My builds - Jude525

The basic issue was how to maximize the value of the tractor and minimize the time spent on it. When using a tractor, it can be used to water, fertilize and harvest crops. Each of these requires a separate pass around the track. (You can avoid the watering pass by placing sprinklers throughout your garden.)

But there is a limit to how many plants can be processed during a single pass of the tractor leaving from and returning to it's starting point. I have never tested to see what the limit is, nor found this number on the web. It is probably out there somewhere. If you exceed this many plants on your route, then you need to run the entire circuit again for each process to completely water/fertilize/harvest your crops.

It begins with the first plant it encounters and works from there, stopping when it reaches its maximum. After that it simply drives the rest of the track without actually doing anything. In my experience, the track provided with the farm needs three passes for each process. Here, it harvests the green section, then you wait for it to return to the start, then it drives the green section without doing anything, harvests the yellow section, then returns without doing anything to the purple section. Finally, you run it again to drive uselessly past the first two sections to get the harvest from the purple section.

https://i.imgur.com/wm7eJjR.jpg?1

It needs to do this three times. That is a LOT of wasted play time and time from your Sim's day.

Therefore, to be most efficient, you want a track that only covers as many plants as it can handle in one pass, reaching the end of its pass as soon as it is done. No time wasted simply riding the tractor back to the beginning.

What I do is simplify the track and delete most duplicate crops, especially apple trees. There are SO many apple trees! I delete all the trees in red. Some to reduce time, some because the new track doesn't reach them. Add any new trees along the track. The crops I remove are from the gardens on either side of the house. The tractor has been moved to the side of the house, which I like better anyway. Most farmers don't leave the tractor out in front of the house for company to see.

https://i.imgur.com/B253MM6.jpg?1

Here is a longer single track option, with the tractor placed the same way. This has a nice aesthetic, but will result in a lot of wasted driving time. I would at least recommend deleting the trees in yellow. I suspect this would require two passes per function.

https://i.imgur.com/QlPW3dE.jpg?1

Here is a simple multi-track example, with a second tractor added onto the second track. You spend more time on the tractors, but the time is not wasted. It is useful if you want more crops, which I would plant anywhere along the path of the second track, maybe converting the rose bed for harvestables. And/or replacing the gazebo with another bed. If so, run the outer track first so that the inner tractor doesn't fill up from these beds.

https://i.imgur.com/LeqCrby.jpg?1

Then there are the "T" road sections. These place a bale of hay in the road. In play/live mode this hay can be clicked on and moved to any of the three points of the intersection, redirecting the tractor. In this way you can create one continuous track that is actually several routes. Here is an example, although not a very useful one. Just what can be done.

I haven't used this at all myself. But could see where it could be useful on a different farm property. In the examples, notice the positions of the hay bales.

https://i.imgur.com/F6ix6e0.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/pAgkZTo.jpg?1

In this example, the route goes around the back of the house.
https://i.imgur.com/i3Zdwwj.jpg?1

The validity of the track can only be tested in live/play mode. It can not be done in build mode. When testing for a valid track, the section that IS valid will be highlighted green, showing you at what point the error exists. This is an actual screen shot that has not been altered.

https://i.imgur.com/0W3wZtR.jpg?1

If you are having trouble getting your track to work, look for the section to be one square off place, as in this pic. In my experience it is the most common cause for an invalid track.

https://i.imgur.com/heHlcn3.jpg

So, that's all I know about tractor use and track building. This all assumes you have a relatively level property. I don't know the tolerances for hills. If you think of any questions, let me know. We can find the answers and post them here to make this more thorough.

EDIT: After @Auroraskies reminded me, I decided to add that the tractor will not harvest from money trees. I'm not sure if they can be fertilized by it, but they can be watered.