Talk:Food/@comment-204.141.215.56-20201013111933

Every game where I tried to move food production to the sides I ended up regretting it. Sidewalls generally produce around 1/2 the food or other crops as cliff top structures and even less if compared to open fields on high fertility cliffs. On the other hand sidewall decorative buildings and air purifiers are close to the same values as large cliff top structures of that type and often hard to fit in large enough numbers while still leaving space for those buildings that need 4-6 squares. Aesthetics and ecology can be a more efficient use of sidewall space than moving food, salad, or grape production. Wind power as a side wall also provides 1 square of building space so not only does it reduce the cliff top buildings but it gives you another pharmacy, oxygen chamber, small garden, parks, small farm, docking station etc... spot. You will probably gain less space moving food/vitamin production compared to some other options.

Open fields boost ecology about half as much as ecology specific buildings per square of space but options for ecology are limited, 1x1 and 2x2 farms can be easier to fit than parks, and they produce food. They are prone to disasters that indoor farms are not but if the cliff has enough fertility to produce food efficiently with open fields instead of indoor farms they could offset all your mining or other activities without needing to devote space to ecology buildings until late game.