Author Topic: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.  (Read 5776 times)

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profit004

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Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« on: June 07, 2011, 12:50:25 PM »
I do a lot of gardening, and all the seed a mars mission could ever use would weigh less than a KG.   I think we should just abstract the seed count away and call the seed bin a seed starter, and just leave it at that and not even track seed anymore..

Also with hybrid plants, you cannot use the seed from the children most of the time,  they will have genetic characteristics that are not correct.

The plants, when planted are also obviously not from seed, and instead are from a seed starter.

Maybe if you still wanted to keep a limit on the seed, make it so the seed starter produced 5 plants of each type every day or something... But I dont think that is really necessary if the limit of not being able to harvest anything before a certain time is put in.


*This change would correct two realism things.
 #1 each plant would likely produce enough seed to make 40-1000 new plants (40 for potatoes, 1000 for zucchini)
#2 The weight of seed for everything but potatoes would be nearly irrelevant on a martian mission, they could send probably close to a million zucchini seeds in a KG.

thedubman

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Re: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2011, 01:20:13 PM »
I like that, the seedlings (cuttings?) I have been wondering how the pollenation works (need bees). proccesed cuttings which are kept in a state of 'hibernation' until needed/planted.

Hyper

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Re: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2011, 01:20:43 PM »
Yeah it is a game issue versus reality. Yes they are "seedlings" since you would want to sprout the seeds then plant them. I wanted to add some sort of challenge there so the counts were added. Reality would be 3 months growth time and yes plants will produce lots of seed if you let them grow that long. As it is the challenge will be food but endless supplies remove that challenge altogether. Those rooms should be filled with plants not just 3 to a bin so yeah fine line here is easy button for unlimited supplies which would be more "real" but removes certain challenges and therefore no risk. Hard design issue to be sure, nothing is cast in stone.

thedubman

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Re: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2011, 01:30:52 PM »
All true, but 'cuttings' could be the same as seeds, plants at certian age produce 'cuttings' that are harvested automatically the amount could be simular to seeds, also more cuttings less 'food'..

profit004

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Re: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2011, 01:48:28 PM »
I see the challenge aspect, but we also have water use, and fertilizer use to keep things from getting too easy, and it it is not like seed counts are usually ever a challenge, just the rare occasions when all of a planting disappears due to a bug or poor colony management.

And actually having a certain number of seedlings being produced in a time period could produce a much more stable challenge, as there may be only 4 of each type of plant each day or so, so it would cause an automatic staggering of the planting cycles and add a limitation on the farming that was not there before.

But yeah, just my thoughts on it...  Not that I actually mind how the game currently works, just thought it would be more realistic.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2011, 01:53:15 PM by profit004 »

Hyper

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Re: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2011, 05:54:27 PM »
I'll see what I can do.

thedubman

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Re: Removing Seeds from the game, Replacing with seedlings.
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2011, 10:12:14 AM »
I was thinking more along the lines on renaming 'seeds' for cuttings and replacing the graphic of a seed to a cutting.

..but this could get interesting..