The nature simulation spans the entire world and all soils,
plants and animals develop according to the same laws.

As a result the world changes often and will look different in every game.
Even the course of the coastline can change considerably and the vegetation constantly adapts to the conditions.

The 4 pillars of the nature simulation:


Nutrients:

Nutrients are stored in the soil and all plants need more or less of them every day.
or less of it every day.

Through fertilising (manually or by animals) and through magic you can
nutrients back into the soil. In the wild, at the end of its life
plant returns its accumulated nutrients to the soil at the end of its life.
to the soil. A cycle is created.

In farming you take, however, a certain amount of nutrients that are then missing from the soil.

Depending on the type of soil, a field can feed several generations of plants
until it is exhausted.


Water:

Water is important for all plants. Some need more or less
of it and soil types can store different amounts of water.

Water can be replenished by rainfall, watering or magic.

It is usually sufficient to water every few days and it is
advisable to water in the evening, especially in the summer, so that the
evaporation during the day does not make a large part of the water disappear.


Heat:

The world of Behind the Horizon stretches from the cool north to the desert
desert regions in the south.
The base temperatures of the terrain fields are thus ascending from north to south.

In the desert there is actually no real winter in the desert.

In the far north, however, there can be up to 3 seasons of snow.

All plants have a temperature range in which they feel comfortable. Whether a plant
plant grows or stagnates depends on whether the average daily temperature is within this range.

Furthermore, plants can tolerate unfavourable conditions for an individual time until they finally die.

There are numerous magical ways to raise the temperature of a field
but even planting a tree increases the average temperature slightly.


Light:

Also light increases more and more from the far north to the desert areas.

Just as with heat, plants also have a comfort zone here.

If the average amount of light during the day is within this range
the plant will grow. If it is outside this range, the plant will
stagnate and eventually die.

The Light can be increased by magic in a field. You can plant trees to protect a field from direct sunlight.

There are the following main types of soil:

Rock, stone, gravel, sand, dirt, clay, heavy clay, red earth and black earth.

In addition, there are meteor stone, lava and 4 different types of water.

Soils, like everything else in nature, continue to develop. How fast this happens depends mainly on how intensively the soil fields are covered with plants.

Further influences come into play through global natural events and animals.

For the player, this means that he can improve his soil by planting intensively and by keeping pigs and donkeys.

There is also a spell that allows a soil to be improved immediately.
Improving a soil usually increases its ability to store water and nutrients.

In addition, certain plants only grow on certain soils. Particularly noble vegetables like cucumbers, for example, need black soil to grow.

Three different plants can be grown on each field: Ground cover, farm plants and trees.

This creates many favourable but also unfavourable combinations. For example, you can grow mushrooms or ferns and forest herbs under a large tree (the shade for large trees is 3x3 fields with the tree in the middle).

Or you can grow some shrubs in a meadow and let chickens or sheep graze underneath.

There are really many ways to use the system and have considerably less work when farming.

Evaporation:

Depending on the temperature, water evaporates from the soil. Evaporation is greatest when the sun is shining. In summer, evaporation can be so great that a sandy soil loses all its water in the course of a day. It is therefore advisable to minimise evaporation and water in the evening.
・ Ground covers reduce evaporation by up to 50% depending on the vegetation of the field.
・ Trees also reduce evaporation by up to 50%, depending on the age and size of the tree.


Seepage:

Seepage is different for each soil type and indicates how much of the water from rainfall or watering seeps into the soil and is not usable by plants. Sandy soils have a much higher seepage value than clay, for example.
Seepage can only be improved by further development of the soils.


Water near swamps and water sources:

Soil fields adjacent to swamps or water sources get some moisture every day. This can be used in many ways. However, one should know that in spring floods, water courses can overflow their banks.

In the game there are many possibilities for the player to see how the soil, the plants and the animals are doing.

・ All three harvesting tools (sickle, basket and ladder) can be used not only to harvest, but also to get more information about the plant. The information is clearer if you have already read the corresponding books for the plant species in the game.

・ Above the quick bar, the current temperature, current light intensity, water and nutrients (if learned) are displayed.

・ Fields with a lack of water are displayed slightly darker.

・ With the soils overview (CTRL/Control key - default setting) you can call up an overview of the condition of the soils on your own farm. All fields that can be planted (according to the consciousness value) are displayed.
All others are darkened. The name of the soil type appears.
Below this is a bar that shows how long it will take for the soil to develop.
Below that you can see the current light and heat values (not the daily average!) and then the water and nutrient content of the soil relative to the soil type. Water and nutrients, however, can only be seen after learning the corresponding skill at the beginning of the game (tutorial).

If you release the button for the soil overview, symbols indicating deficiencies are displayed for a while for all the plants you have planted yourself. There are different symbols for ground cover, farm plants and trees and the colour tells something about the deficiency of the plant.

For example, blue is a sign of water shortage and bright yellow of too much light. It is important to note, however, that the deficiencies shown refer to the current values. If it rains during the day, the plant may well no longer have a water shortage and will continue to grow. The same applies to light and warmth. If the sun comes out again after a rain shower, this can raise the average temperature again.

・ The skill Feel Plants gives even more precise information about your own plants. Here you can talk to any plant you have planted yourself and find out what its condition is. If it has a deficiency, it also shows how long it can survive.

The nature simulation system in Behind the Horizon allows for a lot of experimentation and many combinations will work well.
Since all farm plants can be planted all year round, it is always important to keep track of annual temperatures and light.
Of course, a tomato will not grow in late autumn. At least not without creating appropriate conditions through magic.

It is possible to use the system in such a way that you can achieve high yields with very little effort and keep repetitive farm work to a minimum. Later in the game, field work may well be limited to sowing and gathering, and even for that you will get support later on.

I designed it this way on purpose because I never liked grinding in games. Behind the Horizon therefore offers the possibility to farm without grinding. Of course, you can also water, fertilise and weed your field every day, but that should be up to you. Everything is possible and that was important to me.

I hope this guide gives you a deeper insight into the system. You can find even more information in the in-game guide (F1 in the game). There, every aspect of the game is dealt with in great detail.