More labor intensive farming

[Mike-al]

In general, given the technology level that your goblins operate at in, farming should be more labor-intensive.

Currently, the farming system makes it most economical to have a few large farm plots, because in addition to planting and harvesting, the only labor cost is tilling, which is done once per plot. I'd like to suggest a simple fix to this: one tilling job per, say, 3*3 area of farm plot. This would tie the labor cost more closely to the actual area being farmed, as opposed to just the number of farm plots in existence.

We might also let players deactivate farm plots. Add one more checkbox to the screen where you select what seed to plant, like "Fallow", which means no planting and tilling is done.

Further, I posted earlier about a system to keep track of the fertility of your farm plots, an idea which has been received with a thunderous silence. One intermediate step toward introducing at least the semblance of fertilizing, and better farming in general, would be to add a filth-dumping job to all the fields being farmed, similar to the till farmplot job already in existence. I'd suggest the Early spring and Early summer routines, at least, should start with a dump filth job, followed by a till farmplot job. That would make the farming, well, more farmy, and bring the labor requirement a little closer to what I think it should be.

[Jacob/Lee]

Mike-al, the friendly neighborhood orc who wishes for higher difficulty.

Even though I almost always die out from starvation (good god, I can't figure out how to keep stable amounts of pie) I support this idea. Especially the part about fertilizing the plots.

[Mike-al]

Mike-al, the friendly neighborhood orc who wishes for higher difficulty.

=D Actually, I don't see this so much as a difficulty issue. It's mostly a question of verisimilitude, but I also find (with the newer nightlies) that the goblins don't actually have that much to do any more now that the months are so long.

Even though I almost always die out from starvation (good god, I can't figure out how to keep stable amounts of pie) I support this idea. Especially the part about fertilizing the plots.

Why pie? I start out with dried fruits and then move up to bread. It's usually harder to get pies made regularly as the berries get eaten or go bad, while bread can be made all year.

[Jacob/Lee]

Even though I almost always die out from starvation (good god, I can't figure out how to keep stable amounts of pie) I support this idea. Especially the part about fertilizing the plots.

Why pie? I start out with dried fruits and then move up to bread. It's usually harder to get pies made regularly as the berries get eaten or go bad, while bread can be made all year.

I just prefer the higher nutrition value.

Since I can rarely get enough pies made before the berries rot, maybe I should try bread instead.

[Mike-al]

Since I can rarely get enough pies made before the berries rot, maybe I should try bread instead.

You should definitely be making bread, at least as a backup food. Pies are a nice bonus, but you can't really rely on them as a staple food. I don't remember ever having serious starvation after I've got my mill running, but then again, I didn't play 0.15 that much.

[Jacob/Lee]

Since I can rarely get enough pies made before the berries rot, maybe I should try bread instead.

You should definitely be making bread, at least as a backup food. Pies are a nice bonus, but you can't really rely on them as a staple food. I don't remember ever having serious starvation after I've got my mill running, but then again, I didn't play 0.15 that much.

What seriously bothers me about 0.15 is the new dump mechanic. It sounded like a good idea until I got 3 years into a game. I was 3-4 years in with 300 population. The only reason it is that low 7 years in is everybody is starving. Things were hard to manage.

[Mike-al]

What seriously bothers me about 0.15 is the new dump mechanic.

Yeah, you weren't the only one. It's been gone a long time ago; in the newer nightly builds, population growth is still a bit faster than it used to be, but that dump mechanic is no more. Specifically, the stuff that gets dumped no longer spawns anything. FWIW, I hate that mechanic myself, as I feel it's pointless, but at least the population growth is now manageable.

[Jacob/Lee]

...I have yet to get anywhere with the nightlies. My goblins are retarded and can't figure out the specifics, I demand a refund.

They drop a few items in the (stock)pile then all I see is a bunch of store orders being qeued then scrapped a second later. Nothing gets done.

[Mike-al]

They drop a few items in the (stock)pile then all I see is a bunch of store orders being qeued then scrapped a second later. Nothing gets done.

Can you be a little more specific? I haven't had any problems at all with the new stockpiles.

[Jacob/Lee]

They drop a few items in the (stock)pile then all I see is a bunch of store orders being qeued then scrapped a second later. Nothing gets done.

Can you be a little more specific? I haven't had any problems at all with the new stockpiles.

Basically, it goes like so:
Designate pile
It grows as per usual
A few items (usually a couple seeds and some bread) get dumped in
Nothing else happens. When I open up the jobs menu it shows a ton of orders to store stuff being created then destroyed a second later, there isn't enough time for a goblin to claim the job apparently. A few jobs get claimed but then nothing happens.