Check the machine
Starting systems can be shabby, so look at the condition and the installed modules instead of treating every unit as identical.
Farming trade
Hydroponic Farming Guide
Hydroponic farming needs a Hydroponic System, a seed, water and power. Crops grow toward a progress target rather than a fixed number of nights, from about two nights for Fillerweed to about four for Kotton and Dream Cap, and the harvests feed wine, chemistry and your food shelf.
350Credits for the Retired Farmer in Wild's Network
7crops you can plant
8power drawn per night by one system
Fridayweekly visit from the Retired Farmer
Plant your first crop
Power it
Put an Energy Cell in the Hydroponic System. One crop costs you 8 power each night it runs.
Fill the water slot
Use the cleanest water you have and drop a Nutrient Tablet into the container before the plant goes in.
Insert a seed
The seed goes in the growing slot. Each crop reads minerals relative to the amount of water, so aim for its range in the table below.
Keep the output grid clear
The plant grows every night until it reaches its target, then harvests into the output, which needs free space.
Stalled crop
Check in this order
Water quality and nutrients set plant health, and health sets the size of the harvest.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Water | Enough left in the container |
| Power | Charge left in the Energy Cell |
| Plant health | Minerals inside the crop's range |
| Output | Free space for the harvest |
Old machines
The Hydroponic Farmer start includes a Decrepit Hydroponic System with four stuck modules, two of them ruined. Get a Module Extractor before you rely on it.
Crop table
Seed and produce columns show base values in Credits. Fast crops are not automatically the best ones: Kotton takes the longest but returns the largest harvest.
| Crop | Nights | Progress | Harvest | Water per cycle | Minerals | Seed | Produce | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fillerweed | About 2 | 11 | 4 | 287 mL | 0–2% | 9 | 11 | Cheap edible filler, with seeds back |
| Nutrifruit | About 3 | 23 | 5 | 100 mL | 0.5–2.5% | 40 | 12 | Food, with three seeds back |
| Coffee | About 3 | 21 | 8 | 100 mL | 1.75–3.25% | 28 | 28 | Coffee Beans for Caffeine Pills |
| Hydroreed | About 3 | 18 | 0 | 20 mL | 0–2% | 20 | — | Purifies its water and yields filters with its module |
| BloomBerry | About 3, then 2 per refruit | 18 | 8 | 100 mL | 1.25–2.75% | 40 | 14 | Berries for wine from a bush that survives harvest |
| Dream Cap | About 4 | 28 | 8 | 100 mL | 1.75–3.25% | 24 | 23 | Dream Caps for Dream Dust, which is contraband |
| Kotton | About 4 | 32 | 9 | 176 mL | 2–5% | 20 | 46 | Kotton Fiber, or fabric with the loom module |
Progress, harvest, water and mineral figures are base values before seed traits and machine effects. Nights are a rough guide, because a trait that changes growth speed moves the progress target.
Crops with their own rules
Hydroreed
A base harvest of zero does not mean a dead crop. Fit the Hydroreed Filter module before harvesting and it gives one filter per counted module, plus one seed and a 50% roll for a second.
Use filters on water →BloomBerry
The bush lives on after fruiting. Clean water gives better berries, and clearing the planter takes a hatchet.
Turn berries into wine →Dream Cap
Raw caps lead to contraband, and their modules change what you grow: Meal Cap with the Neutralizer, toxic Nightmare Cap with the Nightmare module.
Refine caps into Dream Dust →Fillerweed
The easiest crop to keep alive, since its seed ignores nutrient and water quality. It is also the thirstiest in the table.
How to get into farming
Retired Farmer referral
350 Credits buys an old Hydroponic System, the Hydroponic Farming Manual, Fillerweed and Nutrifruit seeds, Nutrient Tablets and small Water Rations.
All Wild's Network prices →Hydroponic Farmer start
Opens the run with Hydroponic Systems, seeds and farming supplies already in the shop, for 150 less cash and 40 more rent.
Read the scenario →Weekly stock
Friday visits can bring seeds for six crops, Nutrient Tablets, a Plant Analyzer, an AquaScan and farm modules. Treat that as possible stock rather than a set bundle.
Farm equipment and modules
Farm modules change one crop only, so buy them for what you actually grow. Dr. Jackson and the Retired Farmer both sell them.
| Item | Base value | What it does | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydroponic System | 300 Credits | Grows one crop | Needs its own power source |
| Hydroponic Nutrient Tablet | 5 Credits | Adds minerals to a water container | Too much harms the plant |
| Hydroponic Farming Manual | 25 Credits | The farming reference in game | Included with the farmer start |
| Nutrifruit Hydroponic Module | 150 Credits | Raises Nutrifruit yield | Nutrifruit only |
| Fillerweed Production Hydroponic Module | 115 Credits | Raises Fillerweed yield | You lose seeds, and it does not stack |
| Kotton Auto Loom Hydroponic Module | 200 Credits | Weaves Kotton Fiber into fabric at harvest | Kotton only |
| Hydroreed Filter Hydroponic Module | 105 Credits | Lets a grown Hydroreed become a water filter | Install before harvesting |
| Dream Cap Neutralizer Hydroponic Module | 150 Credits | Turns Dream Cap into Meal Cap | Can be stacked |
| Dream Cap Nightmare Hydroponic Module | 150 Credits | Turns Dream Cap into toxic Nightmare Cap | Dream Cap only |
| Hydroponic Smuggler Module | 100 Credits | Removes contraband status from growing seeds | Applies to any seed in the system |
Plant genetics
Plant Genetics costs 1,250 Credits from Wild and needs the Retired Farmer first. You get a DNA Manipulator, a Gene Scanner and four blank DNA Data Disks, and Dr. Jackson starts stocking more disks, manipulators and DNA modules.
Extract a trait
Put a blank disk in the output slot and the donor seed in the seed slot. Without a Stabilizer the seed is destroyed even when the roll fails, so pick a donor you can spare.
Apply a trait
Put a written disk in the input slot and a compatible seed in the seed slot. Success adds the disk's rank up to the trait's limit and spends one use.
Keep the line going
Returned seeds copy their parent's trait ranks and clear its heat. A failed application keeps the disk use but still heats the seed, so grow it out before trying again.
Edit odds
Check the plan first
The machine shows its plan before you commit. Effective complexity is the seed's complexity plus its heat.
| Value | How it works |
|---|---|
| Success chance | 95 − 5 × complexity + machine quality, held between 5% and 100% |
| Progress needed | 20 + 4 × complexity |
| Heat added | 2 + the trait's complexity, on every attempt |
A +25% trait by rank
| Rank | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | +25% |
| 2 | +42.04% |
| 3 | +56.99% |
| 4 | +70.71% |
Seed traits
Trait effects multiply rather than add, and traits with an opposite cannot sit together. Compare growth speed, water use and yield separately instead of chasing every rank.
| Trait | Effect | Cannot combine with |
|---|---|---|
| Edible | Everything the plant produces can be eaten | — |
| Nutritious | Produce carries more calories | Nutrient-Poor |
| Nutrient-Poor | Produce carries fewer calories | Nutritious |
| Fast Grower | Grows faster | Slow Grower |
| Slow Grower | Grows slower | Fast Grower |
| Bountiful | Yields more produce | Sparse |
| Sparse | Yields less produce | Bountiful |
| Delicious | Edible produce sells for more | Unappetizing |
| Unappetizing | Edible produce sells for less | Delicious |
| Drought Resistant | Drinks less water | Thirsty |
| Thirsty | Drinks more water | Drought Resistant |
| Hardy | Less sensitive to contaminants in the water | Frail |
| Frail | More sensitive to contaminants in the water | Hardy |
| Fertile | Gives back more seeds at harvest | Infertile |
| Infertile | Gives back fewer seeds at harvest | Fertile |
| Simple Genome | Makes edits easier | Complex Genome |
| Complex Genome | Makes edits harder | Simple Genome |
| Perennial | Survives its harvest and fruits again | — |
| Purifying | Cleans the water it grows in | Polluting |
| Polluting | Fouls the water it grows in | Purifying |
| Dense | Harvested items last longer | — |
| Potent | More of every active ingredient | Weak |
| Weak | Less of every active ingredient | Potent |
Infused harvests
Production traits add a liquid to each affected harvest item, and higher ranks scale by rank^0.75 rather than in a straight line. The Dream Cap trait can mark produce as contraband, so inspect the real contents before you sell a crop under its normal name.
| Added liquid | Rank one |
|---|---|
| Caffeine | 2 mL |
| Coffee Bean Mush | 10 mL |
| Dream Cap Mush | 2 mL |