Question about trees and plant sowing.

[maoz]

My growers are obsessed with trees...

They seem to want to cut every tree in a growing zone before planting anything; they will also cut down trees adjacent to the growing zone, and sometimes trees two tiles away, even though they are not designated to be cut.

This is making my tropical swamp settle very labor intensive, and I don't think it is intended behavior.

EDIT: This is in A18

Moderator's edit (Calahan) - This was incorrectly posted in the A18 feedback thread so I have moved it to its own thread where it belongs.

[Calahan]

Plants can not be sown on tiles that are adjacent to trees, so Pawns will first cut down any trees that are in adjacent tiles to the target tile they are intending to sow. Trees can be sown next to existing plants though. This is WAD and has been this way for a very long time (maybe since the first alpha).

[ReZpawner]

Not a lot of tropical swamps in A17, Calahan

[cultist]

This happens because harvesting takes priority over sowing. If a tree in a growing zone is fully grown, it is recognized as a finished crop and prioritized. Growers only chop down growing trees if they're in their way when they try to plant.

[Calahan]

Not a lot of tropical swamps in A17, Calahan

True, but unless I've missed something (which I might have done since I'm only a fallible human ), most of the OP is just talking about the long existing mechanic whereby plants can not be sown in tiles next to trees, meaning Pawns will first chop down those trees before sowing the plant.

As such I got the impression that the OP thought the above was a new mechanic for A18, and so was providing feedback on this new mechanic. But it's not a new mechanic so this isn't relevant feedback regarding features new to A18. Swamps are new to A18 but the ending comment about swamps isn't the main content of the OP's post (since that would be the comment about a long existing game mechanic).

Edit

This happens because harvesting takes priority over sowing. If a tree in a growing zone is fully grown, it is recognized as a finished crop and prioritized. Growers only chop down growing trees if they're in their way when they try to plant.

Nicely deduced! And this probably explains what the OP is experiencing better than my answer (as this explains the trees being cut that were two tiles away).

Again though, this is not new to A18.

[maoz]

Thanks @Calahan & @cultist for filling me in!

I was not aware of either of these mechanics, despite playing a17 quite a bit. The "can't plant next to trees" I did not know, and the harvesting of trees in growing zones makes perfect sense now that it was explained!

However I did see a pawn cut down several trees two tiles from my growing zone in a18, I suspect it is a true bug. I will provide the screenshots/save file when I get home.

[Chortles]

Trees require a 3x3 area to grow.  Even if trees are outside the growing zone, if the tree's 3x3 area is within the growing zone, those will also need to be cut.

[Snafu_RW]

Trees require a 3x3 area to grow.  Even if trees are outside the growing zone, if the tree's 3x3 area is within the growing zone, those will also need to be cut.

Possibly mature natural trees also cast shade below their canopy, inhibiting growing crops ('farmed' trees would be pruned/trained to mitigate this)