Farming

[POMF POMF]

Is Corn the best plant to grow cause it lasts the longest in storage?

[Skeleton]

In my opinion Rice is the best. It grows fastest and it gives plenty.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Meli:

Is Corn the best plant to grow cause it lasts the longest in storage?

It really depends on your stage of development. Corn is the most efficient crop to grown, but it takes the longest to mature. It yields more per "work unit" than any other crop.

By far, for the early game, rice and potatoes are the best crops to start growing immediately. Only once one can fulfill their needs with these crops should one devote an effort to grow Corn.

If, for instance, one started first with corn, it's likely one's colonists would either starve or have serious food-shortage issues if crops were their only source of sustenance.

My first crops are a plot of rice, a plot of potatoes, a plot of cotton and then, depending on the skills of my pawns, a plot of Devilstrand if I can grow it. If it's an environment where Healroot doesn't grow naturally, then I plant it as well. Only once those are taken care of do I then start growing Corn. Later, I will tuned down both Cotton and Healroot production, generally using about half a plot for each.

Note: "Storage Life" is not an issue in Rimworld. One should be using a "Freezer" set up as soon as its possible and default degredation/spoil rates do not apply at that point. Corn can, due to how much it yields at harvest, take up a ton of space and that might make it a concern if one is unprepared for that. In that case, build a second freezer area with a lower-priority than one's primary food-storage freezer.

[Monoxide]

Rice: Grows fast, high work amount
Potatoes: Less impact from soil type (can grow well anywhere)
Strawberries: Can be eaten raw without "ate raw food" debuff
Corn: Long grow time, highest yield, low work amount

Ultimately, if you have the means, corn is the best crop for yield and work amount. As Morkonan said, I wouldnt start with it as the long grow time can lead to starvation, blight, cold snaps, or other disasters.

[Jigain]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-zAsWWKO-jfLEVCCx1gXsA_ewPyS9u-gL1LZw02Wg6A/edit#gid=1959292820

[POMF POMF]

thanks

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Jigain:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-zAsWWKO-jfLEVCCx1gXsA_ewPyS9u-gL1LZw02Wg6A/edit#gid=1959292820

I remember that, or one just like it.

Is that up to date?

Here are a couple of other doc links, though I am not sure they're up to date. (One can save them and then make the necessary adjustments for oneself, though.)

Food Calculator:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MjxYrkl7j8Z0RQogMIwQwq8Vl3y9Uozhy2Tf59AT6ME/edit#gid=1685367709

Crop Calculator v2:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m3Poylh6TAiUO9Ej7Q8FNM8d3ZRAyyquaDWS-8xDBVc/edit#gid=920396732

All credit to the original creators.

[M.K.]

Both corn and rice have very long shelf life (all raw veggies do)
Rice matures much faster, and very slightly more food yield per time, but requires more labor.

So frankly: rice early on, later corn for the better labor-efficiency.

If growing in hydroponics, its rice all the way, as solar flare event ruin hydro crops, and corn with longer grow cycle is much more prone to loss.

[MortVent]

I tend to diversify... usually one patch of rice and berries (in case the cook is out of commision) early on. Then add some taters and then corn over time. But always keep a mix of ingredients with several being converted to create kibble as well as meals (usually the rice)

[POMF POMF]

Originally posted by MortVent:

I tend to diversify... usually one patch of rice and berries (in case the cook is out of commision) early on. Then add some taters and then corn over time. But always keep a mix of ingredients with several being converted to create kibble as well as meals (usually the rice)

I do that I do like 5x5 of corn, rice, potato, berry etc

[MortVent]

Originally posted by Meli:

Originally posted by MortVent:

I tend to diversify... usually one patch of rice and berries (in case the cook is out of commision) early on. Then add some taters and then corn over time. But always keep a mix of ingredients with several being converted to create kibble as well as meals (usually the rice)

I do that I do like 5x5 of corn, rice, potato, berry etc

And the nice thing is if you do it right you can stagger harvests some. So not all of them are ready at the same time, so the farmers are always busy.

Same with the other core crops (cotton, healweed, psychite) or the extra (smokeweed, wort)

I usually do 5x10 for the crops, with larger zones for key things like cotton and healweed (usually do 11x10, basically eliminate the path between 2 standard crops zones)

[Monoxide]

You could also look into the VGP mods. They add several new crops. Its not uncommon for me to have 12 or so different crop types. I always felt the farming/cooking needed to be expanded.

[POMF POMF]

Was there ever a mod that locked needs at max like Food and Rest

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by Jigain:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-zAsWWKO-jfLEVCCx1gXsA_ewPyS9u-gL1LZw02Wg6A/edit#gid=1959292820

I remember that, or one just like it.

Is that up to date?

Here are a couple of other doc links, though I am not sure they're up to date. (One can save them and then make the necessary adjustments for oneself, though.)

Food Calculator:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MjxYrkl7j8Z0RQogMIwQwq8Vl3y9Uozhy2Tf59AT6ME/edit#gid=1685367709

Crop Calculator v2:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m3Poylh6TAiUO9Ej7Q8FNM8d3ZRAyyquaDWS-8xDBVc/edit#gid=920396732

All credit to the original creators.

Unfortunately none of those are up to date, the yields are wrong (corn is now 22, rice is 6). The wiki is a little more accurate with the current raw numbers but the math is a little off for haygrass NPD it looks like.

https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Plants

Rice is the best NPD and also the most effort, which in most cases is a double win because you probably want your growers getting as much skill exp as possible. Corn makes more sense when your growers are doing so much that they don't have time for everything, like if you have a giant drug or tree farm or something, less work on food means more work on other crops.

The numbers are close enough to not really matter though. Berries are unquestionably the worst choice for nutrition per day, but they are good enough that if you wanted to just grow berries you could and wouldn't run into any issues with that (assuming you have a freezer, because they don't last long).

[Spack Jarrow]

There is different reasons to grow different ones.

Rice gives the most yield over time, but is also the most labour intensive, use it to TRAIN plant growing.

Corn has minimally less yield , but takes little labour.

I typically rotate crops, RIce> Potatoes and then switching to Corn.

Another problem with corn is that it's hurts when you get blight.

So technically speaking Potato is the safest plant to grow.

[M.K.]

Originally posted by Spack Jarrow:

So technically speaking Potato is the safest plant to grow.

Except that potato almost ignores soil fertility, which is quite the opposite of rice and corn.
It makes no sense to use the same field for al three.

Potatoes are for sandy low-fertility soils where they actually perform *better* than rice or corn.