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[Lokum]

Im starting I believe my 5th fortress and I've made it to a grand total of 183 most people have a bed and I have a nice metal thing going with about 7 megma smelters and a standing army of about 50 men armed to the bone.

On my 4th fortress I was at about 100 and I had a food ammount of nearly 2100.

Right now my people might starve as I only have 50 plant O_O.

At this point whats the most effcient farm space? I have about 21 farmers, they dont all work sadly ( partying and doing other stuff and its too hard for me to find them tochange labor )

And my second question is whats the most effcient planting? Like right now im just doing Plump Helmets all the way.

[seizer]

Finding your farmers should be easy, just use the 'u' list. For efficient farming, there are several things to keep in mind. First, skilled dedicated growers are essential. 'Dedicated' means dwarfs with only the Farming (Fields) job turned on. For the 'skilled', part, in your case I'd recommend disabling farming on all your current farmers, and making your dwarfs with the highest agility, strength and toughness (in that order of importance) scores dedicated farmers.

As for crops, that's really up to personal preference. Some swear by plump helmets, personally I like quarry bushes (for food, needs empty bags, a farmer's workshop and a kitchen) and sweet pods (for brewing).

[Grek]

The rule of thumb is 6 food and 16 drink per dwarf per year.

Plump Helmets make 45 booze per year per plot. They can made into food if you don't think that's an expolit. Quarry Bushes make 30 food per year per plot otherwise. This is assuming you have growers that make 5 plant per seed everytime.

The math says you will need about 86 farm plots of plump helmet or 65 plump helmet and 37 quarry bushes. Less if you fish/hunt/butcher things/trade for food/gather plants. More if not all your growers are up to snuff. I'l recomend a 10 by 10 farm plot.

[ July 04, 2007: Message edited by: Grek ]

[Slartibartfast]

The most efficient use of plants for food is brewing and then cooking the alcohol.
According to the wiki Pig Tails and Plump Helmets are the fastest growing plants, so the "ultimate" solution is Pig Tails during the summer and autumn, and Plump Helmets for spring.
(Pig Tails are preferable to Plump Helmets since they can be used for more things, and because Plump Helmets tend to get eaten before getting brewed and leave seeds all over the place)

Though personally my new favorite is:
Spring - Sweet Pods
Summer - Cave Wheat
Autumn - Pig Tails
(for the diversity)

[ July 04, 2007: Message edited by: Slartibartfast ]

[seizer]

The only problem with brewing and cooking the alcohol is that if you are low on alcohol the dwarfs will grab barrels from the kitchen while you are trying to cook, this can make it hard to produce any food.

[Mzbundifund]

I think dwarves usually grab the closest available alcohol when they're thirsty, so if you put your kitchen 'behind' your alcohol stockpile, they'll let your cook work while drinking from the stockpile

[Zhentar]

I use 5 3x6 farm plots in a row, with 5 farmers. I grow sweet pods, quarry bushes, cave wheat, and occasionally pig tails. I have 2 millers and 3 threshers to process all of that.

I don't let cooks brew alcohol because even with a booze stockpile in front of the kitchen people would still end up drinking from the kitchen barrels anyways.

I had 200 dwarves, 1500 drinks, and 5,800 prepared meals at the end of the last winter.

[ July 06, 2007: Message edited by: Zhentar ]

[Albert the Absentminded]

I typically do something like

. = space
X = rock
@ = lever
= = storage
- = channel
& = floodgate

code:

  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
&.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......XXXXX..XXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X@X...................XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......-.....................XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......-.....................XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......-.....................XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......-.....................XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X@X...................XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......XXXXX..XXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......X======X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X.............X==========....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX....XXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the other side of the small hallway is where I set up 2 farmer workshops to the north, 2 stills in the center, and two more workshops in the south. The north workshops are there to process thread. The stills feed the stores which are located to the east, and the workshops on the south end process plants to be eaten - rock nuts, syrup, etc.

240 spaces is normally enough for plants, especially at the rate high-level brewers operate at.

My kitchen area is somewhat similar - I have a "raw materials" set of stockpiles to the west, the shops to work them in the center, and the finished product is stored to the east, right next to a gigantic dining hall - which doesn't get made until I have legendary-level engravers to make it all nice.

The whole mess is at the center of the fort, between the river and the chasm. It generally works fairly well, although I've occasionally toyed with keeping stockpiles of food and drink close by the more remote areas.

-Albert

[TerminatorII]

I usually can make plenty of food for 200 dwarves off of 2 maxxed out plots and just growing whatever.  

a key is to have WAYYYY more alchohol than you need so you can constantly be churning out food.

My usual bottleneck in food production is breweries or Kitchens. (4+ of each sometimes is too few.)

and of course dedicated farm workers.

[Lokum]

All of a sudden I phail at farming??

Seriously my first real fort had over 2000 food stores during the THIRD year.... im on my second here and my people might starve; i have 700 food stores but only 6 plant!!!

[CogDissident]

I like the idea of putting breweries/kitchens behind your alcohol stockpiles, so they dont take the beer your cooking beer.

[Underwhelmed]

I find that after the second year food production isn't really a priority - as long as you don't forget to do it completely, you're fine. Most of the time, the limiting factor isn't how much land you have available, but rather how fast your farmers can plant.

[TerminatorII]

That and the quantity of barrels you have.