Okay so I misunderstood what Fallacy was going for with this game, rendering the Menagerie borderline useless for now. Whoops.
After rereading the rules for the Menagerie I think that it could start to pay off pretty quickly, because it seems we're allowed to do an additional design on top of the two designs we normally get:
Mechanically, each faction may make one Mercenary Request per Design Phase to one Mercenary faction, of which there is currently only the Menagerie.
Yeah, but if we botch negotiations we get blacklisted for a while. So it might be best to wait until we have a negotiator on hand before trying.
Anyway. I wrote a thing, although I'm not totally happy with it. I don't know if it's viable, but even if it is it seems rather bland. I was aiming for a production facility that can be secured behind our walls, so that we build up resources as a battle drags out... but this isn't it, I think. Still gonna share it, both to ask Fallacy if it is viable, and to maybe inspire someone else.
Modular MultifarmThe Modular Multifarm consists of a metacrystal silo with a number of crop fields around it. It requires an overseer with at least Complex intelligence, and a number of Pawns to work the fields.
The silo serves three main functions:
-It modifies a Pawn's spear into a farming tool (useless for combat, necessary for farming). For reasons unknown it also produces straw hats, which serve absolutely no purpose but make the Pawns working there look different.
-It stores harvested crops, and processes them- usually into food, although crops could potentially be grown that have other uses.
-It generates seeds, fertiliser, and water. To do so, it must be provided with blocks of raw Natura, Earth, and... Water produced by an Elemental Gate.
The fields are empowered so as to accelerate the whole growth process, so that crops may be planted, grow, and be harvested in a single battle.
The Modular Multifarm can produce several different seed types. For now, Mushrooms are the only viable option- they will happily grow without light, although in more barren environments a layer of fertiliser must be laid down before planting. Programming a new seed type is relatively simple, and should be bundled in with designs that require the crop in question.