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[schlake]

When the map starts the trees are big and have lots of wood.  If I cut the regrowth too soon I don't get nearly as much wood.  How long should I wait between clearcuts to get the most wood?

[PatrikLundell]

I can't answer your actual question, but there is another parameter:

As a result of a recent heated, confused discussion in a thread on the suggestions board, it seems saplings mature only if they have "direct" access to sunlight, i.e. they're not under the canopy of another tree (but a mature tree will not be killed by being shadowed). Older trees have larger canopies, meaning fewer trees can grow up near them. Also note that a floor above does NOT block sunlight, but it will have to be high enough to allow unrestricted growth upwards (although 2 z levels is enough to let cavern trees mature, and probably surface ones as well).

If you have an enormous wood demand, I would guess you'll get the most amount of wood by cutting all trees immediately as they mature, as you'll get more trees that way. Most people have the problem of having too many trees in embarks that are supposed to be sparse, though...

[Bouchart]

If your trees aren't growing much on the surface it might be due to all the trees that grow in the caverns.  There might be some global limit on how much trees can grow.  Try chopping down some trees in the caverns and see what happens.

[schlake]

After posting this, I suddenly realized that I have no flux on my embark.  I was so excited to try a second time to make an inn, a tavern, and a temple, that I just selected the first flat spot I found.  My first attempt ended in goblins.  I didn't want this second one to go the same way.  I cut the entire forest down, and I made charcoal while I mined out three levels.  I have a pile of iron ingots.  And then...I realized I was stuck with iron.  We shall have to see what I can entice my caravan to bring, and in the meantime, it turns out I have time to grow more trees.  And the elves are demanding I not cut down more than 136 trees.  I can easily meet that demand!

[Pseudo]

A related question is: how high should tree farms be? The higher it is the more wood you get - the question being "is the extra wood you gain from having it be 3 z-levels high worth the extra z-level?". (Or, roughly speaking, do you get at least 4/3 as much wood out of a 3-level farm as a 2-level one? Ditto with 5/4 as much wood for 4 versus 3. Or generally, (n+2)/(n+1) for n+1 versus n. The extra level being because otherwise trees will fall through the floor.)

Personally, I have the opposite problem though - too many trees. Or rather, FPS problems from trees. I keep my tree farm flooded with magma when not in use. If anyone has a better way of shutting off a tree farm, please let me know.

I've come up with a system for having the tree farm automatically turn itself on and off, although I haven't set it up yet. It's kind of pointless anyways currently, as you can't automatically designate trees for cutting.

[schlake]

I'm on the surface myself.  I built a tower to hold the library, a building for the inn with a temple on top, and I'm clearing levels below the surface to turn into blocks to keep expanding my trade hub above ground.

[Bouchart]

How much wood do you need that you need to go out of your way to build a tree farm?  I can't remember building any in recent history.  Mostly just in the 2d version and the one that followed it.

You really just need wood for beds, axles, charcoal, ash, and maybe a couple of other niche things.  Even if you have no trees on the surface for whatever reason like the surface being a glacier, there should be plenty underground.

I don't even like cutting down surface trees if it isn't necessary because you can get various fruit from them.

[Linkxsc]

I'm on the surface myself.  I built a tower to hold the library, a building for the inn with a temple on top, and I'm clearing levels below the surface to turn into blocks to keep expanding my trade hub above ground.

If doing a surface fort, I find it best to embark somewhere with clay, as its basically infinitely renewable building material, firepoof, and useful even if not fired and glazed (though fireclay is basically godmode for this. Love fireclay embarks, just wish it was easier to find the stuff before embarking)


Also with regards to tree farming... is that even necessary anymore? Heck you can take down 3-4 trees now and have more wood than entire maps used to support.
Last patch I used DFhack fastdwarf to clearcut a 4x4 map and ended up with like 10k wood on a forest map, or some ridiculous number like that.


Edit. Hunted down the save file... After about 30 years of play, the stocks screen shows +50k logs belonging to the fort, not including everything eaten up by the 12 fulltime carpenters/woodcrafters.

[PatrikLundell]

My current 3*3 swamp embark had 11000+ logs from clear cutting the surface. I generally try to embark in areas with a single embark tile containing trees and the rest being naked to reduce the tree related FPS issues while still getting early wood.

[Pseudo]

I like building things out of clear glass, and I generally use 2x2 embarks, what can I say?