Good Plantation layout

[Montmorencey66]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1917163229
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1917163277
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1917163315

I based off of the layout from reddit but reversed the plantations and added another cattle ranch. Got 80%+ on all plantations except sugar on the pirate cove mission map. And average of 100% on a random sandbox maps. It leaves plenty of room for houses nearby on top or extra plantations that would still be in the influence radius for multi culture and the ranch bonus.

[Battleclown]

Looks like they've tweaked how the Cattle Ranches affect the plantations; before the update the 'blue ring of effect' had to overlap the plant-part of the plantations, now it must overlap the building.
Which is more logical because manure have to travel through the building/entrance of the plantation to get to the fields.

I still prefer to pack the plantations tightly together to save space since I prefer to play on mid to small maps: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/775111584830447742/C47C536E241A01FD0CA6FC68064274B6E73A5F24/

Average across all plantations is 86,3% in the colonial era. Not sure it this is the best way but it pleases my industrial soul.

[fusk]

But those ranches won't cover many plantations that way. With the newer tropico updates it's getting harder to create efficient plantations that doesn't take up half the island.

[HotSpot]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Battleclown:

Looks like they've tweaked how the Cattle Ranches affect the plantations; before the update the 'blue ring of effect' had to overlap the plant-part of the plantations, now it must overlap the building.
Which is more logical because manure have to travel through the building/entrance of the plantation to get to the fields.

I still prefer to pack the plantations tightly together to save space since I prefer to play on mid to small maps: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/775111584830447742/C47C536E241A01FD0CA6FC68064274B6E73A5F24/

Average across all plantations is 86,3% in the colonial era. Not sure it this is the best way but it pleases my industrial soul.

Wait, does the actual plantation terrain seriously not affect the output?

[Battleclown]

Początkowo opublikowane przez HotSpot:

Wait, does the actual plantation terrain seriously not affect the output?

Monoculture is the most efficient way, but you need the proper soil and space to build them, teamster will also have to travel to all corners of the map which will lower the overall efficiency of your economy. Buildings and services needs to be built all over the map to prevent the workers from spending all their time walking to a chapel, tavern etc.
Over time monoculture lose efficiency and you have to rebuild some other place or use Multi Culture work mode

By stacking them closer toghether you save space, can build anywhere regardless of soil quality by using Multi Culture work mode, they last forever because of MC, no annoying gaps when upgrading to hydro, each plantation has a bigger chance of influencing another plantation in the stack (blue circle), teamster travel less because everything is close by.

Downside is they're expensive, the plantations in the middle don't receive bonus from cattle ranches but this can be fixed by placing the sugar plantations near the middle so that they give off a bonus to nearby plantations, it's hard to get enough workers in colonial era (issue penal colony) & close job slots on inefficient plantations/ranches until they are efficient or you have plenty of unskilled labour.

If you try to build a super plantation on an island without a dock you will most likely fail because the teamster will travel a lot and you will run into debt and out of mandate time.
The super plantations can be split ut so it'll even work on The Concrete Beach map. You can also build them slightly wider if you need certain plantations like sugar and tobacco to be more efficient; banana, corn, pineapple etc are just there to provide food varietey.

There's also a bunch of upgrades and bonuses in the game to keep the production up.

I'm still debating whether it's better to start with monoculture and then switch over to multiculture when you have enough money. I start every game with $20000 and 50 Tropicans so it's not like I'm rich when progressing to the next era, I usually progress when I have $50-100k so that I get a headstart on healthcare.

[HotSpot]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Battleclown:

Początkowo opublikowane przez HotSpot:

Wait, does the actual plantation terrain seriously not affect the output?

Monoculture is the most efficient way, but you need the proper soil and space to build them, teamster will also have to travel to all corners of the map which will lower the overall efficiency of your economy. Buildings and services needs to be built all over the map to prevent the workers from spending all their time walking to a chapel, tavern etc.
Over time monoculture lose efficiency and you have to rebuild some other place or use Multi Culture work mode

By stacking them closer toghether you save space, can build anywhere regardless of soil quality by using Multi Culture work mode, they last forever because of MC, no annoying gaps when upgrading to hydro, each plantation has a bigger chance of influencing another plantation in the stack (blue circle), teamster travel less because everything is close by.

Downside is they're expensive, the plantations in the middle don't receive bonus from cattle ranches but this can be fixed by placing the sugar plantations near the middle so that they give off a bonus to nearby plantations, it's hard to get enough workers in colonial era (issue penal colony) & close job slots on inefficient plantations/ranches until they are efficient or you have plenty of unskilled labour.

If you try to build a super plantation on an island without a dock you will most likely fail because the teamster will travel a lot and you will run into debt and out of mandate time.
The super plantations can be split ut so it'll even work on The Concrete Beach map. You can also build them slightly wider if you need certain plantations like sugar and tobacco to be more efficient; banana, corn, pineapple etc are just there to provide food varietey.

There's also a bunch of upgrades and bonuses in the game to keep the production up.

I'm still debating whether it's better to start with monoculture and then switch over to multiculture when you have enough money. I start every game with $20000 and 50 Tropicans so it's not like I'm rich when progressing to the next era, I usually progress when I have $50-100k so that I get a headstart on healthcare.

Sorry I was referring to the actual grid terrain. Like how when you place a plantation it covers a farmed area, and you can build other structures on top of that farmed area (I can see plantations overlapping in their farm area).

[MrGrumpsman]

To what HotSpot said, I'm also wondering if the "farm plots" actually matter to production as long as you can just get 100% or more efficiency. One would think each plot square contributes it's own product, but it seems like it just takes into account the fertility of the space it occupies, thus giving the plantation a bonus, malus, or just nothing at all if placed in a way that the plot can't exist.

[titanopteryx]

Początkowo opublikowane przez MrGrumpsman:

To what HotSpot said, I'm also wondering if the "farm plots" actually matter to production as long as you can just get 100% or more efficiency. One would think each plot square contributes it's own product, but it seems like it just takes into account the fertility of the space it occupies, thus giving the plantation a bonus, malus, or just nothing at all if placed in a way that the plot can't exist.

When placing a plantation, try hovering the plantations over areas where the farm area would be obstructed. The less farm area there is, the less efficiency.

[MrGrumpsman]

Początkowo opublikowane przez titanopteryx:

Początkowo opublikowane przez MrGrumpsman:

To what HotSpot said, I'm also wondering if the "farm plots" actually matter to production as long as you can just get 100% or more efficiency. One would think each plot square contributes it's own product, but it seems like it just takes into account the fertility of the space it occupies, thus giving the plantation a bonus, malus, or just nothing at all if placed in a way that the plot can't exist.

When placing a plantation, try hovering the plantations over areas where the farm area would be obstructed. The less farm area there is, the less efficiency.

I understand that part, but what I'm wondering is will a plantation with minimum space taken up at 100% efficiency produce as much as a plantation with maximum space taken up at 100% efficiency will?

Edit: basically do those farm squares produce said product in a meta sense?

[titanopteryx]

Początkowo opublikowane przez MrGrumpsman:

Początkowo opublikowane przez titanopteryx:

When placing a plantation, try hovering the plantations over areas where the farm area would be obstructed. The less farm area there is, the less efficiency.

I understand that part, but what I'm wondering is will a plantation with minimum space taken up at 100% efficiency produce as much as a plantation with maximum space taken up at 100% efficiency will?

Edit: basically do those farm squares produce said product in a meta sense?

Well if it were the case that the farm land squares made the product, I would imagine in the scenario that farm land was obstructed the farm would stay at 100% no matter how much was obstructed but the output would decrease. If it were the case that both the output and efficiency decrease at the same time, it would be cruel.

[Montmorencey66]

From what I can see the production is tied to efficiency not area covered. So minimum area covered with 100% efficiency would be just as productive as a max size farmland and 100% efficiency.

[djcolmer]

It seems to me that efficiency is definitely tied to area covered at least in the current update. the smaller the land area the less the production/efficiency.

I've found a layout where I have 3 rows of plantations all plantation buildings in the same orientation. Use multiculture on all plantations obviously and do manure boost on 3 ranches.

The middle row is my cash crops (full [6w x 9h]) that I'm sending to a factory.

Then below those 3 cash crops I have 4 plantations of the next best $ crops. Going across the bottom I have the four plantations at [5w x 9h] , [4w x 9h] , [4w x 9h], [5w x 9h].. This matches up the the 3 full size cash crops in the middle width wise. This bottom row does not need to be 9h by any means.. but if you have the space you mine as well take advantage of the efficiency boost you get on another $ crop.

On the row above my middle cash crops i have four cheap export price crops. Same size as the bottom row. On this top row I place a cattle ranch above each of my cash crops inside the plantation. I typically place one ranch on each outside plantation, and then split the middle ranch between the two 4w plantations.

This will give your middle row of cash crops the following efficiency (155%, 175%, 155%) if each other plantation you place if different and the starting location of the middle row of cash crops was about 100% to start with.

You could just make each plantation 3w and cram in as many plantations as possible and likely get 200% efficiency but you eat up so many jobs that way and each plantation's efficiency will be very low (post update where efficiency is tied to land area).

I wish I could attach a snapshot of my layout... Picture is worth 1000 words..

[trilobite709]

I've tried placing plantations closer together, sacrificing area covered. The problem that I've had is that if farm tiles of two different plantations overlap it is difficult to ensure that the right plantation is working the tiles. At first it seems that whatever plantation gets the tiles first, gets to keep them, but sometimes after reloading a saved game, tiles get swapped. For example, after reloading a recent game I found that the banana plantation had "stolen" 4 tiles from the coffee plantation. Because of this unpredictability I have become hesitant to use this technique.

It would be cool if you could manage exactly what tiles get farmed by a plantation.