Bay 12 Games Forum

Dwarf Fortress => DF Dwarf Mode Discussion => Topic started by: Neskiairti on April 13, 2008, 07:53:00 am

Title: farming 102
Post by: Neskiairti on April 13, 2008, 07:53:00 am
Alright, so, I get this farming thing, i do alright at it.. but the fertilizer thing has me baffled..

every single farm ive made in dwarf fortress has always had a fertility of 0/1

this means nothing to me :P and there is no explination.. and i can never seem to fertilize the plot..

Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: GeneralValter on April 13, 2008, 08:00:00 am
You need potash. At a wood burner, you can make ash from logs. Then you build an ashery and then make potash from the ash. The potash is a fertilizer.
Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Neskiairti on April 13, 2008, 09:49:00 am
i get that.. i have potash.. but... >.> any time i tell them to fertilize, nothing happens. and it stays at 0/1 (what does 0/1 mean?)
Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Rollio on April 13, 2008, 10:33:00 am
I'm not sure on that one myslef but I know if you irrigate farms you can increase the 1 my last fortress had a pair of plots at 0/11,(they were paddy fields and remained under water of depth 2 at all times) However that fortress had no wood so I didn't take my experiments any further.
I started anew but I'm left without a source of water to work with. Maybe next time.
Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Neskiairti on April 13, 2008, 10:39:00 am
by the way.. digging upwards in to an underground river filled with hundreds of lizard men snake men and frog men = painful.. >.> didnt warn me it was damp terrain either since i was digging up in to the wall..

my miner died before he even had a chance to drown.

Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Hague on April 13, 2008, 10:44:00 am
The fertility rating is relative to the size of the plot. A large plot will have a higher number on the right side. For example: 0/11 means that the plot is large enough to require 11 units of fertilizer (potash) to fully fertilize the field. Unfortunately, fertilization is seasonal, so even if you fertilize a field and then never grow anything on it, you will need to fertilize it again when the seasons change. As I understand, you only get 1 unit of potash from 1 unit of ash so fertilization is a really unreasonable way to increase farm production. That log could be better used for something less transient.
Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Grebo on April 13, 2008, 11:33:00 am
Also, you can only fertilize outside plots.  You can make an outside plot inside just below the surface, by channeling out the ceiling (and building floors over it if you want).
Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Proteus on April 13, 2008, 11:40:00 am
quote:
Originally posted by Hague:
<STRONG>The fertility rating is relative to the size of the plot. A large plot will have a higher number on the right side. For example: 0/11 means that the plot is large enough to require 11 units of fertilizer (potash) to fully fertilize the field. Unfortunately, fertilization is seasonal, so even if you fertilize a field and then never grow anything on it, you will need to fertilize it again when the seasons change. As I understand, you only get 1 unit of potash from 1 unit of ash so fertilization is a really unreasonable way to increase farm production. That log could be better used for something less transient.</STRONG>

Unless of course you get your potash from trading caravans and only have to pay for it in goblin clothes which, after a few invasions, you normally have in abundance  :D

Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: GreyMario on April 13, 2008, 02:22:00 pm
Correction:

you can only fertilize above-ground plots.

Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: BurnedToast on April 13, 2008, 08:19:00 pm
false, you can fertilize underground plots - you just need to muddy them first.

it IS nice getting 7 or 8 plant stacks from legendary growers out of fertilized fields, but generally I don't bother with it because it's already trivial to keep up with the food.

Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: nerdpride on April 13, 2008, 11:03:00 pm
Yes, I think mud is the key to fertilizing underground, so you'd need a source of water for it.

Not sure though.

Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Neskiairti on April 14, 2008, 11:23:00 am
ok, so muddying up the ground changes that 0/1 to say 0/8 or what not (i got 0/8 on a plot of muddied ground) which means i can fertilize it with 8 potash now? and it would produce more per seed?
Title: Re: farming 102
Post by: Lyrax on April 14, 2008, 11:40:00 am
It would produce more plants from each seed, yes.