Gardening: Minimalist (Part 2)

(here’s the last post if you haven’t seen it yet)



Now that we know how far a “Like” can be away from a plant, let’s determine how many plants we would be able to maintain at a time.  I’ve decided to use the highest rank to help determine our minimums and maximums, so you’re looking at the AOE range for mass Pollination.  In front of me are Medium pots (I have a huge liking for Honey Sickles, Prickly Bear Cacti, and Fly Traps, so this will be used as my personal foundation), showing a rounded estimate of the AOE diameter: 6 Medium Pots.  Take note that this does not mean I will be able to maintain 36 Medium plants.  We do have a circle opposed to a square, so trying to make a complete “grid” would mean that we’d have to use separate spells for the ones on the corners.

Tip:  You do NOT have to click on a plant or its plot to cast a spell. As you may have noticed (accidentally), it’s possible to conjure some magic simply by clicking in an unoccupied area of land.  So, if you have trouble “centering” your AOE spell, try aiming at just the ground (which allows you more targeting mobility). 

Once you have your area spotted out like this, you can begin designing your “Go Green” garden. 
Tip:  Keep in mind that you do NOT simply want to fill in the entire area, since it will prevent you from harvesting if you cannot reach the plant.  Each plant does have a Harvest Range, so you don’t want to barricade a single or group of plants with a wall of other plants.  Allow yourself to come into contact with every pot.



(Hi, Lauren!)  As you can see, I didn’t fill the entire area of the AOE Garden spell with pots, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to harvest the ones in the very middle.  Also, if I was better prepared, I would have every plant on Enchanted soil, which would give me further flexibility on what I want to plant after some become Elder.  For example, I may become tired of taking care of Honey Sickles and want more Prickly Bears (more snacks, less blades).  That means I would have to replace the regular Medium pot with an Enchanted one (more gold out of pocket!).  But if I wanted more Honey Sickles instead of Prickly Bears, I would not have to use regular soil.

In the picture above, I thought I had a great layout to reach every single plant.  But, if we look at the picture below, I realize I’m missing out on some of them:



The ones closest to me, and the one on the Enchanted Large soil near that dragon statue’s tail, are just a hair out of range. 

Tip:  When you are testing your AOE range on your garden, you can remove your hand from the mouse and use the arrow keys or WASD to travel around, while the AOE range stays in place.
Based on this tip, this is the same circle from the picture that Lauren Ironbane was in; I only changed my position and angle without moving the AOE one bit.  After seeing that my circle doesn’t include everything, I have to choose a different angle and position to aim for.



This is the exact same circle from the last two pictures.  I can now see that I need to shift it a bit to the right from this angle to include everything (see how much extra space I have to the left?).

Also, you may have noticed that there are some plants floating.  That’s how you can double how many plants you’re maintaining!  I chose to float Small Pots instead of more Medium ones so I could allow more vision to what the pots underneath “Need,” rather than have my view blocked by rotund containers.  If you’re unfamiliar with how to float objects, click on the picture below (and click on it once more for maximum zoom) for a very basic tutorial.  True, I could always link to a resource or existing guide, but instead of showing you what specific “tools” you need, I decided to elaborate on the “general formula” for floating.  Once you understand the concepts illustrated, you can experiment and float just about anything!

So, once you have determined AOE spell range, a suitable ground-level layout, and floated some extra plants, you should have a large quantity of plants considering you need only one of each “Like” to affect the entire patch.  It may or may not look something like this:



The yellow mist you see is what I deem “Pixie dust.”  It’s actually the Rank 10 Repellant spell you receive from the CL Gardener, which prevents any Rank 1 pests from appearing for 48 hours (cost of only 10 energy!)  With this compressed layout, I only need to cast it once to protect all 38+ of my stems.  Also, see how many plants need Pollination?



I marked the ones needing Pollen with blue lightning bolts…11 plants, maintained by one cast using just 15 energy.



Anyone else hear “Flight of the Bumblebee” playing?

Skills!

Happy Harvesting!