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Fewer Farms

Started by Demonocracy, May 27, 2014, 05:34:06 AM

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Demonocracy

I've recently pulled away from building a ton of farms.  So far, I have no regrets.

When I was relying mostly on farms, the harvest season would have to provide for the entire next year until the next harvest.  Food supplies were a bit shaky because of this, despite having some modest amount of food coming in from various other sources.

Now, having pulled back from farming almost in its entirety (I still use a few small ones--wheat for ale and others for food variety) I have a very consistent supply of food coming in throughout all seasons.  Most importantly, I think, I no longer feel panicked when harvest season comes because of how truly supplemental and unnecessary it is.

Farms?  Pfft.  I don't think I'll ever go back to a farming-primary situation.

salamander

I like the idea of being able to get away from so many farms and the land they consume.  How are you getting your food -- trade? ... gatherers? ... hunters? ...  all of the above?

Kaldir

@Demonocracy: I assume you use quite some gatherers now. Would you say you need more space for food production now without farms, or less?
I always feel that gatherers get a nice amount of food but they need so much forest space, even with a hunter thrown into the same area. I never calculated it, but feel like farms get much more food from the same area.

And just curious: why wheat for ale and not berries from your gatherers?

Demonocracy

@salamander

I've used almost every other resources available.



All of the above resources and success are primarily derived from the consistent supply.  My division of labor looks like this:



Looking over the composition of workers here, you can see that I still have some farms as I mentioned before to produce a variety of foods and also wheat for ale (because I like to keep my people as happy as possible, though that's suffering lately because I've not built any cemeteries quite yet).

Outside of farmers, most of my workers are dedicated to:

Fishermen (32)
Gatherer (20)
Hunter (9)
Herdsman (8 )

Fishermen are food-only.
Gatherers are food-only.
Hunters provide leather and food.
Herdsman provide leather, wool, and food.  So while I only have 8 of these, that consists of 4 largest-size pastures producing anywhere from 800 to 1400 food (plus extra materials) per season for only 2 workers each.

And all of these resources appear to be consistent rather than seasonal, and so the supply is steady and reliable.

Demonocracy

Quote from: Kaldir on May 27, 2014, 06:36:09 AM
@Demonocracy: I assume you use quite some gatherers now. Would you say you need more space for food production now without farms, or less?
I always feel that gatherers get a nice amount of food but they need so much forest space, even with a hunter thrown into the same area. I never calculated it, but feel like farms get much more food from the same area.

And just curious: why wheat for ale and not berries from your gatherers?

I don't use as many gatherers as one might suspect because of exactly what you mentioned--they require so much space to operate most efficiently.  They are helpful resources, but at the moment I'd say the lion's share of food comes from fishing, gathering, and pastures (in that order).

I still find that the production of the food with fewer farms (and smaller ones as well) take up less space than they would otherwise.  I used to make the largest size of farms and stack workers and barns nearby.  Now I just wedge smaller ones along unused sections between housing and other resource producers.

It is possible that this may work out to be the same (or approximately) food vs. space, but I prefer the sustained food production.

Kaldir

It's nice to see how food production can be done quite differently. It keeps the game fresh and repeatable. :D

I always have a complete mixture between farms, orchards, fishing docks, gatherers and hunters. I often forget to add more pastures than my initial one for each animal species, because of the huge minimum size they require (for 10 animals, so you can split). I never build large farms either, always 8x8, 9x9 or 15x5 with one farmer. I'm now experimenting with 15x4 farms for aesthetic reasons, after reading this thread by @kangaredditroo

salamander

Quote from: Demonocracy on May 27, 2014, 06:50:01 AM
... I'd say the lion's share of food comes from fishing, gathering, and pastures (in that order).

If your town's in a good spot for trading, you can trade off the beef/mutton (which sell for 3) from your pastures for 3x as much food such as veggies, fruits, and nuts (which sell for 1).  That would reduce your reliance on farming even more with the resources you already have.

Demonocracy

Quote from: Kaldir on May 27, 2014, 07:04:21 AM
It's nice to see how food production can be done quite differently. It keeps the game fresh and repeatable. :D

I always have a complete mixture between farms, orchards, fishing docks, gatherers and hunters. I often forget to add more pastures than my initial one for each animal species, because of the huge minimum size they require (for 10 animals, so you can split). I never build large farms either, always 8x8, 9x9 or 15x5 with one farmer. I'm now experimenting with 15x4 farms for aesthetic reasons, after reading this thread by @kangaredditroo

I also used the 15x4 strategy for a number of the farms I have because of the post by @kangaredditroo .  It's quite nice and aesthetically pleasing--which is something I'm trying to improve upon for my own playstyle and gratification.  (It's still a disaster, but... I'm getting there.)


Demonocracy

Quote from: salamander on May 27, 2014, 07:08:34 AM
Quote from: Demonocracy on May 27, 2014, 06:50:01 AM
... I'd say the lion's share of food comes from fishing, gathering, and pastures (in that order).

If your town's in a good spot for trading, you can trade off the beef/mutton (which sell for 3) from your pastures for 3x as much food such as veggies, fruits, and nuts (which sell for 1).  That would reduce your reliance on farming even more with the resources you already have.

Great observation.  I really haven't been trading for food mostly because I have such an abundance of it that it's entirely unnecessary.  I am currently collecting all seeds for a sense of completion and opening of all options.  I trade out leather/wool depending upon which I have more of at the time the trader comes in.

Honestly, the way I have things set up right now... it's almost too functional in that I'm looking for something to do while the years pass in-game.

rkelly17

@Demonocracy, Looks like you're doing some serious fishing! Best of all, though, you allow your citizens to drink a decent wheat beer (Hefeweizen, perhaps?) instead of subjecting them to some godawful fruit concoction. Congratulations on good taste.

Banished desperately needs barley and hops.


Demonocracy

Quote from: rkelly17 on May 27, 2014, 08:56:05 AM
@Demonocracy, Looks like you're doing some serious fishing! Best of all, though, you allow your citizens to drink a decent wheat beer (Hefeweizen, perhaps?) instead of subjecting them to some godawful fruit concoction. Congratulations on good taste.

Banished desperately needs barley and hops.

I am truly a saint.

/curtsy

slink

Quote from: Demonocracy on May 27, 2014, 09:03:25 AM
Quote from: rkelly17 on May 27, 2014, 08:56:05 AM
@Demonocracy, Looks like you're doing some serious fishing! Best of all, though, you allow your citizens to drink a decent wheat beer (Hefeweizen, perhaps?) instead of subjecting them to some godawful fruit concoction. Congratulations on good taste.

Banished desperately needs barley and hops.

I am truly a saint.

/curtsy


Humble, too.   ;D

Demonocracy

Quote from: Kaldir on May 27, 2014, 06:36:09 AMAnd just curious: why wheat for ale and not berries from your gatherers?

I didn't have a good explanation for this.  Having mulled it over, I decided to switch one of the brewers to berries and have the other still on wheat.  Since they are no longer using the same resource, production of ale has increased a bit.  Thanks for the tip!

Although while I was watching the Tavern windows closely, I noticed that they grabbed some fish and stored it in the tavern's inventory.  Fish... brew?  Ew.

Rezulm

I think hunters and gatherers especially should have a drop off over time.  Fish replenish fast enough if you aren't using commercial fishing techniques.  The whole point of farming is to replenish the resource but the gatherers get the same averages each year from the same spot even though they aren't using farming techniques.  Agriculture was one of the top 5 inventions that changed humanity's evolution.  It allowed us to get more from less work.  It was what brought us past the limitations of hunting and gathering.

Fishing can be broken down in modern times to hunting/gathering vs. farming as well.  Now there are "fish farms", hatcheries... 


salamander

Quote from: Demonocracy on May 27, 2014, 04:06:17 PM
Although while I was watching the Tavern windows closely, I noticed that they grabbed some fish and stored it in the tavern's inventory.  Fish... brew?  Ew.

Beer-battered fish ... Yum!