Guide/Farming

## Overview

Farming allows a player to generate both food and useful materials in a sustainable fashion with very small energy inputs. In addition, farming gives a substantial amount of xp (100xp for planting, 200xp for harvesting), which helps new players level up faster.

The farming mechanic in Empyrion is fairly complex, and this guide is intended to help both new and experienced players get the most out of their farming operations.

Some useful links:

* All Farmable Plants.
* All Sprouts
* Sprout Crafting Recipes
* Everything Farming

## Requirements

At minimum, the following are needed:

* a functioning Base that can be left running continuously for at least 35 minutes (real time).
* a  Plant Grow Light
* a  Growing Plot
* a Sprout of some kind

The last three items can be found in the starting Escape Pod when playing easy start.

## Basic Setup

In order to start farming:

* Place one or more Growing Plots with the dirt side up (default orientation) on either a Base or Capital Vessel.
* Place the Plant Grow Light on the ceiling above the Growing Plot.
	+ Make sure that there is a two block gap between the Growing Plot surface and the ceiling; one block is occupied by the Plant Grow Light, and the other will be occupied by the plant growing in the Growing Plot.
* Place a Sprout on top of the Growing Plot; a seedling will appear.
* Use the interaction key (default 'T') to harvest the plant once it is mature (see Farmable Plants for images).

## Mechanics Notes

* One Plant Grow Light illuminates a 3x3 grid of blocks under it; therefore, a maximum of nine plants can be grown simultaneously from one Plant Grow Light.
* Currently (as of Pre-Alpha 5.2.1), unharvested food does not spoil, even with the Plant Grow Light turned off. Also, the Base/Capital Vessel need not contain an active Oxygen Station (CV,BA).
* Warning : Your plant will die if the temperature is under 0 °C.
* Walking on the plant doesn't seem to have any effect.

## Planting Layouts

Depending on your food/material needs, and available space and power, there are a number of ways to efficiently plant a 3x3 farm. Note that the layouts detailed below are neither exhaustive nor optimal for every situation; use them as a starting point for your own farming setup:

### Maximize Total Food

To maximize food points with or without additional processing, plant:

* 9  Space Durian Sprout

If eaten raw, total 360 food points, and if processed into  Space Fries, total 675 food points per 30 minutes (real time).

### Balance Food and Large Medikit Production

To have balanced production of food and  Aloe Vera for creating  Large Medikit, plant:

* 6  Space Durian Sprout
* 3  Aloe Vera Sprout

### Balance Food and Emergency Ration Production

To have balanced production of food and  Pearthing Fruits,  Wheat, and  Corn for producing link=Emergency Ration}} Emergency Ration, plant:

* 5  Space Durian Sprout
* 2  Pearthing Sprout
* 1  Wheat Sprout
* 1  Corn Sprout

Note that most of the time you will be eating the  Corn by processing it into  Popcorn (except when using it to produce  Plastic Raw Material).

### Balance Food and Canned Vegetables Production

To have balanced production of food and  Tomatoes, and  Pearthing Fruits for producing  Canned Vegetables, plant:

* 5  Space Durian Sprout
* 2  Tomato Sprout
* 2  Pearthing Sprout

### Balance Food, Large Medikit, and Canned Meat Production

To have balanced production of food, and  Aloe Vera for  Large Medikit and  Tomatoes for  Canned Meat, plant:

* 4  Space Durian Sprout
* 3  Aloe Vera Sprout
* 2  Tomato Sprout