Credit To Mz!
This guide was created with enthusiastic permission from Mz, based on their key insights (1, 2b and 5, below) and builds laid out in this detailed Google Docs guide[docs.google.com] .
Best Design:
~590 wood per hour (while in range). Important details of operation and construction below...
Key Insights:
(1) Multiple root stumps (the part with leaves) can connect to and grow through a shared root network (the wood branches).
This trick allows multiple roots to take turns growing into the same tile in front of a drill. Whereas, unconnected roots, trying to grow into the same tile, will block each other from *ever* growing there.
It also greatly reduces the number of expensive drills needed per root seed. Which can allow players to build a much more productive automated wood farm earlier, using a small fraction of the scarlet and iron ore. Once one has an excess of these ores, and drills, this clever design is only relevant to reduce space used and potentially improve game performance (lag).
(2) To prevent accidental demolition of parts of your build (when coming back from far away and the game glitches), know that:
(a) Roots can *never* grow on stone ground, sand, platforms (or gaps). So put these under your drills and other equipment. I first saw this pointed out in this video by Kytros.
(b) Roots can *never* grow into a tile that's adjacent to *their* own root network. Which can be of unlimited length! (When additional stumps are used to extend it.) So ensure there's always a shared root branch tile *either side* of each stump. These block each other from growing inwards. Hence, growth glitches can't accidentally overwrite stumps.
(3) Root stumps create new growth within a 5 tile radius. Triggering roughly once every 5 minutes (I'm currently checking this). Like a real plant, they can only extend a network of contiguous branches. And only on a suitable ground type, clear of objects (that are currently loaded into the game world).
(4) Roots will grow out into 1 to 4 tiles simultaneously. They will almost always grow into 2, with about a 50% chance for more. Provided spaces are available.
(5) Drills can be lined up to pass the harvested wood to each other, negating the need for conveyor belts.
Saves space, but not much cost. Stops the accidental collection and accumulation of little wood insects.
Construction Walkthrough:
(A) Plan out on the ground where you want the root to grow.
Surround the area with sand, stone, platform or no floor at all. Mask off the parts reserved for planting more seeds by temporarily placing e.g. wood floor, carpet, or some other floor covering that blocks root growth and can be easily removed without melee hits (which risk breaking the delicate root).
In this build, the dimensions inside the sand boundary are 9 tiles wide by 6 tall. With insets for sitting the drills on.
(B) Seed your shared root network from a single temporary stump on the *outside* edge!
Two root networks will never join. Except occasionally during glitches (when returning from far away). These are probably not controllable.
(C) Plant additional seeds *only after* they are surrounded by the root network on all relevant sides.
Once grown, additional root stumps will help grow the shared root faster, to extend the range of the network indefinitely, for as far as you like. In this build, that would be to the right. But could just as easily be left, if moving the robot arm and chest.
(D) Protect your root's backbone very carefully!
A single stray punch could mean having to destroy and re-grow everything downstream of the break. Because TWO ROOT NETWORKS WILL NEVER JOIN!
Use a shovel to safely dig up the temporary starting stump, once you have others established. Then protect the backbone with a tough wall or full tile of air/water gap. I've used a fence for illustrative purposes.
(E) Add your drills, once all the seeds are in place.
If you don't have many drills, those in the middle should be your priority. Those drills in range of more root stumps will produce more wood. I've numbered them in descending order of importance. There's diminishing returns on adding more drills, see section below for numbers.
(F) This build can be extended quite simply: by adding additional width (to the right).
Or by doubling up with a mirrored build that can share the same root backbone. This would keep it tucked safely away from accidental hits.But illumination may be an issue, if you want to see it. Or you could share a central power wire, as Mz's guide shows.
This design will, of course, also work fine mirrored to run in the opposite direction, left to right. Or rotated to run up/down.
Performance Comparison:
My old build is almost 4 times bigger, 20 root seeds/stumps, 40 drills, only ~483 wood per hour:
It's a somewhat decorative build. But I previously thought it was close to optimal, having tested to confirm that two-way root growth, from a single stump, is as productive as 1-way growth (i.e. 1 seed to one drill).
I measured production rates of the guide build simultaneously with my previous design, to confirm conditions were unchanged in the game between configurations.
(Tests done in Core Keeper Early Access Version 0.3.8)
So, this Mz build is, depending on the number of drills used, between 9.8 up to 16.4 times more productive per drill! (I.e. best is with just 1 drill, in the middle position.)
Uses For Huge Volumes Of Wood:
Even a mediocre wood farm design will produce enough wood to spam as many platforms and torches as you'd reasonably need. So what can be done with the many, many more stacks of 999 wood...?:
Crafting skill level farming: grab a load and then just hold the button down on making e.g. chests (for 5 wood), that can be sold for 1 coin each. Or another pure wood item from this list on the wiki[wikizet.com] . I'm not sure which item will be optimal for fastest levelling, but they all seem to count.
Other ideas...?
Bonus Material (WIP):
Mz's fun build that maximises wood output for a single drill, by painstakingly arranging as many root seed stumps within range of it as possible (build instructions in their guide):
Showing roots turbo-grow when returning from far away (WIP)...
Links And Acknowledgement
Fellow creatives: if this material inspires some of your content, I'd appreciate a quick shout-out and link back to this guide. 👍
Again, thank you to Mz for the inspiration. See their guide document here[docs.google.com] .
My Core Keeper Guides on Steam:
NPC Housing Requirements & Tips (Comprehensive List).
Simplified Cooking - A Cheat Sheet to Quickly Understand What's Best to Cook!.
Optimal Automated Wood Farming.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2802836829
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