Farms have this curious feature of including all the various fruits and veggies that grow all over the world. I say we put an end to that and have each farm contain only 1-7 possible crops, chosen from a pool. We separate which crops could imaginably grow in New England climate. Wheat, barley, potato… certain other veggies (I don’t know really). These are the “farm pool” plants. And then we move the more tropical fruit drops and such in high-tech sci-fi greenhouses and the “greenhouse pool”. In order to prevent the player from growing oranges outdoors, and instead force the player into growing them in greenhouses (should he so choose), we simply add another type of terrain tile called “greenhouse plot mound” which only appears in greenhouses (a new building type), which should be far smaller than a farm. In greenhouses, the player could grow ANY crop, while the standard tilled outdoor soil is limited to farm pool plants. Also mention in plant seed description if it needs to be sown and grown in a greenhouse.
The current farm has 7 plots, I think?
BH#
B = barn
H = house
= growing plot
The farm loot generation could be reworked so that each growing plot contains only one type of produce, chosen from the previously mentioned farm pool. This would mean that each farm yields up to 7 different produce types.
Or we could occasionally, or even frequently, force all growing plots of the same farm to yield only one produce type. That way the player could find specialized farms, leading to a vast excess of one single food type. At most, the player finds only a few farms in a single game, so this should make each game a bit more memorable experience. Intel could be spread into the game that reveals the specialization of a distant (or a nearby) farm.
Greenhouses, in turn, should be rural buildings just like farms. Or they could also appear in cities, although they wouldn’t be as safe, considering their “walls” are all windows.
Now, let’s argue which plants are the jackpot plants. 7 plots of wheat vs. 7 plots of pumpkins. Discuss.