on the ground. As long as it isn't windy, you should have an infinite firestarter if you play your cards right. That saves you matches on difficulties like Interloper.

Can even recycle those burnt-out torches for a stick, if you're not already swamped with them. Seriously, you can have infinite torch easily when awake.

Pull a ton of torches from a lit fire, and light the next when it's low. Sticks are abundant. Take the fire with you. Most OP mechanic in game.

Don't use matches to start a fire, use matches to light a torch to start a fire then carry it around lmfao

but you have to carry a torch around, and that only has a limited burn time.

i feel dumb now

Good stuff, I love how many items in this game are multipurpose. :)