Survival mode Enhanced Edition

[Hentz]

Its all planned, even farming.

Quick question Chris, does that also mean that you might even add animal farming to the game and not just crops?

[Captain Deathbeard]

Probably not.

[Blxz]

Actually, I wonder how farming will work. Do you just plonk down a farm somewhere and assign some guys or do they need to study skills; find fertilities/seeds; irrigation in the desert; new biomes before we get farming....list goes on.

I understand this might be a long way off and the details probably aren't even worked out in your head yet but have you got any broad ideas you could share about how this may work?

[Scotterius]

Actually, I wonder how farming will work.

I will make a guess.

It could work a lot like buildings will. For example: You buy a farm and plop it down. It appears as a barren field surrounded by a stone wall. It uses the construction animations to show crop growth. So eventually the crops are grown (the building has finished construction) and you can harvest (the building resets the animation and growth begins again). The field could even spawn farmers instead of a patrols.

It would also work excellently for small animals like chickens who wander. You buy a chicken roost and it spawns chickens who walk through your town. Beware the chicken faction though.

[Bee salesman]

Then we can have comical bee related heroes. "Prepare to feel the STING of justice villain!"

megalolz.

[Santaissick]

Actually, I wonder how farming will work.

I will make a guess.

It could work a lot like buildings will. For example: You buy a farm and plop it down. It appears as a barren field surrounded by a stone wall. It uses the construction animations to show crop growth. So eventually the crops are grown (the building has finished construction) and you can harvest (the building resets the animation and growth begins again). The field could even spawn farmers instead of a patrols.

It would also work excellently for small animals like chickens who wander. You buy a chicken roost and it spawns chickens who walk through your town. Beware the chicken faction though.

I don't think the growing will happen by building... Maybe the farm has to be "build" at first, but after farm is ready, we put someone there to work. Water, fertilize, spade, cut, feed chicken, etc. Since we have the labouring stat, I think farming will be part of it. Crops might grow on their own, but if there's little/zero work, crops will die or give very bad harvest. For lot of work on farms, good harvest.

[Scotterius]

I don't think the growing will happen by building... Maybe the farm has to be "build" at first, but after farm is ready, we put someone there to work.

I was speaking in the design sense. The same mechanism that the game engine uses to handle buildings now could be adapted to fields. The way that buildings grow as you build them is similar to the way a crop field could be represented.

ie: Tiny shoots appear that grow into stalks that end with wheat heads.

The engine right now is also assigning NPC's to objects in game. Shop keepers tend to be connected with shop signs for example. In a similar way farmer NPC's could be connected to fields. Or you could have them performing farming animations while actually 'building' the field. Lots of ways. I meant my post to illustrate that the implementation of such a complex idea might not be as complicated as you might think. However, crop growing is pretty dynamic and could effect lots of things.