One Hour One Life Forums

This is a periodical where the most up-to-date survival techniques and methods will be illustrated and posted. Feedback and criticism are appreciated! Letters to the editor can be submitted via reply on this thread.

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With the carrot-pocalypse coming to an end after this weekend's update, players have invented new ways of farming that defy the old standards, while other players have come up with unique habitation patterns to keep civilization going. In this volume of Modern Survival, we start things up by highlighting farming techniques, past and present, as well as some fun ideas about future techniques.

FOUR TO FEED, THREE TO SEED:
This classic farming technique helped amplify the output of many a farm. First mentioned in the forums by Hallon and illustrated by secondchild, this technique optimized efficiency by hacking how it takes 3 times as long for carrots to seed than to grow. Uncle Gus calls it "brilliant!"

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW:
However, as the game ages, so too will its rules. Versions 62 and 63 brought new farming mechanics as well as new content. For instance:
> Compost piles made from a bowl of mashed berries and carrot now provide 3 rows of soil, instead of 1.
> Seeding carrots use up soil, requiring 1 berry bush for every 3 seeding plots to be renewable.
> Seeding carrots provide 10 new seeds for each row, increasing seeding carrot potency.
> Seeding carrots grow in 9 minutes instead of 14.
> Wells and cisterns have been added. Wells are basically constructible ponds, and cisterns are basically mass water storage.
> Temperature mechanics have been "changed." - per Jason, possibly influencing food demand and the effect of clothing.

(Opinion) DOMESTIC BERRY BUSHES? STILL NOT WORTH IT:
Now that composting is necessary for carrot farming, and berry bushes are necessary for composting, is it now worth the time and effort to plant domestic gooseberries? I'm still not sold on it. Think of it this way: a vigorous domestic gooseberry bush will, in one hour, produce 6 gooseberries simultaneously! However, you only need 4 berries to make a bowl of gooseberries for composting. Wild gooseberries have the same production capacity, with the major difference being that wild bushes generate berries once every 10 minutes. In other words, when timed correctly, a wild gooseberry bush can generate 3 new soil every 40 minutes instead of every hour. That's 33% more efficient! Perhaps this would help in wetland farms, but most farms wouldn't need that.

MICROFARMING:
Who says farms need to be super-efficient? To optimize for long term success, they need to be ready for the next generation. With xoomorg's idea of wetland-specific microfarms, the goal becomes having a small area for new travellers to advance through the tech tree quickly in the comfort of a pre-built guaranteed food source.

THE NEW GOLDEN RATIO:
Worked out by PastaFasta55, the new epitome of optimization comes in the form of the good old 4:1 ratio. Best of all, it's intuitive!This optimization takes advantage of how seeding now takes twice as long as harvesting (while providing double the seeds) to grow 4 carrot rows twice for every seeding carrot (BONUS! You have one seed leftover for giggles). Sustainability worked out here.

Graphic below:

PUT SOME CLOTHES ON:
As can be seen above, the benefits of clothes are undisputed. Even putting on a loincloth and a hat (3 furs, 4 milkweed total) can reduce your food intake by 33%. When you add a shirt to it (4 furs, 2 milkweed extra), you've cut your food intake by half. That's crazy!

PAYING THE PIED PIPER (EDIT: hehehe, OH THE IRONY):

CORRECTION:

I will be posting this in a future update, but the discussion in the forum and more detailed calculations have shown me that pie-making outright more water-efficient than carrot-farming. However, pie making (when using domestic wheat) can create intense soil requirements (especially carrot pies, or berry pies of any kind). Modern Survival emphasizes sustainability in reverence of the Tenets, and as such, composting soil for those pies can become especially water-demanding.

If you have more than 6 ponds within 20 seconds of you, and you aren't hurting for wild berry bushes, rabbits, or compost: than by all means make pies. Pies, in terms of productivity and ease of use, have loads of benefits that carrots don't have. You can stuff 3 pies in a backpack and be a shepherd, trapper, forger, without the inconvenience of interrupting your work every 3 minutes to grab more food. I believe I've done the community a disservice by not emphasizing the role of sustainability in my calculations.

Also, wool keeps you warm less effectively than fur. I hadn't done any research on it and just assumed it was a higher-tier clothing option. I was also incorrect on that.

[sarcasm]If you're interested in learning how to make a fool of yourself (its really quite fun),[/sarcasm] then please read the thread in its entirety. I deeply appreciate the challenging discussions from Matok, Commoners, Potjeh, PastaFasta55, Tebe, and asterlea. With intelligent discussion, integrity, and a desire for truth, we can conquer all problems together!