Most space efficient / compact farm? Conceptually this is pretty close I think.

[u/Nilm0]

Area:  29*30 = 870

Layers:  7  (4 high ones + 3 low ones)

Plant lots (w=1)
   Low:   3*27-2+2 = 81
   High:  4*23+2 = 94

Max plants by height/width
   h=6 & w=2  ->  3 (only bananas)  [v=36]
   h=5 & w=2  ->  (23+2-1-2)/2+2 = 13  [v=130]  (-1, -2 & +2 because of w=1, 1xBanana & 2xChili)
   h=4 & w=2  ->  (3*(23-1))/2-4 = 29  [v=232]  (-1 & -4 because of w=1 remainder and  2xChili + 2xBanana (near Chili & bottom (different sprinkler position)))
   h=4 & w=1  ->  4  [v=12 not 16 because rice h=3]
   h=3 & w=2  ->  5  [v=30]  (only ocularthing)
   h=1 & w=1  ->  4  [v=4]  (only kiwi)
   h=2 & w=2  ->  (3*(27-1)-4-2)/2-5 = 31  [v=124]
   h=2 & w=1  ->  81-4-2*(5+31) = 5  [v=10]

Volumes:
   plants = 36+130+232+12+30+4+124+10 = 578
   ground = 81+94 = 175
   empty = 40+2*4+3+4*1+4*8+3*10 = 117

29*30 - (plants+ground+empty) = 0

~~Well, that last equation should equal 0, not 11. Not going to look for the error in that mess...~~ Found it: The screenshot differs from the calculations because I restrained them to the noted 29*30=870 build volume. -> I forgot some empty space in the bottom row (which is not empty in the screenshot).

Anyway, here are some efficiencies:

used for farm = (plants + ground + ~sprinkler) / 870 ~= 95%
used for farming = (plants+ground) / 870 ~= 86%
used for plants = plants / 870 ~= 66%

Without the vertical shaft those numbers would be even better but I'm not gonna do those.

[u/France_Ball_Mapper]

How do you harvest 😭

[u/Nilm0 → u/France_Ball_Mapper]

Assuming you mean the lower rows: From below with the matter manipulator (Shift to reduce size to 1*1). The dropped produce/seeds/fibers are automatically collected through the earth/ground.

To get to the high top row: Jumping in the distortion sphere (or crawling up with the spiky one).

[u/Rare_Ad_262]

Beautiful

[u/Nilm0 → u/Rare_Ad_262]

Thank you? Thou I can't help noticing a certain amount of sarcasm/irony/joking ;-) (even with just that one word you wrote!).

But seriously, I searched for "Starbound compact farm" and similar terms but found pretty much nothing. Found a bunch of actually nice looking, organized and spacious farms but no compact or space efficient ones.

Really surprised me considering how old this game is (I only started playing it a few weeks ago) and what a nerd-magnet such open world block games are (hell, Starbound has literal logic gates. Where is the black/white Doom port one can play in Starbound?!).

Then again maybe search engines have just gotten so bad (drowned in slop) that I just couldn't find what is / may be there.

---

What I really like about this one on my ship is that it constantly updates - so no returning to an on-planet farm only to notice that very little grew because the sprinklers didn't water the ground in my absence.

[u/Aetherpixel]

Screw collecting the crops, this is modern art.

[u/Icy-Reserve8070]

Without mods, this is indeed the most efficient and compact. It can get better with mods. The Avali mod give aeroponics tubes, which full eliminates any need for sprinklers in any area, and another mod, though I don't actually know which one, removes the didtance needs of crops, allowing them to be planted driectly next to each ither, regardless. This allows for an even more space efficient or compact farm. Thogh navigation coudl be more difficult and it would just look cluttered in the end.