Devlog #4 - Water Management

[p][/p][p]Water is one of the most important factors in Agrocracy that affects plant growth. In this devlog, the water management system will be discussed.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]
Finding Water and Wells[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]Every land sits on top of a groundwater table at some depth: shallow, medium, or deep. You don't know which until you run a Geological Survey. One survey per land, permanent result.[/p]
• [p]That depth determines what kind of well you can build.[/p]
• [p]You need a well in order to have an operational irrigation system.[/p]
• [p]Shallow Well - cheap, but only reliable on shallow groundwater.[/p]
• [p]Deep Well - expensive, but guaranteed to hit water on any land. No gamble, just cost.[/p]
• [p]One functional well per land. That's the bottleneck.[/p][p][/p][p]This isn't how real hydrogeology works, but for the purposes of a game it creates a meaningful decision: gamble cheap or invest safe.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Soil Moisture and Water Balance[/h3][p][/p][p]The game tracks water in the soil turn by turn. Each field has a moisture level in millimeters, capped by field capacity - how much water the soil can hold.

Drainage is a land-wide infrastructure upgrade that increases field capacity by 30%. Cheap, passive, always worth installing early.

Every turn moisture is calculated:[/p]

New Moisture = Current + Rain Infiltration + Irrigation - Evapotranspiration

• [p]Infiltration - not all rain reaches the roots. Loamy soil absorbs most of the rainfall. Sandy soil catches less than half. The rest runs off.[/p]
• [p]Evapotranspiration - water lost to air and plant activity. Scales with temperature, sunlight, and crop type. A cucumber field in July loses double what wheat loses.[/p]
• [p]Irrigation - your controlled water input from one of four systems.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]How Water Affects Growth[/h3][p][/p][p]Moisture is one of the five growth factors (alongside temperature, sunlight, day length, and soil quality).[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Too dry - growth stagnates, then plants wilt. Sustained drought kills crops.[/p]
• [p]Optimal range - full growth, slight bonus at the sweet spot around 50-60% of field capacity.[/p]
• [p]Too wet - roots suffocate. Growth and health drop. Heavy rain on poorly drained soil creates this.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Combined with Liebig's Law (the worst factor limits everything), a single dry turn can undo weeks of otherwise perfect conditions.
[/p][h3]Irrigation Systems[/h3][p]
All systems require a working well. They can coexist on the same land.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]If you like the complexity of the water system, don't forget to wishlist the game.[/h3][p] [/p][p]
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