I Am Future is a survival game set in a world that has been devastated by an environmental catastrophe. You begin your journey by waking up in a capsule on a rooftop, looking out over a flooded landscape. With nature striking back against humanity, your primary objective is survival.
On this rooftop, you’ll find numerous items to craft and explore, but the most pressing need is food. Your character will experience hunger, and farming is the best way to meet this need. In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know to get started with farming effectively.
Essential Resources for Farming
To begin your farming journey, you’ll need specific resources to create Garden Beds where plants can grow. Here’s what you’ll require:
| Resource | Amount |
|---|---|
| Plank | 1 |
| Fertilizer | 1 |
How to Acquire Resources for Garden Beds
On your rooftop, you can gather plenty of Planks from nearby materials, particularly from rooftop trees. However, finding Fertilizer is trickier. You can explore the roof to find a small amount of Fertilizer or buy two units from the vending machine next to Earl, the talking fridge.
To purchase Fertilizer, you will need a fish called Scaled Hardtooth. Each unit of Fertilizer requires five of these fish, so aim to catch a total of ten. Use Clams as bait to catch them. If you lack Clams, you have two options:
- Fish without bait for a chance to catch Clams.
- Craft Mollusk Bait using Biomass, which is abundant on the rooftop; this bait guarantees a Clam catch.
Another way to obtain Fertilizer is through drone deliveries from stores. First, you’ll need to repair the Smart Tower to unlock drone access, which enables you to send drones to nearby shops. Don’t forget, you’ll need U-coins to buy Fertilizer from these stores, and the only way to earn U-coins is by building a Crypto Farm.
What to Do After Building Garden Beds
After constructing your Garden Bed, the next task is to gather seeds to plant. Here are some seeds you can find during the early game by exploring the rooftop:
- Blueberry Seeds
- Brightflower Seeds
- Lettuce Seeds
- Nightshroom Spores
Once you have your seeds, plant them in the Garden Bed. Each type of plant has its specific growth time, so be prepared to wait. While your plants are growing, they will require water, which you can collect using Empty Bottles or a Bucket from the fishing area below the rooftop.
Keep in mind that the water you collect from the ocean is salty and unsuitable for plants. You’ll need to boil it over a Campfire or in a Kettle to produce freshwater for your plants. Additionally, some plants grow during the day while others require night cycles, so keep an eye on them at the right times.
Effective Farming Strategies
Simply building one Garden Bed won’t provide sufficient food, so aim for at least five. This helps ensure you have a steady supply of resources. Focus on obtaining extra Fertilizer, and consider planting several Nightshroom seeds, as they yield enough for simple recipes like Baked Mushrooms.
The more Garden Beds you create and the more nutritious plants you cultivate, the better off you’ll be. When selecting what to plant, think about your food requirements and how the plants may be used, such as creating fuel for Biogenerators.
Efficient Watering Methods
As you expand your garden, your plants will need more water. Avoid constant trips to the dock by building at least two Water Barrels early on. This allows you to fill them quickly with Buckets, maintaining a stable water supply. Remember that Water Barrels will also refill naturally when it rains.
Later on, you can install a Sprinkler system for automatic watering, though it will require electricity. You’ll also want to consider building a Water Pump, which can be unlocked through Mariquinn’s missions and needs a Non-Reactive Injector to build. This pump can transport water to your roof garden, saving you considerable effort.
Also, you’ll have the chance to build minions that can help with various tasks, including watering your plants, once you access the necessary blueprints.
Understanding Electrified Garden Beds
Once you obtain the blueprint, you can create Electrified Garden Beds, which allow plants to grow continuously, day or night. This saves time but remember that they consume a significant amount of electricity, so plan your power resources carefully.
Types of Plants You Can Grow
Here’s a quick overview of some of the plants you can cultivate, along with their growth times:
| Plant Name | Growth Time |
|---|---|
| Almond | Day |
| Blueberries | Day |
| Brightflower | Day |
| Cheese | Day |
| Coffee Beans | Day |
| Hot Pepper | Day |
| Lettuce Leaf | Day |
| Lunar Tuber | Night |
| Nightshroom | Night |
| Tomato | Day |
Where to Find Plant Seeds
You can find seeds in various ways:
- Collecting wild plants or those you’ve grown yourself.
- Sending drones to markets during Expeditions.
- Collecting seed packages scattered around the rooftop.
Protecting Your Farms
While your plants thrive in the Garden Beds, they may face threats from leeches that spawn at night. If you’re playing at Domestic or Cozy difficulty, these leeches won’t harm your plants. However, at Normal difficulty, they may start to eat them. It’s best to position your Garden Beds away from the purple flowers where leeches spawn.
You can handle leeches in a couple of ways:
- If you’re unprepared, simply carry them away and wait for morning.
- Use sprays like StopWeed or Anti-Parasite Spray to eliminate them.
If a leech does consume a plant, it can turn into Infected Weed. To ensure greater protection from leeches, you might also utilize a UV Tower, albeit it only covers a limited area. You can build fences to guide the leeches into a zone where the UV Tower can effectively eliminate them.
Surviving in I Am Future requires careful planning and resource management, so stay vigilant and cultivate wisely!