rancher or tiller?

[eddy santiago<3]

rancher or tiller?

[nike276]

depends, tiller then artisan is probably most ideal, and rancher is if u are into to MASS farming animals, because for cheese and mayo artisan is better and u get cheese and mayo from animals.


Long story short, tiller

[yodabauer]

I went tiller. I'm still on my first farm and wasn't sure how long it would take me to get into ranching. The artisan bonus is nice.

[Pixel Peeper]

Tiller, because it leads to Artisan.

Even if you specialize in animal products and never ever plant crops again, the end products of animals are Artisan Goods. They'll benefit from whichever bonus you picked, but Artisan is double what Rancher gives you (+40% instead of +20%).

Rancher is essentially a trap.

[feralgal]

I agree that Artisan is the best. It's one of the best perks in the game bc it applies to all artisan products, except, ironically, oils, which are listed in its description as one of the things that it benefits. Here's a list of everything that gets a boost from Artisan: http://stardewvalleywiki.com/Artisan_Goods

Note that it does not apply to oil, coffee, maple syrup, oak resin, or pine oil. But it does apply to cheeses, cloth, mayonnaise (eggs), keg products, and preserves jar products. That's pretty much all processed animal or plant products you'd make as a farmer or rancher. Truffles from pigs (or duck feathers or rabbit feet, which are random and you don't process) are the only real exception but truffles don't benefit from Rancher, either. They benefit from Botanist or Gatherer which are Forager professions.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by feralgal:

Truffles from pigs (or duck feathers or rabbit feet, which are random and you don't process) are the only real exception.

While it's true that Truffles are unaffected by Artisan, Truffle Oil is, so just like with any processed animal product, an Artisan still comes out ahead there.

The two other items on that list are the real exceptions. But indeed, they're not significant.

Rabbit's Feet are freakishly rare and most people will want to use them for the Community Center and as gifts (they are universally "loved" gifts, with only a single villager hating them), so they're not generally sold for profit and their value doesn't matter much. Duck Feathers are also fairly uncommon and not all that valuable, and also make nice gifts for Elliot (presumably he uses them as quills, in any case he "loves" them).

Another obscure reason that someone might want to be a Rancher is that you get the +20% bonus starting at Farming level 5 while Artisan only starts applying at Farming level 10. However, this is a weak argument because not that much time is spent between level 5 and level 10, while not having Artisan once you're level 10 means you're crippled forever.

In the long run, I've lost several hundreds of thousands of gold because I picked Rancher over Tiller.

[I Kinda Fail]

Artisan is better for the casual / average player. Rancher is really only good for extreme ranchers. With Rancher, you can get Coopmaster to incubate eggs faster so you don't have to spend 4k on a duck or whatever. You're also more likely to get duck feathers and, I think, rabbit wool, along with large eggs.

With Shepherd, sheep give wool 33-50% faster, I think pigs give more truffles, and cows are more likely to give large milk.

Artisan's definitely better, but Rancher does have some niche uses.

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

Artisan is better for the casual / average player. Rancher is really only good for extreme ranchers. With Rancher, you can get Coopmaster to incubate eggs faster so you don't have to spend 4k on a duck or whatever. You're also more likely to get duck feathers and, I think, rabbit wool, along with large eggs.

With Shepherd, sheep give wool 33-50% faster, I think pigs give more truffles, and cows are more likely to give large milk.

Artisan's definitely better, but Rancher does have some niche uses.

You're giving these professions far too much credit.

Coopmaster doesn't improve the rate at which Ducks produce feathers, the rate at which Rabbits produce Wool or the chance for Chickens to produce Large Eggs, and Shepherd doesn't improve the rate at which Pigs find Truffles or the chance for Cows to produce Large Milk.

Technically they'll start producing some of these a bit earlier because their Friendship increases faster, but that's a very small benefit during a very short period of time in the animal's life.

And even if Shepherd does improve Wool production, Wool can be turned into Cloth which not only worth more but also benefits from the better Artisan bonus. You'd get more than a 50% increase in value, and without the extra work of shearing sheep more often.

I can't even begin to realize how much I screwed myself over by taking Rancher/Shepherd over Tiller/Artisan...