Strawberry Crop Loop

Status

Next vertical slice. Strawberry is the first fruit crop and must feel structurally different from a flower with a different label.

Player Promise

Keep one friendly plant alive, watch several berries color together, and choose the satisfying moment to pick them. Missing the perfect moment reduces value but does not destroy the plant or erase the whole harvest.

Minimum Loop

plant crown -> establish leaves -> flower -> green fruit -> turning fruit -> ripe window -> pick -> flower again

• The mother plant remains after picking and begins another fruiting cycle.
• A ripe plant shows individual visible berries, not only a number or progress bar.
• Picking is manual in the first slice and collects every currently ripe berry in that pot with one action.
• Bees improve fruit count and shape. They do not instantly create finished fruit.
• Fully ripe fruit has the best flavor and sale value. Early picking is safe but sour and cheaper.
• Unpicked ripe fruit first becomes overripe and loses quality. Only later can some berries rot, dry, or be taken by a visitor.
• A loss leaves a readable trace and ecology note; it never kills the mother plant or removes every berry at once.

First-Slice State

Each strawberry plot adds a small crop state:

• fruitStage: none | flower | green | turning | ripe | overripe
• fruitCount: bounded initial target of 2-5
• fruitAge: time spent in the current fruit stage
• pollinationQuality: one compact result derived from bee visits
• harvests: repeat-fruiting history

The ordinary growth meter is used only to establish the mother plant. After establishment, fruit stages replace repeated 0-100 regrowth.

Friendly Failure

The UI should say 正甜, 熟透了, then 再不摘会有损耗, rather than running a permanent alarm. The first missed window converts premium berries to ordinary berries. A later check removes at most part of the crop and may record a bird or small-animal visit. The next flowering cycle still begins.

Economy And Progression

• Fresh strawberries are a new produce inventory, separate from flower stems.
• First use: direct sale with quality bands. Do not add recipes in the same slice.
• Earned upgrade: a picking basket or small mechanical picker collects ripe berries automatically but does not pick green fruit.
• Later protection: fruit netting reduces visitor loss.
• Later breeding: named cultivars trade yield, sweetness, fruit size, and resilience. This is selective breeding first; overt genetic modification remains a separate late-game tone decision.

Scientific Grounding

• Oregon State University Extension recommends full sun and fertile, well-drained soil; wet or heavy soil raises root-rot risk.
• OSU notes that fruit left to ripen on the plant has much better flavor, while earlier picking can improve storage life.
• University of Minnesota Extension says fully red fruit has optimal flavor and sugar, and day-neutral strawberries may require picking every 1-3 days.
• Penn State Extension describes complete pollination as important to larger, more symmetrical marketable fruit.
• OSU and UMN describe ripe/overripe fruit as vulnerable to rot and feeding damage.

These facts guide readable outcomes, not a full horticultural simulation. Numeric pH, separate potassium, detailed light hours, disease, rodents, and genetics are deliberately outside the first slice.

QA Checkpoints

1. strawberry-green: established plant with several green berries.
2. strawberry-ripe: ripe berries ready for a one-click pick.
3. strawberry-overripe: reduced value plus a clear, non-panicked warning.
4. strawberry-return: one partial visitor loss followed by a healthy next cycle.

Success Test

After two fruiting cycles, a player should understand without reading a guide that waiting improves sweetness, waiting too long risks some fruit, bees are desirable, and the plant will fruit again.