A gigantic barrel? What?

[artus]

Hello!

This stems from the new addition to farm space, when I tried to clean someone's sheds. There were a bunch of animals outside, like 5 of them or something, and the game didn't let me clean the shed until all the animals are moved inside, which, reality wise, you may as well need to more them out rather than in to clean the sheds, even though you don't have space. I also found out that them being out there don't take up more plots but ake enough space to not let you clean. This bring up another perspective.

A barrel takes up an entire plot of land. Question is: how large does a plot, an entire plot, have to be for a whole barrel to take? Then we have a cart and pretty much any furniture that take up an entire plot. You can easily pick up a barrel and go anywhere with it. This ma as well mean the barrel isn't as heavy and as big to take up a hole plot, right?

It's just a perspective though. The new edition seems to make managing furniture and containers a little bit messy given everything takes a plot or more.
Also, a footlocker can hold less than wardrobe but takes up more plot.

[Rias]

In this case it's a matter of technical and performance consideration. Farms have consistently been at the center of severe performance issues on the server, hence the various restrictions on them, and there are more in the pipeline to discourage filling them with containers and furniture once we have implemented an alternative for players to use as communal gathering spots and workyards. We would prefer farms to be seen as places to grow crops and raise livestock, and not as storage or living spaces or work areas.

It's odd that it didn't let you clean the sheds until the animals were inside. That's certainly not intended behavior. What message were you getting when you tried to clean the shed? Are you sure it wasn't due to overcluttering (negative farmland space) brought on by furniture items or handcarts that later got moved later and then allowed the cleaning to happen?

[Rias]

To help sell the space restrictions from the IC side of things: These *are* small farms. They're not grand sprawling acreages or vast country estates, they're compact sectioned lots within the small protected farming valleys near their respective outposts. Your neighbors aren't far beyond that fence at the edge of the field. You can probably hear them from your own farm if they're being rowdy.

It's good to recall the text upon renting the farmland in-game that states: "The clerk goes on to inform you that if the farmland sits abandoned or under-utilized for too long, rent may be cancelled early in order to allow others to make use of the farmland." They're not just being mean, they're trying to make sure the farmland is being utilized so the townsfolk can be fed. Both Shadgard and Mistral Lake put time, money, effort, and manpower into protecting these areas as well as ensuring they're productive because they're vital to the community's survival. If I go up and rent some of this limited farmland and the town finds out I'm just using it to lounge around in my private lot with a token stalk of wheat and maybe a chicken, they're going to nag me to make better use of the land and give a little back to the community and, failing that, boot me out so someone else can come in and make better use of the land and contribute to the community.

These aren't privately-owned farms or land, these are rented lots managed by their respective governments. They're a major contributing factor to the people in town having food to eat and so are expected to be productive.

[artus]

I got the cluttered message when I did. Moving animals inside without moving anything else fixed it. Someone before me moved a cart out. That fixed it too, but I don't know if the person moved animals anywhere too. As for me, it outright didn't let me clean. It acts as if animals outside take up space but the farm command shows the same result for plots, being -3 with and without animals.

[Rias]

I've looked over the code and done some testing just to be sure, and the sheltered status of animals doesn't appear to have any impact on the amount of free space or the clutter check. If it said -3, there was enough on the farm combined between planting plots and structures (including furniture and handcarts) to prevent farm actions like cleaning sheds. If you're unable to clean the sheds when there isn't negative land reported by the FARM command, please send a report when you experience it and we'll see if we can figure it out. Farm animals themselves have no impact on the land being used though, only their shelters.