Orchard benefit of Worker/Farmer?

[Eshwald]

Hello, i am always wondering if it is necessary to have Workers on the Orchards. Let's say i just planted a 15x15 Orchard which need's 3 Worker. They plant all the small Trees, is it then possible to stop the working at the orchard until the Trees are fully grown or is there an negative effect by doing this? What benefit do the Workers do to the Orchard at all? And when the Trees are adult, do i need Workers all the time on the Orchard or just when harvesting time is?

[jensenthecat]

They are needed to care for the trees. They weed them etc. I've never watched them closely.

Orchards, apart from a health benefit are a late game inclusive really, you need them to make ale.

[tlparry]

A strategy that I use from time to time in the early game is to plant an orchard and once the small trees show I stop work. The next year I do the same thing with a new orchard and the same the third year. Then in the fourth year I assign workers to the first orchard let them harvest, chop down the whole orchard and replant. Once trees show I assign the workers to the second field and repeat. This gets me some quick lumber at the beginning of winter and is usually right in town where it is needed – little work for the laborers. After a few cycles of this the town usually grows enough that I need the land more than the wood and I then phase it out. Doing this I get a nice crop of fruit or nuts using a minimum number of farmers. Perhaps I would get a few more percentages of fruit/nuts if I had the orchard attended for 3 years but I don't feel that it would be worth the loss of the workers for that time frame. Now I do change the strategy in mid to late game when I have more citizens and set up an ale trading economy. By then I don't need the extra lumber but do need the fruit for the tavern so I leave the orchards up and fully manned.

[jensenthecat]

You could use forresters for a better result.

They plant and cut, trees grow faster and its less hands on.

[tlparry]

Originally posted by jensenthecat:

You could use forresters for a better result.

They plant and cut, trees grow faster and its less hands on.

Agreed but I find it useful in some situations and for a limited time. Early in the game I may not have enough workers to fully stock the forestry and it is often away from the town center meaning longer walks for the laborers. By placing 9x10 (or it may be 10x9 - always forget) orchards in town I get a quick food uptick and between 50-75 logs per year. Also the timing is great. By the time the orchard is harvested all the other farmers are also finished. When you order the field to be chopped down they all come out chop and store the logs within minutes because the orchards are right by the houses and the stockpiles. You don't get that efficiency from the forester. The hands on is for only a few years and there isn't that much to do in the early game. As I said before once I can afford the extra hands I either phase them out or go set permanent workers to the orchards.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by tlparry:

Agreed but I find it useful in some situations and for a limited time. Early in the game I may not have enough workers to fully stock the forestry and it is often away from the town center meaning longer walks for the laborers.

What? Early in the game you have trees, lots of them, and 1 forester set planting early will create all the timber you need after you clear fell to build.

I do find it rather... odd... that you plant an orchard for trees when it takes 3 years for those trees to reach maturity. Had you planted a forester you would get... a better result.. in less time.

btw: On hard mode, you don't get orchards so don't rely on this method.

[tlparry]

Originally posted by Maverick:

Originally posted by tlparry:

Agreed but I find it useful in some situations and for a limited time. Early in the game I may not have enough workers to fully stock the forestry and it is often away from the town center meaning longer walks for the laborers.

What? Early in the game you have trees, lots of them, and 1 forester set planting early will create all the timber you need after you clear fell to build.

I do find it rather... odd... that you plant an orchard for trees when it takes 3 years for those trees to reach maturity. Had you planted a forester you would get... a better result.. in less time.

btw: On hard mode, you don't get orchards so don't rely on this method.

We're getting off topic. OP asked about orchards and I passed on what I know. If anyone wants to discus the merits of my methods let's start a new thread.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by tlparry:

Originally posted by Maverick:

What? Early in the game you have trees, lots of them, and 1 forester set planting early will create all the timber you need after you clear fell to build.

I do find it rather... odd... that you plant an orchard for trees when it takes 3 years for those trees to reach maturity. Had you planted a forester you would get... a better result.. in less time.

btw: On hard mode, you don't get orchards so don't rely on this method.

We're getting off topic. OP asked about orchards and I passed on what I know. If anyone wants to discus the merits of my methods let's start a new thread.

Excuse me? YOU introduced this "orchards for firewood" in your first response.

Us err... pros.. are making sure this bad advice gathers no traction, *particularly* for the OP who is seeking the BEST way to use orchards (which has been answered), not the worst.

[jensenthecat]

The OP was asking about orchard trees for "wood" not for fruit!

If it was the latter then may have been possible to call it OT.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by jensenthecat:

The OP was asking about orchard trees for "wood" not for fruit!

If it was the latter then may have been possible to call it OT.

He was? I'm confused. ;|

[jensenthecat]

So am I.

After reading the posts again, I'd have to say I'm wrong! Apologies to all.

[Eshwald]

I wanted to know if i have workers on the orchards, if the fruit yield is higher than without workers at the end of the year. Or if you can save the Manpower and just put them on the orchard for harvesting time

[Maverick]

Originally posted by Eshwald:

I wanted to know if i have workers on the orchards, if the fruit yield is higher than without workers at the end of the year. Or if you can save the Manpower and just put them on the orchard for harvesting time

Few have tested this becuase there are too many variables. I can't see the dev (as clever as he is) letting us plonk down orchards and not tend them so I'd imagine untended is going to be bad.

But, and this is what jensencat meant the first time, you shouldn't really be putting in crops or orchards until you *can* spare the manpower. Stopping/starting professions to force things to happen is what gets most people in trouble.

In fact it gave rise to rumours about running farms with minimal staff and all kinds of bad advice that caused a LOT of crashed populations.

Play as the dev intended and you can't go wrong.... Mostly :)