Perfect Ration Gardens for V12

[captainamaziiing]

The Emergency Rations are the best food in the game because they do not spoil, and they pack a wallop in your belly.

They were nerfed along with all the other food for V12, but are still the best. But they also nerfed the recipe. So here, for your OCD food needs are the recipes for perfect ration gardens. No waste, no leftovers.

To make 2 Emergency rations at a time (the minimum for no waste) you need EXACTLY:

4 Big Alien Flowers ( 4 buds)
1 Orange Plant (8 fruit)
2 Spice Plants ( 6 spice)
2 Pumpkins ( 16 vegetable)
1 Tomato ( 4 vegetable)
1 eggplant (1 vegetable)

That's 21 total vegetable, and a total of 11 garden plots. You also need 2 purified water. Mix it all up into 2 Emergency rations.

You can be a little more efficient if you want 4 rations per harvest. You can double everything, but also switch out the 2 eggplants for a Blue Pepper, and switch out the 2 Tomatoes for one Pumpkin.

8 Big Alien Flowers
2 Orange Plants
4 Spice Plants
5 Pumpkins
1 Blue Pepper

Total 20 garden plots. Add purified water for 4 rations.

Go nuts. Double it again for more efficiency.

16 Flowers
4 Oranges
8 Spice
10 Pumpkins
1 Tomato

Total 39 growplots. Add water for 8 rations.

Go the distance

32 flowers
8 Oranges
16 Spice
21 Pumpkins

77 growplots. 16 rations.

This is the maximum efficiency, but you will need an army to eat that much. I'm still waiting to see if two emergency rations lasts longer than it takes to grow the next batch. It might require 4 at a time to assure ample food.

Of course, if you are okay with some leftovers you can switch up some lesser vegetables for Pumpkins and save a grow plot.

You can also build a mini garden with

2 Flowers
1 Orange
1 Spice
2 Pumpkins

This fits under a single growlight, but has leftovers fruit and pumpkins. However oranges and pumpkins grow slower than flowers and spice, so if you are on it, you can harvest more flowers and spice to make up for it. Not sure if this produces enough food overall. You might go hungry waiting for the next crop.

EDIT: I tested the growth duration v hunger equation. 2 rations at a time is jussst enough, you probably want 4 so you needn't stress, unless you have other food sources, of course.

[piddlefoot]

Very educational dude !

May the Bioforce be with you ! LOL !

[VulcanTourist]

I once tried to min-max this, but I realized that it just wasn't necessary as I was swimming in food that I couldn't use unless the game let me hire a crew that I had to feed. Having a large farm is not costly, and it's even more practical now that you can have a teleporter in it and simply pop in every hour to harvest and then go back to what you were doing, even if that's in another system altogether.

[piddlefoot]

But alas we can dream of future days where we might have our own little robot slaves to harvest our fud for us in true Asimo style !

[Lerch Addams]

Very nice!

Thanks for taking the time to put this together and post it.

[Donny]

Originally posted by VulcanTourist:

I once tried to min-max this, but I realized that it just wasn't necessary as I was swimming in food that I couldn't use unless the game let me hire a crew that I had to feed. Having a large farm is not costly, and it's even more practical now that you can have a teleporter in it and simply pop in every hour to harvest and then go back to what you were doing, even if that's in another system altogether.

I like that option, I see 2 advantages you can have your farm on a completely safe planet and harvest easily from any distance plus, you no longer need your farm attached to or close by your base.
However, I think a CV should still have its own (hydroponic) farm as that would add add more to the authenticity of a CV many light years from home needing to be self sufficient in everything rather than having the captain teleport home to go shopping.

[Midas]

Honestly, I've moved away from rations. The cost of producing them does not make up for their benefits, and their material costs can produce several other foods for more overall food recovery. Fridges are easy to get, most good vessels have several non-combat utilities like fridges anyways, food spoilage is almost never a problem after the earliest parts of the game.

[The Big Brzezinski]

i'm still not sure why these are important. Access to water and available grow space are much more practically significant concerns than byproduct-less ration production. I guess some people just really hate that fridge model.

[Lerch Addams]

Welp, as a player that'll consume anything as long as it means i don't have to prepare food in game, i have a lot of respect for players that think about this stuff.

(because i sure as heck don't)

[Moralarty]

Thank you, garden now replanted!
Don't suppose you have done the same for Health Packs ?

[captainamaziiing]

Originally posted by Moralarty:

Thank you, garden now replanted!
Don't suppose you have done the same for Health Packs ?

I have not, but it's a great idea.

[Nina]

I would add some of the plant that makes plant protein. as for WHY to make rations rather than the other foods that you could make with all those base ingredients, rations dont spoil. I can carry 4 rations on me and be covered for maybe a week. my other foods will spoil in that time.

[VulcanTourist]

Originally posted by nina:

I would add some of the plant that makes plant protein.

You have no practical reason at all to plant Ahax for protein when it can be derived from vegetables obtained from Pumpkin, and the vegetables have other direct applications.

[mathaniel]

@ captainamaziing. Thank you. What a coinki dink. I was playing on a save where I had started a base with only a plain core not a base starter core(still open to elements) and it was taking a lot of time. I wondered if I could set another prefab base nearby for a farm. I read your post here. I made a factory base- DD Lokrum Luxury. Has almost everything one needs and 18 growing slots with two lights. I play several saves of different games lol.

[piddlefoot]

Play on several servers dude, its a real adventure !

Maybe one day we will need food to feed our minion workers ?
Just sayin, live outside the box. You never know.

Maybe they will require particular foods as they grow up, forcing you to grow all sorts of things, that might seem futile now but might have a purpose later.

Keep an open mind with Eleon, anything is possible.

[mathaniel]

I do have an open mind. Whats left of it. Handicaps and disabilities aside, I do well to play any game solo. It is what it is. Having said that, I don`t find too many game forums as great as EGS forums. Forums are a large part of my game play, when they are good hehe. Thanks for the offer and all the information I get here, and I quite enjoy playing this game. Cheers