Where can crops grow?

[Mr Compassionate]

So I want to build an arcology type structure in which to house every type of plant in a bio-dome however I don't know what I can and can't get away with so here are a bunch of questions about how the game currently deals with crops.

1: Can you grow crops on planets with no oxygen and if not am I able to make pockets of oxygen with some kind of machine? Ideally I would like to build on a planet with no oxygen but can I have the inside of the arcology oxygenated but not the outside?

2: Does temperature currently effect what plants can grow where? For example can I grow bananas on a cold planet or wheat on a magma planet? If not am I able to effect the locallised temperature to accomedate certain crops or should I just pick a boring temperate planet?

3: Does the soil make any difference (for example mud/sand/dirt) when growing crops or does one size fit all?

4: Does rain help or?

5: What problems would I encounter trying to make a giant bio-dome if any?

Basically I'm new to Starbound and I want my first mega project to be something useful but awesome looking like, say, a giant sexy arcology. I want to build it somewhere normally inhospitibal because why build an arcology on a nice temperate planet? Wouldn't make any sense. Any advice would be grand.

[Kraggoth]

Interesting questions, I shall go run around and test some of them.

[Doubtful]

I'm interested in what Kraggoth finds out.

[FaelisongTalim]

I can't answer much, but I've seen Ocumelons grow on No-Oxygen Planets, Eggshoot grow on Dangerous Ice Planets, and Tomatoes grow on Extreme Lava areas, if that's any consolation.

[Saltycaptain]

I don't know anything about 1 or temperature effects, but

Plant life is affected by biome (For example, you can find Pearlpeas at seafloor level.)

Rain helps speed up the growth process, but since you seem to want a closed structure, the cave drip effect (You must use admin to access it) may speed up growth, I don't know for sure though.

You can only grow plants in dirt and it's color variants. No snow, sand, mud, etc.
Any plant can be grown in the same dirt. (I can grow an Oculemon, Pearlpeas, Automatos, and Grapes all in the same row of soil. Plants naturally occur in certain biomes, but the seeds can go into any tilled dirt.)

I have a vertical farm setup, and I have no problems. If anything, it can save space and be more efficient if you do it right. The only roadblock would be materials, and Admin mode can cover that if you don't mind "cheating".

[Trigon (The Trash)]

Considering half of my ship is a farm the only things I've found to effect it are the space you allow it to grow in. I've farmed a lot over the course of this so I'll try to address your points one by one.

1. Currently the only planets with no oxygen I can think of are moons and I haven't really planted on them at all, but I know they can be grown underwater, so I don't imagine air is an issue.

2. Temperature doesn't seem to affect it. I haven't planted on many magma planets but I know neon melons will grow there naturally and snow planets haven't hindered my growth efforts at all.

3. For soil you just need dirt that you till with a hoe. Pretty sure sand and such can't be tilled. Haven't tried mud.

4. Rain hasn't seemed to make any difference given my ship crops grow just as fast as anything else.

5. None. I'd just keep it well lit and give everything enough space to grow. Height is variable among plants, but now every plant (Even the tiny ones) are all two tiles wide. So for maximum space efficiency make each layer a multiple of 2. Also some plants (Corn, coralcreep, grape, bananas, etc.) are not destroyed when harvested and do not need to be replanted. As such I keep these all nearby eachother while the ones that need to be replanted stay closer to the seed containers.

[Kraggoth]

Just successfully grew a potato on an asteroid belt.

[FaelisongTalim]

Originally posted by Kraggoth:

Just successfully grew a potato on an asteroid belt.

Science has been done.

[Trigon (The Trash)]

Originally posted by Kraggoth:

Just successfully grew a potato on an asteroid belt.

You sir have looked upon the horrors of the cosmos and laughed.

[Bronzewing]

I have built a tropical island in space :)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=395142540

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Bronzewing:

I have built a tropical island in space :)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=395142540

Nice! That's what I was trying to do. In the end I did make it on a poison ocean posion rain no atmosphere planet and it worked just fine. The only difficulty was actually building the complex itself while trying to avoid the rain. Turns out it rains like, 90% of the time on that accursed planet.

Your dome looks way cooler than mine. It turns out that if you make a dome too big it is A: Really hard to keep track of the curvature and B: Unless the dome is on screen it won't stop rain so building lots of small domes is better than one gigantor dome.

[Ilyu]

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

Your dome looks way cooler than mine. It turns out that if you make a dome too big it is A: Really hard to keep track of the curvature and B: Unless the dome is on screen it won't stop rain so building lots of small domes is better than one gigantor dome.

Really? Can i ask you the size of your dome? (radius)

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Ilyu:

Originally posted by Mr Compassionate:

Your dome looks way cooler than mine. It turns out that if you make a dome too big it is A: Really hard to keep track of the curvature and B: Unless the dome is on screen it won't stop rain so building lots of small domes is better than one gigantor dome.

Really? Can i ask you the size of your dome? (radius)

Well I started building it so it would be roughly 3 or 4 screens high (I wasn't particularly precise, I was mostly doing a test) and it wasn't long before I realised that rain was getting through whenever I wasn't right up next to the roof. Turns out? If you arn't near something it basically doesn't exist so the poison rain was getting in. My crops didn't seem to care but I sure did so I instead made the farms in layers, each just visible above the other. In the end I kinda gave up on the dome itself and just went for the layered approach, even though I kept telling myself I would finish the dome at some point. I didn't, instead I focused on the base itself.

Edit: In fact this was a problem with the living quarters too. The farm "dome" was getting big and loomed above my base but because the base was getting so tall and the farming bit was so high I couldn't build the lower rooms in peace because of the rain. It's kinda strange.

It shouldn't be a problem if you are simply contending with no atmosphere but if you are looking at enviromental dangers such as a meteor showers or rain it becomes a real problem.

[ChaosSeed]

good points... glad to know i can plant on basically any planet. always just stayed with the starting planet because i thought the weather and rain were good for the plants...

i will say that water does effect the growth time. they have a watering pot in the game for a reason. i would recommend building a farm on a planet that gets some kind of rain. that is unless you are building an inside farm. farming is my main source of money so i always farm outside.

[Mr Compassionate]

Originally posted by Jesse:

good points... glad to know i can plant on basically any planet. always just stayed with the starting planet because i thought the weather and rain were good for the plants...

i will say that water does effect the growth time. they have a watering pot in the game for a reason. i would recommend building a farm on a planet that gets some kind of rain. that is unless you are building an inside farm. farming is my main source of money so i always farm outside.

I found building the farm indoors fine. If you grow enough of it you always end up with tons anyways, especially if you water the plants.