Crop Rotation: Soybean and Peanut as Nitrogen (N) Fixing crops, Rye and Spelt as Phosphorus (P) Fixing crops

[CyberCat05]

In real life the practice Crop Rotation - Using the same Farmland for different crops in different seasons to make full use of the soil nutrients - is a bit more complex than it is in VS - In the game Crop Rotation is used to effeciently use remaining Soil nutrients while the other ones passively recover, but in real life Farmers don't rely on magic passive nutrient recovery, they also strategically choose crops that fix certain Nutrients to the soil in preparation for next season's crops. Technically it's not the crops themselves that fix Nutrients to the soil, but rather Microbes that form symbiotic relationships with them.

So first of all, I suggest significantly lowering the rate Soil Nutrients recover on their own - Not completely get rid of it, but lower it significantly.

The most important crops for this are Legumes. All Legumes are Nitrogen fixers, meaning they (their symbiotic microbes) take Nitrogen from the air and chemically bind it to the soil. So I suggest that when you plant Legumes (the current ones in the game being Soybeans and Peanuts), in addition to consuming whatever Nutrient they need from the soil, they also increase the Nitrogen (N) content of the soil at a faster rate then it would recover naturally, up to and maybe even a bit beyond the Soil's base Fertility level.

For Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K), it's a bit more complicated. Since they're Minerals, Microbes can't just pull them out of the air into the soil. But in Phosphorus' case, there are still Crops in Crop Rotation that help make it more available for future crops. While "Phosphorus Fixing" technically doesn't exist, the symbiotic microbes do something else called "Phosphorus Solubilizing", which means they help break down particulates in the soil and leech the trapped Phosphorus out of them, making Soil Phosphorus that was previously unavailable to the crops much more Bioavailable. In the game it would function virtually the same as Nitrogen Fixing: When you plant Rye or Spelt (the best crops for Phosphorus Solubilizing IRL out of the ones in the game), while they consume the Nitrogen out of the soil, they also Increase its Phosphorus content, just like Legumes do with Nitrogen.

TL;DR:

Soil N and P recover much slower on their own, planting Soybeans and Peanuts increases the Farmland's Nitrogen (N) content more effectively, while planting Rye and Spelt increases the Farmland's Phosphorus (P) content more effectively.

[DeanF]

I am all for any mechanic that adds depth.

[Sunny_Sometimes]

Would fallow syndrome affecting spelt, etc. also be a part of/fit in with this?

[TheRealMork]

I fully agree! (And I'm glad to learn new things concerning the ins and outs of how it really works).

When I heard there was crop rotation, I expected it to be more close to what I learnt in history classes (that's some far away memories XD) that was developed by successive generations of farmers: 3 or 4 fields, rotating cultures yearly, with one of them in fallow.
But in the game, you can just swap between two different cultures, as many times a year as you manage to get a harvest.

I'm all for deepening this game mechanism!

[Hal13]

i could like it, if there were more legumes in the game. spelt and rye are easy to come by, but peanuts and soybeans are not. thus we'd need at least one easier to come by legume imo.

[CyberCat05]

7 hours ago, Hal13 said:

i could like it, if there were more legumes in the game. spelt and rye are easy to come by, but peanuts and soybeans are not. thus we'd need at least one easier to come by legume imo.

Soybeans aren't that hard to come by in my experience but something like Chickpeas or Lentils would be cool, especially with how historically significant they are. And they're also much more fitting of the game's cooking mechanics that generally revolve around stews and pot pies, I'm sure Soybeans and Peanuts have been used for that before but it's kind of weird to choose them as the only legumes in the game when you can't make Tofu or PB

[CyberCat05]

On 8/6/2026 at 7:32 AM, Sunny_Sometimes said:

Would fallow syndrome affecting spelt, etc. also be a part of/fit in with this?

I think it would not make sense game-design wise to make spelt both the crop used for increasing Phosphorus in the soil and suffer from Phosphorus deficiency.

[Banch]

I'd love to have lentils, but I also think we need a cold-climate legume. I know soybeans grow fine anywhere once you have them, but the plants only spawn in the wild in warmer zones. Adding some form of companion planting (plants have effects on other plants growing nearby) would be cool too.

[River Oak]

8 hours ago, Banch said:

I'd love to have lentils, but I also think we need a cold-climate legume. I know soybeans grow fine anywhere once you have them, but the plants only spawn in the wild in warmer zones. Adding some form of companion planting (plants have effects on other plants growing nearby) would be cool too.

Field peas would be the perfect legume for colder climes. Broad beans would be good as well for small gardens.