Precision Farming: First Look at Soil Types and Soil Sampling

[Chaki]

First look at Precision Farming: Of course, we saw you asking for news on the Precision Farming project for Farming Simulator 19 - a project initiated by John Deere and funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading Food Innovation Initiative.
Progress was made and the first gameplay features implemented into our test environment since the initial announcement.

[FarmBoss]

"There are four different kinds of soil. Meaning, there are four different levels of yield potential"
I hope yield potential is also based on crop choice, and not just soil type.
If so, this is content I'd be willing to pay big bucks for.

[Ado239]

How will this be introduced to the game? DLC? Update?

[this_is_gav]

I hope we can select which modules are used. So hypothetically, if this soil variation is one module that I might not want to use, but a GPS module comes out that I do want to use then I can select that without everything the others.

How will this be introduced to the game? DLC? Update?

I wouldn't be surprised to see a game update with the Alpine DLC, in which case, if this is coming to both PC and console players (which you would assume it is) then that would be a good opportunity to introduce the necessary code, with perhaps a small mod activating that code.

A bit like how they added the Dynamic Camera mod and three 4Real modules to FS17.

[Emil Jørgensen]

How will this be introduced to the game? DLC? Update?

Planned as a free game module for Farming Simulator.

[FarmerJohn89]

Yeah that is a much better news announcement should of been the first time we were hearing about it but nevermind.
I can't see it coming out with the alpine dlc it's probably further away than that might get the first module in December but they have a whole year to fill with no more DLC planned so they will have to spread the modules out over at least 6 months.
Just hope it's not too much of a hassle to update all the mod maps

[eric21]

I see it coming this year, with the virus going round it could be quicker, development could be faster

[Miketeg]

I have big hope that this will come as much realistic as it can be, including all the dependant other element (moisture, crop, weather/temperature)

Please Giants, don't try to please arcade player with a realistic feature...Don't forget that you have "Simulator" in your game name...and it lost lot of it lately.

[Ekan]

I have big hope that this will come as much realistic as it can be, including all the dependant other element (moisture, crop, weather/temperature)

Please Giants, don't try to please arcade player with a realistic feature...Don't forget that you have "Simulator" in your game name...and it lost lot of it lately.

I think it other way around, it has become more realistic with the years.

[IanM]

Another way to make it even harder to earn money within the GAME.

Re the soil system: With the ploughing in of manure/compost/straw and the such have an impact on the soil.?
Will it still be required to dump lime everywhere, even though the crop does not require it?

Maybe they might want to consider fixing the Missions system so you dont get robbed blind instead of making money.
Or concentrate on more crop types/animals rather than the endless influx of bigger more expensive equipment. Things like peas, cabbage, other root crops, cover crops like clover, alfalfa etc.

I agree with Ekan that the game has improved a little over the years but the loss of some of the good improvements when they started to cater for consoles is yet to be caught up. Maybe If/when Giants break free and self publish they will do PC or console versions. (manure is about to be thown).

[theSeb]

Another way to make it even harder to earn money within the GAME.

Re the soil system: With the ploughing in of manure/compost/straw and the such have an impact on the soil.?
Will it still be required to dump lime everywhere, even though the crop does not require it?

Maybe they might want to consider fixing the Missions system so you dont get robbed blind instead of making money.
Or concentrate on more crop types/animals rather than the endless influx of bigger more expensive equipment. Things like peas, cabbage, other root crops, cover crops like clover, alfalfa etc.

I agree with Ekan that the game has improved a little over the years but the loss of some of the good improvements when they started to cater for consoles is yet to be caught up. Maybe If/when Giants break free and self publish they will do PC or console versions. (manure is about to be thown).

What good improvements have we lost from the base game since it started being released on the console? Can you name any? I am asking because I can't. Everything has improved in the game over the years, including bale physics and weeds and lime. Sure, some of these things may not realistically implemented, but at least they are there. If you are going to complain that the game does not pay you enough, when the player rewards are already ridiculously high, then it's odd to complain about a lack of realism. The only thing I can think of related to game play that got worse was the sound of the tractors and that is specific to 17-->19 change and had nothing to do with consoles.

It's silly and unnecessarily nasty to jump on the "blame consoles" band wagon. They are not your enemy. Giants have always had a specific goal in mind with the game play and they have stuck to it. There was not some major shift in direction when they started releasing to consoles.

Making money in the game is already pretty easy and unrealistic. I am not sure how you think that the missions, which already pay far too much, are robbing you and not paying enough. You need to pick a side and stick to it, I think, instead of jumping on the ever popular "bash consoles, bash Giants, I am super angry" band wagon. These will be free modules. In other words, you DON't have to use them, if you are worried about not making enough money in the game. If they made it into the game eventually, then you will have a toggle to switch them on or off, since Giants does not like to make their game too complex and wants to cater to all ages.

[DocDesastro]

Well, we have not really lost any, but I feel, that progression in the game has been stalled because of scripting/slot limitations of the consoles. Imagine fruktor's soil mod which was possible in FS15 already. Now we have 2020 and these things, that modders had realized about 5 years before is promoted as the new hip stuff. Instead the market was expanded to consoles and into other lands, which brought its own problems with it. But the main reason in my book is: you cannot sell the game with LOTS of functionality less and even more restrictions than the PC version and - thank you Sony, Nintendo & Co - AND having the game be priced a vast lot higher (royalties, extra work to port to platform). So you put the PC versioin in chains a bit so this will hopefully not be realized. This is a development that disgruntles some PC users for a very long time I think. My personal opinion is: The PC is the superior hardware when it comes to playing FS. Why they go for less and even subsidize these poor choices by giving out season passes (I guess losses in revenue made there are offset by making the PC version more expensive) is beyond me. Oh well, not quite - they earn more cash that way, but the product suffers a bit as it stagnates. However, I am very much content, that GIANTS has acquired strong partners like JD and Horsch that want to work with the game and expand it. The game is still called a simulator, not a tycoon game and not lil'-Kevin's Rural-Merry-go-round (By making some choices in the options menu, you still could have it that way either, which is good). So yay for more complexity!

[theSeb]

Well, we have not really lost any, but I feel, that progression in the game has been stalled because of scripting/slot limitations of the consoles. Imagine fruktor's soil mod which was possible in FS15 already. Now we have 2020 and these things, that modders had realized about 5 years before is promoted as the new hip stuff. Instead the market was expanded to consoles and into other lands, which brought its own problems with it. But the main reason in my book is: you cannot sell the game with LOTS of functionality less and even more restrictions than the PC version and - thank you Sony, Nintendo & Co - AND having the game be priced a vast lot higher (royalties, extra work to port to platform). So you put the PC versioin in chains a bit so this will hopefully not be realized. This is a development that disgruntles some PC users for a very long time I think. My personal opinion is: The PC is the superior hardware when it comes to playing FS. Why they go for less and even subsidize these poor choices by giving out season passes (I guess losses in revenue made there are offset by making the PC version more expensive) is beyond me. Oh well, not quite - they earn more cash that way, but the product suffers a bit as it stagnates. However, I am very much content, that GIANTS has acquired strong partners like JD and Horsch that want to work with the game and expand it. The game is still called a simulator, not a tycoon game and not lil'-Kevin's Rural-Merry-go-round (By making some choices in the options menu, you still could have it that way either, which is good). So yay for more complexity!

Soil mod was made by Decker_MMV. We were talking about the base game, but if we want to to talk about mods, then again, no, we haven't lost anything when it comes to creating good mods, or our ability to script. The scripting system has been overhauled a bit and made better over the years. Writing another soil mod just like we had before is completely possible. Whether the game comes out for consoles, or not, it does not impede our ability to write great mods. Nothing has been stalled because of slot limitations of the console. Whether people choose to make good mods is a different discussion.

[DocDesastro]

Well, my sincerest apologies for crediting the wrong person - should have done a bit more research on that (I don't know, why I make a connection with fruktor with that mod). The rest of my argumentation still stands. Because: if modders are able to do such a thing with the current engine, then the devs should be able as well or even more so - so I ask the question, why wasn't such a thing implemented in FS 17 or 19? I guess, because coding resources were diverted to other issues. What modders do sometimes borders on being a miracle but as You stated, we are talking the base game here. I just wanted to point out, that non-GIANTS personal have shown the possibilities to simulate farming in depth years ago but official progression might have come in far far smaller steps - too small maybe. And I partially blame porting the game on more systems and their limitations for that. You are right, that we did not lose anything in terms of moddability although I feel we lost some great modders in the iteration from 15 to 19 (maybe because the editor was changed too often? No modder, do not really know the reasons).

We might also stand at a point, where we just agree to disagree. The discussion PC vs. console has been done many times before with no conclusion.

[theSeb]

The answer to that is quite simple in my mind... it's because that's not the direction they want to go in I believe. They are making a fun tractor driving sandbox and that's what they have always made. They could implement more realistic features, but they don't believe there is enough of a market that wants those features, so there is no point in wasting development resources on that. However, the success of the game on consoles has allowed the company to grow and more developers have been hired. So consoles have not had any negative impact on their ability to create new features in the game. It's just that management thinks the game should continue going in direction A. You are asking for the game to go in direction B. I don't think that is likely to happen.

Out of the millions of people who bought this game how many just want to drive a combine and tractor fast across fields and how many want an in-depth simulation? Considering the fact that the game continues to sell well and beat sales figures of the previous one with each release, I would say that the Giants management probably are on the right course that appeals to the mass market.

This is not a hobby catering to the 50 people complaining on forums. This is a company. Continuing on this course allows them to continue making games and pay their employees. To completely change their strategy which has served them well for over a decade would seem like a suicidal business strategy to anyone at all concerned about the finances of their company.

Sometimes I don't think the fans of this game know what they actually want. Quite a lot of people have downloaded Seasons admittedly, but even with the small increase of realism that brings to the game, you will find people complaining. I am waiting too much! I want to plant crops when I feel like! Why are my crops dying! I want to not feed animals every day! Snow is boring! Give us more snow! Blah blah blah and so forth etc. etc. etc.