Farms or orchards. Which is better?

[epicfacedave]

The title says it all. ive been using orchards and its been workin just fine for me. But ive been seeing people use the farms way more. are they better?

[Black bean]

Orchards are abysmal. Two fertile farm tiles already give more food than an orchard.

[IAMACOMMUNIST]

My current kingdom has 327 villagers being fed entirely on orchards without issue. And you dont have to worry about flooding or whatever.

[itssirtou]

Farms get better benefits from Very Fertile soil, Orchards use less people and can't flood

[Mellog]

I'll create a pro/con list based off of my experiences.

Orchard pros:
-Does not flood
-Recieves a minor bonus depending on fertility
-A single orchard produces slightly more than 4 farms with no bonuses.

Orchard Cons:
-Takes up more space and is not as easily placed.
- Does not recieve a bonus from windmill.
-A single orchard requires 4 people to work it properly.


Farm Pros:
-Recieves major bonuses depening on fertility of location
-Recieves a small bonus from windmill
-Easily placed in small locations
-Requires only 1 worker.

Farm Cons:
-Chance of flooding(which slows down the harvesting for that single farm; or basically has it harvested last.)
-A single farm produces low food per year.(So far I believe the max output is 15 and thats with a master worker, windmill, and high fertility)


This is about all I can think of, so If anyone has more to add to this list then please feel free to do so.

[The Derpening]

Farms are much better food production for one simple reason: The benefits of windmills are stackable meaning if you have very fertile tiles next to eachother, you can surround them with windmills for a MASSIVE buff to food increase. As stated, theyre more prone to flooding and only require one worker (but the windmills require 1 worker per as well). Your best option is to mix and match. If built properly, farms with supporting windmills will greatly outproduce orchards

[Brunnr]

Sorry about the thread necro, but just to update based on version 115r7s (June 2019), windmills no longer stack, so a farm with high fertility soil, master farmer, irrigation, and a windmill generates 11 food, and I believe the flood chance is around 10%. An orchard which has master workers, 4 highly fertile tiles that are also irrigated generates 34 food and takes 3 workers total, 11.33 food/worker, 8.25 food/tile and no lost food from flooding.

So per worker orchards edge out farms on food production, as that farm also has a windmill with 2 workers. If you find an ideal 3x3 highly fertile space, you can get 88 food from farms and a windmill with 10 workers, 8.8 food/worker. Without a windmill the farm gets 8 food/worker. With the ~10% flood rate, it's about 8/7.2 food per workers with/without windmill.

The orchard requires that 2x2 space not have any barren land to place as a downside, but irrigation resolves that issue in the late game. Irrigation will take 5 workers for the noria regardless of farm/orchard, so not including that in worker cost. Also late game you tend to have plenty of idle workers, so the orchard's worker benefit is less important, while maximizing food output per tile to max population is a bit more important. Since you have so many farms, the flooding evens out.

So I'd say in the current state, orchards win out when you can fit the 2x2 space. They produce more food/tile on average when you account for flooding, while taking fewer farmers per tile as well. Farms are good filler when you can't place the 2x2.

[Ragalok]

Well, i havent played much but here is my observation on a 1000 pop city.

Orchad placed on 4 hight fertil soil + irrigation + 3 master worker : 40 food for 4 tile and 3 worker
Farm, placed on fertile soil + irrigation + windmill + master worker : 11 food for 1 tile and 1 worker

8 farm + 1 wind mill (9 tile)= 88 food and 10 worker (i usualy place wind mill on non fertil tile)
2 orchad (8 tile) = 80 food for 6 worker

So for the same amout of tile, farm would make more, however for the same amount of people orchad will make more food. Also orchad need 4 tile side by side, so you can easly do down to 30 if not all hight fertil tile. Whereas farm are more versatile, just place on 1 tile. And don't froget that farm produced as soon as thier bulit while orchade take two years before giving you fruits.

So which is best? Well you need both any way as bakery need wheat, i would go for 1/3 orchad and 2/3 farm early, and move to 2/3 orchad and 1/3 farm later.

[Nolanjr55Gamez]

ok i got the simple answer with no math orchards take longer to produce food and if you already have a low supply of food you will need farms to fill in the gaps