Farm field usage - please fix

[AlexGK]

Farm workers seem to go about their job completely random, unlike the camp workers like woodcutters for example, who always go to the nearest tree/nearest marked tree. I also saw herb farm worker harvest berries from a shared plantation field. Like wtf... and he ignored his own harvest to do it?!?
Please fix in a patch at some point, so that those type of workers also go to the nearest field first and maybe leave other type of production alone. It would make farms sharing fields less of a mess (we have to do that for 11+ fields). Pretty please?

[DG]

It's better to have farm workers harvest anything than for fields to never be harvested, so maybe you could ask for a farmer to harvest their type of field in priority to different fields.

[ZirzoR]

No need for a fix, its the intended way, farmer will harvest / plow / plant in the designated area, doesn't matter where and how, just like woodcutters will take any tree in the area.

Either you fix the farm placement or you come up with something else, the farmers are doing what's intended, there is no "Shared field" all fields are open for farmers.

I can have 15+ fields and they only work on that field, if you have 2 different farm buildings on the same plot, that's on you.

[Spacesuit Spiff]

Haven't seen it myself, but if there's a case like "2 farms on opposite sides, both pairs of farmers pick the furthest tiles" then some improvement is needed yeah. I can see why the current implementation is simple, it's expected that they'll work all the tiles anyway so order doesn't matter, but sometimes a second farm is necessary unless you wanna leave money on the table.

[Alexander]

Originally posted by ZirzoR:

No need for a fix, its the intended way, farmer will harvest / plow / plant in the designated area, doesn't matter where and how, just like woodcutters will take any tree in the area.

Woodcutters take trees closest to their camp. Not sure how farm workers pick the plots to work on, but the algorithm is certainly different, closer to "from top left corner to bottom right corner row by row." If farm workers started from the tiles closest to their farm entrance it would be much better.

[AlexGK]

Sometimes you have to put more than one farm to utilize larger fields. The way it works now its better to leave anything above 11 alone. Building an extra farm results in both farms workers idling half the time. Even building different farms doesnt help when the farm workers rather pick berries and leave their wheat to rot.

[AlexGK]

Originally posted by ZirzoR:

No need for a fix, its the intended way, farmer will harvest / plow / plant in the designated area, doesn't matter where and how, just like woodcutters will take any tree in the area.

Either you fix the farm placement or you come up with something else, the farmers are doing what's intended, there is no "Shared field" all fields are open for farmers.

I can have 15+ fields and they only work on that field, if you have 2 different farm buildings on the same plot, that's on you.

You cant ulilize 15 fields with a single farm, not even with perks and warehouse right next to it. 2 workers is simply not enough for that. You need more farms.
And I am talking early game here, where you fight for securing enough food, evey farm tile is precious.

[DG]

Originally posted by AlexGK:

Sometimes you have to put more than one farm to utilize larger fields. The way it works now its better to leave anything above 11 alone. Building an extra farm results in both farms workers idling half the time. Even building different farms doesnt help when the farm workers rather pick berries and leave their wheat to rot.

I'm still not understanding your point here. I never have any problems if I put a farm and plantation down by the same fields. The workers will plant wheat and berries, wherever they choose, and harvest wheat and berries, whatever order they choose. They are not idle unless there's some other reason for them to be idle. If there are more goods to be harvested than the workers can manage then sure it might be random which specific fields are left behind, but that's not the same as idle workers.

[AlexGK]

Yes, what you describe is valid, but only if farm 1 and 2 both have access to all fields. But that is usually not the case.

[TowerWizard]

One farmer can work 7-8 tiles each year. I have never found a patch with more than 15 fields. Thus, a maximum of two farmers are needed, which is what a farm or plantation can employ. There is also always a spot for the farm that can include all fields in a patch, and two patches are never close enough so that two farms overlap.

So, what is the problem, exactly?

[AlexGK]

I have no idea how you can get one farmer to work 7-8 tiles. Even humans with their extra uptime cant. Not even if they have warehouse and hearth right next to the farm (not feasible on high prestige).
In my experience human farmes can cover 5-6 maximum, lizards/harpies 4-5.

[DG]

In my experience, it takes about 4 worker minutes to plough a farm patch, 8 worker minutes to plant a farm patch, and 10 worker minutes to harvest a farm patch. Scale that for larger fields and assign workers accordingly. You can generally still get a depot near a farm on high prestige and any hearths are still as likely to be built near a farm as anything else.

Each farmer knows nothing more than the current task, just like all the other workers. They will not know whether there are any more farms, how your farms cover the fields, whether there other farmers, or what tasks your other farmers can do.

[TowerWizard]

Originally posted by AlexGK:

I have no idea how you can get one farmer to work 7-8 tiles. Even humans with their extra uptime cant. Not even if they have warehouse and hearth right next to the farm (not feasible on high prestige).
In my experience human farmes can cover 5-6 maximum, lizards/harpies 4-5.

I admit I have not counted this myself, but rely on a streamer that is featured for doing videos for the game. Those are the numbers he gave, and I have just assumed they are correct. Will update with the streamers name shortly.

Edit: Wally1169 is the streamer's name. Will try to find the video where he mentions it.

Edit 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMjVIcTkCww&list=PL9YKWZMX7BD94oUDJP3KrVHX1mVDAuYC5&index=3&ab_channel=Wally1169

At around 29 minutes in, he says "each farmer can plant probably around eight or nine fields" so I was off by one, actually. As I said, I have not counted it myself.

[AlexGK]

Yea, 8-9 per farmer, impossible.
I am telling you with reasonable distance to hearth and warehouse (within 7 tiles to each) two human farmers cannot cover more than 12 fields, usually 10, depending on break timings. They will either fail to plant more, or, more likely, fail to harvest all.
Harpy/Lizard 10 max.
I checked a few minutes of that video, it seems to be basic gameplay and the guy just talks whatever. He probably means the whole farm (2 workers) can do 8-9.
By all means test it, you will see.
Anyway, the topic was a simple ask to make famers behavior the same as campers, if possible. If not, whatever, its not gamebreaking and i will simply ignore the potential a larger farm field gives, rather than try workarounds.

[Narandia]

they can plant more than they can harvest, because they don't have to drop anything off at the farm, nevermind make deliveries in drizzle. In fact they don't even have to go to the farm when they come back from a break... which is why they sometimes plant in strange ways.

[Sil]

Originally posted by TowerWizard:

Originally posted by AlexGK:

I have no idea how you can get one farmer to work 7-8 tiles. Even humans with their extra uptime cant. Not even if they have warehouse and hearth right next to the farm (not feasible on high prestige).
In my experience human farmes can cover 5-6 maximum, lizards/harpies 4-5.

I admit I have not counted this myself, but rely on a streamer that is featured for doing videos for the game. Those are the numbers he gave, and I have just assumed they are correct. Will update with the streamers name shortly.

Edit: Wally1169 is the streamer's name. Will try to find the video where he mentions it.

Edit 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMjVIcTkCww&list=PL9YKWZMX7BD94oUDJP3KrVHX1mVDAuYC5&index=3&ab_channel=Wally1169

At around 29 minutes in, he says "each farmer can plant probably around eight or nine fields" so I was off by one, actually. As I said, I have not counted it myself.

The information is presented as slightly misguided. Farmers can PLANT up to 8-9 fields (if humans, which is ideally what you want), but the harvesting is slower. If you actually watch the farms during clearance end, you'll see quite a few plots will be left if you don't have any harvesting perks. That's what people are complaining about.

Originally posted by ZirzoR:

No need for a fix, its the intended way, farmer will harvest / plow / plant in the designated area, doesn't matter where and how, just like woodcutters will take any tree in the area.

Either you fix the farm placement or you come up with something else, the farmers are doing what's intended, there is no "Shared field" all fields are open for farmers.

I can have 15+ fields and they only work on that field, if you have 2 different farm buildings on the same plot, that's on you.

Woodcutters do not cut any random tree. They go to closest marked first, and then from closest to furthest. How have you not noticed that. Although making farmers go to the closest field first wouldn't really fix OP's complaint, as it would only shave a total of 5-10 seconds per season