SimFarm - FAQ

Q: How do you add a crop which isn't shown when the game begins?
A: There are twenty-four crops in SimFarm, but only sixteen of them are displayed by the Schedule window and the Market Value window at any one time. You can't plant a field with one of the eight hidden crops or buy seeds for such a crop unless you substitute that crop for one of the crops which currently is displayed. Now, you do that by clicking on File at the top of the screen and by clicking on Load Crop. That opens the Load Crop window, which allows you to make the substitution or substitutions you want. You can't replace a crop if it's growing or if you have either a harvested crop stored or seeds on hand for that crop. Otherwise, click on the icon for the crop you want to replace, scroll to the crop you want to add, and click on REPLACE. Repeat the procedure if you want to load another crop. Then click on CLOSE.

Q: Why aren't my animals breeding?
A: It takes time. First, the animals have to mate, which doesn't happen until after you've had them for a while. Then, the baby animals have to grow before they're born. Sheep mate after 3 months, and they take 6 more months before they're born. Pigs mate after 8 months, and they take 11 more months before they're born. Cows mate after 15-20 months, and they take 10 months before they're born. Horses only mate after 4 years, and they take 11-12 months before they're born. Sheep live only 10 game years; pigs live 15 years; and cows and horses live 20 game years.

Q: How do you buy property? A: On the left side of the Map window are two columns of buttons. The Property button is the one on the top of the left column, the icon which looks like a bit of scenery. Click on that button, and a grid appears over the entire map. Click on any unowned square of property, and it will be highlighted, with its current price shown as its value. Click on BUY, and the price will be deducted from your farm's cash. Click on another unowned square, and repeat the process, if you have enough money.

Q: How do you add fields to your farm? A: When each game begins, your farm consists of nine squares of property. The most efficient way to organize that beginning farm is to plant three fields of crops on three quarters of that land and to use the other quarter for sheds and silos. To add another field, you need more than one additional square of property. How many squares you buy at any time depends on the amount of cash you have available. Because each extra field helps you earn more money, you may want to add four squares, which would give you more than enough land to add one field, instead of waiting until you can pay for all six squares to add two fields.

Q: What should you do if you have too much water in your fields? A: Even if the climate you're using has enough rain, it's a good idea to extend an irrigation system from the river on your map (you should always include a river) to your farm, with the ditch running along one side of each field, and back to the river at a different point. In addition to placing water pumps where the ditch meets the river, you should install water pumps about two fields apart, along the entire ditch system. Not only will that cause water to circulate from the river, but it also will drain fields.

Q: How do you protect your irrigation system against non-disaster drought? A: Even if you have disabled disasters for your farm (and, remember, you have to click on Disable under the Disaster menu whenever you start a game or load a saved game), the amount of rainfall still will fluctuate, depending on the climate you designed. A non-disaster droughtlike condition may cause the river level to drop, interfering with your irrigation system. The button next to the Map window which receives the least use is the Groundwater button (the icon which looks like a water drop). Click on that button to reveal the presence of groundwater. Use that display to decide where to place a windmill, and connect that windmill to your ditch system. [One hint for selecting terrain: trees on a new map indicate where groundwater can be found--pick a map where the farm is located close to a thick stand of trees, and not too far from the river.] If a non-disaster drought occurs, check groundwater again, because you may discover a new underground stream which will meet your water needs if you place a second windmill above it.

Q: Can you just let game time run, without pausing the game? A: You can, but you'd be asking for trouble. You have to pause the game to click on the Weeds, Pests, Crop Disease, and Soil Nutrients buttons, to check those maps. When you're starting out, it's good to pause every game week. Every new field needs some chemicals, and sometimes all four. Later, when you're used to using the Magnifying Glass button from the Toolbar to open the Schedule window for each field, you can use that method to monitor the condition of your crops, alternating with the maps. Still later, when you're familiar with the sorts of problems specific crops have, you can pause the game only every two or three game weeks. If you have large numbers of animals, you may have to check on their feed and water every one or two game weeks.

Q: Do you have to replace your buildings, structures, vehicles, and machinery? A: Yes, because they age and deteriorate over time. Check them every two or three game years with the Magnifying Glass tool or through the Sell window (which lets you examine your entire inventory). You shouldn't have any problems with buildings and structures unless they are more than three-quarters red. Remember to check and replace water pumps and windmills, too.

The Futures Market

The standard way to sell your crops is to harvest them when they're ready, and either sell them right away for the current market price, or put them in storage and wait for the price to go up.  Of course, many crops go down in quality and lose their value if stored too long.

The futures market gives you another option, or gamble, if you prefer.   It lets you sell your harvest months in advance at the current market value.

You don't collect the cash until you harvest and deliver the crop. When you do harvest and deliver, you will get only the full market price if your harvest is a good one and of high grade.  A bad harvest will only bring in a percentage of the market price and a totally lost harvest pays nothing. Here's the idea:  if you think today's market price for a crop is good, and you think it will be lower at the time you actually harvest, then you can sell your future harvest and lock in today's price.

Here's how to do it: 

1. Check the Market Value window frequently to see how the crop is behaving on the market.  Look at the graphs,watch the trends, and try to predict the future.
2. When you think the price is at its peak, and is about to go down, it's time to sell.
3. Sell your future harvest for the present crop by opening the Schedule window for that field and (A) clicking on the Contract button, which is the icon with a squiggly line like a graph, (B) clicking on the small Tool window in the upper right-hand corner of the Schedule window, and (C) clicking on the yellow bar or black line which marks the present game day on the timeline. Clicking once on each of those three areas of the Schedule window should lock in the current market price for that crop. [Send an e-mail message to me if it doesn't seem to work for you.]

Remember:  the Market Value window reflects the price of an ideal, perfect harvest, so in order to reap whatever futures price you sow, you must maintain the crop's quality.

Crop Duster

Many people who know a lot about SimFarm aren't very good with the crop duster.  That's because using it takes practice...particularly with the takeoffs and landings. If you have the time, and the money in a particular farm, you can work on flying and landing.  In a way, the crop duster is different from the rest of SimFarm, because you control it from the keyboard.  That isn't true of the other vehicles and machinery in the game. The directions for using the crop duster are found on pages 75 and 76 of the User's Manual.  Don't worry if you don't have one, or if you can't find yours, because I'll give you all the directions which the book does. First, you have to look to the right of the typewriter portion of the keyboard, to the other keys.  The "Page Up" key increases the altitude of the crop duster, and the "Page Down" key decreases the altitude.   "Up" makes it go up, and "Down" makes it go down. The left arrow key makes the crop duster do a quarter-turn to the 
left, and the right arrow key makes it do a quarter-turn to the right. The "Home" key starts spraying whatever chemical you've loaded into the crop duster the first time you push it, and it stops the next time you push it. The "End" key, if you push it when the crop duster is over the itsy-bitsy airport (or just before it gets there), is supposed to land the crop duster.   Notice that I say it's SUPPOSED to land it.  More about that later.

I assume that you have an airport in the town portion of your SimFarm game already.  You can't get started with the crop duster until you have an airport. When you have an airport, you buy the crop duster just like you buy a tractor, except that it's placed at the airport automatically.  When you click on the crop duster, the Airplane window will open. First, you have to fill the crop duster with gas, by clicking on the gas pump nozzle icon.  That should make the gas gauge point to green for full. Then, you have to select a chemical by clicking on its icon and by clicking on the barrel icon.  That should make the spray gauge point to green for full. Now, you're ready to fly.  Be warned, though, that the User's Manual predicts that you'll crash the crop duster the first time that you try to fly it (on the middle of page 76). I'll tell you how you can get it up into the air, but you really should start with a SimFarm game in which you've collected a good amount of money, so that you can crash a number of crop dusters while you're practicing those takeoffs and landings. Put the game speed on Slow, and push the FLY! button in the Airplane window.   That's where the trouble may start, because the crop duster flies quickly.  It doesn't just laze along. Remember to push the "Page Up" key once or twice. If you don't try to control the flight by pushing the left arrow key and the right arrow key, the crop duster will fly in a box pattern until all the gas is gone. Then it will crash. Once you have mastered how to fly and land the crop duster, you can buy only one or two on one of your own farms. Don't think that you need to use the crop duster.  Some experienced farm builders handle twenty or more fields of crops without them. But is an interesting little wrinkle of SimFarm.

Livestock

There are four types of animals, which can be raised and sold like crops.   They'll roam freely, so you have to contain them behind fences or they'll eat crops.  All four types are similar in growth rates, food needs, and weather resistance.  YOU HAVE TO WATCH THEM CLOSELY to make sure they stay healthy.  If they aren't fed and watered, they will get sick and die.  [For that reason, you may want to delay trying to work with animals until you are experienced at growing crops -- otherwise, keeping your eye on both crops and animals can be a little like juggling.] Animals will wander in and out of any barns within their yards which aren't filled with other things, and shelter will keep them a bit healthier and more valuable.  Cows live 20 game years, pigs 15, sheep 10, and horses 20.  Each cow and horse eat 1/4 bale of feed each month, each pig 1/8, and each sheep 1/16.  Horses mate after 4 years, cows after 15-20 months, pigs after 8 months, and sheep after 3 months.  It takes 11-12 months for baby horses to develop, 10 months for cows, 11 months for pigs, and 6 months for sheep.

When you're starting out, it really is simpler to work only with the crops, and add animals later.  It helps to have money saved, because you have to keep spending on feed, and maybe water, before your animals have grown or reproduced.  When you first try to raise animals, it's easier to see how things happen if you pick one type of animal.  JTML says that he starts his livestock lots on one parcel, using pigs, and expands the one parcel as the game years go by on each farm with animals.  Some of his farms have had lots with more than 200 pigs.  When he had that many, he checked them every week instead of every two weeks.  Instead of stacking all the feed in one place, he spreads it throughout the lot in a diagonal pattern, but with spaces so the pigs can circulate.  He also plants trees as shelter throughout the lot, in small clumps. Water sometimes can be a problem.  Even if you have a good irrigation system, sometimes, during dry periods in the climate, the water towers and water troughs go dry (even with water pumps keeping water flowing in ditches).   To keep your animals healthy, you have to buy more water troughs.  Jon Aycan reports that you can confine animals with ditches instead of fences, but remember that animals can cross bridges over ditches.  You might combine fences with ditches, with access to the lot through a gate in the fenced portion.

You can't tell which animals are male and female, except by clicking on some after babies have arrived.  You can't identify individual animals.  JTML says that he bought pigs ten at a time each game year and that he began selling them when their value reached $900 or $1000.  You can check on the value of your animals by clicking on "Sell", scrolling down your list of animals, but not selling any. One bit of fun:  JTML once claimed that he had found a special code which would produce goats on a farm.  Try that sometime, with goats or some other domestic animal.

Drought Tactic

With the game time paused in SimFarm, click on Disasters, which should have been disabled (remember, you have to disable them when you start up the game).   Click on Disable, which will un-disable the disasters.  Then click on Drought.   You'll get a box telling you there's a drought.  THEN, and this is important, click on Disable again--it won't cancel the drought, but it'll prevent other disasters from possibly occurring while you're working with the drought tactic. Then start the time running.  After one game week, the drought will end (unless you started it during a very dry time in the climate with which you're working--I usually use the drought tactic sometime between January and May, generally a rainy season).  One week rarely is enough to increase the crop price to the maximum, though, so you'll have to go through the steps again for a second week, and maybe a third, or a fourth.

If you have used the drought tactic previously, it may take longer the second time within a particular game, and it WILL take longer the third (or subsequent, I assume).  Be ready for that.  Also, if you use it too much [sorry, I don't know what that is], the program takes its revenge by removing a block or two of buildings from your town. Don't worry too much about that, because the town is a competitor for land.   You will be able to replace them eventually.

I mentioned the maximum price.  Do you know what that is for each crop?  Here's the way to find out:  whenever you start up the game, write down the price for each crop; then double the price, because the game always starts up again with the price for each crop at half its maximum.  [Extra tip:  If the price for a harvested crop is below half the maximum, and you want to sell that crop, pause time and exit the game; then start it again, and, before time runs, sell the crop.]

When you've shoved the crop price to the maximum, sell  futures.   Remember, though, you still have to take care of the crop in the field until it's harvested, to make sure that it matures as much as possible (giving you the highest price).

Crops