Silkworm Farm

Silkworm Farm
(Building)
Location
	Compound
Size
	11 x 11
Requirements
	Entomology 2 (Skill) ;

Sources

This building becomes available to build or use when you learn the Entomology 2 (Skill).

Cost

200 Treated Boards - Nontoxic ✓
25 Papyrus Paper ✓
50 Iron ✓
50 Sheet Glass ✓
10 Copper Sheeting ✓
1 Thermometer ✓
20 Paint - Turquoise ✓
20 Paint - Pale Turquoise ✓

Use

Silkworms generate Raw Silk when fed the proper Thistles, grown in a Thistle Garden. If they are not fed, they will still survive.

The Silkworms go in a 4-day cycle, starting from when you build the farm:

12 hours waiting for the next generation to be laid.
3 days eggs waiting to hatch. During this period the farm will display the current requirements.
12 hours either growing and eating (if fed), or simply surviving.

The type of thistle required will change after a cycle where the silkworms have been fed at least one thistle. If they are not fed, no silk will be produced and the thistle requirements will not change.

It may be a good idea to set aside a small amount of thistle from successful (or even failed) batches, to have thistle inventory available should a farm have requirements that can not be met for several cycles.

If a silkworm farm goes through many void cycles without finding a recipe for thistle and you have nothing in inventory to use, try the following options:

Ask if anyone else has the correct thistle in their inventory-only 1 thistle is needed to change the requirements.
An extreme method, but sometimes the only option, is to tear down and rebuild the farm. Have Salvage Techniques 7 or try to find someone who does.
If Advanced Silkworm Farming has been opened, use Silkworm Unguent to change the thistle requirements.

Output

The amount of Raw Silk returned after the silkworms are fed is based on the amount of Thistle they were given (in addition to a small random factor), but it is not a simple linear relationship.

For small amounts of Thistle, the Raw Silk returned will follow an approximately 1:1 ratio.
As more Thistle is added, the ratio will at first increase, peaking around 500-600 Thistle at about 1.5:1.
After the peak, the ratio will begin to decrease, returning to 1:1 at around 1000 Thistle.
After 1000 Thistle, the ratio continues to decline sharply, reducing the value of adding additional Thistle.
1000 Thistle produces 1200-1300 Raw Silk.
Confirmed test that 4.6k thistles only gave back 1.4k of silk, a ratio of approx 1:0.3
7k thistle only gave back 1.5k of raw silk.
There is a randomization to the ratio. 3 farms, all supplied with 1000 thistle at the same general time. One produced 943 raw silk, one produced 1040, third produced 1424.

            690 Thistle -> 931 raw silk   1.35 yield per thistle
            900 Thistle -> 907 raw silk   1.01 yield per thistle
            1150 Thistle ->1043 raw silk   .91 yield per thistle
            1200 Thistle -> 1141 raw silk  .95 yield per thistle
            1200 Thistle -> 1156 raw silk  .96 yield per thistle

In cases where volume is more important than efficiency, it may still be profitable to operate at a lower or less efficient ratio in exchange for the additional raw production.