Do the Little Crop Patches from Farms Actually Matter?

[Big N. Strauss]

I always build my farms in a rural area with lots of room so there's places for the little patches of crops to grow. Does the game/farm actually need those to function? Or is it just decorative?

[Two Gun Bob]

Good question. I've always thought that the animation triggers the resource increment step, or at least is tied to it.
I do know that if they don't have anywhere yellow or green nearby to plant they will wander far away to find a place, and that does reduce harvest levels because they are spending all their time walking. Animations are definitely tied somehow, whether triggered or triggering.

[Anvos]

Been a while, since I played but I believe I remember reading somewhere farms (not the modern ones) need roughly 3 farm buildings worth of space to be efficient.

[Two Gun Bob]

The plots do also have a secondary effect of improving the pasture rating over time, at least corn does. So they do contribute something other than just cosmetics.

I also remember something about 3 farms worth of space described by Anvos above, or more specifically a square 2 farms wide, I think with a picture example even. But that would depend on how close they planted, and that depends on where they had planted the previous plot. They do seem to avoid roadsides to a degree, and they favor fertile (green) ground.

[Uzi Master]

The farm produces nothing if they can't plant the crop patches. Destroying them by building over them will waste all the work that went into them thus far. Place a farm where no patches can be placed and it will produce nothing.

To elaborate a bit on Two Gun Bob, each crop adds and removes certain resources from the ground that affect how well or poorly other crops will fair. Technically you can practice crop rotation, but the game won't go on long enough for it to really matter.

Pasture quality is always degraded by farms BTW, I assume you just mixed up the terminology though.

[Two Gun Bob]

I've always noticed that corn farms create an area of green around them when you look at pasture quality so i assumed they boosted ranching. In fact i feel like i read something about that being the case but maybe I'm mixing up a different game. Was T3 different maybe?

[Uzi Master]

Tropico 3 had the same mechanics, though they're not really mentioned in 4.

It takes a while for the pasture degredation to happen, it can appear fine but after a while the fields will turn deep red. Maybe Corn specifically doesn't do this, I don't often grow a whole lot of it... But I think it's more likely you were looking at the wrong overlay or looked too soon after growing it. (Corn does boost basically all the soil nutrients for other plants.)

[Tsuichoi]

Originally posted by Uzi Master:

Tropico 3 had the same mechanics, though they're not really mentioned in 4.

It takes a while for the pasture degredation to happen, it can appear fine but after a while the fields will turn deep red. Maybe Corn specifically doesn't do this, I don't often grow a whole lot of it... But I think it's more likely you were looking at the wrong overlay or looked too soon after growing it. (Corn does boost basically all the soil nutrients for other plants.)

Wait so if you grow corn in the red over exhausted fields, it can reverse soil degradation? My apologizes if I misunderstood you.

[Uzi Master]

Yes, although it will take quite a while. And if the land is completely red you can't grow the corn there at all.

[LSD]

^ Damn, that's a name i remember from like 10 years ago on this forum.
Tropico 4 never dies.