Hydroponics.. is there anything to make them better?

[twinkypillow]

is this all you do?

https://s9.postimg.org/ahol58m8f/Screenshot_54.png

[corisai]

First - your using hydroponic and turrets fueled from 1 wind turbine. This is unsafe if wind go down for prolonged time.

Second - usually hydroponic used with sun lamp, it's allowing plants to grow most possible time (~60% in day, major part of night plants are resting).

Keeping it's unroofed also endanger you in case of toxic fallout or vulcanic winter.

[grapplehoeker]

They're electronic and use a lot of power. This means you need enough power and you need to keep them dry.
So, make sure you install them indoors with enough power to supply them plus the sun lamp that will 'feed' them light.
Look at the area of effect of your sun lamp and build a room that size, make sure it is roofed (indoors) and only then, fill it with hydroponics units.
After I've researched hydroponics, I'll be aiming towards getting geothermal power. By the time I've researched that, my hydroponics rooms should have been constructed and ready to install, but I'll wait until I have my geothermal plants to power them first. With a little luck I can get all that done before the first toxic fallout.

[Monarch 🍕]

Hydroponics can be and reccomended to be placed inside. All they require is electricity and light (Sun Lamp.)

The advantage is that you can keep them inside away from animals, they also grow faster. The bad side is if you have no electricity, they die. Same with heat and cold.

I would reccommend you also have a farm outside or create a indoor farm over the soil. I.E. Use a sunlamp, build walls around the area it provides light. Then use coolers and heater to regluate the temperature. The advantage the normal growing zones is that they aren't dependant on electricity. They will only die to events and temperature.

[corisai]

Additional advantage of indoor hydroponic - you can place it's just in front of your freezer, so you colonists don't spend a lot of time hauling rice into it.

And rice in hydroponic growth so fast that you can ignore most of crops-affecting events (but solar flares will be painfull

[twinkypillow]

what are the temps I need to monitor for it to work? I should use a cooler and a heater!?

here is what I have now..

I got plenty of wood so just fueling that way..

https://s22.postimg.org/5heo23xbl/Screenshot_55.png

[corisai]

Don't check precise temps, but for me crops are growth perfectly with 17 C (I'm playing only on temperate/cold maps, dislike heat like in RL lol).

Your design is AWFUL - even 1-2 generators burns a lot of fuel. And wood can be turned in statues (beauty boost of main rooms = mood boost) / re-made beds until they superior + (less time wasted on sleep).

Universal solution for hydroponics is geothermal plants. One of them power full greenhouse with 12...20+ hydroponics basins. And they can feed a lot of pawns with rice.

UPD. It's also awful because with wood powerplants you don't need batteries, and without batteries in circuit - no ZZtt events will shoot.

[Name Lips]

You need a more efficient hydroponic layout. Do a google search. I found this one pretty quick:

http://i.imgur.com/N5BwaYm.png

But I'm sure there are more and better ones. The idea is to figure out how many hyrdoponics tables you can fit in the area of a single sun lamp, while still letting your colonists access it (needs at least one side clear).

[twinkypillow]

wow.. Hitler designs.. sheesh!

[Name Lips]

The point is that each table has 4 plots, and each plot needs to be accessable from one of its sides. Also, sun lamps require a lot of power, and only spread light in a circular radius. Overlapping them is inefficient -- you want to use as much of that precious expensive sunlight as possible and not waste any. But it's tricky fitting rectangular tables into a circular area efficiently. Thus the crazy designs.

[corisai]

It's obsolete design from older versions. Currently pawns can walk through basins (but move a lot slower doing so).

So max effective design in sun lamp usage is : http://i.imgur.com/uSF1Q8t.jpg

If you wand your colonists keep a direct access to basins here is a bit better design : http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/270597449605837722/1A5E35A4E069E561E87147FE10B911BBC84315AC/