Remove crop decay on-deed

[Nekojin 197]

This is a simple suggestion, and has already been applied on some Wurm Unlimited servers.

 

In order to lessen the grind, and allow players to play more casually, there's a lot of actions in the game that have already been made more player-friendly (so to speak). One of the things that is still punishing, in regards to having to play on a consistent and regular basis, is farming. Now, Farming has already removed the harm caused by tending failures. But one more thing would greatly help farming, in more than one way.

 

Remove crop decay on deeds (not off-deed). When a crop reaches its last ripeness step, freeze it, instead of having it rot and decay within a few days. This means that someone who gets distracted, or can only play once a week, can still benefit from what crop tending they've already done. This will allow more casual players the ability to be rewarded from farming at their own pace, on their own terms. The crop decay should resume at the same time normal decay resumes, when a deed's coffer has less than a month left.

 

As a secondary benefit, this would also allow players to grow crops for decoration.

[Demonix 79]

I like it, but the only problem is that it could be used to feed animals more easily instead of getting enchanted grass.

[Antony 280]

I'm sure back in the day people used to say spirit templars kept lanterns on deed lit. Not sure why though as they kept lit even when the deed had no templars. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe to explain why crops on deed don't wither we could say spirit templars keep them alive?

 

I like the suggestion. Sometimes farm tiles serve more as an aesthetic.

 

I would argue though that if it were being changed just for casuals then maybe halve the chance of tiles withering instead of making them never die.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Antony

[Seriphina 1,223]

3 hours ago, Antony said:

I'm sure back in the day people used to say spirit templars kept lanterns on deed lit. Not sure why though as they kept lit even when the deed had no templars. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe to explain why crops on deed don't wither we could say spirit templars keep them alive?

 

I like the suggestion. Sometimes farm tiles serve more as an aesthetic.

 

I would argue though that if it were being changed just for casuals then maybe halve the chance of tiles withering instead of making them never die.

 

 

Back in the day they actually did keep the lanterns lit, not just them being on deed. You had to have the oil in a barrel to be used for refilling, but that was the mechanic which was later changed to not continue to require constant fueling if planted/secured on deed.

 

There already was an update fairly recently to allow you to get a seed back if they reach the only weeds stage (a stage that was created for casuals so they at least got something back). I like that you have to log in regularly to maintain crops. It allows us to see what deeds are becoming neglected, and creates and incentive to log in regularly.

If it's too much work to log in for a few minutes to tend the crops, then perhaps the field is too large. Consider scaling back. Mine take less than 10 minutes a day to maintain.

 

For clarity, no, I don't feel this should be implemented.

Edited September 20, 2020 by Seriphina

[GroeneAppel 373]

Yes +1. This doesn't affect the hardcore players much, if at all.

Casuals however will find that they can suddenly farm food properly even if they log in once a week.

I'm typically against making things easier, but this is a QoL that'll help casual players stick with the game.

[Caduryn 129]

+1 ONLY if grazing Animals wont be able to graze on Farm Tiles.

[Nekojin 197]

I will admit that I hadn't considered the crop grazing aspect, which is an important consideration. Permanent freeze might do unexpected things with crop grazing, and I was not on WU long enough to test that.

 

That said, it's not an insurmountable problem. Simply add a check to the system when the crops are due to age; if it's been grazed since the last aging tick, it has an aging tick like normal. If it hasn't been grazed, it checks for decay, and prevents it. That would likely still extend the life of grazed crops (unless it's a 1x1), while not making it an infinite food source for grazing animals.