Farming Simulator 17 saw the arrival - with its latest DLC, Platinum - a new crop: sugar cane. Farming Simulator 19 preserves it and adds oats and cotton… What? Cotton in Germany?
Wheat, barley, rapeseed, sunflowers, soybeans, corn, potatoes, beets, radishes, sugar cane, poplar, and now oats and cotton! No less than 13 crops, not counting grass, are available in this version. The plants on this well-stocked list can indeed be cultivated across the Atlantic without too much problem, especially if you get closer to the equator. But what about Germany? Is it really wise to offer sugar cane or worse, cotton, on the German map? Knowing that this culture fears frost.
The developers of one of the competing simulations, Pure Farming to quote it, had taken care to separate the crops from the environments. The choice was justified by the possibility for the player to juggle, by plane, between the different maps. In Farming Simulator, there is no question of traveling, and the maps integrate all cultures. Nonsense? Everyone is free to have their opinion.
New cultures, new materials
In the game, the cultivation route of oats is identical to other cereals. We prepare our soil, we sow, we harvest with a combine harvester. Then, it's up to you to store to feed your horses - the game's new animal - or to sell on the market. For cotton, it is of the same order, with two details: the harvest is done with a specific machine and the cotton is only used for sale. Besides, he pays quite well, which makes his culture very interesting. The investment is on the other hand more consequent. You need the harvester but also a trailer for collecting the cotton bale from the ground.
Weeds are wasting your time and money
Weeds are appearing to our great misfortune! Disable option, the game proposes to rot your existence as a virtual farmer with the appearance of weeds in your plots. There is only one type, and to get rid of it there are 2 solutions:
- Mechanical weeding with a weeder, if the stage is not very advanced
- Chemical weed control if the crop is too advanced.
If you harvest an overgrown plot, you lose 20% of your harvest, and therefore 20% less money. The idea is rather nice but there is, for the moment because it could be corrected via a patch, a problem in the speed of growth. Indeed, a freshly plowed land will see the first traces of weeds appear after a few hours (in the game). And you will not have time to carry out mechanical weeding as the weeds will have already passed to the stage requiring chemical weeding. Worse, once the "roundup" has been sprayed, it will only take a few hours (again) to see new inches point the tip of the nose. It's a safe bet that Giants Software will adjust the growth rate in future updates. Let's hope so.
Lime in front!
Did you think you had enough work like this? Giants Software has decided to add a step, also optional, which you will have to do without every 3 harvests: liming. Spreading lime will give you a gain of 15% per harvest. Lime, like herbicide, can be purchased by container in stores. Ecology requires, for the herbicide, you can empty your sprayer to switch to a spread of liquid fertilizer. Each emptying will create a container that you can reuse later. Good game !
Nothing new under the sun
For the other crops, there were no particular additions, only the tools have changed and / or evolved. From now on, it will be necessary to avoid rolling over a plot at the risk of crushing your precious shoots. This crop destruction option, which existed as a mod on Farming Simulator 17, can be turned off in the options. If you are familiar with the game, cultivating a field will not be too much of a problem for you. If you are a beginner, a series of sheets is available to guide you or remind you of the different stages in order to successfully carry out your harvests. Likewise, the missions and start-up tutorial will familiarize you with the different tools. Be aware that the game is very true to reality and that you will have to work and invest to obtain good returns.
The rest of our FS 19 file
- Summary of the file
- Giants Engine evolutions
- New maps, gameplay: some welcome changes
- Crops: oats, but especially cotton
- Animals: the business of horses, not to mention the dog
- In the garage: Vehicles, at this level it's art
- Modding, the centerpiece of the game
- The opinion of the players
