How to place farms/ranches effectively?

[DutchFurnace]

Do farms actually need 100% green for the best production?

And how do ranches work? How much space do they need around and/or to the back of them to work properly?

Thank you.

[Annabeth]

As far as I know ranches don't need any extra space around them. Pollution and other factors affect production though. Actually, even plantations don't need extra space. You can build on the field area, and it won't affect production. But, in terms of resources, yes, best production comes from the 100% green areas. The only thing that needs extra space around is logging camp i think, you need to make sure it has enough trees around or a big enough area to plant trees once you buy that upgrade.

[Deuce]

I can confirm that sadly building on plantation land does reduce effectiveness so best to avoid doing that. Although if you gotta run a road through just one small part it's not a huge effect.

The other key things are to build ranches close to plantations where possible as they can have a significant positive effect on the plantation. Also avoid placing ranches right next to each other as they degrade the soil under and around themselves over time, and if right next to each other the effect overlaps and becomes more concentrated.

Finally, make sure they're fully staffed and upgraded, except the tobacco upgrade which just wrecks the soil after a time. I never use that upgrade.

[Valar Morghulis]

Originally posted by jeffkiwi5:

If you make pineapple plantations then you can get an upgrade which aids other pineapple plantations which are nearby. What are the other good combos?

Cocoa gives flat 100 effectivness
Tobacco reduces soil.
Suger gives nearby plantations effectivness.
Corn gets 100 over time (not sure if it really was corn tho)

[Deuce]

I guess also worth adding that once you upgrade to maxed out hydroponic farms, placement is pretty much irrelevant :)

[DutchFurnace]

Thanks guys, I've been playing around with it and have a tip:

You only get so much bonus from the field itself (50 for a perfect field), so depending on the crop, and the upgrades it has, you can kinda totally build on the field as much as possible.
As in, you'll get 300+ points from the workers, edicts, upgrades and other bonusses, that the +50 from a perfect field, (versus anything below 50 from a field you put a bunch of stuff on), is barely noticable.

[Deuce]

Originally posted by DutchFurnace:

Thanks guys, I've been playing around with it and have a tip:

You only get so much bonus from the field itself (50 for a perfect field), so depending on the crop, and the upgrades it has, you can kinda totally build on the field as much as possible.
As in, you'll get 300+ points from the workers, edicts, upgrades and other bonusses, that the +50 from a perfect field, (versus anything below 50 from a field you put a bunch of stuff on), is barely noticable.

This is true but... The game is kinda designed around the plantations pushing you to expand the town outwards to make it bigger. By the time you start to run out of space for central buildings you really need, you can upgrade to hydroponic anyway. So while you can build on farms, you don't need too and might as well have the extra +50.

This is especially true in earlier missions where money is short and upgrades limited.