Mushrooms (Scenery)

Mushrooms are the most common-found Natural Resource in the game, and are used as a source of Food. Mushrooms currently have 2 stages in their life-cycle. The first is growth, in which mushrooms spend a long period of time growing from a spore into a fully-fledged mushroom patch. The second is sporing, in which mushrooms spend a short period of time preparing and then generating mushroom spores on neighbouring tiles. This is mushroom's form of reproduction, and mushrooms are the only fully self-sustainable Food source in the game. It also produces the lowest quality food, is relatively slow in generating and is high maintenance.

Usage & Farming
Picking a mushroom patch yields 5 Mushrooms ready for consumption or re-planting. Mushrooms in raw form provide only a little nourishment for your Dwarves.

Designating a mushroom farming zone will set Foragers to work, catering for the mushrooms, and picking any that are too crowded or too dry to produce spores. In order for Mushrooms to spore, the neighbouring tiles must be cleared of rubble first, which Foragers will do automatically on any tile that is designated as a farming zone. With this in mind, it is probably best not to designate too many extraneous tiles for farming.

You can also pick mushrooms manually by selecting a Forager and using the 'Act' control (defaults to Ctrl+Right Click). You can destroy a mushroom patch using the same 'Act' control, either by selecting a class other than Forager, or performing the Act while the mushroom isn't yet grown.

Growth & Moisture
Mushrooms grow at a painfully slow rate, taking anywhere from 8-12 minutes to grow from a spore into a fully grown patch. Mushrooms not yet fully grown yield nothing when picked, but can be destroyed to make space if required. Spreading mushroom farms about the map in moisture-rich locations is probably a good strategy, but has a longer walking time between jobs. Note: Moisture is not yet implemented.

Crowding & Lack of Moisture
When a mushroom patch has 3 neighbouring tiles, also with mushroom patches, the patch becomes 'crowded' and will no longer produce spores. This is the best time for a mushroom to be picked, since it will no longer reproduce.

Mushrooms absorb moisture from the area in order to grow and produce spores. Based underground, water supplies are constant, and a mushroom will sap a portion from that supply. A lack of moisture in the area will stagnate a mushroom's growth and reproduction, even to a complete halt. Farms in this state either require thinning down or water must be provided to them to continue growing. Note: There are no mechanics in place for moisture or stagnation, but crowding is already implemented.

Planting New Farms
Note: Not yet implemented.