Farming energy crystals without soil degradation

[bmnoble981]

Just thought I would share a way I think I have found of farming energy crystals without having to worry about the soil turning into sand.

I had seen others experimenting with having a row of energy crystal than a row of either mulch tube or giant grass next to it.

What I did is this:

Create a 6 by 6 field of giant grass, select reduce field, take out the 4 middle squares of the field and place a single field of energy crystal in the middle, then scale that up to as large of an energy crystal farm as you want.

I have been using fertiliser so perhaps that is playing a role as well anyway I have now had multiple harvests with this method and the soil remains loam, in both the individual energy crystal fields and the surrounding giant grass fields.

I also experimented with having one field being grazed on by my cattle herd and another kept separate and un-harvested, didn't observe any differences.

[bmnoble981]

Rita just unlocked me Synth plant on an expedition, plan to try the same thing, with a small field and see how it goes.

[76561199056944839]

That sounds like a good plan to keep up on the soil degradation. Do report back and let us know how it goes!

[bmnoble981]

Main flaw I have found is toxic ash killing the giants grass but the crystals surviving, broke the balance and screwed the soil in one of my fields, was too lazy to remove then reapply the fields.

Luckily the other main field was intact and I had kinda over produced crystals(enough to make 60 power cells in storage) by that point. Was planning to halt planting any more, only bottle neck is not having printed components tech, stuck with the soldering bench so dam slow even with my 2 level 10 crafters.

Other flaw is since they are individual fields, the farmers take enough manure for each field so 1 piece each time and someone goes and replaces that 1 piece in the storage, not a problem where I have the cattle grazing but the fields further away I gave up on having them fertilised, wastes too much time.

Toxic ash killed my synth fields so haven't been able to finish that test beyond a single harvest, not enough info to make a conclusion but didn't seem to be any different than the crystal crops, provided both were alive and well to maintain the balance.

[bmnoble981]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

A) You can make on big field, then remove al the individual squares you don't want.

B) Purlt your manure storage right by the field.

True but the main giant grass field is being grazed so I need to keep them planting it for the cattle since I am not using feeders in this save.

My manure storage is right by the craft tables to use in fuel production, not bothering with renewable power sources or a lot of electronics in general due to having only the soldering bench and lacking the printed components breakthrough. So the plan was until I get enough power cell generators to replace the 38 diesel ones, I made extra to make sure I have no power shortages during solar flares, there not all running at once either each controls a set part of the turrets around the base. That takes priority over growing crops a little faster, especially when I tend to make too much in the first place.

That said could not resist starting a new play through might get back to that one later down the track, I always fall into the trap of making too big a base, then it gets annoying to maintain.

It got to that size mostly because I used it to get the master of the herd achievement, took me awhile to get the Ulfen population back down from 60+ to 10, I started with just 3 breeding pairs in 6 years I had over 60 of them, that is even with a set back of losing half the herd when it reached 20 in a breach in the outer wall early on.

Going to try for a smaller base this time around, emphasis on try.

[bmnoble981]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

You have 38 diesel generators AND solar panels? Geez...

No, I have no solar panels, no wind mills, no batteries just the generators:

1 for the soldering bench or 3D printer
5 to power 4 missile turrets
7 to power the 4 laser turrets in the killzone
and 24 when I need to power up the 16 laser turrets covering the outer walls.

I make a point of having slight more than I would need in the event of solar flare or one breaking down.

Each is connected to its own power switch in my anti flyer bunker, usually only the 7 powering the 4 turrets in the killzone are in use.

The missile turrets were originally for dealing with enemies that broke off to attack the walls but they have largely been retired.

The 16 laser turrets have taken over that role and I also wait till the flyers are in the middle of my base on their way to the bunker or cattle herd before I flip the switch and fry the lot of them while they are distracted with other targets.

At one point when my cattle herd was at it's height, I had over 10K of manure sitting on the ground during winter had no issue keeping them supplied with fuel. Just hated all the notification dings when it started to rot during spring and summer.

Had 2 power cell generators in my bunker in the event any of the diesel generators acted up during an attack.

The plan was to replace the diesel generators with power cell generators, other than that all I really had left to do was reconstruct the fortifications to concrete instead of wood.

Other than that nothing else in the base is using electricity, I purely used it for defence that play through.

Didn't bother with an air cons or cool rooms just had a food store room with grain, pumpkins and dried meat for making quick meals. Made it to year 10 on that save before I lost interest.

No electric light just used oil lanterns had plenty of meat when I culled the herd each winter for making animal fat.

Used the stick powered stove for cooking, 6 regular forges didn't bother with the electric one.

Had no malfunctions the entire 10 years no mods installed for that save.

[IWKYZerocool]

I only do one harvest of crystals in a field, and where the soil has degraded that is my new place to put wind power, then I use the hydroponic's for growing crystals.

[IWKYZerocool]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

Originally posted by IWKYZerocool:

I only do one harvest of crystals in a field, and where the soil has degraded that is my new place to put wind power, then I use the hydroponic's for growing crystals.

I just put the crystals far from my base then go get them when they're ready. You don't need that many crystals. Meh.

Unfortunately I do need a lot crystals as the builder in me I have to have shelves full of power cells in my power room and my production room, also I have to fill all the shelves with other materials CPU cores and electronic. Not long ago I uploaded a screenshot of my production room if you check it out you will know what I mean full shelves.

[Jaggid Edje]

I'm circling back to this thread to let people know that I have had great success In my current playthrough just by planting the energy crystals in "strips" with strips of giant's grass next to them. I'm going into year 7 and have not lost the 100% loam coverage yet.

In the main place I grow energy crystals, I did the strips in a full square around a normal field of skinbark.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024201956

I also had another area set up with parallel strips, but which is currently growing Synth plant and grain grass. Originally it was energy crystals where the synth plant is and giant's grass where the grain grass is. I still cycle both into those fields as needed. But the point is it works for Synth plants as well.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3024201944

Long story short, it does work for an extended period of time, with lots of harvest cycles, just leaving the fields in place. I originally converted the soil to loam with mulchtubes, but have used the parallel strips of energy crystals and giant's grass to maintain it just fine.

Toxic ash has killed all of my fields a few times, btw. I just halted harvesting on the energy crystal fields when it happened until the giant's grass caught back up. I've also 'rotated' the crops a couple times, like every 2nd year or so, where I swapped the energy crystals and giant's grass.