Wood Harvesting - I'm a Lumberjack(jill) and I'm OK :)

You can buy land plots on Calypso and use planks made from harvested wood to build houses. I believe the plots also come with gardens now.

http://www.planetcalypso.com/opportunities/land-plots/

 

Harvestable trees spawn always on same spot. They don't grow, maturity is some how random applied at spawn time.
It also mean that small ones (L1and L2) must be harvested to have chance that it spawn next time whit higher maturity ( L3 -Huge).
Things to make your life easier:
Weight is important so watch out your inventory before you start your daily harvesting journey.
Its good to remember where are all found trees it make your path next day faster and shorter.
If you se huge (L3) tree in group of harvestable trees is good to harvest it first because it tend to shorten harvesting time and disappear after one or two clicks.
Its good to have apart PH-3 also PH-4 (L) which you use only on L3 Huge trees - it have bigger TT and decay a lot more but you get a lot of Long Moonleaf Boards.
Its good to have also this items - portable repair tool, TP chip, and vehicle and optionally armor and weapon.
Vehicle capable to transport big weight in his storage like Dropship or Pitbul MK 4 witch can be also decayed.
Like in mining purpose is to spawn vehicle put all weight from your inventory in vehicle inventory then use command to recall all vehicles to planet storage.
Have fun.

 

Two things I have got from posts here:

This did not occur to me - I have left L1 trees alone, but it must be like Orotan prospectors - if you want the level you are hunting to spawn, you will need to clear away lower level ones.
I think that a L1 may be best for this - if using a L3 Terratech the value of boards may not cover equipment decay in cutting them

I am not sure what is meant by servers -does this refer to the different Land Areas?

 

Was discussing this in game with friends. Land Areas or Zones.
I had no idea that different servers looked after different areas, and that the message you get when you move into a land area was a notice that you are entering or leaving different servers.
But there are 16 Land Areas, not 9 - so maybe I have this wrong.
Also, I have never found any cuttable trees in the desert, nor in snow, nor jungle - these would be zones I guess.
So what places would there be trees? I would be interested 2 know

 

I harvest them all for skills but ppl on Calypso do it to earn peds.
They harvest trees with boards witch have highest MU (L3-Huge with Long moonleaf boards).
They buy PH-1 (L) from TT and use it to kill L1 and L2 trees.
They don't harvest them , they do just one click what is enough that tree will disappear and tool will not decay a lot.
Now I don't remember how much time is needed that trees spawn again, I do it once a day and next day tress are ready for me - ofc if someone else was not faster and harvested them before me.
As on ark we don't have a lot harvesters for me does not matter spawn time and if someone did it before me np as area is big and trees plenty.
On caly ppl know exactly how many time is needed for new spawn and they harvest it again.
If they killed all smaller trees before next round they have higher chance to get L3 - huge trees.

*yes like Oratan with possibility to change maturity when spawning again
*but must be special formula balanced to meet criteria like most trees are L1, L2 medium number and L3 low so L3-HUge tree will be always low number or rare or even no one in any new spawn .

 

There are 9 server regions that make up the Above ground Arkadia (9 perfect squares). Underground is just one server region. The land areas are not separate servers. They don't all have trees, last time I checked.

 

Makes total sense now Thank you Neil.
I see the 9 squares.
3 on LHS I have never seen any cuttable trees
Middle 3; yes top, no bottom middle - cant remember, maybe
3 on RHS, bottom & middle yes - never found any in top RHS.

Dan 59, it never occurred to me to just start to cut L1 trees. Talk about missing the obvious

 

Tree Harvesting for Skill Gains & (maybe profit)

It is a low cost activity and can give results in different skills and professions

Eg Skills include Analysis; Geology; Zoology; Professions: Pet Handler; Prospector; Resource Gatherer; Treasure Hunter; Gardener.

This is not exhaustive, there are other skills & professions – I just cannot interpret the notes I scribbled down.

People have asked me how to go about harvesting, there are videos & posts about this. All are helpful but some very basic.

So, I have written how I have approached this activity.

Step 1 is to have your computer set up to assist.

In Options go to Graphics Advanced: Put settings to Low, but put Draw Distance to Very High (moving around to find trees you will come across fruits, dung, even oil at the rig – these settings will enable you to notice harvestable trees as far away as possible and also remove vegetation that improves the appearance but can hide those items in the vegetation.

In Controls tick “Enable Avatar Leaning” – I was told this helps when moving up and down hills, making it easier, just like IRL. And, for me it seems to work. There are situations where trees can appear on quite steep slopes & your avatar leaning into the slope can get to them easier.

In Controls in HUD tick “Disable Loot Windows” Instead of a window showing pics of loot details there will be in white text moving up top LHS of screen a small icon, description and value. It is more informative than window & less obtrusive.

Open window Options Graphics Control and drag box to bottom of screen so only top line “Move to Target” shows. Box should be ticked – but there will be times you will need to untick it.

The chat box should be set to System (it does not have to be but System is where messages that affect harvesting will appear).

Trees: Only certain types of trees are harvestable and then only certain examples. I have taken screenshots of the types so if you check out my pictures on Calypso Forum you will see what they look like. Trees come in sizes L1 (small) L2 (Large) and L3 (Huge). You cannot tell what size just by looking at them; a Huge tree may only appear knee high. Once harvested the trees respawn in the same spot in a couple of hours, but may not be the size they were before.

When you equip your Terratech you will see harvestable trees by gold coin appearing on the trunk on the SW side. However if you sweep your cursor over the trees in front of you, if harvestable, you will see them by words appearing (white on a black background compared to mobs which background is coloured). This will appear much farther away than gold coin. When some rings (Christmas Ring I think) are equipped harvestable trees will appear automatically.

You may need to fiddle with settings like brightness contrast etc as sometimes the rings can be hard to spot (I found that on Calypso rather than Arkadia)

Also in some situations you will be able to identify the harvestable trees as they will look different (more on that later – and this applies to Calypso not Arkadian trees)

Step 2 Equipment; A Terratech PH1 – Purchased TT, it can only prepare short planks no matter what type of tree is harvested. There are also PH2 (can cut L1 & L2) there are PH3 & also a PH4 (L) that can cut all sizes. The PH1 is a TT item; the 2, 3 & 4 are crafted items. There is a PH3 UL cuts all types, it is the same as PH4. All Terratechs have the same specifications though you should be to be a level 6 Resource Gatherer to use them.

You wear these out very quickly, PH1 cost 5ped, and I usually wear at least one out within a harvesting run. I would not recommend purchasing the crafted L ones as mark up may be a killer.

How many you purchase will depend on what you can afford and how long a run you intend to do at a time

Other equipment – well timber & sawdust are heavy so have a vehicle or two to place harvest in its inventory & recall it to Planetary Storage. A Mk1 explorer is a good example – they are easy to spawn and low TT examples can be picked up cheaply – all it needs is to be spawnable so it can be loaded & returned to planet storage. Of course you could purchase a Pit Bull & place it in an anti gravity container – you could carry a forest that way.

Once you commence cutting a tree you have 8 seconds to collect the timber, so anything that can speed up your reload is an advantage; those helmets, rings, clothes pills & pets that give reload will help thou not necessary.


When you have finished your run sell TT the wood & sawdust, together with worn L Terratechs.

Purchase replacements & Repair and hopefully you will make a small profit or loss – either way the benefit is to your skills & professions.

One last thing I just become aware of; with a PH1 you usually get .01ped of timber a pass. But, using a PH3 I was getting .09 a pass – And this was happening on S trees – so it looks like the equipment affects the result. I have not had an opportunity to test yet but it seems there will be extra income to offset extra cost – I think will it be worthwhile but will to test more. Skills certainly increase faster.

Setting off to do a Harvesting Run.

Wood is heavy so only place in your personal storage what you will need – park the rest in planetary.

You can explore to find a suitable place. In Arkadia there are only two harvestable types of trees, one of which is the Aspen type that can be found around Celeste Quarry. As you move, sweep your curser across the trees in front of you – harvestable ones will appear a long way away – does not mean you will see them though there can be different reasons for this

(Next an actual example of a harvesting run on Calypso. {I consider that planet more interesting & rewarding for tree harvesting than Arkadia is} )

 

Harvesting trees on Arkadia can be a quiet & contemplative activity – often there are no mobs to bother you, but there can be a lot of running between trees.

Calypso is much better – there are different types of trees, and many more of them – you can harvest in under 5 mins what could take you half an hour on Arkadia – downside? Is that there are many more mobs. So unless you can find a quiet spot + trees - mobs, you will be both harvesting & hunting.

If you are deciding to go harvesting trees, then Fort Argus is the perfect place to start – there are many trees, it has graduated levels of difficulty starting from noob entry level harvesting to the end when you are up against Maffoids & the like.

When you arrive via the TP, check that you are set up optimally (refer to earlier instalment). Take note of the search light beam from the top of the pyramid to space.

It is an advantage to always have a location marked on the map so you can orient yourself – it is easy to get turned around & end up going over where you have already been. By having your own marker & noting the light beam from Fort Argus you can triangulate your position.

Go to the gate facing the South – you will see that Fort Argus is surrounded by a forest – squat wide spreading trees with compound leaves all of a russet colour. However, scattered amongst these are examples with green foliage light grey trunks – these are harvestable. There are a lot of them, well maybe, because people already know this and harvest them – but they do respawn – so don’t be disheartened if you see none, just visit at different times – you will get lucky. Take the time to click on examples of these trees, noting how far away they show up as harvestable by the white on black legend that appears, and note what happens when you move & another tree blocks your line of sight.

Equip your Terratech move to a tree, face the gold coin & go for it. There may be some snablesnots at the W side (closest to the sea) who may ineffectually pester but that is all. Have your options Tab open, and moved to the bottom of your screen so the Move to Target Box is visible.

Reason – sometimes you will get a message “unable to move 2 target” tree may be on a slope, there are other trees & branches in the way, alien trees can have an awkward shape which interferes. Trees can have a wide girth & system cannot move you close enough (that will be the case here).

Uncheck the move 2 target to overcome that.

Starting 2 look like a Text Wall, so will take a break. Next article PVP & where 2 after Fort Argus Forest.

 

I went back looking at some old posts - a bit embarrassing really, me talking from ignorance I may do that a lot I fear.

There are plenty of harvestable trees on Arkadia - its just a matter of knowing where to find them. Also the system upgrades have made the searching & harvesting much easier.

The higher level Terratech used, the bigger the return - I would love to compare the TH4 against the 3 to give me an idea of how much that would be. But as they wear out quickly and as the 4 is a L item I reckon the mark up would be the killer here.

I listened to the Chantels again singing Maybe. It is such a beautiful song - it never fails to bring me to tears.
Comparing that with the latest Eurovision garbage Maybe Society is devolving - doing so much less with so much more