Crop mechanics are unrealistic and inconsistent with vanilla

[DataBeaver]

It seems that most (maybe all?) plants added by the mod are perennial, even when their real-life counterparts are annual. This is especially noticeable in oat, which is very close to the already existing wheat. It seems strange that one grain should be annual and another perennial.

I can appreciate the quality of life aspect of not having to replant every time, but being inconsistent with vanilla reduces the perceived quality of the mod. If you want to retain the unrealistic perennial nature of crops, please consider also patching all vanilla crops to work the same way.

Also consider reducing the seed drop chance for perennial crops. Currently the seeds pile up very quickly as the plants don't disappear on harvest and also drop seeds every time.

[ColonolNutty]

Most of the plants I added via More Farming were researched quite thoroughly, I did my utmost to make them realistic to real world counterparts. I'm not sure why you think it otherwise.

I'll have to figure out what to do about the flood of seeds.

[DataBeaver]

Well, let's use oat as an example. In real life, oat seeds are sown in the spring or summer and the plants are harvested in autumn. The entire plant is collected for efficiency, but even if you picked just the grains and left the stalk in the ground, the plant would die because it's an annual plant. Some of the grains are used as seed for sowing next year. The wheat plant from the base game works this way, save for dropping different items for seed and produce (which is understandable from a game mechanics perspective, as it would otherwise be much too easy to spread the plant).

The oat plant from the mod, on the other hand, resets to an early stage of growth after harvest. It will then grow again with no replanting necessary. This could be understood as a quality of life feature where the replanting is simply glossed over; however given how meticulously cooking is implemented in the mod, it seems strange that farming would be so simplified. Also as noted the wheat plant from vanilla does behave as an annual, so it seems inconsistent.

There are many other examples which Wikipedia states are annual but behave as perennial in the mod. Sunflower, lettuce and sesame to name a few.

[ColonolNutty]

Hmm, I wonder if I accidentally bled the Perennial mod changes into the main mod.

[ColonolNutty]

Can you add a separate issue for the seeds?

[DataBeaver]

The seeds won't be an issue if the plants are fixed to behave as annuals, as they will then be consumed for replanting and getting two seeds in a single harvest is rare (as it should be). Do you want me to add a separate issue concerning the perennial variant of the mod, or does it already address seed buildup?

[DataBeaver]

Just to be certain, I have this version of the mod installed: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=927259833

[ColonolNutty]

The perennial mod only makes plants perennial. It does nothing to change seed drop rates. I may have uploaded local code with some perennial changes on accident.

[DataBeaver]

Added #241 for the seeds.

[DataBeaver]

I took it upon myself to go through all the plants in the mod and determine how they match with their real life counterparts. My research method was checking Wikipedia first, and if it didn't have information, googling for "<plant> annual or perennial".

I also checked git history and discovered that the issue cannot be explained by accidental upload of local modifications; the plants are actually perennial in the repository.

All perennial plants in the mod except for sage always drop seeds on harvest, resulting in exponential propagation. In the base game plants only rarely drop extra seeds and propagation is slow, at least until you've found a dozen or so of the plant. In my opinion the scarcity of seeds makes for more interesting gameplay. Consistency with the base game is also good.

These plants are correctly perennial: Artichoke, Asparagus, Bamboo, Bell pepper, Blackberry, Black pepper, Blueberry, Cinnamon, Eggplant, Flytrap, Garlic, Ginger, Jalapeno, Okra, Onion, Portobello, Prickly pear, Raspberry, Reed, Rosemary, Sage, Scallion, Strawberry, Thyme, Vanilla

These plants are correctly annual: Beet, Broccoli, Parsley, Parsnip, Radish, Sugarbeet, Turnip

These plants are implemented as perennials but are annual in real life: Cauliflower, Celery, Coriander, Cucumber, Green bean, Kale, Lettuce, Pea, Peanut, Rutabaga, Sesame, Soybean, Watermelon

Special notes:
Cocoa: Perennial; matches real life. Always drops seeds. Cocoa plants found in the wild use vanilla graphics and destroy the plant, which is weird.
Oats: Perennial; annual in real life. Changed in d57bd9e, possibly by accident?
Pumpkin: Perennial; technically annual in real life, but will self-sow its seeds if left to rot. Changed in a1fd4e7. Always drops seeds.
Saguaro: Annual; technically perennial in real life, but given that the trunk is harvested it makes sense to have it as annual.
Sunflower: Perennial; the most common real life cultivar is annual, though perennial species also exist.
Sweet potato: Perennial; technically perennial in real life but generally grown as annual. Changed in 306c173. Always drops seeds.
Yeast: Perennial; growing yeast in a garden is weird but I don't have better ideas. Always drops seeds.

Inconclusive:
Brussel sprouts: Perennial; can't find good real life info
Great bamboo: Perennial; a plant by this name does not seem to exist in real life, but presumably it is a variant of bamboo
Rattan: Perennial; can't find good real life info

[ColonolNutty]

Rattan is used to make Wicker items. So whatever that plant is in real life, is what it is based on.
Great Bamboo is just bamboo, but bigger.
I see Brussel Sprouts as tiny heads of lettuce.

[DataBeaver]

Rattan and Brussel Sprouts are real plants and Wikipedia has pages on them, I just couldn't find info on whether they are perennials or annuals.

[DataBeaver]

I forked the repo at https://github.com/DataBeaver/MoreFarming and fixed the plants to how I think they should be. I also equalized the loot chances across all the plants, since it seemed like some of them were originally from different mods and had very different loot chances. They should now be in line with the base game. I gave it a quick smoke test by loading the game and harvesting a few crops, and it seems to work as I wanted it to and doesn't generate any errors to the log.