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Hallon

Member

Registered: 2018-03-04

Posts: 4

Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

There's been discussions about how to effectively farm for carrots with such tactics as "leave the last carrot" or "have secret farms" but the problem is the unknown variable of how much people consume and how much time it takes for a farm to support a single person.

I did some carrot math with some rough estimates that I took in game:
1. 1 food bar takes 6 seconds to empty.
2. 1 carrot gives you 8 food bars.
3. 1 carrot patch provides 5 carrots
4. 3:52 minutes are needed for a patch to mature from the moment the seed is wet to the moment you can harvest it.
5. 14:27 minutes are needed for a patch to give flowers from the moment the seed is wet to the moment it gives flowers or 11:05 minutes from the moment you can harvest it to the moment it flowers.

Given these rough estimates I did some simple math to determine that you need 5 patches per person and 3 carrots to keep a farm going, assuming that you can feed yourself with other stuff before the first harvest. This will mean that 4 patches will go to food while the 5th is for seeding the others and itself. The problem with this is that you are still in need of 3 extra carrots between seeding and harvesting every round. This can be solved by making more food efficient products with your carrots or having better heat retention since this estimates are taken with no protection from the environment. Also age does not seems to affect the effectiveness of the food except if you don't have enough squares to fill with the food.

So in conclusion, 5 patches of carrots with 1 for flowering will support 1 person as long as that person can get 24 squares of food, aka 3 carrots or 4 berries extra apart from the farms. This could be solved with having and extra 5 patches over your pop. limit to keep accumulating food since you will not have extra food if you just farm to get by the limit. Also timings change with temperature so the better the clothing condition is the more leeway people will get, and you also need to keep in mind to have ample water available not bringing it when its time to farm but having it already on site in the waiting periods. This was just some rough estimates and simple math I did by myself, you guys are free to see if what I did was right using my numbers or gathering your own data points to create a good estimate on how to farm effectively.

Thank you very much and I hope this help many of our aspiring farmers out there and helps us create a long lasting society.

brianj

Member

Registered: 2018-03-01

Posts: 36

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Great info!
This is more evidence for forming small hamlets instead of centralized villages.
Some additional variables to consider are rabbit meat and pies. I haven't done the math, but pies are *significantly* more efficient than individual carrots. Rabbit meat is an excellent supplement to a pure carrot diet.

Uncle Gus

Moderator

Registered: 2018-02-28

Posts: 567

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

You haven't taken into account the fact that carrot plots can be harvested and reseeded before the seeds in the dedicated seed plot have matured. That's why in my farming thread I said that we need three seed plots per five harvest plots. Only having one seed plot per four harvest plots leaves the harvest plots idle for ten whole minutes, aka two and a half harvests.

Twinsen

Member

Registered: 2018-03-03

Posts: 116

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Great info!
This is more evidence for forming small hamlets instead of centralized villages.
Some additional variables to consider are rabbit meat and pies. I haven't done the math, but pies are *significantly* more efficient than individual carrots. Rabbit meat is an excellent supplement to a pure carrot diet.

Watering carrots are certainly a chore, but I have been in a settlement of 24 patches of carrots and this isn't just a chore, it's a nightmare to spot which soil is wet or not because the light brown/dark brown color isn't obvious enough. In other words, I am actually wasting more time for the higher quantity of field.

Unless a higher tech level is introduced where I could build an iron water can for watering 4 patches before depletion along with a well built at the very center of those fields, more field = time wasting =  food wasting.

Hallon

Member

Registered: 2018-03-04

Posts: 4

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Yeah I forgot to mention it here, but mentioned something in the discord about having 7 plots per person instead, to have extra seeds.
Since you get almost 4 minutes per harvest and 14 for flowers the max you can do its 3 rounds in those patches, you would need to make sure to take the seeds of all the patches when they are up and replant them at the same time so the timers are consistent. My post was just the bare bones operation.

You would need to run around a lot watering and making things in order. The amount of food per person is the same and you still need the extra 3 carrots or 4 berries of food, you just use your space for efficiently and time. I think in the end the real enemy is just overeating and not using all those 8 squares of food they provide.

colinmarc

Member

Registered: 2018-02-28

Posts: 17

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Is that six seconds with or without a full set of clothing? You need 4x as much food if you're naked vs perfect temperature.

secondchild

Member

Registered: 2018-03-04

Posts: 17

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

I've been teaching my kids "Three to seed, four to feed".

If you're just starting out, and have some good resources around you, this is the ideal farm pattern and timing I've found to get a sustainable rotation going:

Top row is for seeds, bottom row is for eating. Start 1A and 2B and the same time. Then water one in the bottom row every minute, and one in the top row every ~5 min. You need 17 seeds to get the full rotation going, but you can work your way up to it if you don't have mouths to feed. Once you have the pattern generally established, work those fields as quick as you can, even if things get a bit out of order.

This needs ~1.2 water per minute, which works out to be 3 main ponds, plus an occasional 4th backup and it produces 5 carrots per minute.

Last edited by secondchild (2018-03-04 22:55:48)

Uncle Gus

Moderator

Registered: 2018-02-28

Posts: 567

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

That mnemonic is brilliant!

Twinsen

Member

Registered: 2018-03-03

Posts: 116

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Ok so we are talking about batch production vs streamline production; my god... planting carrots isn't so "easy that even a caveman can do it" huh

katastic

Member

Registered: 2018-03-01

Posts: 42

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Someone call in the Factorio folks and you're gonna see some of the most insane, awe-inducing, formations of material production.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FactorioBlueprints/top/

For example:

https://giant.gfycat.com/VigilantCrazyJerboa.webm

https://i.imgur.com/5U9jeYF.mp4

https://g.redditmedia.com/YOdGA-vpp1Aez … ca86a0075f

Last edited by katastic (2018-03-05 01:51:28)

Twinsen

Member

Registered: 2018-03-03

Posts: 116

Re: Carrot farms on the subject of sustainability via "carrot math"

Someone call in the Factorio folks and you're gonna see some of the most insane, awe-inducing, formations of material production.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FactorioBlueprints/top/

For example:

https://giant.gfycat.com/VigilantCrazyJerboa.webm

https://i.imgur.com/5U9jeYF.mp4

https://g.redditmedia.com/YOdGA-vpp1Aez … ca86a0075f

Yes, I played Factorio... a few hours and I give up but I never regret purchasing it. I might re-visit someday.

Last edited by Twinsen (2018-03-05 04:21:05)