Sprinklers need some adjustments to be feasable for large farms

[uSpartacuz]

So I'm currently at Year 2 and I've pretty much set out the layout I want for my crop farming. I'm using my modular setup because I like the way it looks on the farm. I've decided I only want to use the left and lower corners of the map for my crops and I'm going to use the farm expansion for animal ranching because I like the collecting all animal variants mechanic in this game.

But I've done the math with all I'm going to need for a full season of automated farming and it is too much for what I have envisioned. All things considered I'm going to be using 54 sprinklers to water 1271 seeds of varying multi-harvest crops. Now, crafting the 54 sprinklers is not the issue, I'm pretty sure I can get them done by the end of this in-game year and have the operation ready to start at Spring Y3.

However, to run my 54 sprinklers I would need 8100 Essence and 3240 Stone just to craft the essence stones required to run them for 30 days (season is 28 but can only craft 20 + 10 day stones). And this is PER SEASON. The stone is no problem, being able to buy it from the carpenter even at a 65k cost is doable and actually profitable in the end after selling all the crops. But I don't think it is feasable to get 8k+ essence in 28 days of the game to keep this system going, not unless some major buffs to essence collection are coming. I realize not everyone is going for something like this, however the current costs to run a large scale farming operation with the current sprinklers are just bonkers.

Basically the time I want to save from watering my thousand crops I would have to spend in the mines doing nothing but breaking rocks to get essence. I realize this is a fantasy/magic oriented themed game, but can we get a technological alternative that doesn't run on batteries even if it costs more? Or some other way to get the essence stones, I'll make Balor rich if he can smuggle them from the capital.

[Boyzby]

I have to ask: what do you need that much money for?

By the end of year 2, I already bought everything I would need from just up-sizing to a medium-sized farm during that year. This feels like a very much self-inflicted problem, because I'm satisfied with my 8 sprinklers and going into mines to get my remaining recipes and outfits, or fishing so I can stock up on things to make for gifts, while slowly breeding each animal up to tier 6.

[uSpartacuz]

Originally posted by Boyzby:

I have to ask: what do you need that much money for?

By the end of year 2, I already bought everything I would need from just up-sizing to a medium-sized farm during that year. This feels like a very much self-inflicted problem, because I'm satisfied with my 8 sprinklers and going into mines to get my remaining recipes and outfits, or fishing so I can stock up on things to make for gifts, while slowly breeding each animal up to tier 6.

Since I can't make millions of dollars in real life I enjoy making them in games. I like it when number go up.

And I wanted to see how far I could push the automation in this game. I'm taking a break from Factorio, but Factorio doesn't take a break from me. The farm must grow

[Shiya64]

Geez, that is a crazy steep cost. Hopefully they will rework it in the future.

[SushiJaguar]

Aren't sprinklers modded in?

[uSpartacuz]

No, they were added in this latest update patch. You have to progress a fair bit into the game, since you can only unlock the recipe after you get one specific spell, not to spoil it. So it is a mid to late game unlock

[Ninacius]

At that point, just use the rain spell instead. I don't bother with sprinklers despite having tons of extra essence. Disabling other cooking infusions makes it very easy to get the magical infusion on your 4/5 stars dishes, and you can just sell the extras.
You won't even need to do it on rainy days, plus lately the mines have been dropping lots of mana potions for me too.
Plus, the sprinklers use up a space, and you can't walk/ride an animal over them, which makes it annoying for harvesting imho (I just ride my horse for harvesting huge lines of crops and it's awesome).
(I have about 1500 crops).

[romy]

Originally posted by Ninacius:

At that point, just use the rain spell instead.

this.

why care for sprinklers when we have a rain spell ? i don't get it.

[uSpartacuz]

Originally posted by romy:

Originally posted by Ninacius:

At that point, just use the rain spell instead.

this.

why care for sprinklers when we have a rain spell ? i don't get it.

There are only 4 mana points in the game at the moment, I can at best use it for 5 days, mana potions can also not be bought, even though it would make sense for Juniper to sell them. I don't want to spend all day in the mines hoping to get a drop for more mana potions, if I did that see my previous point of doing that to gather the 32k essence required to run the system for a whole in-game year.

What is the point of having automation in the game if it is half-implemented? You get the rain spell at the beggining of the game, makes sense to help out while you are getting started. Sprinklers should and are a late game tech unlock, they should function as late game tech does, allowing you to focus on other areas of the game.

I realize not everyone is going for a massive farm with 50+ sprinklers, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm using maybe 40% of the total farm area available to me and the current system is not scalable in any realistic manner.

[romy]

Originally posted by uSpartacuz:

if I did that see my previous point of doing that to gather the 32k essence required to run the system for a whole in-game year.

that's the thing, you don't need to farm 32k essence when you can simply use the spell. like the other person explained you can get infinite mana by simply cooking(which shouldn't be a problem with your massive crops). you don't have to loot the mines whatsoever.

Originally posted by uSpartacuz:

I realize not everyone is going for a massive farm with 50+ sprinklers, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm using maybe 40% of the total farm area available to me and the current system is not scalable in any realistic manner.

You can use 100% of the total farm area and water everything in one go with a single spell that takes maybe 1 sec per day to cast. you can cast it on your house door step (that's what I do).

So automation of huge farm is functional, you are just doing it wrong. Sprinklers are for small farms, for massive farm -> use spell.

[uSpartacuz]

Originally posted by romy:

that's the thing, you don't need to farm 32k essence when you can simply use the spell. like the other person explained you can get infinite mana by simply cooking(which shouldn't be a problem with your massive crops). you don't have to loot the mines whatsoever.

That only works on 4 and 5 star dishes, which none of my cash crops are grown for.

Originally posted by romy:

You can use 100% of the total farm area and water everything in one go with a single spell that takes maybe 1 sec per day to cast. you can cast it on your house door step (that's what I do).

So automation of huge farm is functional, you are just doing it wrong. Sprinklers are for small farms, for massive farm -> use spell.

Having to do the same action every day of the game, even if it takes one second, is not automation.

If I wanted to fill my farm with 50+ barns instead, I would still run into the exact same issue with the autopetter. What spell could I use then?

[Ninacius]

Originally posted by uSpartacuz:

There are only 4 mana points in the game at the moment, I can at best use it for 5 days, mana potions can also not be bought, even though it would make sense for Juniper to sell them. I don't want to spend all day in the mines hoping to get a drop for more mana potions.

So, good thing you don't need actual mana potions, since if you're farming so much, you surely can craft 4 or 5 stars dishes. If you disable other cooking infusions (which you should), getting dishes with the magical infusion is super easy. The magical infusion for food is, in practice, a mana potion but better, and with different ingredient alternatives.

As said, I have 1500+ crops and have never struggled with mana despite only using the rain spell to water my crops, and have lots of backup magic infused food. Sometimes I even manually water some of my crops only to get seeds and essence points for fun (and then just cast rain afterwards).

And if you want to "play the game" without actually playing the game (ie just doing one action is too much), I just don't know what to tell you.

[uSpartacuz]

I just want the automation to be actual automation, and feel like late game tech. I'm not trying to min-max. I could fill the farm with every tile being crops and water it every day with the rain spell but that is not how I want to play the game.

And the problem still stands if you use autopetters instead of the sprinklers. How are you going to automate 50+ barns if I want to make a giant milk ranch?

This is pratically free Q&A for the developers, the point is the current automation system is not scalable at any point past say maybe 10 or fewer statues and does not feel like automation.

[romy]

Originally posted by uSpartacuz:

Having to do the same action every day of the game, even if it takes one second, is not automation.

it is just pressing one button. how more automation can you get lol ? you press more just to go out of your house, not even counting harvesting your crops (which is where this game has no automation). but please if pressing one button is too much for you and you prefer harvesting 32k essence, be my guest lmao.

Originally posted by uSpartacuz:

If I wanted to fill my farm with 50+ barns instead, I would still run into the exact same issue with the autopetter. What spell could I use then?

??? this topic is about sprinklers and crops, you can't use those in barns lol.



you're just trolling at this point, just mark the topic as answered (i recommend using the first answer from Ninacius for that, it's pretty complete and comprehensive answer) and be done with it. If you want automation try the game "Factorio" it's a great game that is all about automation.

Your problem was solved, there is nothing more we can tell you. Good luck !

[SimuLord]

Originally posted by uSpartacuz:

Since I can't make millions of dollars in real life I enjoy making them in games. I like it when number go up.

And I wanted to see how far I could push the automation in this game. I'm taking a break from Factorio, but Factorio doesn't take a break from me. The farm must grow

As much as I love a good automation/logistics game, trying to play Mistria like that is forcing a square peg into a round hole. And if I wanted to play a number-go-up game where the numbers are ultimately meaningless because there's nothing in the game to spend that fake money on, I'd play an idle game.

[uSpartacuz]

Originally posted by romy:

you're just trolling at this point, just mark the topic as answered (i recommend using the first answer from Ninacius for that, it's pretty complete and comprehensive answer) and be done with it. If you want automation try the game "Factorio" it's a great game that is all about automation.

Your problem was solved, there is nothing more we can tell you. Good luck !

I'm not and you don't have to jump into the topic if you don't get what I am saying. Nowhere in my post did I ask for help or an answer. I simply stated that the current "automation" in the game is not well designed for scalability. This is more feedback for the developers.

I gave you the barn example because the animal statue has the same problem that the water statue has.

And I have hundreds of hours in Factorio LOL I know a good automation system when I see one, and this isn't it.