Is the farm station worth it?

[Alf]

After experimenting with the farm station a bit I feel like it's not really worth using unless you are in a bind and need to grow food quickly.

On the plus side, it doubles the growth rate. This means that you need half the amount of water (which is probably the biggest advantage) and you need less space. The space doesn't really matter because it's easy to get more space to grow more plants. Also, since the farm station takes up two tiles in every greenhouse there's also that to think about.

It comes with significant costs though. Your dupes have to fertilize the plants every cycle, which takes plants like bristle blossoms that require virtually no labor to a very labor intensive food source. On top op this, you have to use fertilizer and fertilizer requires a fairly complex production chain to sustainably produce.

In order to make fertilizer, you need to use polluted water and phosphorite. These are both resources that can be very useful for other applications. Then there's also the matter of the heat produced by producing fertilizer, and the natural gas which will mix directly into your atmosphere which you'll need to deal with.

While it is certainly possible to do all of the above, it is a huge amount of added effort for the colony with a comparatively small payoff.

Has anyone found a long term application where the farm station is actually worth it?

[Laserak]

I used it once during my first game, then came to the same conclusion.

[Peez Machine]

They are a good value when used with pincha peppers, which also use polluted water and phosphorite.

[AlexMBrennan]

Food is way to easy to produce (shove voles & pip planted wild plants) to bother with trying to improve yield.

[Ender's games]

My guess is that it is like everything. If you are in an asteroid without coal you need to use wood generators but are they a good idea? Not really.

If you are in an asteroid where critters or seeds are scarce you want to use the farm station as much as possible.

You might need the extra kick of Natural Gas in your asteroid and producing fertilizer can help with that. And since you already have the fertilizer... why not use it?

[caseyas435943]

With the changes in the DLC a worthless building became more worthless.

It was never worth the time before. And if you own the DLC it's not worth the time now.

Plants in the DLC grow at warp speed now without the pain of the farm station.

In the base game you don't need it.

1 pacu with grow into millions if you want. And you don't have to feed them. Or ranch them.

1 tile of water is all you need for free food forever. Using nothing.

[Gob]

The only time I've used it is when I've only had one or two seeds to start a farm with so that I get new seeds at ~twice the rate.

[Lily]

the farm station is situational, like most things in any sandbox survival video game, and you would do well to think of that rather than writing off anything that isn't directly in the path of least resistance in this *sandbox* survival video game with a bunch of options. a particular use i can think of is speeding up crop mutations, but halving growth time is always nice.

[AlexMBrennan]

rather than writing off anything that isn't directly in the path of least resistance in this *sandbox*

You could also vent half of your oxygen into space but why would you choose to make your life unnecessarily difficult by doing that?

[Gustuv Wynd]

I use them early to just get me a nice surplus of food in the fridge just using the fertilizer I find on the map. Then I remove it or just let it go unused once there is no fertilizer for it. Eventually I will be wanting to use vole ranches for food anyway

[zverozvero]

If you want mutated seeds to get achivement or simply toy with before building full on nuclear reactor fetilizing will double speed and if radiation from satelites or weezworts is used space for mutating farms is limited.

Fertilizing hungry plants like Wheat, Reeds or Pepper will save resources. Care packages often allow free fertilizer and some is just sitting around on terra worlds so might put it to use. Agriculure skill extends Farmers touch by 10% per point so crops need tending once per 2.5-3 cycles with dedicated farmer. Its not taxing to use but it wont compete with hundred fish in a square. Say, power is never isue at such level too so whateve Heat synthesiser generates is irrelevant. Game allows tricks rivaled only by sandbox.
Longterm food, power or oxygen can be scratched anyway.