Can't sow on random parts of hydroponic table and growing zones

[slamo]

I have a strange issue where random parts of a hydroponic table and growing zone cannot be grown on. Issue appeared mid-game, and harvesting still functions where a crop was already present. It's as if "Allow sowing" is turned off for random areas.

In the attached image the middle two squares of the hydroponics table can be harvested and sown; the two outside squares cannot be sown manually or automatically. In the growing zone, only the areas that currently have potatoes on them are can be sowed, all other squares cannot be sowed.



Temperatures is good, Restrict is set to Unrestricted, home zone coverage is 100%, clicking the table or the growing zone says "Growing Season is Here Now."

[attachment deleted by admin - too old]

[Calahan]

Thank you for the bug report, and especially the save file, as that makes diagnosing bugs a lot easier. Although in this case this is not a bug AFAIK.

You can not sow in those grow zones or hydroponic basins because of the trees, as in order to sow in a tile adjacent to a tree, the tree first needs to be chopped down. You can sow trees next to other non-trees, but not the other way around. But in your game the colonists will not chop the trees down to sow the crops because the trees are in a grow zone. If you de-zone the trees then your growers will automatically chop down the trees to plant the crops.

Edit - Unfortunately, AFAIK you can not (in vanilla) really have a sustainable growing area where crops are planted next to trees, because once the crops need to be harvested they can not be re-sown because of the trees. The only combination that really works in my experience is devilstand and one of the tress that has a similar grow time. As then the trees and devilstrand can both be harvested and re-sown at the same time (although I haven't really looked at this for a while since I decided the idea was more hassle than it was worth a few alphas ago, so maybe it's more viable now).

[Serenity]

That explains the current issues I'm having. I'm growing trees in a gravel patch and have hydroponics basins nearby. But now some of them aren't sowed. I thought it might have something to do with growers being too busy, but didn't really believe it.

This is a really weird limitation

[slamo]

Yeah, I just figured this out for myself — you can plant a tree adjacent to another crop, but can't sow a crop adjacent to a tree.

I do think this a bug; trees should suppress adjacent tree sowing, but not adjacent crop sowing.

[Calahan]

I do think this a bug; trees should suppress adjacent tree sowing, but not adjacent crop sowing.

It might seem odd from certain perspectives, but it is WAD. I can not find a direct quote from Tynan on this, although I have found someone else's comment which Tynan agreed with (quotes are taken from a bug thread from 16th April 2015 in https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=12229.0 )

Its actually intended, if I remember correctly. Essentially the idea is that trees on the border can prevent the thing next to it from growing so the tree is cleared. You wouldn't plant actual things at the base of a tree would you?

By design as Matt says. Thanks for reporting.

This rule about not being able to sow crops adjacent to trees has been in the game for a long time, and certainly since I properly started playing it. If this was a bug, and with such a core part of the game (crop growing), then I don't see how it would have gone unnoticed by Tynan for all this time.

Since this is not a bug, I will close this thread. If you wish to start a discussion on why crops can not be sown adjacent to trees then please start a new thread for it in General Discussion. As that would both be the most appropriate place for it, and it would receive more attention there than a thread in the bugs forum (I can always re-open this thread later if needed).