Harvesters

[Staxed]

How do harvesters select the area that they harvest?

I was under the impression that they worked similar to planters? Default to a 3x3 area in front of it...

However, I'm testing a harvester out because they were doing weird things...and...it's hard to explain what they are doing...this is a normal harvest, with no upgrade in it, I made this area of solid oak, and the missing parts are what was harvested.

 

[Tristam Izumi]

If I had to hazard a guess, it started harvesting the blocks within the base 3x3 area its set to harvest in, then it looks for connected blocks of the same type within a certain radius (ie, the branches of a normal tree that could potentially extend outside the 3x3 column).

Ok, just looked through the configs and found these config options:

I:SearchDistance.TreeMaxHoriztonal=8
I:SearchDistance.TreeMaxVertical=40

So I'd hazard that my guess is somewhat correct.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I've had harvesters eating trees that are several blocks behind it with no connecting logs. So while they will only harvest crops that are in the 3x3 in front of them, they will look further than that in all directions for trees. Very weird, and I consider it a bug.

 

[Staxed]

I've had harvesters eating trees that are several blocks behind it with no connecting logs. So while they will only harvest crops that are in the 3x3 in front of them, they will look further than that in all directions for trees. Very weird, and I consider it a bug.

I was thinking the same thing, I could see it harvesting 8 blocks behind it above a 3 block level checking for leftover tree limbs, but actually looking for wood below that level seems counterproductive since that wouldn't be in the planted area. (This issue started with someones wall of their house being eaten even though they thought it was far enough away, that's what made me start testing it).

 

[Siro]

I was thinking the same thing, I could see it harvesting 8 blocks behind it above a 3 block level checking for leftover tree limbs, but actually looking for wood below that level seems counterproductive since that wouldn't be in the planted area. (This issue started with someones wall of their house being eaten even though they thought it was far enough away, that's what made me start testing it).

It's a slightly abusable mechanic in that one can us an upgrade in the planter without necessarily needing one in the harvester. I wouldn't call it a bug though because a number of saplings have weird growth mechanics or more than 1x1 wide trunks that could linger (and prevent further growth) if they happened to be growing too close to the harvesting area. Best to just aim it away from wooden structures.