The Starver's Guide to Self-Feeding Farms

[OS74]

Been trying 2*2 farm plots with a 4*4 grid layout (using snapping tills mod)

Im pretty sure others have came up with similar (if not the exact same layout) but here is mine, after a few hours of experiments.

 

the 4*4 grid is not really worth the effort, as in a 3*3 layout you could plant as much as you want and not be overcrowded, and the larger the farm plots are, the better a 3*3 grid become.

whereas in a 4*4 grid, the edges are counted twice in both sides of the plots, so every plant in the middle of two is a loss

with this layout, i could only squeeze a measily 2 plants extra (i got 38 plants instead of 36 which is what a 3*3 grid would allow for). and the larger the farm plot, the less return...

Also, for the crop combos, i only tested autumn one, the two spring combos is on paper functional, but didnt do the testing yet...

 

[QuartzBeam]

I added a couple paragraphs about watering and fertilizing crop combos, because I've had those two subjects come up semi-frequently in the past few weeks and I figured it'd be good to have all the pertinent information in one place.

[SinancoTheBest]

On the topic of watering, if you, instead of watering once or twice per growth stage,which forces you to babysit your garden, soak your plots to the fullest, how many stages will your plants satisfy their thirst in each season? I suppose that's when the individual plant water need data becomes more relevant.

 

If we take Winter for instance since there's no evaporation, and water a 2x2 plot four times and never water it again, and plant Asparagus-Carrot-Potato combo (all 3 plants with low water consumption) can we get still get giant crops? I never experimented much with watering since I usually mindlessly soak them full twice but it would be rather valuable knowledge to find out how many times each crop combo needs full soaking in each season to grow giant. Or atleast the difference between the lowest extreme I mentioned versus the highest extreme, like 2x2 Watermelon-Pomegrenate combo in Summer.

[QuartzBeam]

10 minutes ago, SinancoTheBest said:

On the topic of watering, if you, instead of watering once or twice per growth stage,which forces you to babysit your garden, soak your plots to the fullest, how many stages will your plants satisfy their thirst in each season? I suppose that's when the individual plant water need data becomes more relevant.

 

If we take Winter for instance since there's no evaporation, and water a 2x2 plot four times and never water it again, and plant Asparagus-Carrot-Potato combo (all 3 plants with low water consumption) can we get still get giant crops? I never experimented much with watering since I usually mindlessly soak them full twice but it would be rather valuable knowledge to find out how many times each crop combo needs full soaking in each season to grow giant. Or atleast the difference between the lowest extreme I mentioned versus the highest extreme, like 2x2 Watermelon-Pomegrenate combo in Summer.

Yeah. Carrot-Potato-Asparagus in Winter is one combo I think you can water all at once. There might be a couple more combos that can be watered like that, but I think outside of winter, the temperature-based moisture drain will be too fast to do it all in one go.

I suppose it might be worth trying to do the watering in 2 doses and see what happens? Two waterings in the seed stage and two waterings in the medium stage. The small stage is the one that lasts the longest, so it's gonna drink up a lot of water that you'll then have to refill for the other two.

But, as I said, I don't like pausing the game to do math, hence my preference for the "once per stage" approach. Besides, I tend to babysit my giant-to-be plants anyway, cause I need to be close enough that they are loaded for the Friendly Fruit Fly to do its work and all too often I tend them myself with an One Man Band because the Fruit Fly is too slow in big farms.

[myxal]

I realise I'm quite late to the garden party (I'm only now picking up Wurt and figured that mastering this would come in handy). I made a cheat sheet that exposes more of the mechanics for me to learn how to generate the combinations algorithmically (therefore not requiring a searchable list), and also know in advance, which fertiliser I'll need to supply if I go for arbitrary/unbalanced combos. This would also be usable for modded crops, assuming they follow the same nutrient balance as Klei:

• For any crop (not weed), net nutrient gain is 0 - every crop just transforms one nutrient into the others.
• Based on which nutrient gain/loss dominates the crop's stats, I've categorised the crops into tier 1 and 2 sinks (consumes one type of nutrient, restores the other two), and tier 1 sources (restores one type of nutrient, consumes the other two)

Fun fact - it's the source crops that are the heavy drinkers - watermelons and tomatoes. Everything else is good with low/moderate irrigation.

 

BTW, can anyone tell me what's the current status of high-density farms? (>9 tills per tile) I thought the overcrowding penalty would make the endeavour inefficient for crop production - is there a use/benefit that I'm missing?

[lakhnish]

27 minutes ago, myxal said:

BTW, can anyone tell me what's the current status of high-density farms? (>9 tills per tile) I thought the overcrowding penalty would make the endeavour inefficient for crop production - is there a use/benefit that I'm missing?

More than 10 is when overcrowding takes effect, not 9. You can squeeze in extra crops if the crop combo lets you (for example, an extra potato and tomato for that potato+ tomato crop combo).

[Parusoid]

On 10/4/2021 at 4:51 PM, myxal said:

 I made a cheat sheet that exposes more of the mechanics for me to learn how to generate the combinations algorithmically (therefore not requiring a searchable list), and also know in advance, which fertiliser I'll need to supply if I go for arbitrary/unbalanced combos.

can u explain more? i dont get it but it looks interesting

[myxal]

16 hours ago, Parusoid said:

can u explain more? i dont get it but it looks interesting

I'm not sure where I should be more specific, so let me just give you an example:

• I'm interested in specific crops. (I play with UM, so the crop-specific dishes like potato puree and asparagus soup are actually worth the farming effort, at least for Wurt)
• So let's say I want to grow potatoes, asparagus, and garlic - and I need twice as many potatoes compared to garlic
• I see that asparagus and garlic are both compost sinks, so combining them is not a good idea.
• Asparagus and 'tatoes are both tier 1 sinks (compost and manure, respectively), so I could just add a tier 1 formula sink (carrot or pumpkin) in a 3:3:3 setup.. 
• .. OR, I could try the high-density farm and go for 4:4:2 with a tier 2 formula sink (Onion or Pomegranate)..
• .. OR, I could go for 4:4:1 setup with a tier 2 formula sink, and know that the farm is going to need fertilisation with compost and manure - both easily mass-produced (and stored)

(EDIT)

And as for garlic:

• It's a compost sink, and that category doesn't have a source crop - so it's going to need 2 other plants to stay balanced.
• Then again, compost is provided by rot, which just keeps accumulating from all the heaps of food the game sends my way. (I brought rock lobsters to splumonkeys, spent a few seasons there landscaping, and I had more manure, beard hair, nightmare fuel, and rot than I knew what to do with). I could just grow garlic, replenishing compost very often, or go for a less-extreme, unbalanced combos (5:2:2 regular or 6:2:2 high-density) with tier 2 sinks of manure and formula (Pomegranate/Onion and Dragonfruit/Pepper).

In brief, this is aimed at demand-driven farming - "I need these specific crops, how do I combine them, and when should I grow them, to minimise farming effort (number of farm plots tended to, and amount/types of fertilisers used) and maximise production?" Using farm crops as fillers is a waste, IMO.

[Parusoid]

2 hours ago, myxal said:

I'm not sure where I should be more specific, so let me just give you an example:

yeah, the exampel does not help, i meant how does the table work, how do you get the info from the table which crops to combine. you wrote in your example that you combine 3 sinks... if they are sinks how do they get the nutrients? i just need to know how to read the table
there is info in top right that says tier 1 source matches tier tier 2 sink so i can just add toma root and dragonfly and ill be gucci? i dont get it

[myxal]

47 minutes ago, Parusoid said:

if they are sinks how do they get the nutrients?

The important bit you missed is this:

On 10/4/2021 at 4:51 PM, myxal said:

For any crop (not weed), net nutrient gain is 0 - every crop just transforms one nutrient into the others.

"Sink" and "Source"  is just a shorthand for "crop that consumes 1 nutrient and replenishes the other 2 at half the rate" and "crop that consumes 2 nutrients and replenishes 1 at double the rate" - ie. the exact opposite of sink stats.

Because the sum of all nutrient stats (manure + formula + compost) is 0 for every crop, the info about about the non-dominating stats is superfluous.

Rather than summing each nutrient for every crop in the combo and targeting 0, I can just count the single dominant stat for every crop, and target "equal numbers across all nutrients"

For the example above, step-by-step:

1. (plants) :
   1. (formula sum):(compost sum):(manure sum)
2. empty plot:
   1. 0:0:0
3. 1 asparagus (is a compost sink, so subtract that):
   1. 0:-1:0
4. 1 asparagus, 1 potato (I'll just multiply this later to fill the plot)
   1. 0:-1:-1 -> there's a surplus of formula (and because of the net-zero rule, a necessary shortage of manure and compost)
5. 3 asp, 3 potato, 3 carrots:
   1. -3:-3:-3 -> perfectly balanced, as all things should be *sips tea*
6. 4 asp, 4 pot (multiply to fill the plot, but leave some room)
   1. 0:-4:-4
7. 4 asp, 4 pot, 2 onion (10 plants, needs high-density tilling)
   1. -4:-4:-4 -> perfectly balanced
8. 4 asp, 4 pot, 1 onion
   1. -2:-4:-4 -> still a surplus of formula (-2 > -4) and shortage of the other 2, but not too bad.

 

[myxal]

Cheers, I updated my cheat sheet from above:

• now published on google docs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19feJkXuJJPdMxA5xqwwxZkApNO2_riU7_ZOfXx34RMY/edit?usp=sharing
• added water consumption info
• split the various combos into more manageable groups

I'm about to add the layouts, but I have a few holes in the data:

• Is there a 2:2:2:2:2 layout (for the "WM" tilling pattern) that gives the family bonus to all of the crops, or none of the crops? (so that they all ripen in roughly the same time)
• Is there a 2:2:2:2 layout (for either WM or the 3x3 tilling pattern) that gives the family bonus to all of the crops on just 2 farm tiles?

[Griffyn]

Hi all!
Here is my new Ultimate Farming Guide!
This is an upgrded version of @QuartzBeam and @Aknott works, special thanks for you guys! And also thanks for the great cheet sheets and a lot of knowledge what I found here!