Gardening

In the depths of space, sustaining your crew can be difficult work. Gardening helps by providing a source of oxygen as well as delicious fruit.

While the novice gardener starts out with a set of Banana Trees, proficient exploration of alien planets may eventually bloom the garden into a paradise of alien fruits and trees.

While starting out small, the best possible garden can yield up to 12-24 fruit and 12 every day.

Location

Each ship starts with 2 mature Banana Trees and 1 empty HydroPot in the Hydroponic Garden, as well as 2 empty Hydropots scattered throughout the ship's Storage rooms. Plants and pots should be moved to the Laboratory so that gardeners can share the Stainproof Apron with the lab crew to avoid getting Dirty. Plants should only be moved back to the garden if the ship has completed a NERON project which makes the garden advantageous.

Completing the Extra Hydropots project will add 3 additional Hydropots to the garden's shelf. Also, crewmembers with a Green Thumb will each receive 2 more pots, for a maximum of 12 when Stephen copies this skill form Ian.

Plant Statuses

• Young: This plant does not produce anything until it matures. It will mature in anywhere from 1-48 cycles depending on the plant type.
• Thirsty: This plant can produce but no fruit (no difference if young). If not watered, it will be dried out the next day.
• Dried Out: If not watered, this plant will die on day change.
• Diseased: This plant will produce neither fruit nor (no problem if young).

A plant's thirst status changes on day change between Cycles 8 and 1: A watered plant with no statuses will change to Thirsty, a Thirsty plant will change to Dried Out, and a Dried Out plant will die. A plant may become diseased randomly at any cycle change. Each mature plant will produce a fruit and at the beginning of Cycle 1 provided that it is not Diseased, Thirsty or Dried Out. However, they do so after possible asphyxiation events ( may go from 1 to whatever plants produce, but still people can die because it technically hit 0 first).

The charges shown on a Young plant indicate how many cycles it has gone through in that state. Without the Botanist skill, the charges can be used to estimate when a given plant will mature. Botanists, however, can read plant properties which tell exactly when a young plant will mature. A plant maturing on Cycle 1 will also bear a fruit/ in the same cycle, as will the initial banana trees if the ship happens to start on D1C1.

Actions

Plant:

• Cost: 2 or 1
• Requires: Empty HydroPot
• Target: Fruit
• Effect: Uses a fruit to create a young plant of the same type.

Water Plant:

• Cost: 1 or 1
• Target: HydroPot with plant
• Effect: Resets the plant's thirst status.
  • Only one watering is needed, regardless of whether the plant is thirsty or dried out.

Treat Plant:

• Cost: 2 or 1
• Target: HydroPot with plant
• Effect: Cures a diseased plant.

Hybridize:

• Cost: 2 or 1
• Requires: Fruit in inventory
• Target: HydroPot with plant
• Effect: If the plant is in perfect condition (not thirsty, dried out or sick) and the character is not Dirty, the plant is replaced with a new young plant of the fruit's type. If any of these conditions is not met, the hybridizing attempt fails and both the plant and fruit are destroyed in the attempt.

Notes & Tips

• Since they do not produce fruit or , Young Plants do not need to be treated for disease until they mature. They also do not need to be watered until Dried Out, so only every other day.

• Diseases can appear at any cycle change throughout the day. Hence, plants should always be checked in Cycle 8, if possible. It's often useful for the gardener to give an update on plant statuses early in Cycle 8 - that all are clear, or that assistance is needed.

• As a Botanist, you should prioritize for actions that cost 2 if possible. If you know you're going to plant or graft a fruit later in the day, save them for that. And use them on treating diseases before spending them on mere watering.
  • Watering costs 1 for everyone, and can be done by everyone. Encourage others to water plants for you during the day, especially people without special skills (like Chun). That way you will avoid stressful situations in Cycle 8, and carry over your to the next day if there is nothing but watering to do.
    • Do this especially if you are also a Biologist who gets better research value for his than unskilled people do.

• When plants die, they leave an empty HydroPot behind. But in a fire, the HydroPots are destroyed along with the plant.
  • In the very late game, it is recommended that trusted crew-members hold plants in their inventory on cycle changes. - Plants in the inventory cannot burn in a fire. But they will still produce fruit and oxygen.
    • Garden projects (like Heat Lamps) affect even those plants that are held in the inventory if the person holding them stays in the Hydroponic Garden on cycle changes (confirmed with Heat Lamps).
  • Blackmagick has stated in the French forum that other items in the room like Post-its do not actually help reduce the chance of HydroPots being burnt, because each item is evaluated individually for a chance of burning.

• A dried out young banana tree will mature into a thirsty adult tree.

• A Banana Tree takes 36 cycles to mature, or 3 1/2 days. So bananas should be planted in cycle 1-4 for them to be productive 4 days later.