How to protect trees from lightning, during storms?

[HaleyRocks]

I know about lightningrods. Problem is, they didn't do their job. I had a total of 14 and placed them all around my 2 wild trees orchards that are in my farm area, yet still, 1 mystic tree small and 4 mapple trees small, were striken; next day they simply vanished without a trace.

Not all of them rods were pulsating, which means the total lightning strikes during the stormy day, were less than 14, if i understand correctly, post having read about their mechanism a long time ago.

What went wrong? How are you supposed to protect your wild trees from thunder?

 

[Lew Zealand]

That seems to be a bug as I have 9 Lightning Rods on my farm and my crops get hit with an occasional one but usually 8 or all 9 have been hit already. I think I've had a single Tree hit in my current Summer Y4 farm and that was when I only had 4 or 5 Rods.

And it supposedly doesn't matter where you put them so go ahead and work them into your overall farm design if you want them elsewhere.

 

[REtroGeekery]

Lighning rods don't need to be by the object you want protected and placing them by something doesn't protect that item any more than any other on your farm. The trick is having the right amount of lightning rods for the number of trees (fruit AND wild) & crops on your farm. I usually make a designated 'power plant' where I keep all my lightning rods and I keep adding rods until there are at least two untouched (no battery created) after every storm. Since I started using that method, I haven't lost anything to lighting (once I unlock the blueprint, of course).

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Place lighting rods, they can be anywhere on the farm.
Besides the first strike, none are guaranteed to be intercepted, it’s a chance based on how many rods you have and that are filled. Having about 30-40 rods makes the chance of tiles being hit on the farm very low but it’s never guaranteed.
14 rods is absolutely enough for your crops to be protected, and no matter what, one of them should have been pulsing. It’s because of that I agree with Lew, it’s probably a bug, the tree wouldn’t entirely disappear either, you’d have a stump. Maybe it’s a bug to do with the storm but could be something else.

 

[stardew_luv]

Lighning rods don't need to be by the object you want protected and placing them by something doesn't protect that item any more than any other on your farm. The trick is having the right amount of lightning rods for the number of trees (fruit AND wild) & crops on your farm. I usually make a designated 'power plant' where I keep all my lightning rods and I keep adding rods until there are at least two untouched (no battery created) after every storm. Since I started using that method, I haven't lost anything to lighting (once I unlock the blueprint, of course).

How do you get enough bat wings for all those in the beginning. There are hardly any bats early on, and same with dust sprites so it’s hard to get double bat wings without burglar ring.

 

[Lew Zealand]

How do you get enough bat wings for all those in the beginning. There are hardly any bats early on, and same with dust sprites so it’s hard to get double bat wings without burglar ring.

It may just be time and playing it slower, and returning to the Mines for other things (shortage of Copper or Iron Ore) and also taking out any Bats in the area. I tend to end up with a reasonable excess of Bat Wings for Lightning Rods by Spring Y2 which I usually spend on crafting them until I remember I want a Butterfly Hutch.

Well, 3 Butterfly Hutches.

It's end of Summer Y4 and I still only have 2 but the Burglar Ring means I should have it by the end of Fall.

 

[stardew_luv]

It may just be time and playing it slower, and returning to the Mines for other things (shortage of Copper or Iron Ore) and also taking out any Bats in the area. I tend to end up with a reasonable excess of Bat Wings for Lightning Rods by Spring Y2 which I usually spend on crafting them until I remember I want a Butterfly Hutch.

Well, 3 Butterfly Hutches.

It's end of Summer Y4 and I still only have 2 but the Burglar Ring means I should have it by the end of Fall.

Butterfly hutches are the best. The more hutches the more butterflies. I like your play style your so chill. You hear these people reaching total perfection all vanilla no waivers by end of year 2 it just makes my head spin to even think of that rate of play.

 

[MogBeoulve]

You can rack up a crazy large amount of bat wings if you play with monsters on the farm and whack a bat or two before you go to bed most nights. Otherwise, it's just a matter of hitting the mines early and often.

By the way, I had no idea that lightning could hit wild trees, since I don't plant them on my farm and don't pay any attention to them unless they are encroaching on my crop or pasture space.

 

[REtroGeekery]

How do you get enough bat wings for all those in the beginning. There are hardly any bats early on, and same with dust sprites so it’s hard to get double bat wings without burglar ring.

I always have monsters turned on for the farm and between that and the amount of time I spend in the mines I just always end up with plenty of bat wings by the time I unlock lightning rods. ^_^ I like combat.

 

[ArthurManenti]

I'm a lightning rod afficionado, I have exaggerated, I assume, and have exactly 64 of them
At least summer of year 2 is over and I have 94 batteries total lol (not that many!)

How many do you guys think is the optimal number? Like 30? 40?

I see a lot of people running out of batteries and I need a lot of them for the iridium sprinklers and countless crystalariums

 

[Yvi]

I normally have 25-ish. Once I pass the 20 mark, I don't seem to get substantially more batteries by having more lightning rods.

 

[REtroGeekery]

I'm a lightning rod afficionado, I have exaggerated, I assume, and have exactly 64 of them
At least summer of year 2 is over and I have 94 batteries total lol (not that many!)

How many do you guys think is the optimal number? Like 30? 40?

I see a lot of people running out of batteries and I need a lot of them for the iridium sprinklers and countless crystalariums

I usually have around 30, give or take half a dozen depending on farm size.