Mechanics of Herb Gathering

[irrelevant]

Sorry if everyone knows this already. I see so much misinformation about this topic on various forums that I feel the need to set the record straight here.

Screenshot 1: This is an Herb, or a Herb if you prefer 

Screenshot 2: This is an Herbalist stalking an herb in the wild.

Screenshot 3: The Herbalist strikes! The herb is basketized.

Screenshot 4: The plant yielded 3 Herbs, which are added to the Herbalist's personal inventory. I would assume every herb plant would yield three herbs when collected.

No one else can gather herbs. If you make a clearcut, your laborers will chop them (thus destroying them), and if they are in the footprint of a building under construction, they will count as an item to be removed. But only an Herbalist can gather herbs and store them.

This particular Herbalist is walking around with 72 trade value in her basket.

If one knows where to find herbs, one might well build an Herbalist to collect them just for trade value.

These things are everywhere in forests. They are easiest to see in a Forester circle where the Foresters have done some serious thinning. I always assumed they were just immature trees. The "old growth forest" story is bunk.

[RedKetchup]

oh ya , they are good value specially if you can get thousands to sell but only the general goods merchants will take them.
no need to put 2 workers per buildings. herbs spawns are very very slow. i only assign only 1 worker but you can put tons of them everywhere. in a scenario like 500 farmers challenge they arent usefull cause all your map is painted with crops but like in my Lucky Seven City, where most buidings are gatherers and foresters.... i can get tons of herbs to sell

[rkelly17]

Screenshot 1: This is an Herb, or a Herb if you prefer 

I grew up in So. Cal. hearing and saying "'erb." After moving to Southern Ontario I had to learn to say "herb." Of course I had to learn to say things like fil-em instead of film and proh-gress instead of prah-gress. But I will never, ever say taa-co for taco. That is a bridge too far.

On a more serious note, the whole "old growth" forest thing is way over-blown. Herbs, onions, berries and roots all grow under "mature" trees, which seems to mean any full-grown trees. That is why plant-and-cut foresters, gatherers and herbalists can happily co-exist in the same circle.

[irrelevant]

@rkelly17  Al-you-min-ium yet? 

[mariesalias]

On a more serious note, the whole "old growth" forest thing is way over-blown. Herbs, onions, berries and roots all grow under "mature" trees, which seems to mean any full-grown trees. That is why plant-and-cut foresters, gatherers and herbalists can happily co-exist in the same circle.

I have been wondering about that lately, I couldn't remember anyone saying one way or the other, so thanks!

@irrelevant  I'm sure this thread might help clear up some misconceptions about Herbalists.

[rkelly17]

@rkelly17  Al-you-min-ium yet? 

That's one that I have never learned. People tell me that I don't have much of an American accent, but I think that's because, coming from So. Cal., I talk just like the people on TV.

[RedKetchup]

with my tests tonight :

gatherer + forester = awesome combo
herbalist + forester = extremly bad, even 0 herbs for years

looks like herbs spawn at the foot of very very old trees but foresters always cut those trees before it gets to old (cutting at mature phase) so... no old trees ... no herbs

[salamander]

@RedKetchup -- That's odd.  I don't think I've had an herbalist in a forest with forester's that did so poorly as yours are.  How long have the foresters been managing your forest ... ie, has it reached a balance between the cutting and re-planting, yet?  That can take a few years to happen.

[rkelly17]

with my tests tonight :

gatherer + forester = awesome combo
herbalist + forester = extremly bad, even 0 herbs for years

looks like herbs spawn at the foot of very very old trees but foresters always cut those trees before it gets to old (cutting at mature phase) so... no old trees ... no herbs

This is not the first time I have heard this, but it has never happened to me. I do always set the foresters to "plant only" until the growth is pretty thick. 3 -5 game years.

[RedKetchup]

it is in my Lucky Seven blog. in district 1 i had trees which never been cut since i seeded them when i made the district. there were hundreds of it. and in my old town , where my forester were always cutting and seeding since year 1 .... i ve checked and deleted my 3-4 herbalist huts cause in 'this year' and 'previous year' stats were totally empty, not even a letter was written something.

[mariesalias]

@RedKetchup  I have had this issue before too, though not zero herbs, but pretty low. I tend to have two woodcutters at every forestry hub (eventually). What helps me is to limit my herbalists to only one per hut. After that, I have a few things i do, depending upon the town.

One is to only have half of my herbalist cabins active at any given time and when their yields go down to turn those ones off and turn on the ones that were off before. This allows the forests time to recover.

Another is to simply give the forests time to recoup by turning them to plant only for a few years. This works best on forestry hubs near trade ports as the trade ports can supply them logs while the forests are recovering. 

Finally, I sometimes build a second forester's cabin in forestry hub, man it with two people and have them set only to plant. This seems to keep the forest thick and provides more trees for herbs to spawn under.

[RedKetchup]

i made a screenshot of my District 1. i gave recently the permission to my foresters to 'cut' the trees were there for a good dozen of year and you can see tons of herbs.

[irrelevant]

Yes, this is what I see everywhere. They don't really come back though unless they have good forest cover around.

[rkelly17]

it is in my Lucky Seven blog. in district 1 i had trees which never been cut since i seeded them when i made the district. there were hundreds of it. and in my old town , where my forester were always cutting and seeding since year 1 .... i ve checked and deleted my 3-4 herbalist huts cause in 'this year' and 'previous year' stats were totally empty, not even a letter was written something.

@RedKetchup, to help me understand better could you provide a bit more information? Did the circles of these herbalists overlap each other? Was there visible mature tree cover? At any point during the years were your herbs at maximum? I ask because I usually set my herb maximum at 100 per cabin with 1 herbalist per cabin and I never have any problems. I usually build 1 or 2 herbalists per map and they all share space with cut-and-plant foresters. I don't trade herbs so I'm usually at maximum and herbalists don't work much.

[RedKetchup]

yes the herbalist circles could overlap a bit, never at any point i did get my max : 500,000 herbs. no there were no trees mature cause the foresters were cutting them asap they get mature.

do a test for me. put a herbalist side of a forester(4 workers) allow cut and plant (put a stockpile not far). put another herbalist further with forester(2-3 plant only) and go back 5-6 years later and check the stats. you ll see