Arbor Tree
Arbor Tree grows branches that can be harvested for Wood. It is found naturally in Forest Biome.
Usage
Growth
Arbor Tree requires a temperature range of 15 °C to 40 °C, and an air pressure of 150 g - 10 kg.
Arbor Trees grow in two stages: In the first stage, taking a complete growth cycle (18 or 4.5 Cycles), it grows the main trunk and produces no wood. The second stage takes another growth cycle and produces branches. Arbor Trees can have up to 5 branches in 7 possible locations (the center-center and center-bottom are occupied by the trunk). Once a branch has matured, it can be harvested by a dupe or will self-harvest after 20 cycles. Each branch produces 300 kg Wood.
An Arbor Tree requires 3x3 space for all 5 branches to grow, centered on the tile two spaces above the tile the trunk is planted, so growth can be stifled by nearby walls and buildings.
Arbor Trees consume 70 kg of Polluted Water and 10 kg of Dirt regardless of the number of branches growing; therefore, it is best to grow Arbor Trees with 5 branches (in a 3x3 space) to reduce the amount of resources spent.
The 5 branches can grow from any of 7 different locations (3 on each side, 1 on top). You can select individual branches to see their growth progress. Individual branches may also be "uprooted" individually and separately from the main trunk, forcing the branch to regrow in another of the 7 spawn locations (if any are available). If a branch is blocked from growing by an obstacle, removing that obstacle (including a branch from an adjacent tree that is occupying that spot) will immediately permit a branch to spawn in that location (if the tree is not already at 5). Once a branch has spawned in a location, it will continue to regrow in that same location unless and until forced to move by a manual uproot command.
Using manual uprooting (a one-time process when they first start to grow their branches), it is possible to grow up to 3 Arbor Trees with only a single empty tile between them (rather than the normal 2). The two outer trees use the top slot all 3 outside slots, plus 1 of the slots in the shared tile with the inner tree, while the inner tree uses its own top slot and 2 of the 3 slots in each of the shared tiles. Planting 4 or more with this spacing does not permit all branches to spawn. One can plant 3 trees with a single tile spacing, then have a 2-tile gap, then another 3 trees. Using this pattern, one can fit a total of 13 trees, with 1 tiles of width to spare, in a 3x32 Greenhouse, compared to only 10 trees (and 2 spare tiles of width) if they are planted all at a 2-block spacing. Note that all 3 Arbor Trees must be planted at the same time, as the game will not permit an Arbor Tree seed to be selected for planting unless the entire 3x3 branch area is clear (once planting is queued, obstacles can be placed in the area without issue, as long as they don't block the trunk).
While the main trunk of the Arbor Tree can be boosted by Farmer's Touch, the branches do not benefit from it and still take the full 4.5 cycles domestically or 18 cycles in the wild to mature.
Acorns spawn inside grown trees when new branches are created. Each new branch has 5% chance of containing an acorn. There is no way for duplicants to detect the presence of an acorn, but Pips will detect and extract them by rummaging the tree trunk. Acorns will be dropped on the tree trunk tile.
Wild
A wild Arbor Tree takes 18 cycles to grow, and another 18 cycles to grow a set of branches.
A wild Arbor Tree can produce a maximum of 83.33 kg of wood per cycle or 138.88 g/s (harvested by a duplicant).
A wild Arbor Tree drops a maximum of 39.47 kg of wood per cycle or 65.79 g/s (unharvested).
One Ethanol Distiller can process 7.2 wild trees, and a full ranch of Pips can be supplied by 2.6 (where .2 trees = 1 branch).
Domestic
Arbor Tree can be planted in a Planter Box, a Farm Tile or a Hydroponic Farm. It needs to be fertilized with 10 kg/cycle of Dirt, and 70 kg/cycle Polluted Water irrigation.
A domestic Arbor Tree takes 4.5 cycles to grow to maturity, and another 4.5 cycles to grow a set of branches.
A domestic Arbor Tree can produce a maximum 333.33 kg of wood per cycle or 555.55 g/s. This means each Arbor Tree can run 0.56 Ethanol Distillers (ie. 1.8 trees per distillery)
A domestic Arbor Tree that goes through an Ethanol Distiller converts 1kg of Polluted Water into 2.4kg of Ethanol. A Petroleum Generator converts Ethanol at 37.5% Ratio, or 2.4kg of Ethanol into 0.9kg of Polluted Water.
Each domestic Arbor Tree can feed 12.3 adult Pips (if tame and happy). A maximum-size Stable only needs 0.65 trees, which leaves an average of 116.66kg/cycle (or 194.44g/s) of excess wood, enough to run about 1/5 of an Ethanol Distiller.
Decor
An Arbor Tree has a decor value of 15 with 2 tiles radius. It applies to the main trunk and each existing branch, which might add up to the value of 90. Which might be convenient for park and nature reserve rooms. However, rooms do not count each branch as an individual plant for the purposes of determining park and nature reserve rooms.
Heat Economy
The branches are spawned at fixed temperature of 20°C, due to being made out of Genetic Ooze. Harvested Wood spawns at the current temperature of the branch. Branches retain their temperatures between harvests.
Arbor trees produce enough mass to make them heat multiplying if fertilizers are not fed at certain temperatures. It is also beneficial to keep the plant's branches as cold as possible.
The HTC output/input ratio is an enormous ~3.8.
Assuming the branches are kept at 16 °C:
- If both fertilizers are at 20 °C Arbor trees will produce 20.6 kDTU/s of energy.
- Arbor trees become net heat negative if fed water above 62 °C and 30 °C dirt.
- With 110 °C water and 30 °C dirt one Arbor Tree destroys 23.5 kDTU/s.
Tips
- Branches can be auto-harvested with Waterfalls.
- Arbor Acorn can be produced at a much faster rate by submerging branches in liquids. A Pip must be able to access the tree trunk in order to rummage for any Acorns.
Bugs
- As of LU-361684, using fertilizer boosts only the initial growth to maturity of the primary branch and has no effect after that.
History
- LU-346893: Introduced.
- LU-353289: Arbor trees cannot grow more than 5 branches at once. Irrigation has been changed to polluted water, fertilizer changed from phosphorite into dirt.
- LU-358820: Arbor tree branches now have a chance to produce a seed on uproot and harvest.
- AP-417040: Fixed the Arbor Tree incorrectly stating that it had a seed drop chance. Pips must be utilized to get extra Arbor Seeds.