TIP: Geothermal-heated greenhouses = solar flare-immune heat

[Chibiabos]

I've seen even experienced players overlook these facts that can help you with early-to-mid-game crop growing before you have researched (or could even afford power and/or resource-wise) hydroponics in cold climates:

• You can grow crops indoors on soil with sun lamps without hydroponics tables
• Geothermal vents provide heat even before you have geothermal tech

Given the above two facts I commonly see overlooked by players, there's an obvious solution to the problem of growing crops in a cold climate where solar flares can kill indoor crops by disabling heaters and you might not have enough wood to keep campfires going.  Heat from geothermal vents needs no electricity (unlike heaters) and is immune to solar flares.  Therefore, they can be a great source of constant heat.  Its important, of course, to build an indoor farming area that isn't too small as the geothermal vents can actually superheat a small room to lethal results, but generally 10x10 or bigger is good.

Just build a room around a geothermal vent that's out on growable soil, plant your crops and install sun lamps.  Solar flares can knock out the sun lamps, of course -- but generally the loss of light for a day or two won't kill your crops the way the cold can from freezing.  Depending on how big you build your geothermal-heated greenhouse, you might still need to supplement with heaters and/or campfires, but its a reliable option to consider to help feed your colonists.  A great bonus, even during regular growing season, is crops harvested indoors in a roofed area won't decay from being out in the rain so you may even want to consider permanent indoor crop growing with this (though geothermal heat combined with outdoor temperature can easily result in overheating, killing your crops and any colonists that enter, so you may want to consider installing several emergency coolers just in case -- when the heat is not a dangerous threat to your crops or colonists, toggle those coolers off to save electricity as you won't need them all the time if you sized your greenhouse correctly; only use them in emergencies -- would be unavoidable during heat waves).  On ice sheet maps, you may want to consider including trees of some sort as part of your indoor growing crop to help supply your colony with wood for fuel or construction, but space is at a premium.

[hunter2012]

you can grow crops with regular lamps its just slower

[Chibiabos]

you can grow crops with regular lamps its just slower

Its been argued the light is inadequate and the crops can expire before reaching full growth, so I'm not sure on that.

You do need to keep them warm if you're in a colder climate, but a single solar flare during winter can insta-kill everything by knocking out your heat, which is why I suggest making your greenhouse around a geothermal vent -- the vent produces heat that nothing disrupts, don't need to build a generator nor have the tech for it.

[b0rsuk]

Did you know you can put hydroponic tables outside if all you want is soil ? That's useful in the desert.

[Vaporisor]

Did you know you can put hydroponic tables outside if all you want is soil ? That's useful in the desert.

Is almost like easy mode in the deserts ^.^

[Chibiabos]

Did you know you can put hydroponic tables outside if all you want is soil ? That's useful in the desert.

Is almost like easy mode in the deserts ^.^

In previous versions of Rimworld, that'd cause a short circuit the moment you get rain.  Not sure if that has been changed.  And that doesn't help at all if you don't have a year-round growing season.

[Vaporisor]

Don't think it has.  Any connected component seems to short in rain unless I am missing one (doors excluded?) but the extreme deserts can be a no rain situation, at least no rain for years in my check of one.

[cultist]

GT generators don't provide enough heat to save you from solar flares. Not unless you have very mild winters, say -10, 15 celcius at worst. In which case a single heater should do the trick.

The problem is that you need quite a lot of space to grow + space for the generator. The smallest possible room you could make is something like 15x10. A room of that size is going to drop to crop-killing temperatures in cold winters without extra heating.

[JonoRig]

He meant if you enclose the vent in the room to provide the heat, not build a GT generator

[cultist]

He meant if you enclose the vent in the room to provide the heat, not build a GT generator

Oh. But that assumes you can spare the power to not build a generator on the vent. I've never been in that situation myself.

[milon]

That's a really good idea, and I'll have to play with that more.  I think I gave it a brief look before, but forgot about it. Oops!

And for power, solar panels and wind turbines do quite well on ice sheets in my experience.

[Chibiabos]

Oh. But that assumes you can spare the power to not build a generator on the vent. I've never been in that situation myself.

It absolutely does not assume that.  It takes a long time to research Geothermal Generators, generally more than a year in, and even when you do, it might take awhile to mass up the resources to build one.  And Geothermal Generators are good size, but not huge.  I think they are something like 4 x 4 tiles, so a 10 x 10 building would still have three-quarters of its space available.

Even if your farming needs mean you need to build a space that's too large for the vent/generator to adequately heat itself, it still reduces the amount of electricity for heaters or wood you need to burn to keep the greenhouse heated to house your greenhouse around a geothermal vent.

If you have a geothermal vent in un-farmable soil, you could still harvest its heat by building a small building around it (either really tiny, or just large enough to eventually house a generator when you're ready to build one) and use vents to pump the heat into a greenhouse and/or your base to keep your colonists warm.  I think its silly to have a lot of heating needs and not take advantage of the free heat from a geothermal vent, but a lot of players seem to overlook this.

[Vaporisor]

Well, that is part of ice sheet.  Geothermal plant is 6x6 so if on growable land can be significant.  Plant does not hurt heating.  I have same thing right now.  My vent is dead center of gravel pit.  By time I build geothermal, the gamble of rice hydroponics will pay for itself fast vs the lost of some potato.  Six rice hydroponics will pay for itself after second harvest of rice.

[b0rsuk]

In previous versions of Rimworld, that'd cause a short circuit the moment you get rain.  Not sure if that has been changed.  And that doesn't help at all if you don't have a year-round growing season.

Rain ? On a desert ? Not too common!

[Mithrawndo]

Oh. But that assumes you can spare the power to not build a generator on the vent. I've never been in that situation myself.

You can build geothermal vents inside, too: When I'm playing on ice sheet maps, enclosing a geothermal is the first thing I do, then once I'm far enough along to research geothermal power, i simply build a vent inside the room. This brings me to...

Geothermal Generators are good size, but not huge.  I think they are something like 4 x 4 tiles

Geothermals are 6x6, but often are found inside the gravel on ice sheet maps, making enclosing them the only real way to grow food on an ice sheet until hydroponics. Even after hydroponics, it's useful to grow trees in that gravel as a backup fuel source.