What exactly is the most effective way to setup a farm?

[Lumen]

I have played this game a few times and every time i end up making a huge farm but then not being able to expand because of me constantly having to recharge my energy over and over again and it's a bit tedius. I know sprinklers exist but isn't there some easier way to expand withought placing a ton of sprinklers everywhere? Sprinklers just arn't efficient enough.

[AlexThaKingZA]

This could be answered differently by many players, we could all provide our opinions but ultimately you need to find what WORKS FOR YOU! Whatever is being efficency towards your needs that you deemed highest responsible works towards your play style, aplogies I could not be any help, however through trial and error you will get there and understand what works for you with regards to your farms management

[Nakos]

It's a very subjective question. Everyone answers it slightly differently.

There are three levels of sprinkler, and a variety of other things that can help you expand. There's also the question of what crops you grow. Some are more labor intenstive, others less so.


You can look at a variety of farms on the Upload Farm site to get some ideas if you like:

https://upload.farm/

[Lenneth]

How big are we talking about?

You can't possibly maintain a big farm without sprinklers. First level sprinker is not good, but quality sprinkler should be good enough.

Here is my farm with roughly 1700 plots.

https://upload.farm/1ESQNZ

[I Kinda Fail]

There's a term for this, I think. Incremental gains, maybe?

You keep running out of energy. So you need sprinklers. To get sprinklers, you need metal bars. To get metal bars, you need to mine. Mining takes up a lot of energy. You can either get a few sprinklers, and use those to make money for farming; or upgrade your pickaxe, to get bars faster in the future, for faster sprinklers in the future.

Basically, find the one thing you have an issue with, and focus on it. Do you keep running out of time, energy, money? Let's say energy. From there, figure out what the bigger issue is: are you using too much energy, or not able to keep up food-wise on energy restoration? From there, figure out how to spend less energy, or get more food efficiently. Baby steps.

As a general rule of thumb, I'd say:
1. Normal watering can: don't go above 40 crops at once. Upgrade to copper watering can as soon as possible.
1a. Upgrade pickaxe, for convenience. Optional, but saves a lot of time and energy.
2. Copper watering can: don't go above 60 crops at once. Ignore the crappy sprinklers, and grind Farming until you can make quality sprinklers. You need iron bars, so use your copper can with 60ish crops until you have several quality sprinklers.
2a. Upgrade pickaxe, for convenience. Optional, but saves a lot of time and energy.
3. Quality sprinklers: If you only have a few, then set them up away from your main field, and continue to grow 60ish crops and hand-water them. Once you're able to get about 60 crops covered by sprinklers, it's time to focus on your other stuff.
3a. Upgrade pickaxe, for convenience. Optional, but saves a lot of time and energy.
3b. Get all tools up to at LEAST iron level, with watering can and pickaxe at gold, preferably.

[Nakos]

Just as an opposing point of view:

Unlike most people, I actually like the T1 sprinklers.

The bottom line is that they do what they're supposed to: They reduce your workload, they save you energy and time.

They're not as efficient in terms of resources (to construct), they're not as convenient in terms of they way they can be laidout or used, but they do still help, and they can be made earlier.

So, it's not the end of the world to have a few type one sprinklers, as long as you're aware of (and accepting of) their limiations. Additionally, they work pretty well for Trellis plants (Beans, Hops and Grapes).

[Magzie]

Common mistake most people make is not making your own food. In yoiur first spring just keep 9 kale going all spring long or any flowers. They all give good amounts of energy back. Next thing is look up a easy simple recipe that you can start cooking and getting the recipe for. Hashbrowns, Sashimi, or Tortilla are really good easy starter recipes you can get unlocked really early and making Tortilla will move you into being able to make lucky Lunch if you are going fishing. If not in year 2 start befriending Kent. He will give you the recipe for Supermeal. The best meal in the game IMO. 160 energy 72 health and max energy/speed buff for 3.5 minutes. If you don't want to do that save all your Blackberries for year 2 fall. Try to get the ability to make your own Sugar and Flour. This will let you make Blackberry Cobbler.

[paugus]

Originally posted by Magzie:

Common mistake most people make is not making your own food

Food is not worth the resources it takes to make, especially if you're only making it to recover energy. You can get salads for about 200 from the saloon, and if you've got any idea what you're doing in the game, 200 is nothing. Hit up the mushroom floor for ONE day and you've got enough for a stack of salads that'll last you for years. Hops produce very quickly in the summer, and a gold star hops recovers something like 80 energy each.

I'm in a game now where I have stacks of cave carrots, berries, and hops, and I never even use them because energy only matters in the first spring. After that, the main limiting factor is time.

Originally posted by scorepit:

Sprinklers just arn't efficient enough.

Get quality sprinklers then. I don't know how you're measuring efficiency, but watering your crops by hand every day is about the least efficient way you can play this game.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Magzie:

Common mistake most people make is not making your own food. In yoiur first spring just keep 9 kale going all spring long or any flowers. They all give good amounts of energy back.

I think there are better ways to recover energy in the Spring. You can gather Spring Onions quite frequently from the muddy ground on the island in the Southern Forest, and halfway through Spring, there's Salmonberry Season. Kale requires a lot of upfront cash, and during year one, that can be tight for new players.

In Summer, I STRONGLY recommend Hops. Hops produce one harvest a day (once they reach maturity), they give you lots of energy and, the best part is, you can convert any Hops you don't need for energy into Pale Ale, which is a great money maker.

Every time I do a new playthrough, I plant MORE Hops because they're just so good.

[Magzie]

Originally posted by paugus:

Originally posted by Magzie:

Common mistake most people make is not making your own food

Food is not worth the resources it takes to make, especially if you're only making it to recover energy. You can get salads for about 200 from the saloon, and if you've got any idea what you're doing in the game, 200 is nothing. Hit up the mushroom floor for ONE day and you've got enough for a stack of salads that'll last you for years. Hops produce very quickly in the summer, and a gold star hops recovers something like 80 energy each.

I'm in a game now where I have stacks of cave carrots, berries, and hops, and I never even use them because energy only matters in the first spring. After that, the main limiting factor is time.

Originally posted by scorepit:

Sprinklers just arn't efficient enough.

Get quality sprinklers then. I don't know how you're measuring efficiency, but watering your crops by hand every day is about the least efficient way you can play this game.

Salids are a way to go but the recipes I posted ether will make you money by selling them also or give buffs from eatting. Not only that Hashbrown lead to two other good recipes Complete Breakfast (+2 farming & +50 max energy) or Dish of the Sea (+3 fish). Also all of them can be made cheaper then buying salids.

Originally posted by Nakos:

Originally posted by Magzie:

Common mistake most people make is not making your own food. In yoiur first spring just keep 9 kale going all spring long or any flowers. They all give good amounts of energy back.

I think there are better ways to recover energy in the Spring. You can gather Spring Onions quite frequently from the muddy ground on the island in the Southern Forest, and halfway through Spring, there's Salmonberry Season. Kale requires a lot of upfront cash, and during year one, that can be tight for new players.

In Summer, I STRONGLY recommend Hops. Hops produce one harvest a day (once they reach maturity), they give you lots of energy and, the best part is, you can convert any Hops you don't need for energy into Pale Ale, which is a great money maker.

Every time I do a new playthrough, I plant MORE Hops because they're just so good.

Kale is only 20 gold more then Potatoes and 10 gold more then Hops. How ever you can buy 3 for the same amount as salids. The Salmonberries are good for starting food the first season after that you just need so much more. Another goos option is pushing for a Windmill and grow wheat for bread making which also leads to buff Recipes by year 2.