Farming (Guide)

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
 * a
 * 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: If eaten raw, total 360 food points, and if processed into, total 675 food points per 30 minutes (real time).
 * 9

Balance Food and Large Medikit Production
To have balanced production of food and for creating, plant:
 * 6
 * 3

Balance Food and Emergency Ration Production
To have balanced production of food and, , and for producing , plant: Note that most of the time you will be eating the by processing it into  (except when using it to produce ).
 * 5
 * 2
 * 1
 * 1

Balance Food and Canned Vegetables Production
To have balanced production of food and, and for producing , plant:
 * 5
 * 2
 * 2

Balance Food, Large Medikit, and Canned Meat Production
To have balanced production of food, and for  and  for, plant:
 * 4
 * 3
 * 2