Best work horse tractor for the price.

[Skull Punch]

Hey Everyone I would say im entering into the mid game area where I have enough money coming in to buy equipment as needed. I don't want to break the bank though in maintance cost buying top of the line equipment to run my farm. I have 3 fields im using the Big Body 900s tippers, timber runners and Low rider trailers with heavy equipment on it of course.

Im looking for opinions on good solid tractors to form the backbone of my farm until im making enough to be able to afford running my farm with all the top of the line equipemnt.

Thanks!

[chaseydog]

What are the HP requirements of the implements your using or planning to use in the near future. Knowing that would help narrow down the 'best’ tractor for your needs.

[Yehoodi]

I think this question also depends on how you like to play the game.

Do you like doing missions
Do you have any animals (cows/sheep - vanilla) or any fattening animals
Do you plough/cultivate/seed, or cultivate/seed, or just seed
Do you have a large farm (or intend to have one)
Are you just tooling around with a few fields just to have fun
Do you want to have all crops
Is harvesting the most fun for you.

For me my first game I played was on the Westbrigde map and ended up with many fields and enjoyed harvesting the most and only needed the New Holland T8.320, which has 320 HP and can essentially pull anything you are going to need, well anything i needed. I used a tractor trailor to move and sell goods. i have not upgraded past the T8.320. Early on i had to do missions but then they were not worth the time later in the game.

Now i am playing on the mod map Norgeholm and am just tooling around with a few fields and focusing on animals husbandry with the cows/sheep and fattening barns. So its a different feel and needs. So far all that i needed beyond the starter tractors is the New Holland T6.160, which is a nice tractor as it can pull the midgame equipment but is also a front end loader.

So i guess it depends on what you want and like to do. If you don't mind doing a few missions, the New Holland T6.160 is a nice midgame machine as it doubles as a front end loader (strongest front end loader of the tractors i believe) and you can tool around with a handful of mission (forklift ones) and get part of your money back.

So whatever you like to do in the game will help dictate what you might need.

Also as the last poster indicated, see what you want to pull and buy accordingly.

Also, you can "test drive" your tractors, by starting a game, buy the machince, tool around with it for a bit, pulling the stuff you want, then exit the game without saving and then you can go back to the game to the point just before you purchase the tractor.

[Yehoodi]

from my experience there is no bang for your buck machine, it just depends on what you want to do with your farm and buy accordingly

[Skull Punch]

I haven't started anything with animals yet but Im hauling large loads of grain around. Im just getting into corn for biogas and sugar beats. Eventually i plan on hauling the large logging trailer around loaded. I also have a wheel loader to place on a trailer that I would like to be able to move around. I bought a Magnum 380 tractor to haul the big body 900s trailers. My other tractors I used had issues moving the 50 tons of grain up hills. So far I enjoy farming and logging but I want to experiance everything I can in the game eventually.

The test drive thing is a good idea, Ill give that a shot.

[Yehoodi]

Originally posted by Skull Punch:

I haven't started anything with animals yet but Im hauling large loads of grain around. Im just getting into corn for biogas and sugar beats. Eventually i plan on hauling the large logging trailer around loaded. I also have a wheel loader to place on a trailer that I would like to be able to move around. I bought a Magnum 380 tractor to haul the big body 900s trailers. My other tractors I used had issues moving the 50 tons of grain up hills. So far I enjoy farming and logging but I want to experiance everything I can in the game eventually.

The test drive thing is a good idea, Ill give that a shot.

Excellent. i think you will find the Magnum 380 is really all that you need for a while. Again, on the first Westbridge map, where I was essentially doing large crops production, 320 HP New Holland is all that i need and the Case Magnum is just as strong.

When you get more funds and have some extra money, the tractor trailer with the 59000l trailer can really move at speed, something you might think to upgrade to before you go with tractors beyond the Magnum.

You can basically do anything with any equipment with the Magnum and not high end enough that you still have the fun to buy that new big tractor toy later in the game. :-).

Yah the entry level tractors do not really pull teh 50000l trailers.

Not sure if you are playing vanilla or not, but the cows and sheep you have regardless. Sheep aree cheap but you have to load a pallet for like 5k per pallet, which is fun, but a lot of work compaired to a large field fo wheat. The cows are fun as the money is automade, your milk is sold automatically at 12 midnight. With cows you get to play around with hay, silage, bales, and mixing machinces which combined with the autosales at midnight, makes for a nice return on one's real time to money earned.

Have fun, please keep us abreast of your farm :)