Hydroponic Farms - requirements and bonuses

[Hakuren]

Hydroponic Farm need a little change. It is about time to add Water as a required resource (not only Power). I was waiting for that in SR2020 but it didn't happened.

Even if water is kept in closed cycle, such farms do require a lot of water to operate.

Furthermore, there is room for improvements with Farms output. On many occasions (real world) HF have higher output than classic farms (Agriculture). I think there should be a way to improve output of HF (with additional cost in Water or Power) through techs. For example names for new techs: Aeroponics, Bubbleponics, Deep Water Culture or Passive Sub-irrigation.

[larsjrg]

Higher output, yes per acre they have, typically normal agriculture have several times more acres planted than any hydroponic farm ever will have.

My understanding of such hydroponic farm is that the water is kept in circulation and never escapes the system (fairly little escapes), thus requirement should be placed in the construction not the running costs.

As a tech to improve the yield I suggest

"Aquaponic System"

Tech description:

With the intention of Aquaponic the integration of hydroponic plant production with a recirculating fish aquaculture systems provides several benefits over conventional hydroponic systems.

[battlegoat9787]

I totally agree with both post, especially new tech ideas for Hydroponics since I think its a building that doesn't really add anything special except eye candy. Would be nice to see eco domes, like the eden project here in the UK. Would be nice to see some modern looking hex improvements with better yields available. Increasing the tech tree for agriculture would be nice to see too.