I have been using the Auto-Flicker mod, and it works great! First thing in the morning, my pawns get out of bed and turn on all the sun lamps.
A single Generator/Battery pair can keep a Sunlamp on for about 85% normal growing time. Perfect efficiency would be to have more generators and switch them off when the sun lamps go off, but that's a bit more micro than I'm up for.
Encouraging my pawns to plant trees in high-density patterns is a challenge. Max density is 30 trees per lamp, but this requires a lot of micro to sustain. Left to their own devices, you'll get 25-26 trees per lamp, but with a little trimming of the growth-zone, you can get them to plant 27-28 trees on a regular basis.
I found a minor exploit where you can plant trees in a crop field and grow both (but no crop replant). If I plant a long-growing crop like Corn, then by the time its ready to harvest, the trees should be past the 40% threshold and yield useful wood from chopping. Set the field to "Plant: Corn", then after it is sown, switch them to "Plant: Cecropia Trees". ~35 tiles of crop are dug up and ~26 trees will be planted. After the trees reach 40% or the Corn is nearing maturity (whichever comes later), switch to "Plant: Corn" again. The trees will be chopped down, and the corn will be automatically re-sown as it is harvested. Once sown, switch back to trees. This will let you get double-use out of your fields, and is a simple way to manage the harvests, but it will slow down your tree planting cycle a bit. Also it's kind of an exploit.
In any case, Chopping the trees at 40% will greatly boost your yields. You get half the wood right then and there, and trees (like all crops) start with 5% growth. 0.5x wood in 0.35x time is better than 1x wood in 0.95x time. Then again, more frequent chopping and replanting will also add time back into the cycle, so it might not be quite as powerful. But I'm sure you can expect at least a 20% increase in yield by chopping at 40%-growth. And given the slim margins we are working with, that will have a significant impact on the viability of the project (as foolish as said project is).
A single Generator/Battery pair can keep a Sunlamp on for about 85% normal growing time. Perfect efficiency would be to have more generators and switch them off when the sun lamps go off, but that's a bit more micro than I'm up for.
Encouraging my pawns to plant trees in high-density patterns is a challenge. Max density is 30 trees per lamp, but this requires a lot of micro to sustain. Left to their own devices, you'll get 25-26 trees per lamp, but with a little trimming of the growth-zone, you can get them to plant 27-28 trees on a regular basis.
I found a minor exploit where you can plant trees in a crop field and grow both (but no crop replant). If I plant a long-growing crop like Corn, then by the time its ready to harvest, the trees should be past the 40% threshold and yield useful wood from chopping. Set the field to "Plant: Corn", then after it is sown, switch them to "Plant: Cecropia Trees". ~35 tiles of crop are dug up and ~26 trees will be planted. After the trees reach 40% or the Corn is nearing maturity (whichever comes later), switch to "Plant: Corn" again. The trees will be chopped down, and the corn will be automatically re-sown as it is harvested. Once sown, switch back to trees. This will let you get double-use out of your fields, and is a simple way to manage the harvests, but it will slow down your tree planting cycle a bit. Also it's kind of an exploit.
In any case, Chopping the trees at 40% will greatly boost your yields. You get half the wood right then and there, and trees (like all crops) start with 5% growth. 0.5x wood in 0.35x time is better than 1x wood in 0.95x time. Then again, more frequent chopping and replanting will also add time back into the cycle, so it might not be quite as powerful. But I'm sure you can expect at least a 20% increase in yield by chopping at 40%-growth. And given the slim margins we are working with, that will have a significant impact on the viability of the project (as foolish as said project is).