CROSS-CONTENT DISCUSSION: Harvesting

[JaxFirehart]

The Broc Flower and Xander Roots have to date ONLY appeared on the west coast. But the same could be said of deathclaws.

You made a good case for xander roots, but where did they originate? How did they migrate?

With broc flowers, same questions, what makes you think they would be at home in the colder, wetter DC climate?

I'm not against the inclusion and would actually approve of the inclusion, but I want good logically-sound reasons why.

For example, Xander Root says it is SIMILAR to an onion. Now that's not much to go on, but onions are actually widely grown in the Northeast Coastal region. Maybe we assume it IS a mutated onion and therefore FEV mutated it similarly in both regions. Etc.

[CourierSix]

Well, after the nuclear winter that must have proceeded the Great War, all plants and animals would have evolved in a similar way (divergent evolution - two similar species in similar environments will ultimately evolve the same way). A root vegetable, especially an onion, would have been grown all over the country - they're fairly hardy vegetables.

As for Broc Flower, we could semi-safely assume that the Brotherhood of Steel (who already aren't fond of adaptation) would be likely to bring along whatever they used back West. And given the amount of extra radioactive waste in DC, the temperature's should be assumed to be higher than they are now (without going into loads of detail, radioactive decay gives off energy as well as radioactive particles - and that energy has to go to somewhere, usually in the form of heat). Maybe not mojave heat levels, but remember that in the Mojave Broc Flower is primarily found in shady areas, such as near caves, or near hills. (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Broc_flower_(Fallout:_New_Vegas). I'm not an expert on plant life or anything, but I presume that means it likes colder areas, or at least areas with less sunlight (due to the fact it's found in hilly/rocky areas, it also means it's used to bad soil, and plants especially have done quite well in Chernobyl.)

I can't think of anything else, but these reasons make sense in my head. But then again, I am trying to find excuses to justify it, so maybe I'm just trying to fit evidence around the conclusion rather than trying to come to a conclusion from the evidence.

[JaxFirehart]

I did a bit of research and the Broc Flower is most closely related to lilies. Especially Wood Lilies, its actually a pretty close resemblance. They are not commonly found in California, but are found in Arizona, New Mexico and DC. So the Broc Flower is probably an evolved Wood Lily.

Xander Roots are actually harder to place, the three little tails coming off the bulb make it unique, and the bulb itself looks like any other. Radishes, Onions, Garlic and similar root vegetables all have the same basic shape, minus the tails. Considering what FEV does to animals the Xander Root could have come from anywhere.

Point is, between my research and yours, I see no reason not to include them, so long as nobody comes along and gives good reason not to. 

[CourierSix]

Cool :D I completely agree with how thorough you're being on this, but being a survivalist character myself, it's rather hard to not have those two ingredients. And we could use those perhaps as a base for some DC specific recipes - for example, a healing poultice type thing, but with a punga fruit added - it would have the added benefit of scrubbing radiation, as radiation is a much bigger problem in 3 than it ever was in NV.

[Casputin]

Just read through this thread and noticed talk of a food synthesizer. I put together a script for a plant-matter cloning device quite a while ago, the idea was that you could add a single sample of plant material (25 different types) and after that it would regularly produce a clone. It works fine but needs some changes made (it only produces once every 3 days, can't remember whether clones stack or not.) Anyway, if it'd be any help as a base for someone to work with, I'm happy to share it.

[Piers Arkan]

As far as placement goes, there could be a greater concentration of plants around the edges of the Potomac, and its dried beds, and under water towers. With that in mind, I think the Broc flower and xander root could stand to be in DC. I don't think there is any harm in it, but with it should come a greater number of campfires placed around the areas as well. I assume that'll be a thing as time goes by. I don't think that organized agriculture should be a big thing so much as attempts at it. There is a farm or two, but most of em have failed. I definitely like the idea of having Mutfruit out there though.

[JaxFirehart]

Yeah we've known it needs more campfires for a while, just some dry work

As a stop gap I made the optional plugin for usable camp grills and BBQs

[TrickyVein]

Which works really well, by the way. 

[JaxFirehart]

Credit goes to Yukichigai, he has an almost identical mod on the Nexus that I basically remade

[Runnerblank]

How about making the River City Hydroponics good for some thing?

They could be a source of fruits and vegetables.

They could also have salvaged some rare plants at some point.