So, whats the best way to harvest a wheat field this size?

[thesonofdarwin]

Why/how? Intelligent straw golems replant as they harvest. Unless you go jumping on the wheat, it's not going to ever go fallow. Golems also handle crops that many other mods don't handle right, like flax and corn.

The straw golems don't hold an inventory. They replant farmed plots only if that block dropped a seed. If it doesn't, that block won't be replanted without some other intervention. As wheat drops 0-3 seeds when broke, eventually you'll end up with an unplanted farm if you let it go long enough. In a 5x8 farm, I have to replant 1-3 blocks every day (on my 24/7 server) manually. When I get into a position where I require full automation, I'll be adding something that goes through and aids replanting on occasion. Or go full computercraft.

Unless of course my straw golems are unique in their ineptitude.

 

[tehBlobLord]

The straw golems don't hold an inventory. They replant farmed plots only if that block dropped a seed. If it doesn't, that block won't be replanted without some other intervention. As wheat drops 0-3 seeds when broke, eventually you'll end up with an unplanted farm if you let it go long enough. In a 5x8 farm, I have to replant 1-3 blocks every day (on my 24/7 server) manually. When I get into a position where I require full automation, I'll be adding something that goes through and aids replanting on occasion. Or go full computercraft.

Unless of course my straw golems are unique in their ineptitude.

I believe that if they have spare seeds from an adjacent block of farmland they use them to replant all of the tilled soil in the vicinity.

 

[Exedra]

I believe that if they have spare seeds from an adjacent block of farmland they use them to replant all of the tilled soil in the vicinity.

I think they might have to have an intelligence animation core though.

 

[thesonofdarwin]

I believe that if they have spare seeds from an adjacent block of farmland they use them to replant all of the tilled soil in the vicinity.

If that's the case, that's still only helpful if your wheat all matures around the same time and you don't get multiple 0 seed drops. I've not found this to be the case in my use of them, however. One of my first small farms, which I replanted less than 24 hours ago now with 2 blocks that'll never produce wheat again if left to the golems alone: http://i.imgur.com/SMcHZHS.jpg

 

[OmegaJasam]

I think this would be much harder than using golems because: how would you know when to harvest? Golems know when something is mature. A frame machine will have to devise some tricky indirect method, right?

You could probably use golems walking over presure plates trying to reach it as the trigger...

On replanting, farms /grow/ over time, not shrink (presuming ground is hoed)

So long as an empty space has wheat next to it, that wheat will eventually give multiple seeds, allowing the golem to replant.

This works recursively, and since the average is more then 1 seed per wheat, unless you have a VERY small farm golems are 0 maintence, replanting themselves. In relaity wheat is usualy next to 2-4 wheat, so it usualy fixes itself quick too.

I've got a 7x9 farm and then a bit away 3x7 flax and 3 2x7 sugar cane farms and asomething carrot farm. (and before i fixed it, a accidental cactus farm from my bee area around the corner and a egg farm from my coup which involved pathing a good 100 blocks to get too since while it was close it was behind a fence, behind a house, with the entrance outside of the farm)

All runs off a perceptive wood golem, and an inteligent straw one (with the specticals, since my design is long)

Run for a week, in that time I've seen an unplanted block 20-30 times, and it was always gone by the time i returned.

heck, when I put down zyclorian soil on half the farm I didn't bother replanting, just let the golems do it for me.

 

[WatcherInTheShadows]

O.O
Now, THAT'S overkill!

Kudos!


Steve's Carts and MineFactory Reloaded would reduce your yields.

 

[David Chambers]

Okay, I decided on minefactory reloaded. And yes, we know it's overkill. However, a field full of wheat is just really cool looking. We'll use the excess for biofuel (I know other methods are more efficent). One question, what are the range extenders for the harvester called?

 

[KirinDave]

Okay, I decided on minefactory reloaded. And yes, we know it's overkill. However, a field full of wheat is just really cool looking. We'll use the excess for biofuel (I know other methods are more efficent). One question, what are the range extenders for the harvester called?

Actually if you have PowerConverters the MFR BioReactor thing is crazy efficient. Crazy efficient. You could also use some other MJ->Power solution (like lava) or use a Mekanism energy cube (which eats nearly all types of energy and outputs the correct type for whatever it's facing).