Modest Changes to Sugar Cane

[theJalden 21]

The mechanics behind sugar cane feel too vanilla-y.  So I propose some modest changes that would up the believably.

• Reeds take longer to break, faster with a knife.  I'm not talking about a marathon session punching reeds by the pond, just a bit longer, like punching leaves in trees.
• Reeds should take a little longer to grow.  I understand that they are a fast-growing grass, but it could be toned down to an average of one block every 3 days.
• To make sugar, the cane needs to be put in a quern.  You can't make sugar just by tearing apart reeds with your bare hands, and while the process is more complicated than mashing the cane under a stone, it is believable that that would create a powdery sugar.
• Reeds shouldn't make paper, they should make papyrus, there doesn't need to be a difference; it could really just be a re-texture and re-naming of paper. However, it would add points in my book for historic accuracy.  And down the road it might lead to some other features like true paper-making from wood pulp, or vellum made from animal hides.

[Sda215 8]

 

The mechanics behind sugar cane feel too vanilla-y.  So I propose some modest changes that would up the believably.

• Reeds take longer to break, faster with a knife.  I'm not talking about a marathon session punching reeds by the pond, just a bit longer, like punching leaves in trees.

Agreed.

• Reeds should take a little longer to grow.  I understand that they are a fast-growing grass, but it could be toned down to an average of one block every 3 days.

Agreed.

• To make sugar, the cane needs to be put in a quern.  You can't make sugar just by tearing apart reeds with your bare hands, and while the process is more complicated than mashing the cane under a stone, it is believable that that would create a powdery sugar.

What of the seeds for sugar cane? Do you not need to remove them, first?

• Reeds shouldn't make paper, they should make papyrus, there doesn't need to be a difference; it could really just be a re-texture and re-naming of paper. However, it would add points in my book for historic accuracy.  And down the road it might lead to some other features like true paper-making from wood pulp, or vellum made from animal hides.

Historical accuracy is not aimed in TFC, as far as I know.

Right now, I think there should be a difference between papyrus and paper; there is a difference between them and I think some research is needed to see their differences.

Vellum, I think it could be doable.

 

[PaoloEmilio 53]

I agree with the sugar cane process in the quern, that should make me brewing my rum funnier!

[gxblt 11]

Sugar cane tends to grow in a little more tropical climate than your average TFC forest. It should be only found in the jungles and oases of the wild equator regions. Instead, we should have different kinds of reeds. From the top of my head I would say at least common reed and cattail. Common reed could be made into thatch and its seeds could be ground into primitive flour. Cattail roots could be eaten, its pollen and and shoots harvested for food at spring(perhaps some kind of integration to the seasonal system?) and its leaves weaved into basketry. That would make a nice little feature to the game.

[HunterKain 32]

To make sugar, the cane needs to be put in a quern.  You can't make sugar just by tearing apart reeds with your bare hands, and while the process is more complicated than mashing the cane under a stone, it is believable that that would create a powdery sugar.

Possibly more complicated than that? Putting a ceramic vessel in the output slot, and grinding it gives you sugarcane juice. Shift-placing the vessel in sunlight to place it as a block, not an icon, then right clicking to remove the lid and leaving it to dry. After a few days, breaking the vessel would drop a vessel and some amount of sugar

[abculatter_2 21]

@Those who think sugar comes from sugar cane seeds: ... No. Sucrose accumulates within the stalk of the plant, and modern day hybrids probably aren't even capable or producing viable seed. More likely they simply cut up stalks and plant the pieces, which come up as new plants  with proper care, or just leave the roots in the ground so they grow back... Very much like we currently do in Minecraft, actually.

The seeds, if they are even existent, (which, given that this is a wild setting, is probable) are simply useless chaff to be thrown away, preferably into the fields for it to rot back into nutrients for the plants. Or I suppose you could plant them, too...

 

As for the actual suggestions here: Yes, yes, yes, and I really don't see any reason at all to add that distinction. Papyrus is a sheet of plant fibers that you can write on, and so is paper. They are, for practical purposes, the same thing.