a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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played in a few eve towns lately, the hectic rush is kind of fun. utter chaos and stuff literally strewn everywhere slowly gaining a semblance of order and starting to feel more like you might survive after all... yay :)
what I noticed is players are more focussed on putting roads (*edit - pine floors/paths) surrounding their 3x3 farm plots than making an enclosed space.
I have two thoughts about this... first off, I would think having an indoor spot should be the top priority?
even if it's not perfect. even if you have to move it later or build something a bit bigger or better.
and my second thought is why the focus on the roads around the farm plots. Aesthetic? again, in my head, I'm thinking the priority would be building fast travel roads into the biomes so people can get out farther and forage and be able to get back to town quickly.
and one final thought which we talked about a bit in discord is why the 3x3 plots, for every farm, every dongle (*edit - single) fam. it's boring. everywhere looks the same. it also encourages wasteful things, like a 3x3 plot of dill which literally no farm needs.
and a related though - I can't be the only person who loathes harvesting the middle plot of a 3x3. I know for people who have played forever you can do everything quickly but a lot of mechanics are frustrating when you're not experienced.
what do you think am I totally in left field here? Is there a more efficient meta waiting to emerge?
(omg left field?! See what I did there... har har har)
Last edited by zeldatrix (2021-02-11 05:53:16)
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I agree the mass 3x3 farms around the well is very stale and I'm sure there are better ways of doing things.
Having farms spread around the town gives it a more organic feel and would leave things to be discovered. "Oh they have a berry and carrot field near the sheep pen, very handy."
I believe the rush to get the farms and pine needle paths done is to stop mass unorganised planting of crops by newbies.
However once a town is developed we shouldn't have to be stuck with a mass 3x3 farm around the well, we could change the layout.
I think the most efficient and pleasing (visual and for town exploration) would be to have farms all around the town near where the crops would be used.
A Stew making building with beans squash and corn planted in the garden.
A Taco shop with a pig pen, corn and beans nearby.
Compost area with cabbage growing next to it
I would LOVE to see a town where the crops were not planted around the well and instead cisterns surrounded the well in some fashion, and crops were planted in small gardens next to the buildings.
I think we shouldn't be afraid to tear up the 3x3 crops next to the well if we are building a designated area for them elsewhere.
Eve Audette
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Three by three farm plots with flooring surrounding it originates from the olden days when people would make MASSIVE fields of gooseberry bushes. It was insanely wasteful in terms of water/soil and very difficult to maintain because there was no clear spots for putting down baskets of soil or buckets of water. But berry patch creep was also very difficult to stop, because may players saw berries as their primary food source, so if they saw that many of the berries were empty or dying, they would plant even more. They didn't understand the hidden costs of expanding the berries without end.
By putting flooring (wood or pine) around the berries, it shows people where the farms are supposed to be, even if many of the plots are currently empty, and it helps significantly reduce over-planting and berry patch creep. It has been a long time since I've seen a really out of control berry farm in the middle of a village. But of course, berries are not nearly as filling as they once were, so that also helps discourage over-planting.
I would be happy to see someone develop a more efficient farm plot, but it is important to acknowledge that the 3x3 plots all in one spot do exist for a reason. They are large enough to get a decent amount of crop without being TOO big for the majority of crops. Depending on how you feel about soil usage vs iron usage, 3x3 plots are also an efficient way to use three baskets of soil. They are easy to expand and plan out in advance, allowing future generations to extend the farms and fill in any missing crops when they become available. And they take up a large amount of real estate which makes it impossible to miss the farms. They are also relatively symmetrical and encourage organized farm shapes which I find more pleasing than uneven or weird shapes.
The persistence of this farm pattern is in large part because it is so easy to pass on to the next generation. Any meta change would also need to be easy to pass down, so the next generation is able to pick-up where you left off and maintain the farms as you intended. The problem with building fields next to where the crops are going to be used, is that the next generation needs to know WHERE you are growing corn and WHY it is all the way over there, instead of with the other crops. If someone looks around and can't find any corn, they will plant more corn with the other crops. Then you have two corn fields that both need to be tended. At some point, the field that is over by the pigs/cows is going to get forgotten while the "main" corn field that is over with the rest of the crops gets continued for the life of the village. People need to know where to find stuff or it might as well not exist. And vanilla users have very short view distances. Corn on the other side of the cow pen from the rest of the crops might as well be on Mars.
I don't want to discourage you from trying to get people to adopt a new meta or try new ideas to see if they catch on. Just don't be surprised if a lot of people don't understand the point of doubling-up on work. Incidentally, if you DO plan on tearing up farm plots in order to redirect people to plant elsewhere, consider putting down wood flooring to cover the dirt. It works for berry bushes and it also works for farm plots. It will discourage replanting in that area and also demonstrates to anyone watching that you are acting constructively rather than destroying plots for no purpose.
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I always preferred a 3 x 4 format myself. Gave me a tidy place to keep seed bowls, farming tools, a fertilizer pile. I would even put a nice horse fence on the sides and top, leaving the corners open to discourage random foot traffic and animal attacks. But I could never get it to catch on with the masses.
The_Anabaptist
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While what destiny said is 100% on target I do wonder if I could come up with some new designs in future artificial towns. I’ll have to give it some thought as I agree that while 3x3 is efficient it’s also stale.
Last edited by bpskotch (2021-02-12 22:38:53)
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My favourite advancement on the 3x3 meta is replacing plots within the 3x3 with storage, as appropriate. It let's each plot be unique, and useful especially when the existing layout is quite tight.
I'll also note that if farms are far from water they will become neglected. At the least you need a cistern near your farm (or a sprinkler system built), but you also need your cistern to be refilled by other people after you die so not too far from the main well.
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I think it would make good sense to redesign and amend the existing 3x3 farm layout as the village gets older and more advanced. What makes good sense during the village's early development doesn't always remain optimal in a dozen generations. For example, dedicating a 3x3 near the sheep/wheat for compost production is a great idea for many villages. Or converting one of the farm plots into an open space for extra storage, if nearby plots are too crowded.
I think the most likely changes to survive longterm are minor improvements that work with the existing 3x3 farm layout, rather than against it.
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