Fertility mechanics

[Vrighty]

Quick question about fertility.

I have played random map which had fertility on 30-40%. After making a farm with a lot of clover (after a few decades) I managed to get the fertiity to 100%
So i expected: If i play a Arid map, make sure there area field with clovers I would eventually have 100% fertility area's... But it didnt seem to work. Fertility remained stuck at 35% (record was 39%).

Is it possible to raise fertility on arid maps over time?

[kostakey187]

Barns grazing area makes the fertility go up

[Matthew]

What was the environmental factor? You can raise the fertility, but it can potentially take decades to max out. And even then, a single crop of wheat will set you back several years again.

Basically, on extremely arid land you can only plant beans or peas along with clover. Ignore everything else. When you need something like flax, save the areas with higher environment factor for those.

[garthurbrown]

Originally posted by kostakey187:

Barns grazing area makes the fertility go up

Only on good soil.

[Furin]

You could try destroying the highest x% field and then build a new field on top of that and see if it let's you go even higher. I recall testing that months ago but I can't remember the results. I guess if it had worked I woul've remembered? Anyway, worth a shot.

[Vrighty]

Originally posted by Matthew:

What was the environmental factor? You can raise the fertility, but it can potentially take decades to max out. And even then, a single crop of wheat will set you back several years again.

Basically, on extremely arid land you can only plant beans or peas along with clover. Ignore everything else. When you need something like flax, save the areas with higher environment factor for those.

The initiall factor I have was 35%-39% on each. So on the Arid map aswell as the full random map. On the Arid map, even when planting only clover and beans it never got above 40%. But on the random map I got (eventually) to 100%. So when i press F I see a blue/green ground (so maxed out)

[MustangMR]

How many compost bins do you have? Nearly all the fertility for my farms comes from composting. I usually have one compost farm for every 10-15 houses.

[Vrighty]

Originally posted by MustangMR:

How many compost bins do you have? Nearly all the fertility for my farms comes from composting. I usually have one compost farm for every 10-15 houses.

at the random map I had about 7-8, but i also had 1000 villagers
The Arid map was only 20 years old, and still 1 compost yard. But the fields had much more clover on it (1-2 each year) then the random map.

The question remains: is there a max fertility you can reach on Arid maps?
If there isnt, and people managing to get 100% fertility on an Arid map, I might have to try longer to get it on 100%.

[Matthew]

There isn't a max, no. And was that 35% environment factor or fertility? It is two different numbers.

Environment factor can go down to 5% on arid maps. Which means a full year of clover, two cycles, only gives .3 fertility. So over 20 years you'd only gain 6% fertility.

Or, at least that is how I understand it. And it is a waste to plant nothing but clover. Instead, do something like in a set of 3 farms have one year with beans and the other two years with clover. It takes up a lot of map space, but at least you still get food. And eventually, fertility goes up.

But really, you don't expect to max out on 5% environmental factor land. You basically just run half yield bean farms and make up for it by using more map space and/or farmers.

[Vrighty]

Originally posted by Matthew:

There isn't a max, no. And was that 35% environment factor or fertility? It is two different numbers.

Environment factor can go down to 5% on arid maps. Which means a full year of clover, two cycles, only gives .3 fertility. So over 20 years you'd only gain 6% fertility.

Or, at least that is how I understand it. And it is a waste to plant nothing but clover. Instead, do something like in a set of 3 farms have one year with beans and the other two years with clover. It takes up a lot of map space, but at least you still get food. And eventually, fertility goes up.

But really, you don't expect to max out on 5% environmental factor land. You basically just run half yield bean farms and make up for it by using more map space and/or farmers.

I am talking about fertility. to be sure we are not talking about something different anyway:
If you select the field, it is the top bar. This will start at 35%-39%. And i managed to get it on 100% on "random" maps.
If you select F you see a green/blue area which lines up perfectly with the field once you have reached 100%.

[blazha]

When you select your field you will have 3 bars showing fertility, weed levels and rockiness. Below those 3 bars is environmental fertility level, which is not the same as fertility above. Environmental fertility level dictates how much % of fertility you will get from raising your fertility, and you cannot change environmental fertility, it's always the same.
Example:
If your environmental fertility level is 30% you are getting only 30% of every fertility benefit. You won't get 10% from compost yard, you'll get 30% of that - 3%. Same goes for clovers - you get 30% of the bonus.
And there is another thing: you don't get those bonuses from clover every time, you have a chance to get them which might be connected with environmental fertility too (nobody knows yet how this works).

[Vrighty]

Thanks for this explanation @blazha. Didnt knew the enviroment fertility worked this way.

Does it also apply on the bonus for example peas: This increases the fertility by 1% (yes, i know, thats the top bar;) ). And if you have an enviromental factor of like 10% the peas will only increase fertility by 0,1%?

This would explain why increasing fertility in Arid would like muchhhhhhhh longer!

[blazha]

Originally posted by Vrighty:

Thanks for this explanation @blazha. Didnt knew the enviroment fertility worked this way.

Does it also apply on the bonus for example peas: This increases the fertility by 1% (yes, i know, thats the top bar;) ). And if you have an enviromental factor of like 10% the peas will only increase fertility by 0,1%?

This would explain why increasing fertility in Arid would like muchhhhhhhh longer!

Yes, it applies to all fertility bonuses, but fertility loses are always in full effect. You'll need years to get to 100% on 10% environmental fertility, if you don't use any negative fertility crop. Still possible compared to wasteland map :)