I have had this issue repeatedly across multiple saves where part of my field will become extremely fertilized while another part completely unfertilized, even with multiple rotations of fertilization happening and cycling the crop rotation for minimum fertilization usage. It does not appear to correlate to the fertilization of the land it was originally placed on. Composters are all placed on low fertility (so they all dont focus on keeping one field at 100%) I believe a nice workaround for this would to be able to assign composters to one field (and not a radius like a lot of other things, but assigning a plot individually). I can upload multiple save files if needed. Thanks in advance and keep up on the hard work!
Several questions spring to mind looking at your screenshot:
- Does this happen with all fields, or only with âoversizeâ fields that have been expanded beyond the normal max size?
- Does the levelness of the field make a difference? I notice that the âunfertilizedâ part of the field shown is higher than the rest, as if all the âfertilizerâ placed on it ran off downhill!
- The separate field partly shown to the right looks even but not yet well-fertilized. Is there a particular time that the uneven fertility shows up after originally setting the plants and starting fertilization/rotation?
I do not know if this happens on the ânormalâ sized fields as i only use the âoversizeâ fields due to efficiency.
It does not appear to be affected by the levelness because i have had the high ground be 100% while the low ground be 0% as well as completely flat ground.
it appears to happen without rhyme or reason that ive noticed. They could be on a healthy crop rotation to maintain 70% fertility and then a part of the field dies.
Also worth noting, i also noted the water levels and it does not affect this from happening or not.
here is a screenshot where you can see some other fields are starting to succumb to this as well
Interesting.
I only use ânormalâ max fields, but Iâve only completed one 8.3 game up to high Tier with lots of farm fields, so can only say that in that one game never saw this on my ânormalâ fields - but a single game is not really definitive. Given that it appears to be independent of anything else about the fields, I agree that it is some kind of Bug: unpredictable and therefore impossible to counteract.
It is for sure not impossible to counteract, because it appears that the way the fertility works ingame at the moment is that it is applied to each square individually. If they were to make it apply to the field as a whole, but have the villagers run thru the animation as it does now. I imagine they could increase the % of fertility based on the time worked. like if it gets interrupted 5% of the way thru then only 5% of the intended fertility gets applied to the whole field
Could you please upload that save?
Saves are located in:
C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\my games\Farthest Frontier\Save
Zip up the entire TownName_###### folder along with the .map file and .sav that reproduces the issue. If the files are too big, you can use a service such as Google Drive to share it with us.
Thanks!
I will mention that fertility is going to rise as a reflection of the biomes the field is over. So while the fieldâs overall fertility might approach 100%, sections of it may be more or less fertile depending on the environment.
That said, want to see your save to see if there is any problem. You have that unusual dark chunk on the middle there for example, but that could also just be world gen.
This happens to me on my games. I figured it was normal as the part of the field that is new or the âoversizedâ part has less fertility. And it takes the average. I could be wrong of course
On a map generated originally for 8.3a, now on 8.3b, and Iâm having similar fertility problems.
The first three fields I established - 15 years ago in the game now - all have gray patches showing on the fertility overlay, and the next two fields just started showing a gray edge, which I presume will spread. None of the fields had any such gray areas when they were first established.
The other problem is that fertility is remaining static over the 10 - 15 years I have been composting, hoeing, and planting ârefresherâ crops like clover and beans and buckwheat. The original fields started at 51 - 55% fertility, 15 years later they are still 52 - 56% fertility. I have never had that happen on any map before: even on bad ground, years of composting and the right crop rotations have always - sometimes slowly - improved the fields.
Furthermore, the actual output of the fields, or the wastage in storage, appears to have gotten worse. Prior to 8.3, 12 full sized fields would feed up to 1000 population. On the present build, 8 fields are not enough to feed 400 people, even with 11 hunters, 6 foragers and 3 fishers augmenting. Immediately after harvesting all the fields, I have only about 8 monthsâ food supply stored, which is about half what I would have expected before. As a result, before the next harvest, food supply is dropping to 1 - 2 monthsâ worth and Happiness and Immigration drop to near Zero.
- And this is on a relatively fertile Lowland Lakes map. I shudder to think what feeding a population of 1000 would be like on an Alpine or Arid Highlands map!
This is new: Iâve never had any problem feeding the population with agricultural fields established. It almost seems as if a new layer of difficulty has been added to the entire agriculture mechanic in the game.
apologies for the delayed reply. i dont check my emails often at all lol. Here is the requested file
!!!BEWARE!!!
This save has over 10h of playtime and over 600 colonists. You may experience a LOT of lag because of this if you dont have a beefy computer
I think Iâll be fine 
Looks like as the field approaches 100%, fertility evens out across the field, as expected. So things look fine.
Hey @Zantai, are you using Add Villager mod or itâs just internal build? Maybe you have some secrets how to disable population limitâŚ
Iâm not sure is it relevant, but I found out that composters changed how it works. If youâre using an option for âmax fertilityâ, it will keep most of fields unfertilized. Switch to default options makes all works perfectly.
Oh shit hahaha
I figured that out on the very first playthrough. All of my composters I keep on low
I checked your savefile and you should first update crop rotation.
- You need only 1 maintenance per 3 years cycle:
- There should be clover processed every year for +9 Fertilization every 3 years
I guess composters are working correctly for 12x12 maximum area, thatâs why there are issues. Split it to 12x12 fields, change your crop rotation and it should works
This game is all about spoilage. Problem here is not that you have food supply for 8 months only - itâs absolutely great and no problem there. But if your food will be spoiled before summer and you donât have enough food output for spring / summer, you will be always on 1-2 months starvation no matter how much crops you gathered in previos year. in order to avoid summer starvation, you should have enough barns (which have production spike for spring), enough early crops like carrots, cabbage and peas, some fruits and forages/hunters/bakeries for constant food output. If itâs all well optimised and balanced and you estabilished preserves production, your town will never have starvation even if itâs always on 3-6 months food supplies stored for whole year (which is a perfect result for a well-balanced town).
There is also a thing called as âfood valueâ, very basically, greens are tasty and valuable, but turnips are not that much. So you should target for greens when itâs possible, itâs not only boost food supplies, but also improve productivity of labarors and everyone else, because it decrease time spent on re-suppliying homes.
Also, crop rotation sometimes is contextual for specific place. For example, if you have a barn nearby, attempt to grow greens here will be a mistake - it will lead both to spoilages of same products at same time. So crops should be mixed, well rotated and should resolves food supply issues of current area instead of creating a new ones.
I am well aware of the annual âcycleâ of food production and wastage/spoilage of foodstuff. My problem is that the rate and percentage of wastage appear to have changed from previous versions without notice. As noted, previously the output of 12 fields with a variety of greens, beans, root veggies and grain would feed 1000 people for a year without ever going below 5 - 6 monthsâ food on hand. I use root cellars and granaries exclusively and lots of smokehouses to minimize spoilage until Preserves and Barrels are available to cut the waste even more. None of it seemed to help in this run-through at 0.8.3b.
By the way, though, having now run that map/town up to year 48 and Tier 4, with 14 fields, 4 full barns, 2 arborist orchards and Preservationist hard at work, 12 hunters (half of them Upgraded) I am maintaining 5 - 8 months of food on hand throughout the year with a population just over 700. Not quite up to prior capability, but approaching it.
Iâm going to continue with this build, as frustrating as it was, because finally, after up to 30 years, my first fields are getting over 70% fertility. Despite much planting of clover and beans and composting, the initial fields refused to budge from their starting 52 - 55% fertility for over a decade. I have never had that much trouble getting fertility up, another apparent change either on this specific map or this specific version.
yeah ive still been testing different cycles to figure out what works, thanks for the tips! So by you saying to split it into 12x12 fields because those work, i assume the XL fields arent working properly at the moment?