Farm Computer
| Farm Computer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Crafted Item |
| Recipe | Special Order |
The Farm Computer is a small machine that scans its surroundings and prints a status report. One click shows how many crops are planted, how many are ready, which still need water and which machines have finished. On the home farm it also tracks Hay in the Silo and the state of the Farm Cave. Demetrius sends the recipe after one of his fishing Special Orders. On a big farm with sprawling fields and rows of machines, it saves a long walk around every evening.
Recipe
The recipe arrives in the mail the morning after finishing one of the fishing Special Orders that Demetrius posts. "Biome Balance" asks for twenty fish from one kind of water, such as river, lake or ocean. "Aquatic Overpopulation" asks for ten of one species that is in season. Both appear on the Special Orders board outside Mayor Lewis's house.
The board sets the pace of the whole thing. A fresh pair of jobs goes up on a Monday, and the clock on each one counts down from the day it is posted rather than the day it is taken, so a farmer who dawdles until Thursday has lost half the week. Demetrius is one of several villagers in the rotation, so his fishing orders may take a few weeks to come round. Both of his are repeatable, which is useful on a save where the mail was missed or the fish refused to bite.
Crafting takes one Dwarf Gadget, one Battery Pack and ten Refined Quartz. The Dwarf Gadget is the hardest part. It can turn up when digging in the Mines between floors 40 and 79, and it hides in Magma Geodes, Omni Geodes and Artifact Troves. A Lightning Rod catches a Battery Pack during a thunderstorm, and a Solar Panel builds one up over sunny days. Smelting Quartz with Coal in a Furnace makes Refined Quartz.
These are the ingredients one batch needs.
| Name | Image | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Dwarf Gadget | 
|
1 |
| Battery Pack | 
|
1 |
| Refined Quartz | 
|
10 |
Use
The computer can be placed anywhere, indoors or out. Interacting with it opens a report titled after the area it stands in.
On the farm, the report covers the most ground. It lists the pieces of Hay in storage, the total crops, the crops ready to harvest and the crops still dry. It adds how many crops are ready in the Greenhouse and how much tilled soil sits empty. It counts forage items lying around, machines with finished products and what the Farm Cave holds.
Placed somewhere else, such as Ginger Island or a shed, it gives a shorter report for that area. Crops, unwatered tiles, empty soil, forage and ready machines all still appear. Farm-only lines like Hay drop out.
Because the report follows the machine, the computer tends to live in the bag rather than on a post. A farmer who keeps Kegs in a shed, planting in the Greenhouse and a second farm on Ginger Island can set it down in each place in turn and read three separate reports in a morning.
Notes
The most useful line for many farms is the count of unwatered crops. A number above zero means a sprinkler has missed a corner or a new row needs watering.
The ready-machine count helps on artisan farms. A glance shows whether the Kegs and Preserves Jars are worth a round of collecting before bed.
All Crafting
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
