sprinkler radius should be a straightforward 1, 2, 3

[MellowTigger]

Currently, the iridium sprinkler radius of 2 means that a farm typically has 4 spaces between rows, although you can only hoe 3 rows at a time. This difference makes for a weird inconsistency, like selling containers of 12 hot dogs but only 10 hot dog buns. It's baffling. Every season, I end up wondering why it's so inefficient?

I recommend that each tier of sprinkler have a simple radius progression of 1, 2, and 3. The new arrangement would allow players to efficiently hoe down rows between sprinklers, eliminating the weird and inefficient patchwork of efforts that it does. (Side benefit: the tier 1 sprinkler doesn't have the strange 4-spot coverage. Does any sprinkler actually work that way?)

I'm planting my farm with only 3 rows between sprinklers because it's so much more straightforward. It requires a lot more sprinklers, but at least it works well and takes a lot less time to start my planting season.

 

[Lappy]

If I understand you correctly, you're tilling the spaces between the sprinklers, and because the widest chunk your hoe will till is three tiles wide, the four-tile space between iridium sprinklers throws off the pattern. Is this correct?

I don't know if one of the reasons you do this is because your sprinklers would be uprooted by the hoe. If that's the case, if you lay down a piece of floor or walkway first (should cost you only a single piece of stone or wood per tile), then the sprinkler (or scarecrow) will NOT be uprooted. Thus, you can hoe through your sprinklers.

As for speeding up a new planting season, there's a thread with a suggestion I've used. Besides what's mentioned there, I also use wheat and other multi-season crops to bridge the change of seasons.

 

[MellowTigger]

I don't know if one of the reasons you do this is because your sprinklers would be uprooted by the hoe. If that's the case, if you lay down a piece of floor or walkway first (should cost you only a single piece of stone or wood per tile), then the sprinkler (or scarecrow) will NOT be uprooted. Thus, you can hoe through your sprinklers.

I did not know this trick! I will try it immediately. Yes, it would simplify my farming significantly.

And you are correct about the pattern. But by "speeding up", I meant the convoluted pattern of walking around that I do to accommodate the bad layout of the sprinklers and scarecrows. But your tile trick might simplify that problem too. (Still not as simple as a 1,2,3 progression for sprinklers, but definitely an improvement.)

 

[Jack Of Shades]

Yes it's quite effective. I use it often when remaking my plots each season. It allows for me to make exactly what I want without messing it up.

 

[Odin]

If that's the case, if you lay down a piece of floor or walkway first (should cost you only a single piece of stone or wood per tile), then the sprinkler (or scarecrow) will NOT be uprooted. Thus, you can hoe through your sprinklers.

I did not know this trick! I will try it immediately.

To me this indicates that sprinklers should be immune to tilling land by default, rather than requiring people to know to put a bit of flooring under them. Unless there's some advantage to them not working this way that I'm not thinking of.