Farming questions.

[WalkerBD1]

 I enjoy building small farming communities, but have hit a small snag.  My computer had a small melt down so I had to reload SC4 and all of the downloads I had.  After I did that I started to play all over again.  The problem I'm haveing is all of my farms are just stage 1 fields.  Before I was getting other thing such as a few of the dairies I downloaded along with different looking custom fields.  I don't mind haveing a few feild only lots, but it is rather dull when that is all you get.  If anyone has some ideas on this plaese let me know.  Thank you in advance for any help and/or responses to this.

Walker......

[Lowkee33]

The simplest option would be to download a Maxis Blocker and only use the block IR file.  That way you will always get custom fields.

[WalkerBD1]

I am using a Maxis blocker.  The problem is that the fields are ones mainly by Simgoober and others.  So, that isn't the problem.  I wish that was the problem, but no.  I would like to thank you for the response, however.  If you or anyone else have some ideas plaese let me know.

Walker......

[travismking]

You have to have some 'normal' industry in your region in order to get past stage 1 farms. Im not sure of the number, but I do know farms dont count toward regional Industrial capacity for the purpose of stage limits. 

[Lowkee33]

With CAM you can have stage 1-3 grow immediately, and stage 4 at a IR pop of 500.  There are more stages and the stage limits can be found on this site.

Seems like your problem is Lots.  If the lots you downloaded are blank then you'll get blank fields.  Try some Manchou or Jmyers lots, or perhaps make your own.   

[jmyers2043]

Hey Walker

Lowkee33 gives good advise. When you first start a new region your first city will start out with stage 1 farms. You'll see some stage 2 farms eventually as you grow your region. You'll reach a point as the region develops where stage 3 farms have a 70% chance to grow and the stage 1 and 2 will only grow in that remaining 30%. And you'll be wondering what happened to those nice stage 1 and 2's. I used to load up my plugins with a lot of stage 3 farms for variety.

That changed with the CAM. One of the things it did was to have a more equal chance at the very beginning that stage 1 through 3 farms will grow. The CAM added 4 more farm stages too. The stage 7 farm being very difficult to grow.

The other thing to keep in mind is that farm stage growth is linked to your industrials. So you'll be stuck with only stage 1 farms for a while if you refuse to zone any industry. The more industry? The quicker you'll grow through the different farm stages.

I don't know of any Maxis or BSC farms that are 'just fields'. Secondly, fields don't grow on their own. There has to be a farm lot. Some of the SimGoober farms just had a water tower or shed. That was by design and compliments or mimics the Maxis Pumpkin Acres. The SimGoober Tulip and Pole Bean farm comes to mind.  I think you may be missing a prop dependency if your not at least seeing some structure, no matter how small.

Good Luck

- Jim