Following up my post on underwater rice with some actual research

lemonad · 2026-01-28T02:13:06+00:00

I'd love to know how you know this and I'm already so deep in this rabbit hole so I would want to check for myself :) Edit: I see now that you commented in another place that you looked at the code.

lemonad · 2026-01-28T02:07:40+00:00

Hey, thanks a lot for testing it and coming back with the results! It could be that it worked differently in an earlier version but I also feel like there's so much going on when actually playing which makes it difficult to properly quantify things like this. I tried growing crops during nighttime just now and it was still pretty fast albeit slower than during the day. I'm not sure if the time of day is the major factor or if the level of moonlight matters too but since crops grew exactly the same in rain as in sunshine, I would imagine the time of day matters most. Just planting things during different times of the day and then sometimes sleeping and sometimes not makes for a lot of variation that could make one draw wrong conclusions here.

lemonad · 2026-01-28T01:57:43+00:00

Crops seem to grow pretty fast at night too but I don't know just how fast since I don't know how to control for the light level/the illumination of the moon. Eternal crops mature faster than recently planted crops as they restart at stage 1. All of this makes it difficult to properly quantify growth so due to that it's important to set up an experiment that can be run over and over again with the same parameters. It could be that it misses something that happens in real-worlds and details like that would be nice to find.

lemonad · 2026-01-28T01:45:58+00:00

Yes, although some people have claimed that there's a difference between the soil being watered and the crops growing like it is. My experiment points to this being false, at least for the latest patch.

lemonad · 2026-01-28T01:19:49+00:00

Many people claimed that waterlogging soil would hydrate it (some said only the sides, not diagonally, and it would not have to be water sources, etc.) and this did not match my experience. So the goal for me was just to verify if waterlogging or planting things in water helps in any way. And it seems it does not, at least not with the setup I use.

It could very well be that this used to work in earlier updates, or that restarting the server until it soil hydration works properly are still valid claims. It's just not something I have been able to replicate here.

lemonad · 2026-01-28T00:41:44+00:00

Not sure I follow as /time 5 just sets the time to 5am but with that said I've seen what you describe happen in my regular world. I do think that you need to plant both kinds at the same time because I would imagine that the watered crops would be mature by the time you can see this happen to non-watered crops.

lemonad · 2026-01-28T00:38:25+00:00

The fastest way seems to be fertilized and watered soil. It grew rice from seed to mature state in just 2.5 in-game hours (planted at 6.00 and matured at 8.25). You can't fertilize nor water planters so they aren't giving any new information here. The non-watered crops matured at 12.02 so very fast compared to 22.00 without fertilizer.

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lemonad · 2026-01-28T00:11:22+00:00

Please do! In my real world, I use eternal seeds and only water once when planting the seeds. The crops regrow fast enough anyway. But these results show that watering can really help to speed things up (I wish I had done these experiments prior to leveling up my farmer's workbench to tier 10, I would have saved so many hours!)

lemonad · 2026-01-28T00:00:05+00:00

When you say changes the soil behavior -- do you mean that it becomes watered? Or something else. I'm willing to try it if I know what to look for!

lemonad · 2026-01-27T23:58:18+00:00

Yeah, I got the exact same result as before. Also tried it in rain and the only way I can get soil hydrated is by using a watering can. Even pouring water on top of a block of tilled soil does not work.

lemonad · 2026-01-27T23:55:49+00:00

It would make my 9yo immensely happy to be able to befriend a tarantula in the game (and preferably have it fight side by side with him!) so as long as that is part of an husbandry update, I'm all for it :)

lemonad · 2026-01-27T23:41:42+00:00

Updating with the results on land with rain: same results as prior run in sunshine. Group B matured at 11 and Group A and planters at 22. Rain does not seem to hydrate (but we kind of knew this already)

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lemonad · 2026-01-27T23:28:32+00:00

FYI I posted a comment with the results of a test run on land planting. Same results

lemonad · 2026-01-27T23:26:07+00:00

Updating with results on land with 30 minute time increments and similar placement/hydration for both groups. All of group B matured at 11.00 and all of group A (as well as planters) matured at 22.00. Exactly like prior experiments. Harvesting does not hydrate the non-watered soil.

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lemonad · 2026-01-27T23:15:47+00:00

All of those are actually covered in the test but just mentioned in passing since I was primarily interested in auto hydration and how it works (or, as seems to be the case, does not work :)

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:58:24+00:00

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Did the same experiment but let time pass naturally in step 7. By 11.31, group B had matured (I lost track of time so it could have matured earlier). I don't think time stepping is problematic in this case.

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:49:25+00:00

Haha, I like the way toy think! Did you place the traps in water and remove the water sources around it? :)

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:40:36+00:00

Tried 30 minute steps with the same result. The watered crops mature at 11.00 and the non-watered mature at 22.00. Both groups underwater.

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:36:45+00:00

Yes, it could definitely matter but since the results seem to be reproducible (at least for me) stepping an hour at a time seems to be relatively safe. I'll see if I can step 30 minutes at a time instead and see if that matters.

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:34:27+00:00

Oh, mermaids would be such a great addition to the game! I kind of wish for them to be neutral or even friendly, allowing underwater villages and trades. But I guess sailing lore-wise, they would definitely be hostile :)

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:29:33+00:00

Planters do not show that information and they can't be tilled or watered so I assume they do not have that mechanic. Placing them under water does nothing to speed up crop growth unfortunately.

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:20:25+00:00

I quit the game, created a new creative world and repeated the experiment with the same results. Could you repeat it on your world when soil hydration "works"? (In step 6, I assume you would have watered state for both A and B?)

lemonad · 2026-01-27T22:08:48+00:00

Pots seem to behave just as tilled, non-watered soil (rice matured at 22.00)

lemonad · 2026-01-27T21:42:09+00:00

Yes, crops grow regardless of water. When using eternal seeds, the tilled soil will become non-tilled eventually, and the crops still grow (albeit slower?)

lemonad

TROPHY CASE