a question about farm sizes

[Asmodian]

what is the point of different farm sizes? as you get larger they cost more to start and give less crop per "seed plant" and since the harvesting is done on a per plant basis they are no faster to harvest so you run the risk of having crops die before being harvested.

I don't see the advantage of making the larger versions; what am I missing? Or is it just a convience thing?

[Mishca_Glendor]

You get more plants than it costs to build. Water consumption stays the same no matter the size. Crop output is 1-1 except with riceweed, 2-1. Fertility goes hand-in-hand with the skill of the farmer. Fertility rate is the base amount of crop that have a chance to be successfully harvested. The skill of the farmer decides if anything actually gets harvested.

[bspawn]

At high farming skill harvesting takes less time than growing, even with XL farms. So you get a more harvest per unit of time.
You get more plants per unit of farm surface.

[SnugSnug]

Start with a small one, use its harvest to upgrade upwards. Bigger fields are more efficient especially in fertile high% to harvest ares, but sometimes it's beneficial to have smaller fields with offset crop times (assuming space limitations) so that the farmer(s) are always harvesting, especially in the harder slower growing areas.

25*10% chances are better than 10*10% (modified by same farmer skill). But 2(10*10%) will have shorter down times and more regular production for the dependent crafting.

[Asmodian]

okay so my understanding is that all farms have the same footprint and water consumption regardless of size.

Therefore the larger farms use less space and less water per plant and the trade off for that is they are less efficent with the "seed plants" when building the farm and if your farmers aren't skilled enough it may take too long to harvest and some plants die.

ie. small uses 10 to plant 25, but medium uses 25 to only plant 40 (of course that's only a one time investment not every harvest)

[SnugSnug]

The inital crop cost is the building price... 1 off, so yes less efficient to initally build.
The rate of growth -fertility and the %chance of success are based on location (prospecting) not the farm size.
The farm size, only influnces how many potential crops are availbe for harvest.
Harvest rate/chance of success is modified by skill of farmer(s), on a per attempt basis.

If one has good farmers and high fertility then 1 XL farm is good. But in the slower growing areas, there's a huge downtime between harvests, hence more fields and its harder to set the fields up because of the reduced crop ouput so keeping them small reduces initial costs. The overall output will be lower, but should be far more steady... which fits better with production lines.

Overtime one can of course gradually upgrade at no real loss, just remember to keep the fields lit, so one doesn't end up harvesting the XL fields into the night and loosing the crop.

I'm not sure about water consumption mechanic, i believe its universal... but the lower the fertility% the quicker the health of the crop deteriorates when lacking water is my observation, would need confirmation on this. There's also the lack of water stops growth so its important to keep the fields under regular supply for fast and healthy harvests. Or pick a base location that naturally has rain.

[Haplo]

Since i didn't see anyone mention it, The Farms can have up to 4 people working them at the same time.

[Metroid]

with 4 farmers at around 80 - 100 farming skill each working on 4 xl cactus farms, 4 xl wheat farms, and 4 xl hemp farms in an area with 90% arid, 90% fertility my farmers spend more time standing around doing nothing then actually farming. they also manage to gather almost every single crop with maybe 4 plants going bad each harvest. the higher your skill at farming the more they get done faster ... im currently waiting on my science geek to finally unlock hydroponics so i can move on from fields to one building with all my hydroponics growth beds in it >:) also there is a really good farming guide up on steam you might want to check out :)

[Metroid]

Originally posted by Asmodian:

what is the point of different farm sizes? as you get larger they cost more to start and give less crop per "seed plant" and since the harvesting is done on a per plant basis they are no faster to harvest so you run the risk of having crops die before being harvested.

I don't see the advantage of making the larger versions; what am I missing? Or is it just a convience thing?

check out the Food production guide on ste guides section its very good and informitive about everything ye asked :P

[Zombie101]

Point is they feed more people per plot. Point is to grow your settlements and it make it easier to do that. Who care if a plant dies long you have a stable supply of food and basics always on tap.

Like asking why you want have a auto well and windmills. Your crew has better stuff to do then try always work ineffectively. Why have a cow/horse draw your field plows. Just do all the work your self.