Vortex Gaming

There are a variety of strategies in Town Star, but most strategies start from farming. You can grow crops and sell them, process them by operating a ranch, or into other goods that are used as materials for higher-level items.

So, let’s say you’ve placed a Wheat Field, Farm House, Silo, and Windmill close to each other. Your town is close to the ocean, so you’ve placed Wheat Fields by the coast to produce Salt as well. As time goes by, you have more Wheat Fields and more workers, but you don’t see an increase in profit. What would be the reason?

It’s because of various factors that contribute to the growth of crops. In Town Star, there are three main factors: shade, saltwater, and pollution. Without understanding this system, you’ll have to spend much more time growing your crops, resulting in lower productivity.

Shade, seawater, and pollution have different causes but the same effect. Each stack of these negative factors doubles the time required for the crop to grow.

For example, let’s say there’s a Refinery near a crop field. Refinery causes level 4 pollution to the nearest tiles, and the number goes down by 1 per distance. Pollution affects up to 3 tiles, and the pollution level ranges from 1 to 4 in inverse proportion to the tile’s distance to the Refinery. The Refinery will also cause shades of levels 1 to 4 in the same area.

That is, having a Refinery in an empty land causes level 8 pollution to the nearest tiles, and level 2 pollution to the ones that are 4 tiles away. Crops within a 3-tile radius from the Refinery will require the maximum growth time; growth time for crops that are 4 tiles away from it will be 4 times longer than the minimum growth time.

Then how do you boost farming efficiency? The answer is simple. Choose a farming area first, and make sure tall buildings and industrial facilities are excluded from that area.

If your town is located near a river, keep your farming area near the river, and place industrial facilities and worker houses on the other side. If your town is near an ocean, keep your farming area away from the coast. Place Windmills and Salt Fields, which are not affected by shade, wind, or pollution, near the ocean and produce salt.

A 16x16 tile of Town Star might look spacious enough, but if you take such contributing factors into account, you’ll notice that building placements are quite limited. That is why city planning is so important.

GameFi Inven
2023-01-13