Hydroponics Feedback

[neogeo0823]

I'm pretty sure something like this wouldn't get implemented, but hey, I like throwing wild ideas out there, so why not?

Instead of having to futz about with nutrient balances and watering and shit, a more enterprising botanist could instead introduce Aquaponics to Botany!

What is it?
Aquaponics is just like Hydroponics, but with the addition of an aquarium.

what does it do?
The aquarium is hooked into a system of hydro lines via a water pump. The fish in the aquarium eat food and shit nutrients, which are then pumped into the hydro system to feed and water the plants. The plants grow along with the fish, both of which can be harvested for food.

How, exactly, does this work?
At the start of the round, the botanist hooks the aquarium to the hydro pots via a wrench and some pipe. Think like the pipes in toxins. Small things that you can walk over, which can be picked up and moved in hand. The pipes must loop between the aquarium and the pots so you have an input and an output side. He then goes to the seed vendor and vends an equal amount of fish eggs and duckweed, which are both used on the aquarium.

Once in the water, the fish eggs hatch into fish, and the duckweed begins growing. The fish eat the duckweed at a steady rate, and the duckweed multiplies at a roughly equal rate. If there's too much duckweed or not enough fish, the duckweed will fill the aquarium and choke out the fish. If there's too many fish or not enough duckweed, then the fish will eat it all and then starve to death later. A balance must be maintained to keep the system going.

Clicking on the aquarium with a free hand will bring up a window that shows how many units of duckweed, mature fish, and juvenile fish are in the tank. Click the harvest button next to each number to harvest one unit of each from the aquarium. Harvested duckweed just disappears, as it's not usable for anything else. Harvested mature fish appear on the floor as whole fish, ready to be processed by the chef into food. Juvenile fish are too small to be useful and just disappear.

Assuming things are kept balanced, mature fish will need to be periodically harvested and replaced with juvenile fish, or else they'll keep on eating the duckweed faster and faster till there's none left.

Now here's where it gets good: Once the fish are eating duckweed and shitting nutrients, simply turn the water pump on and it will periodically pump water into the pots to both water and fertilize them! This works as a blanket solution for plant growth. Meaning that all plants will grow to maturation and be harvestable, but with severely reduced harvests compared to that of a perfectly fertilized and cared for plant.

Bonus Optional Added Difficulty: To prevent a botanist from adding 100x of duckweed and fish to the aquarium and calling it a day, the ratio of water:nutrients must be properly maintained. Too many nutrients in the water, and the plants get poisoned and die. Too few, and they starve. The only way to bring down the level of nutrients is to reduce the number of fish in the aquarium and wait for the level to drop. Thus it is important that there's not too many, and not too few fish in the aquarium at any one time.

That was a lot of text! Let's recap and sum it up!

Simply put, the aquaponic system is an optional diversion for Botany that allows the Botanist to work hard at the beginning of a round to automate his growing later in the round, while still allowing him to futz around with nutrient balances if he wants to.

Cons:

• Slightly difficult/time consuming to set up
  
• Must be done at the beginning of the round, or else it will take too much time to get going effectively
  
• Once in place and running, the system cannot be shut off/taken apart
  
• If the botanist gets high and wanders off, the system will kill everything in it. Attention must be paid to the aquarium so it doesn't poison everything
  
• Doesn't grow things as healthy as manually caring for them will

Pros:

• Great for Botanists who are mechanically inclined, but not math inclined
  
• Once it's running, as long as the balance in the aquarium is maintained, you're guaranteed to get a harvest from every plant you grow
  
• Not all pots have to be hooked into the system. Automate your weed growing and futz around trying to find the perfect nutrient level for that tomacco you've been looking for!
  
• Should the whole system crash, it's easy to get it restarted. Just replant your plants and restock the aquarium with fish and duckweed.
  
• Much easier than manually caring for things.

So, what do you guys think of this idea?

[enforcer9]

Fish Farm

I like fish farm idea, would rather have it seperate from plants more-or-less though. Maybe take shitwater and use it in plants for a slightly better harvest or something, but Idk about it.

[ISaidNo]

That's kind of got nothing to do with Hydroponics whatsoever?

[enforcer9]

That's kind of got nothing to do with Hydroponics whatsoever?

Does too

Hydro = water

fish need water, and that's almost half the word "hydroponics" right there, i'm sure someone else can relate "ponics" to fish or something

[neogeo0823]

Aquaponics is a type of hydroponic farming. (non-SA link)

The idea also adds another thing the Botanists can grow for food, plus it gives them a choice in how they grow things, which allows for varying play styles. Not only that, but imagine being able to add various things into the fish tank to influence the quality/chemical content of the fish, as well as have some trickle-down effect on the plants.

After giving it some thought, I think adding in Aquaponic farming as an optional means of growing food would add tons of depth to Botany as a whole.

[ISaidNo]

I was more looking for feedback on the plants side of things, not whatever this fish stuff is :?

[neogeo0823]

Well, I did say that the idea probably wouldn't be implemented. It's still a neat idea though.

If it makes you feel better, pretend I just said to put something in place that auto-waters the plants so you don't have to do that tedious shit.

[BruceHenke]

Well, I did say that the idea probably wouldn't be implemented. It's still a neat idea though.

If it makes you feel better, pretend I just said to put something in place that auto-waters the plants so you don't have to do that tedious shit.

Why would you want to auto-water plants? Watering plants is literally the only thing you have to do while your plants grow, otherwise you just stand there bored.

[neogeo0823]

Eh, I just find it tedious to water a plant, refill the can, water a plant, refill the can, water a plant, etc. etc. etc. Maybe if you could get a backpack-style watering can that held a TON more water than the can, then it'd be better.

Though, if I had my way, I'd dramatically decrease the grow time on all plants so that you could get more extreme mutations in place in a more timely manner. I realize that would lead to a ton more unnecessary fruit and veggies, but hey, that's progress, man.

[neogeo0823]

I think what I'm trying to say, is that I'd like to see Botany become more like the *spirit* of what genetics was supposed to be, but for plants. Focus on fucking around with mutating the plants, and less on actually growing them.

[Val]

Let's just stick to plants, alright? I know I was the one to bring up bees before, but...well, we know how that turned out. The more we focus on the core aspects of hydroponics, the better. With that said, let me address a few things...

There nearly isn't enough time in the average round to make a considerable contribution to the station as a botanist, nor is there enough time to fuck around as one either - doubly so if you have objectives to complete and things start going to hell before you can get the seed vendor hacked.

That considered, I can see why players want it to be easier to do the latter two and take a rain check on the first point. Though in this instance, it's not impossible to fulfill the first two with some tweaks here and there. Mind you, there do exist botanists who aren't concerned with mutations or drugs.

I am still vouching for my /tg/-inspired "different nutrients = plant traits" nutrition system as a way to bring back trait-specific mutations of a plant's genes (like changing yield, potency, growth time, etc.) and also enforce more co-op between departments.

And because all you do now is just water plants or chop up the occasional weed and that's just boring. Even so, people find that task too troublesome already. I'd ignore those people, myself. Giving the botanist more to do with his actual job would be a good change of pace for an otherwise chill position.

I guess I should summarize things I'd like to see. Maybe some of you want to chime in on them:

• Tweaks to: Mutation criteria, growth mechanics, seed splicing
  
• New mechanics: Nutrition system, chemically-induced genetic modification
  
• New tools: Seed tool, pesticide, watering-can bot?
  
• New items: plant grafter, biolathe (autolathe that makes organic items)
  
• New plants: fibre plant, lumber plant, buttload of new crops, mutations for existing crops

[atomic1fire]

Botany should have a farmer buddy who waters plants (I don't know about weeds, maybe it kills them, I don't know)

Something the botanist can pester the roboticist for.

[Sundance]

Botany should have a farmer buddy who waters plants (I don't know about weeds, maybe it kills them, I don't know)

Something the botanist can pester the roboticist for.

Hi, I am hydrobot.

stages,
off.

Running around with a watering can sucks the joy out of hydroponics.

A hydrobot is a good idea

[enforcer9]

Botany should have a farmer buddy who waters plants (I don't know about weeds, maybe it kills them, I don't know)

Something the botanist can pester the roboticist for.

Hi, I am hydrobot.

stages,
off.

Running around with a watering can sucks the joy out of hydroponics.

A hydrobot is a good idea

Yay!!

[Anticheese]

I knew about lemons giving limes back from Doughnutstation, and I cared about it