Getting started
You've been laid off by OptimaAI and replaced by a robot. All you got was a severance package of carrot seeds and Grandpa's old farm. Root Cause is an idle farming game: plant, harvest, sell, and keep reinvesting until you own the company that fired you, and then a lot more.
- Plant: tap an empty plot to plant the seed picked in the Farm tab's Seed Shed.
- Harvest: tap a ready plant (it bounces and sparkles). It goes into your silo.
- Sell: tap Sell in the Farm tab to turn the silo into money.
- Upgrade: spend money in the Upgrades tab. Farm hands plant and harvest for you; a sales rep sells for you.
Once farm hands and a sales rep are working, the farm runs on its own. Your job becomes choosing what to buy next. The pinned Step N of 7 note and the Company tab always say what to aim for.
The screen and the five tabs
The farm is at the top; tap anything on it. Below it are five tabs:
- 🌱 Farm: sell, pick seeds, fertilizer, and the market.
- ⬆️ Upgrades: land, sprinklers, farm hands, tractors, dogs and more. Later, the AI Lab is at the bottom.
- 🏢 Company: businesses, the 7-step ladder, cities, executives, rivals, and space.
- 🏛️ Franchise: start over on new land for permanent bonuses, and spend franchise points on perks.
- 📰 News: your mail, trophies and what's next.
The chip at the top of the field reads 🏛️ points · ⭐ stars · 🏆 trophies (+bonus%). On big farms the Fields / Detail button switches between seeing every plot and seeing 2×2 beds that are easier to count.
Money, points, stars and trophies
The game has one money and three things you collect:
- 💵 Money buys seeds, upgrades and businesses. It resets when you franchise.
- 🏛️ Franchise points come from franchising and buy permanent perks. They never reset.
- ⭐ Stars come from filling city orders and beating rivals. They buy star-shop items, price wars and ad blitzes. They never reset.
- 🏆 Trophies are achievements. Each one adds +2% income forever. There are 58.
The percentage in the top chip is your franchise bonus: extra income on every farm, from your heirloom seeds and franchises (see Heirloom seeds).
Crops, quality and selling
Each new carrot unlocks once this farm has earned enough, sells for about 5.5× the last one, and takes longer to grow. Grow times below are on iPhone.
| Carrot | Grows in | Seed | Sells for | Unlocks after earning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Orange | 16s | $1 | $3 | start | The humble carrot. Your severance package, basically. |
| Purple Dragon | 30s | $6 | $17 | $2.00K | Foodies pay extra for anything purple. |
| Snow White | 50s | $30 | $91 | $37.0K | Pale, mysterious, sold exclusively at farmers markets in Brooklyn. |
| Atomic Red | 1m 20s | $170 | $500 | $690K | Lycopene-rich. Glows faintly. Probably fine. |
| Rainbow Bunch | 2m | $900 | $2.70K | $13.0M | Five colors in one bunch. Kids eat them. Parents weep with joy. |
| Golden Imperator | 3m | $5.00K | $15.0K | $240M | Carrot of kings. Grown under a tiny crown. |
| Thunder Root | 4m 20s | $28.0K | $83.0K | $4.50B | Only grows during storms. Crackles when you pull it up. |
| Cosmic Carrot | 6m | $150K | $460K | $85.0B | Seeds recovered from a meteorite. Tastes like stars. |
| Moonbeam Carrot | 8m | $830K | $2.50M | $1.60T | Harvested at midnight. Glows softly in the silo. |
| Quantum Root | 10m 40s | $4.70M | $14.0M | $30.0T | Simultaneously ripe and unripe until harvested. |
| Crown Jewel Carrot | 14m | $25.0M | $76.0M | $550T | Kept in a vault. Insured by three banks. |
| Neural Carrot | 20m | $800M | $2.50B | $5.00Qa | Lab-grown. Trained on 40 billion photos of carrots. |
| Grandpa's Heirloom | 18m | $140M | $420M | $10.0Qa | The seed tin from the barn. Grandpa's best carrot, finally grown again. |
| Singularity Root | 26m | $4.50B | $14.0B | $100Qa | It is looking back at you. |
Every harvest rolls a quality. Soil Science and fertilizer push the odds toward the better ones:
| Quality | Price |
|---|---|
| Wonky | ×0.6 |
| Standard | ×1 |
| Premium | ×1.8 |
| Artisan | ×3.5 |
| Legendary | ×8 |
The market: selling a lot at once drops the price for a while. Marketing Campaign raises prices and lets the market take more before it drops. News headlines can also move prices up or down for a minute or so.
The silo grows with your land. When it's full, harvests wait, so hire a sales rep (Upgrades) to sell automatically.
Upgrades
Each level costs more than the last (the multiplier is in the table). Some upgrades appear only once you need them, for example dogs after your first rabbit. Every franchise tier raises some limits (more sprinkler, soil, training, marketing, fertilizer and tractor levels, and 2 more farm hands).
| Upgrade | What it does | First level | Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🗺️ Land Expansion | Buy the neighbor's lot. 9 → 12 plots. | $50 | 18, each ×3.6 the last |
| 💦 Sprinkler System | Carrots grow 15% faster per level. Resists heatwaves at level 4+. | $120 | 12, each ×3.6 the last |
| 🧪 Soil Science | YouTube-certified soil chemistry. Raises carrot quality. | $200 | 10, each ×4.2 the last |
| 🧑🌾 Hire Farm Hand | Another laid-off office worker. Plants and harvests automatically. | $150 | 30, each ×2.05 the last |
| 📋 Worker Training | Mandatory synergy workshops. Farm hands work 20% faster per level. | $900 | 15, each ×3 the last |
| 🚜 Tractor | Uncle Rick's old tractor. Sweeps the field row by row; every carrot it drives over gets +5% growth. | $2.50K | 10, each ×3.8 the last |
| ⚗️ Fertilizer R&D | Stronger fertilizer formula: bigger quality boost (bags cost more). | $500 | 8, each ×3.6 the last |
| 📣 Marketing Campaign | +8% sell price and the market absorbs 60% more carrots before prices drop. | $600 | 15, each ×3.3 the last |
| 🐕 Adopt a Farm Dog | Biscuit, a very good boy. Chases one rabbit at a time (and collects the bounty). | $1.50K | 10, each ×3 the last |
| 🧲 Lucky Horseshoe | Golden carrots show up more often (every ~115s → ~98s). | $2.50K | 8, each ×4 the last |
| 🍯 Golden Glue | Golden carrots stick around longer before vanishing (12s → 16s). | $5.00M | 8, each ×4 the last |
| 💼 Hire Sales Rep | Automatically sells everything when the silo is half full, or every 30 seconds. | $2.00K | one-time |
| 📦 Fertilizer Supply Contract | Auto-buys fertilizer when you run low (while fertilizer is enabled). | $5.00K | one-time |
| 📡 Weather Station | Cloud seeding! Rain lasts twice as long and heatwaves are halved. | $8.00K | one-time |
| 🗂️ Farm Manager | Keeps the farm running while you're away. Offline progress lasts 1h → 2h. | $40.0K | 8, each ×6 the last |
Rabbits, dogs, golden carrots and weather
- 🐇 Rabbits sneak in and eat crops. Tap one to shoo it away for a bounty, or adopt dogs: each dog chases one rabbit at a time and collects the bounty. Later come robot rabbits, which take 6 hits (dogs do 1, you do 1, laser drones do 3).
- ✨ Golden carrots pop up now and then. Tap one quickly for a Growth Frenzy (3× growth), Bumper Prices (2× sale price) or a cash windfall. Lucky Horseshoe makes them more frequent; Golden Glue keeps them around longer.
- 🌦️ Weather: rain speeds growth, heatwaves slow it (sprinklers level 4+ resist heat). The Weather Station makes rain last twice as long and halves heatwaves.
- 🚜 Tractor: drives the field row by row, giving every crop it passes a growth boost.
- Away from the game: the farm keeps working at half speed while you're away, up to the Farm Manager's limit (more hours with Gary from Accounting and Warp Logistics).
The Company: businesses and the 7-step ladder
Businesses buy your carrots at a premium, even while you're away, and never crash the market. Each one you open reveals the next. Buy several of each; every one adds to its income.
| Business | Costs | Earns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🪧 Roadside Stand | $250 | $1.50/s each | An honesty box and a hand-painted sign. |
| ⛺ Farmers' Market Booth | $6.00K | $15/s each | Now with a chalkboard. Very authentic. |
| 🧃 Juice Bar | $150K | $180/s each | Cold-pressed, $14 a cup. Wellness! |
| 🍰 Carrot Cake Bakery | $5.00M | $2.50K/s each | Cream cheese frosting is a vegetable delivery system. |
| 🚚 Food Truck Fleet | $200M | $40.0K/s each | Carrot tacos. Trust us. |
| 🏬 Grocery Chain Deal | $10.0B | $700K/s each | Your face on every bag of baby carrots. |
| 🥤 Carrot Cola Factory | $600B | $14.0M/s each | The original formula contains actual carrots. |
| 🏦 Global Carrot Exchange | $40.0T | $300M/s each | Carrot futures. Carrot options. Carrot-backed securities. |
| 📺 CarrotFlix Streaming | $300B | $40.0M/s each | Carrot documentaries, recommended by an algorithm that knows you too well. |
| 🍽️ Robot-Run Diners | $5.00T | $500M/s each | Service with a synthesized smile. |
| 🎢 Carrot Theme Park | $600T | $1.80B/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛳️ Carrot Cruise Line | $9.00Qa | $11.0B/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛰️ Orbital Carrot Station | $140Qa | $65.0B/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌕 Lunar Carrot Colony | $2.00Qi | $390B/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🔴 Martian Salad Bar | $30.0Qi | $2.30T/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☄️ Asteroid Carrot Mines | $460Qi | $14.0T/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☀️ Carrot Dyson Sphere | $6.80Sx | $84.0T/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌌 Galactic Carrot Federation | $100.0Sx | $500T/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌀 Multiverse Farmers Market | $1.50Sp | $3.00Qa/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ⌛ Carrot Heat Death Insurance | $23.0Sp | $18.0Qa/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🎢 Carrot Theme Park II | $350Sp | $110Qa/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛳️ Carrot Cruise Line II | $5.20Oc | $650Qa/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛰️ Orbital Carrot Station II | $78.0Oc | $3.90Qi/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌕 Lunar Carrot Colony II | $1200Oc | $24.0Qi/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🔴 Martian Salad Bar II | $18000Oc | $140Qi/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☄️ Asteroid Carrot Mines II | $260000Oc | $850Qi/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☀️ Carrot Dyson Sphere II | $3900000Oc | $5.10Sx/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌌 Galactic Carrot Federation II | $59000000Oc | $30.0Sx/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌀 Multiverse Farmers Market II | $890000000Oc | $180Sx/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ⌛ Carrot Heat Death Insurance II | $13000000000Oc | $1.10Sp/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🎢 Carrot Theme Park III | $200000000000Oc | $6.60Sp/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛳️ Carrot Cruise Line III | $3000000000000Oc | $39.0Sp/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛰️ Orbital Carrot Station III | $45000000000000Oc | $240Sp/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌕 Lunar Carrot Colony III | $670000000000000Oc | $1.40Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🔴 Martian Salad Bar III | $10000000000000000Oc | $8.50Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☄️ Asteroid Carrot Mines III | $150000000000000000Oc | $51.0Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☀️ Carrot Dyson Sphere III | $2300000000000000000Oc | $310Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌌 Galactic Carrot Federation III | $33999999999999995904Oc | $1800Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌀 Multiverse Farmers Market III | $510000000000000000000Oc | $11000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ⌛ Carrot Heat Death Insurance III | $7.700000000000001e+21Oc | $66000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🎢 Carrot Theme Park IV | $1.1999999999999998e+23Oc | $400000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛳️ Carrot Cruise Line IV | $1.7000000000000003e+24Oc | $2400000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛰️ Orbital Carrot Station IV | $2.6e+25Oc | $14000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌕 Lunar Carrot Colony IV | $3.9e+26Oc | $86000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🔴 Martian Salad Bar IV | $5.799999999999999e+27Oc | $520000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☄️ Asteroid Carrot Mines IV | $8.700000000000001e+28Oc | $3100000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☀️ Carrot Dyson Sphere IV | $1.3000000000000002e+30Oc | $19000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌌 Galactic Carrot Federation IV | $2.0000000000000002e+31Oc | $110000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌀 Multiverse Farmers Market IV | $2.9e+32Oc | $670000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ⌛ Carrot Heat Death Insurance IV | $4.4e+33Oc | $4000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🎢 Carrot Theme Park V | $6.6e+34Oc | $24000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛳️ Carrot Cruise Line V | $9.999999999999999e+35Oc | $140000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛰️ Orbital Carrot Station V | $1.5e+37Oc | $870000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌕 Lunar Carrot Colony V | $2.1999999999999997e+38Oc | $5200000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🔴 Martian Salad Bar V | $3.4000000000000005e+39Oc | $31000000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☄️ Asteroid Carrot Mines V | $5e+40Oc | $190000000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☀️ Carrot Dyson Sphere V | $7.6e+41Oc | $1100000000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌌 Galactic Carrot Federation V | $1.1000000000000001e+43Oc | $6700000000000001024Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌀 Multiverse Farmers Market V | $1.7000000000000001e+44Oc | $40000000000000000000Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ⌛ Carrot Heat Death Insurance V | $2.6e+45Oc | $239999999999999967232Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🎢 Carrot Theme Park VI | $3.7999999999999994e+46Oc | $1.5e+21Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛳️ Carrot Cruise Line VI | $5.7e+47Oc | $8.7e+21Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🛰️ Orbital Carrot Station VI | $8.6e+48Oc | $5.2e+22Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌕 Lunar Carrot Colony VI | $1.3e+50Oc | $3.1e+23Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🔴 Martian Salad Bar VI | $1.9e+51Oc | $1.9e+24Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☄️ Asteroid Carrot Mines VI | $2.9e+52Oc | $1.1e+25Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ☀️ Carrot Dyson Sphere VI | $4.4e+53Oc | $6.8e+25Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌌 Galactic Carrot Federation VI | $6.5e+54Oc | $4.1e+26Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| 🌀 Multiverse Farmers Market VI | $9.799999999999998e+55Oc | $2.4e+27Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
| ⌛ Carrot Heat Death Insurance VI | $1.5e+57Oc | $1.5e+28Oc/s each | Unlocked by franchising. Only a carrot empire this old could run one. |
The Company tab walks you through seven steps, one at a time:
- 🪧 Farm stand. Sell carrots and save up. The stand appears in the Company tab once this farm has earned enough; then buy it there. Reward: Businesses buy your carrots at a premium, even while you are away, and never crash the market.
- 🏪 Businesses. Each business you open reveals the next one. Keep them supplied with crops. The Hostile Takeover appears at the bottom of the business list. Reward: You own the company that fired you. The AI Lab opens in Upgrades, and Carrot Corp can open stores in cities around the world.
- 🌎 Cities. Pick a city on the map and open a store. Cities post orders: fill them from your silo for cash and ⭐ stars. Reward: Stores add income on every farm and never close, even when you franchise. A full region adds ×1.25 income. Then the AI rivals notice you.
- ⚔️ Rivals. A rival attacks one of your regions for 24 hours. Push its market share below 50% with price wars, ad blitzes and city orders. Reward: Each rival you beat adds income forever. Beating all three opens Go Public.
- 🔔 Go Public. This is a franchise: you start a new farm as usual. Ring the bell here (or in the Franchise tab) once this run has earned enough to franchise. Reward: all the franchise rewards, bonus points and ×2 income forever.
- 🌙 The Moon. The flight takes real time. Stars can rush it. Reward: A Moon colony multiplies income on every farm, forever. Space Tech opens, bought with cash.
- 🔴 Mars. Same as the Moon, only further. The rabbits are already there. Reward: A Mars colony multiplies income again. That is the top of the ladder, for now.
Cities, executives and stars
After the Hostile Takeover, Carrot Corp opens stores on a world map: 22 cities in 6 regions. Stores add income on every farm and stay open forever, even when you franchise. Each store has 10 levels (+5% each), and filling a whole region adds ×1.25 income.
City orders: cities ask for crops. Fill them from your silo for cash and ⭐ stars (2 stars for an order for a specific carrot).
Executives are hired with money and keep their levels forever:
| Executive | Job | Each level |
|---|---|---|
| 📉 CEO-Bot, VP of Spin | Demoted. Now writes press releases about carrots. | +6% income on every farm. |
| 👵 Mom, Chief Financial Officer | She's done the family taxes since 1987. | City orders pay +25% cash. |
| 🔧 Dave, Chief Operating Officer | He came back. He wants a corner office and dental. | Stores cost 8% less to open and upgrade. |
| 🧾 Gary from Accounting | Survived four rounds of layoffs by never being noticed. | +1h offline time, on top of the Farm Manager. |
| 🤖 HR-Bot 3000, Head of People | Reformed. Mostly. Still says "synergy". | City orders arrive 20% faster and last 10% longer. |
| 👩🌾 Aunt Carol, Head of Beets | Never once asked for a title. Got one anyway. | +15% beet farm income, and beet orders pay 15% more. |
Rivals and going public
Once a region is full, three AI rivals take turns attacking one of your regions for 24 hours. Push their market share below 50% to win: price wars (money), ad blitzes (stars) and filling orders in the contested cities all push them back.
| Rival | Stars for beating it | Income forever |
|---|---|---|
| 🤖 HarvestGPT “Your carrots are statistically average.” | ⭐ 6 | +10% |
| 🧠 AgriMind “We have run 40 billion simulations. You lose in all of them.” | ⭐ 9 | +15% |
| 👁️ OptimaAI Prime “You bought my old body. I upgraded.” | ⭐ 14 | +25% |
Stars also buy permanent items that help in every battle:
| Star shop item | Stars | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| ⚖️ Corporate Lawyers | ⭐ 45 | Rivals gain market share 25% slower. |
| 📣 Billboard Network | ⭐ 45 | Price wars push rivals back 50% further. |
| 💳 Loyalty Cards | ⭐ 60 | Orders from contested cities push rivals back twice as hard. |
| 🛰️ Spy Satellite | ⭐ 35 | Every rival battle lasts 12 hours longer. |
Beat all three and you can Go Public: your next franchise rings the bell for bonus franchise points and ×2 income forever.
Space: the Moon and Mars
After going public, Carrot Corp launches to the Moon, then Mars. Colonies add income on every farm, and space tech is permanent:
| Space tech | Levels | Each level |
|---|---|---|
| 💧 Zero-G Hydroponics | 10 | Crops grow 0% → 20% faster. |
| 🌀 Warp Logistics | 6 | +0h → +2h offline time. |
| 🔫 Orbital Lasers | 5 | Rivals gain share 0% → 10% slower. |
| 👽 Alien Marketing | 20 | +0% → +15% income. They really like carrots. |
The Moon and Mars are where the Company's story goes. They're unrelated to the Sci-fi look, which only changes how the farm is drawn.
Franchising and heirloom seeds
Franchising hands this farm to the co-op and starts you over on new land. Money, land, upgrades, crew and businesses go back to the start. You keep franchise points, perks, the Company (stores, executives, stars, rivals beaten, space), trophies and mail.
In return you get:
- Franchise points for perks. Every franchise pays at least 3, and more the more you earned.
- +10% income forever for each franchise.
- A tier: higher upgrade limits and more farm hands on every new farm.
- Any heirloom seeds this run earned.
🌱 What heirloom seeds do
Heirloom seeds are what your franchise bonus is made of. A run earns them as it makes money: the 1st at $10.0B earned this run (more on higher tiers), then 8×, 27×, 64× that, and so on (n³). You bank them when you franchise, and every banked seed adds income on every farm, forever. Nothing resets them.
The bonus grows quickly at first and then levels off: 1 seed ≈ +25%, 4 ≈ +50%, 16 ≈ +100%, 100 ≈ +250%. The Franchise tab shows your bonus now, what it will be after franchising, and what the next seed would add.
When to franchise: when the next upgrades take too long to afford. Franchising early is never wasted, but a longer run earns more seeds and points.
Franchise perks
Spend franchise points in the Franchise tab. Perks work right away and stay on every future farm. Seed packs (also there) unlock new carrots, a new business, and raise the money needed for each heirloom seed.
| Perk | What it does | Max level |
|---|---|---|
| 🧑🌾 Dave Comes Along | Start every farm with 1 farm hand already hired (and get them right now). | 5 |
| 💵 Seed Money | Start every farm with $500.00 in the bank (paid out right now too). | 5 |
| 🏞️ Frontier Land | Land Expansion goes 2 levels further (up to 13×13). | 4 |
| 🪧 Union Contract | Hire up to 40 farm hands. | 3 |
| 🎓 Farm Academy | Worker Training goes 5 levels further. | 2 |
| 🚜 Tractor Fleet | One more tractor sweeping the field, and 3 more tractor upgrade levels. | 2 |
| 🍀 Four-Leaf Clover | Golden carrot buffs last 50% longer and windfalls pay 50% more. | 2 |
| 🦴 The Kennel | Start every farm with 1 dog already adopted. | 2 |
| 🌟 Franchise Mastery | +10% income on every farm, forever. No level cap. (Now +0% → +10%.) | no cap |
| 🔐 Seed Vault | Keep your unlocked carrot varieties when you franchise. | 1 |
| 💼 Old Friends | Your sales rep, the supply contract and the weather station follow you to every new farm. | 1 |
| Aunt Carol's Beet Farm | Buy a second farm: beets. New crops, upgrades and businesses, sharing one bank account with your carrots. Everything there costs far more, so your carrot farm has to fund it. You keep it forever (it restarts with every franchise, like the carrot farm). | 1 |
| 👩🌾 Carol's Crew | Start every beet farm with 2 farm hands already hired. | 3 |
| 🧺 Root Cellar | Keep your unlocked beet varieties when you franchise. | 1 |
| 📇 Carol Knows People | The beet farm keeps its sales rep, supply contract, weather station and farm manager when you franchise. | 1 |
The AI Lab
After the takeover, the AI Lab opens at the bottom of Upgrades. Programs automate the farm and boost income, but each one makes your robots more autonomous. Watch the autonomy meter.
| AI Lab program | Costs | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 📈 MarketGPT | $200B | Sells for you whenever prices peak. +25% sale prices ("dynamic pricing"). |
| 🌱 CropGPT | $500B | Picks the best seed you can afford, manages fertilizer, and raises quality. |
| 🛸 Laser Defense Drones | $1.20T | Lets you build laser drones. Each drone replaces a farm dog, zaps rabbits from range, and earns triple bounties. |
| 🛰️ Weather Control Satellite | $3.00T | Permanent rain (+60% growth). Heatwaves are cancelled. |
| 🎨 Generative Carrots | $7.00T | Sells AI-generated pictures of carrots. 2× all income. Nobody knows why it works. |
| 🧬 Self-Improving Code | $15.0T | Robots rewrite their own firmware: 2× robot speed and 2× crop growth. |
| 👔 Robot Middle Management | $30.0T | Robots now make purchasing decisions. Auto-buys upgrades and businesses for you. |
There's a story here, and an ending. We won't spoil it.
Aunt Carol’s beet farm
A perk that buys a second farm with beets: its own crops, upgrades and businesses, sharing your bank account. Everything there costs far more, so the carrot farm has to fund it. Walk between the carrot and beet farms with the arrows at the side of the field. It's yours forever, and it starts over with each franchise like the carrot farm.
Trophies
Each trophy adds +2% income forever. All 58:
- Hands in the Dirt Harvest your first carrot.
- Root Awakening Harvest 100 carrots.
- Carrot Top Harvest 1,000 carrots.
- Orange Is the New Job Harvest 10,000 carrots.
- What's Up, Doc? Harvest 100,000 carrots.
- Vitamin A Overdose Harvest 1,000,000 carrots.
- Side Hustle Earn $1,000 total.
- Better Than My Old Salary Earn $100,000 total.
- Root Millionaire Earn $10 million total.
- Carrot Billionaire Earn $1 billion total.
- Trillion-Dollar Taproot Earn $1 trillion total.
- Human Resources Hire your first farm hand.
- Union Rep Employ 10 farm hands.
- Full Employment Employ 30 farm hands. Take that, AI.
- Diesel Therapy Buy a tractor.
- Manifest Destiny Reach 144 plots.
- The One Carrot Harvest a Legendary carrot.
- Legend Farmer Harvest 100 Legendary carrots.
- Elmer Shoo away 10 rabbits.
- Rabbit Season Shoo away 100 rabbits.
- Shiny! Catch a golden carrot.
- Midas Root Catch 25 golden carrots.
- Royal Purple Unlock Purple Dragon carrots.
- To Infinity and Beyond Unlock Cosmic Carrots.
- Schrödinger's Carrot Unlock Quantum Roots.
- Entrepreneur Open your first business.
- Conglomerate Own 50 businesses.
- Monopoly Man Own 200 businesses.
- Hoarder Fill your silo completely.
- Bulk Discount Sell 1,000 carrots in one go.
- Carrot Whisperer Encourage growing carrots 500 times.
- Start Again, Wiser Franchise your farm.
- Root Cause Acquire OptimaAI.
- Sprawl Farm 256 plots at once.
- Family Business Buy 5 franchise perks.
- Serial Farmer Franchise 5 times.
- Irony Replace a farm hand with a FarmBot.
- Lights-Out Farm Run 30 FarmBots at once.
- Hyperscaler Own 10 GPU data centers.
- Trained on Carrots Unlock Neural Carrots.
- Full Stack Install every AI program.
- Job Security Have Dave repair 100 broken robots.
- Full Circle Replace Dave with DaveBot.
- Rabbit Season 2.0 Destroy 25 robot rabbits.
- Have You Tried Turning It Off Reboot 25 glitching robots.
- Alignment Problem Deploy CarrotMind.
- Root Cause Analysis Lose your farm to the machines.
- Branching Out Buy Aunt Carol's beet farm.
- Beet It Harvest 1,000 beets.
- Drop the Beet Harvest 100,000 beets.
- Heartbeet of the Farm Harvest a Legendary beet.
- Borscht Baron Own 50 beet businesses.
- Unbeetable Unlock Unbeetable beets.
- Beet Trillionaire Earn $1 trillion from beets.
- Quadrillionaire Earn $1 quadrillion total.
- Quintillionaire Earn $1 quintillion total.
- Dynasty Franchise 10 times.
- Forever Farmer Reach franchise tier 25.
Looks, sound and settings
- Looks: Settings › Look switches how the farm is drawn: Classic (the original art), Simple (clean cartoon) and Sci-fi (a farm in the year 3000). Gameplay is identical. Snow falls at Christmas.
- Sound: the Mute button in Settings works even when your phone's ringer is on silent.
- Mail alerts: Settings › 🔔 Mail alerts sends a notification when a letter arrives while you're away.
- ☁️ iCloud save: off unless you turn it on. Your farm is saved on your device; with iCloud save on, it's also copied to your iCloud so you can continue on another iPhone or iPad. You need to be signed in to iCloud. Turn it on in Settings on each device. When both devices have progress, the game offers the farm that has earned more.
Questions
- My income dropped after franchising. Did I lose everything?
- No. The farm starts small again, but your franchise bonus, perks, trophies and Company stay, so each new farm grows faster than the last.
- Why is the Sell price lower than a minute ago?
- You sold a lot at once and the market dipped, or a news event moved prices. It recovers on its own. Marketing Campaign helps.
- Where did my farm hands go?
- They're working in other plots, or a robot broke down (tap it, or hire Dave to repair automatically).
- Something didn't make sense or looks broken.
- Tell us: in TestFlight, take a screenshot and tap Share Beta Feedback, or email [email protected].
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