agf
Greenhorn
tl;dr It takes a lot of repetitive work to keep the trees from growing out of control on my farm. I don't want to build three wide floors around them for two reasons; it doesn't match the rest of the farm and it blocks grass from growing. If the Gold Clock made it so trees only drop seeds one tile away, then the fact that trees can't mature when directly adjacent to another tree would naturally stop the spread. That would be consistent with how the Gold Clock and other late-game items reduce repetitive work in other ways. If you google "Stardew Valley prevent tree spread", you'll see this is a common question/complaint going back to when the game was new.
Trees can drop seeds up to three tiles away. If you want to have large groups of trees on the farm, ether you have to chop the new seeds / immature trees, or you have to cover up a very large amount of the ground with paths / floors, or they gradually cover over all of your open areas. Constantly chopping them takes a lot of time and effort, and is exactly the kind of repetitive work that the Gold Clock and other late-game items are meant to reduce. Covering the ground around them -- skipping a tile then two tiles covered is the minimum to prevent spread -- both cuts way into the amount of open ground for grass to grow, and may not match the aesthetic of some farms (including mine). For a 20x20 area of mature trees, currently you'd need to cover, at minimum, 26*26 - 22*22 = 192 tiles to prevent spread, for 400 tiles of mature tree area. That's a pretty bad ratio, and it only gets worse for a smaller or more oblong area, as the perimiter-to-area ratio increases. For a single tree, it's 40 tiles of cover.
I propose that the Gold Clock be changed to reduce the seed drop distance to one. That way, you will still get seeds and immature trees you can harvest if you want, but they won't ever grow to maturity or continue to spread, since immature trees can't grow to maturity if they're directly adjacent to another tree. You can still manually place a seed if you want new trees that can grow to maturity. And, if you don't even want immature trees growing on the perimeter, now you only need to cover a much smaller area with flooring; for that same 20x20 area, only 84 tiles. For a single tree, the reduction is 40 tiles to 8 tiles.
In lieu of that, any other way to prevent tree spread that doesn't take up too much space from grass-growing room and isn't unaesthetic would be wonderful -- the Gold Clock reducing seed drop distance just seems like the natural solution to me. Another idea would be a special flooring type that still allows grass but not trees to grow, and which looks very similar to the existing ground. Maybe "Underground Barrier" or something like that? Like the plastic sheeting used in the real world to prevent plants from putting down deep roots. I know there are mods to stop tree spread, but I enjoy playing unmodded, I like the balance of it being an endgame option like the Gold Clock, and I don't want to stop spread entirely, just be able to control it better.
Trees can drop seeds up to three tiles away. If you want to have large groups of trees on the farm, ether you have to chop the new seeds / immature trees, or you have to cover up a very large amount of the ground with paths / floors, or they gradually cover over all of your open areas. Constantly chopping them takes a lot of time and effort, and is exactly the kind of repetitive work that the Gold Clock and other late-game items are meant to reduce. Covering the ground around them -- skipping a tile then two tiles covered is the minimum to prevent spread -- both cuts way into the amount of open ground for grass to grow, and may not match the aesthetic of some farms (including mine). For a 20x20 area of mature trees, currently you'd need to cover, at minimum, 26*26 - 22*22 = 192 tiles to prevent spread, for 400 tiles of mature tree area. That's a pretty bad ratio, and it only gets worse for a smaller or more oblong area, as the perimiter-to-area ratio increases. For a single tree, it's 40 tiles of cover.
I propose that the Gold Clock be changed to reduce the seed drop distance to one. That way, you will still get seeds and immature trees you can harvest if you want, but they won't ever grow to maturity or continue to spread, since immature trees can't grow to maturity if they're directly adjacent to another tree. You can still manually place a seed if you want new trees that can grow to maturity. And, if you don't even want immature trees growing on the perimeter, now you only need to cover a much smaller area with flooring; for that same 20x20 area, only 84 tiles. For a single tree, the reduction is 40 tiles to 8 tiles.
In lieu of that, any other way to prevent tree spread that doesn't take up too much space from grass-growing room and isn't unaesthetic would be wonderful -- the Gold Clock reducing seed drop distance just seems like the natural solution to me. Another idea would be a special flooring type that still allows grass but not trees to grow, and which looks very similar to the existing ground. Maybe "Underground Barrier" or something like that? Like the plastic sheeting used in the real world to prevent plants from putting down deep roots. I know there are mods to stop tree spread, but I enjoy playing unmodded, I like the balance of it being an endgame option like the Gold Clock, and I don't want to stop spread entirely, just be able to control it better.
