Dawn of Man – Crops

Once you’ve got the hang of growing plants, your crew can have steady meals and crank out way more food than what hunting and gathering can offer.

• Growing cereal crops? Sweet bonus: you get straw, which is super handy for building stuff and feeding any animals you might have tamed.

• Legumes, like chickpeas and lentils? Yeah, they’re cool too. They might not give you straw or last as long as grains in storage, but they grow in different seasons. That means your farm team can keep busy and get the most out of the land all year round.

• And hey, these legumes are low-maintenance. You don’t need to grind them into flour or bake them into bread like you do with cereal grains.

• Don’t forget about flax! This plant is a game changer. You can turn it into linen, which makes for some killer lightweight summer clothes.

Just a heads up: when you’re laying out your fields, don’t go too big too soon, especially if you’ve got less than 50 people. Start small. You can always switch things up later. If you go all out with huge fields from the get-go, you’ll end up swamped with work and your task queue will be a hot mess.

Here’s a quick rundown of what you can grow:

• Barley: Straw, grain, and even more straw. Plant in spring, harvest in fall.

• Rye: Straw, grain, and some extra grain for good measure. Spring to fall.

• Einkorn: Straw, grain, and this one’s super tough. Spring to fall.

• Emmer: Straw, grain, and yup, even more grain. Spring to fall.

• Bitter Vetch: It’s a legume, grows in winter, ready by summer.

• Chickpeas: Another legume for your winter to summer cycle.

• Lentils: Same deal, plant in winter, harvest in summer.

• Peas: More legumes for your winter stash.

• Flax: Grow it from spring to fall and turn it into linen.