How do you train yourself to not worry about being efficient?

[Gnasty Gnorc]

So, I don't need to be MEGA efficient, but like, somehow I forgot to plant a green bean and a cauliflower in the first spring. I'm now halfway through summer and even though I KNOW i can just wait till spring again and plant them for the CC, I really just want to start over because of such a simple goof.

I used to play pretty relaxed and not care, but playing My Time at Portia trained me to be really efficient and I feel bad if I'm not.

How did you guys overcome this issue? lol.

[NBOX21]

Simple. Just know that there's no real time pressure to do anything in the game at all since there's no day limit whatsoever - even after 5 or 10 in-game years, you can still keep playing like it's nothing.

Also, if you missed the cauliflower for the CC,keep in mind that the travelling merchant that appears every Friday and Sunday in Cindersap Forest (west from Marnie's ranch) has a chance to sell cauliflower at any time. If you're lucky, you may even receive a cauliflower as a gift from certain villagers if they like you enough. Soknow that there's plenty of opportunities to still get some more later on.

[Marshall]

For me, it's through modding.

I really hate time limits in games, and take forever to organize my farm, so I had to install the Timespeed mod (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/169 ) in order to truly relax into the game. It lets you set how fast time passes by location, manually pause and unpause time, pause at a certain time of day, ectra. Obviously this can become a cheat if you can't police yourself, but if you just don't want to fall unconscious while decorating your house then it's great.

For keeping track of everything, from CC and achievement requirements to good gifts, I suggest Lookup Anything (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/541 ) and Event Lookup (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/8505 ). For better planning out your sprinklers, bee houses, and so on, I use Data Layers (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/1691 ).

[ChrillBill]

I have played My Time at Portia as well and I can totally understand what you are saying. That is one of the main differences between these two games I would say, because in Stardew Valley it's more about you and your farm, rather than building up a whole town and the areas surrounding it. You usually don't have any time limits at all, except for the few quests that you accept through the small and bigger billboard. My Time at Portia focus heavily on crafting, and you need to do A LOT of it in order to advance both the story and also your own home, which pressures you into being as efficent as you possibly can. And I'm not saying it is a bad thing, mind you. I have just found that the same kind of pressure is not present in Stardew Valley, and therefore it is more relaxing and chill. You just need to get used to it I think, and look at these two games as two different games even though there are similarities. That is what I did anyway, because I was also coming from My Time at Portia before playing Stardew Valley :>

Edit: Yes it sucks to have missed a green bean for the CC. But you don't have to start over. You can just get it next spring because the Community Center will be there until you finish restoring it :D You just have to be patient

[Gnasty Gnorc]

Originally posted by Marshall:

For me, it's through modding.

I really hate time limits in games, and take forever to organize my farm, so I had to install the Timespeed mod (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/169 ) in order to truly relax into the game. It lets you set how fast time passes by location, manually pause and unpause time, pause at a certain time of day, ectra. Obviously this can become a cheat if you can't police yourself, but if you just don't want to fall unconscious while decorating your house then it's great.

For keeping track of everything, from CC and achievement requirements to good gifts, I suggest Lookup Anything (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/541 ) and Event Lookup (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/8505 ). For better planning out your sprinklers, bee houses, and so on, I use Data Layers (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/1691 ).

So this lets you just slow down time a little? I'd probably enjoy that, give me more time in the mines lol. I'll check it out, thanks.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by Shaun:

Originally posted by Marshall:

For me, it's through modding.

I really hate time limits in games, and take forever to organize my farm, so I had to install the Timespeed mod (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/169 ) in order to truly relax into the game. It lets you set how fast time passes by location, manually pause and unpause time, pause at a certain time of day, ectra. Obviously this can become a cheat if you can't police yourself, but if you just don't want to fall unconscious while decorating your house then it's great.

For keeping track of everything, from CC and achievement requirements to good gifts, I suggest Lookup Anything (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/541 ) and Event Lookup (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/8505 ). For better planning out your sprinklers, bee houses, and so on, I use Data Layers (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/1691 ).

So this lets you just slow down time a little? I'd probably enjoy that, give me more time in the mines lol. I'll check it out, thanks.

It does, but if you are new to modding I would recommend checking this guide out:
Modding/Getting Started[www.stardewvalleywiki.com]

Modding is easy when you have learned how to do it, but it does require some preparation and you will also need the actual mod loader called Smapi[smapi.io]

[Nakos]

Mm... I'm not nearly as efficient as some people, but ... I gotta say, if I'd forgotten to plant at least one of everything in early Spring, I probably would start over.

The Pantry is what gives you the Greenhouse, and my goal is always to get that done by early winter at the latest.

Mind you, I LIKE farming, and I spend a lot of time on it during Spring (and into Summer). By late Summer and Autumn, I usually have T2 Sprinklers, so ... it ceases to be a big time focus by then, but during the first two seasons, I put a lot of time into crops production.

[airgid-sionnach]

Meh... I just figure if I do it I do it, if I don't I don't. I find having a decent meal, water and some snacks nearby help me to relax.

[Gnasty Gnorc]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Originally posted by Shaun:

So this lets you just slow down time a little? I'd probably enjoy that, give me more time in the mines lol. I'll check it out, thanks.

It does, but if you are new to modding I would recommend checking this guide out:
Modding/Getting Started[www.stardewvalleywiki.com]

Modding is easy when you have learned how to do it, but it does require some preparation and you will also need the actual mod loader called Smapi[smapi.io] :brownchicken:

I already use mods with SMAPI, couldn't stand Maru and Abigail being so bow-legged D:

[Alucard †]

Originally posted by Shaun:

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

It does, but if you are new to modding I would recommend checking this guide out:
Modding/Getting Started[www.stardewvalleywiki.com]

Modding is easy when you have learned how to do it, but it does require some preparation and you will also need the actual mod loader called Smapi[smapi.io] :brownchicken:

I already use mods with SMAPI, couldn't stand Maru and Abigail being so bow-legged D:

Their ingame sprites have the classic case of Mario legs

[FrozenOJ]

Originally posted by Marshall:

For me, it's through modding.

I really hate time limits in games, and take forever to organize my farm, so I had to install the Timespeed mod (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/169 ) in order to truly relax into the game. It lets you set how fast time passes by location, manually pause and unpause time, pause at a certain time of day, ectra. Obviously this can become a cheat if you can't police yourself, but if you just don't want to fall unconscious while decorating your house then it's great.

For keeping track of everything, from CC and achievement requirements to good gifts, I suggest Lookup Anything (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/541 ) and Event Lookup (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/8505 ). For better planning out your sprinklers, bee houses, and so on, I use Data Layers (Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/1691 ).

I LOVE timespeed and can't really play without it. I have a lot of "brain fog" from my chronic illnesses and being able to pause the game while I try to remember why I went into town is a godsend. I have it set to 14 seconds per 10 minutes so I can truly have a chill day but also feel like I'm making progress every month. In later years when I have more automation I'll speed it up so it never feels like I have too much time.

[Gnasty Gnorc]

Originally posted by Lord Nickington:

I don't know. Tell me if you ever figure it out, would you :( I'm a slave to my own desire to do 'just a little better than last time'

Exactly this. I have almost 200 hours in game and never got past year 2 because I always think “I’ll start over but be more efficient and do things better” lmao.

[Avilyn]

I'll third the recommendation for Timespeed. I can spend all day, complete with 2am collapse, on my farm, deciding on sprinkler/scarecrow placements, where I want buildings, decorations, etc. Not to mention picking out flooring/wallpaper etc. for the house. Pausing while I work on those helps me relax a lot.

Otherwise, I just think back to my very first playthrough, when I was a lot more ignorant of all the various quests etc. - I didn't complete the community center until the end of year 3, and I think it was year 5 before I had close relationships with most villagers. But that was OK, because it's not like the game ended after year 4, or will end after year 10 or whatever. I remind myself there is no time limit, and I keep going.

[esturias]

You simply have to realize that it's nothing but a computergame. Safe your effort an efficiency for the real world, where it really matters and play games however you like to play them.

[Castlegate]

I recently did the Joja Mart instead of CC - after years of avoiding it - and it was WAY more relaxing. I could really focus on doing what I wanted to accomplish each day, instead of worrying about missing a bundle item.

[Elvarion]

I started playing this Singleplayer and had a 'horrible' time, since I felt the pressure of time and needing to optimize everything.

What helped me was starting a Multiplayer game with my Girlfriend, its now quite relaxing and enjoyable. We do things our own pace. We completed CC sometime during year 2. We unlocked Ginger Island now just recently in summer year 3.

Even if we only play some ingame days here every real week and there we dont feel rushed to complete it. (This savefile has been in the works for about 8 months now lol)

Since I didnt really play much in my singleplayer I am still pretty new to the game, so we have played most of it without looking things up on the wiki. Which I think also helps, so we dont really know the most optimal things to do stuff