Hay

[SmeJack 5,796]

Currently when the hay tile is done doing its thing it is still green and looks like every other tile

 

Please make it the appropriate yellowish colour to help differentiate it

[Ekcin 2,401]

+1 and congrats that you successfully finished a hay tile altogether. How much hay did you harvest, and is there info on mouseover or examine? From my first 4 tiles I started directly after the patch, 3 turned into dirt in different stages, one short after first tedding, two when some days into drying up. Today I started another set of tiles, and got another dirt tile after first tedding. There is no notice about that failure. Given that my gardening (scythe) is 75.81, and my farming 92.42, the failure rate is absurd.

[SmeJack 5,796]

I think it was 32 per tile and you need 64 to make a stack or bundle, I canceled the bundle action but made the bale and both hay and bale went into a bsb. The mouse over I think only said dried nothing to suggest its ready other than that I didn't examine it was mostly just annoyed that it was green and not very obvious. I put some details into the bug thread but I have some tiles that have been wet/damp since patch day and plenty have turned to dirt have had about 6 tiles in total become ready. Its way too random there is nothing fun in realism.

[Vorticella 958]

The piles shrink significantly with each stage and you can learn to recognize the harvest stage based on the shape instead of the colour. Freshly dried hay does still have a greenish colour in real life.

 

The only thing that does feel a bit wrong to me is that the tiles turn to dirt after harvesting. Cutting grass for hay is basically like mowing the lawn, so if it's intended to be realistic the tiles should remain as short grass after harvest.

[SmeJack 5,796]

that's kinda like saying using a small barrel to see when a crop is ready is good enough, I don't think I should need to squint or get out a pair of glasses to see if this tiny pile is smaller than that tiny pile (the size change isn't that significant at the end) or decide if the days shadows are making it look darker than it ought to be

[Drogos 512]

I do like that they used a realistic colour. And at least for me, the size and mouse hover text is enough to know the state.

[Vorticella 958]

Just now, SmeJack said:

that's kinda like saying using a small barrel to see when a crop is ready is good enough

 

Not sure I understand this comparison. How do you use a small barrel to check crops?

 

Anyway, since crops always go untended (or untedded in this case) when they progress to the next stage, you'll easily notice that something has changed because the piles are no longer in neat rows. When you go to farm it you can just mouse over or examine to see if it's ready. Over time you'll most likely learn to recognize the difference visually just as with other crops that have subtle signs, like wemp for example. There is no colour change with wemp, but you have probably learned to spot the little buds that appear on the tops when it's ripe. I remember being super uncertain about that one when I was first starting out, and now it's hard to imagine that it was ever unclear.

For reference, here are some bundles of fresh hay that I made myself by hand, using exactly the same process as in game (scythe, rake/pitchfork, anxiously watching it go forward and back in progress due to weather, and plenty of uncertainty about when exactly to harvest). Notice the colour is pale green, not yellow.

 

[Lycanthropic 523]

34 minutes ago, Vorticella said:

 

Not sure I understand this comparison. How do you use a small barrel to check crops?

 

Back in the days (2009 for me) we had to check if a crop was ready to harvest, if the "graphics" for that crop were as tall as a small barrel.

[Vorticella 958]

2 minutes ago, Lycanthropic said:

 

Back in the days (2009 for me) we had to check if a crop was ready to harvest, if the "graphics" for that crop were as tall as a small barrel.

 

Oh wow, glad we don't have to do it like that these days! Thanks for explaining  

[SmeJack 5,796]

8 hours ago, Vorticella said:

Over time you'll most likely learn to recognize the difference visually just as with other crops that have subtle signs, like wemp for example. There is no colour change with wemp, but you have probably learned to spot the little buds that appear on the tops when it's ripe. I remember being super uncertain about that one when I was first starting out, and now it's hard to imagine that it was ever unclear.

 

Barrels was explained and the point was you shouldn't have to guess, it should be obvious. Using your example, wemp is twice the size from almost ripe to ripe whereas hay looks pretty much the same in both stages

 

 

I can understand that you like hay irl but im looking for playability when im sitting at the pc, reality is for when I turn it off and walk away.

Edited June 2, 2021 by SmeJack

[Ekcin 2,401]

As to hay drying up, it gets yellower and the blobs get smaller. Maybe hard to distinguish dried from almost dried, but to confuse wet/damp to that seems even harder.

 

Another problem are the hay bundles. For some reason it has been decided to make 12.8 kg (64 hay) one bundle. Given that horse speed suffers from horse load this seems strange, also that such a huge quantity is needed to feed during riding. Until now I never felt issues that my horse became hungry even on long overland rides.

 

Another thing is hay bundle quality. From ql93.47 hay, and a ql 81.91 string of cloth I got (after a few failed attempts) a bundle ql 8.93 where I cannot figure the math at all. My thatching is 24.07 .