How to Farm Better in Surviving Mars (The Smart Way)

A guide explaining how to farm in Surviving Mars, a city builder game where player need to build an efficient and prosperous colony on another planet.

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Surviving Mars is a city builder game where players can build a functioning colony on the surface of Earth’s neighboring planet. Requiring players to satisfy the basic needs of their settlers, farming is a must-have for any player who wants to create a self-sustaining colony.

Unlocked at tier 1 biotech research, farming can primarily be done through 3 buildings: farms, hydroponic farms, and fungal farms. Fungal farms are ideal for continually growing a very small amount of food every sol outside of the domes. But for higher food yields, hydroponic farms and regular farms are what the player wants to focus on. These buildings also help produce oxygen.

Hydroponic Farms in Surviving Mars

Requiring 5 power to remain operational, this building allows players to farm without worrying about soil quality. Furthermore, crops cultivated on this building tend to have a shorter grow time and water usage than those grown on regular farms. But the main drawback is that total food yield tends to be lower than what can be cultivated regular farms.

But if the player needs a decent amount of food for their colony in a relatively short amount of time, hydroponic farms are the way to go. Particularly since they don’t drain water resources too much. Focus on leaf crops in the beginning, but the more the player progresses in research they can begin growing higher food yield crops like rice and giant kelp. In the long run, think of hydroponic farms as a supplemental food production building as opposed to regular farms, which will likely become the colony’s main food supplier.

Regular Farms in Surviving Mars

Capable of growing massive food yields and requiring no power to operate, farms use up a lot of water and time to grow food. But the main thing to keep in mind is soil quality. Soil quality affects how much food is grown and is the main determinant factor as to how effective a farm is. This means to get the most out of a farms, a player has to get used to rotating their crops to keep soil quality at a decent level. Different crops have different effects on soil quality, with some crops increasing soil quality, some decreasing quality, and others having no effect on soil quality at all.

All farms start with 50% soil quality and initially start with 3 crop options: wheat, soybeans, and potatoes. Of those, players are recommended to primarily plant soybeans and potatoes respectively since they have higher food yields. But always plant soybeans first since they increase soil quality by 10% while potatoes decrease soil quality by 10%. Just get used to increasing soil quality before using it up on certain crop types.

Advance Biotech Research in Surviving Mars

Perhaps the most important thing to remember with farming is that it can be improved upon with biotech research. Need crops that produce more oxygen and improve soil quality? Research utility crops. Need crops with better food yields? Research gene adaptation and giant crops. As with several other elements in the game, research allows the player to make life on Mars easier and more efficient if they put the time in.

Although if the player had to prioritize anything at the beginning, it would be drying farming breakthrough and farm automation, as these reduce the amount of water and workers requires for farms respectively. With farms now being incredibly cost-effective, the player can then begin researching how to make their crop yields bigger.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/farm-guide-surviving-mars/