Banished 04 - Building Spree & Crop Optimization
Channel: Honeywell
Date: 2015-01-03

I'm playing Banished and building The Perfect Town! In Part 4 we go on a building/expansion spree -- in a responsible manner of course.  Plus a little bit of the ideas behind ideal or optimal farm/crop field sizes is discussed.  STATS:

Episode Starts: Year 5 -- 33 Population
Episode Ends: Year 10 -- 60 Population

Map Seed: 748114924

As promised, I put up a post giving the exact yields that can be expected as well as the fastest growing crops (beans) and their temperature tolerances (squash is the most cold resistant) from the Banished game files.   Honeywell's Banished Facts & Learnings - http://honeywell-mts.tumblr.com/post/106978999255/honeywells-banished-facts-and-learnings-work-in

FARMING

Fastest Growing Crops (Growth in Months - Growth Temp/Range)

1. Beans  (2 - 65/25) i.e Beans grow between 40 and 90 degrees etc.
2. Cabbage (2.5 - 65/20)
2. Pumpkins (2.5 - 60/20)
3. Peppers (2.75 - 70/20)
4. Squash (3 - 55/30) Most cold resistant; 25 to 85 degrees.
4. Wheat (3 - 60/30)
4. Corn (3 - 70/25)

Crop yields are determined per tile.  Maximum yield possible for:

15x15 crop field (225 tiles) is 1596.
11x11 crop field (121 tiles) is 868. 

Two 11x11 fields (241 tiles) can be placed in *roughly* the same space (22x11) as the largest crop field for a total potential yield of 1736. 

Orchard yields are 32.5 per tree.  Maximum yield possible:
15x15 orchard (40 trees) is 1300.
15x13 orchard (40 trees) is 1300.
15x4 orchard (16 trees) is 520. 

Three 15x4 orchards (48 trees) can be placed in less space (15x12) than the largest orchard for a total potential yield of 1560.

Caveat!  One worker fields/orchards have a greater chance of yielding ZERO food.  If your worker misses planting in the spring or misses the fall harvest because they were sick, idling or too far away to make it back to the field you’ll miss out on an entire years harvest. 

The information on crop growth and temperatures comes from the RSC files included in the Banished Mod Kit. The maximum yields come from ingame testing by me under debug conditions.

You might also be interested in the size calculators on Banished Info and the original theorycraft on the ideal farm sizes by blahable on Reddit:

Size Calculators - http://banishedinfo.com/t/Size_calculator
Ideal Farm Size - http://www.reddit.com/r/Banished/comments/1yr2iy/ideal_farm_size_to_maximize_output_per_labor_input/