Beach Farm run.

[Nakos]

Okay, so I’ve been working on a run.

This is nowhere near as complex or difficult as the stuff Snowy Sprout does, but I did decide to up my own personal level of challenge a bit this time.

I’m using the Beach Farm (which I’ve never used before).
I’ve set the profit margins to 25%
And I’ve remixed the Community Center bundles.
Other than that, anything goes.

I’m not going to do a day-by-day reporting of what I’m doing, but I do need to think out loud (so to speak) about some of the issues.

The first thing I notice, is that the Beach Farm is huge. But … you can’t use Sprinklers on most of it. So it’s not actually a farm per se, I mean, you can farm on lots of it, but you’ll always be limited by your energy. So obviously, it’s a better choice to use the land for things that don’t drain energy as much.

Orchards, Animals.

Obviously upgrading the Watering Can is far more important than it is for the other farm types.

This brings me to my next problem: The 25% profit margins. On the one hand, crops are cheap. I could buy tons of crops. Far, far more than I could water. And, while I’m making a profit, I’m simply not generating as much cash, and all the big ticket items are much further out of reach. This isn’t so much a problem I’m going to be farming my way out of (as opposed to the more traditional maps where Sprinklers are available and where you can generate big piles of cash to throw at problems).

There is a section on the map where I can use Sprinklers, but at the moment, it’s covered in logs that’ll take the Iron Axe to clear. I could do SOME planting there even with the big logs, but I think I’m going to wait until I can actually make the sprinklers I’ll need.

The remixed bundles are going to cause me some issues.
One of them is going to require that I install a Fish Pond (to produce Roe and Aged Roe).
Another is to get together a “Sticky Bundle” meaning … 500 Sap.

I think … maybe, I should be planting more trees on the southern section of the farm. Right now, that’s all grass, which would be fine if I had a Silo, and animals, but those are a ways off yet.

The one major purchase I’ve made so far is the expanded (24 slot) backpack. I hated to sink that much cash into it, and debated between the backpack, the watering can and the axe. But finally, I decided that the backpack gave the best long term investment.

One thing I’ve discovered is that the Jobs Board is much more important. Jobs still pay out what they’d pay even if I weren’t doing the 25% profit margin, so being everyone’s gofer becomes much more lucrative. Especially for some of the big jobs, like clearing Slimes in the mines. I cleared 8 slimes for Lewis one day, and got 480 for it, which is anywhere from 5 to 10 days worth of profit doing most other things.

When the late season Stawberries and Potatoes came in I still got a fair amount of cash, and between that and the money from Lewis for the Slimes, I decided I would get the Watering Can upgraded. That still left me about 3000 to buy Summer crops. A pittance compared to some runs I've done though.


As I head into Summer, I’m trying to decide how many crops I want to manage. Normally, I expect to begin the Summer by watering most of them by hand, but I typically expect to switch over to Sprinklers as I get down further in the mines. But … obviously that won’t happen this time. So I’ve got to plan my Watering load for what I can expect to handle and still have energy left to do other stuff in the afternoon.

That said, lower profit margins or not, crops still ARE profitable. Hmm...

[Snowy Sprout]

This is so exciting! This is what it's all about, right here. You have to let go of old assumptions about the game and look at things with fresh eyes.

Jobs often get overlooked by people who have other ways to make money. But doing them has other benefits. You make friends faster, for one thing!

There's more space on Beach Farm than other maps, if you can figure out how to use it. Crops have to be a limited strategy, because nobody has time or energy to water forever.

Fishing is pretty good on Beach Farm, and often I would fish right behind my house, pushing things right up to the line because I knew I could duck inside easily. I'm not sure, but I think the value of treasures/artifacts might not be reduced the way other sales are.

For me, beer and animals were a favorite way to make money. But you could go any direction you like. You have room for lots of fish ponds, or could put in tappers/fruit trees, or try to get mushroom trees in the fall.

If you remember my Linus run, you know I did a whole thing where I never even sold crops for money at all, and through jobs and other stuff that I totally don't remember now, somehow made lots of money by the end of the year anyway. I think I grew crops in that one but only because I wanted to eat them or something.

I'm absolutely thrilled to see this post of yours and read of how it'll go! I love seeing you thinking through the issues and coming up with new solutions!

[no1schmo]

Crab pots might be a decent, predictable source of income, catching actual crabs and lobsters since it's ocean water.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

Fishing is pretty good on Beach Farm, and often I would fish right behind my house, pushing things right up to the line because I knew I could duck inside easily. I'm not sure, but I think the value of treasures/artifacts might not be reduced the way other sales are.

I've been trying to fish more in this run, it's still not my favorite thing, but I've been trying to do more with it. Profits from the actual fish are adjusted though, so it's still mostly commiserate with the value of fishing vs farming in a "normal" game.

Right now, the biggest issue is that I'm still using the Bamboo pole, so no bait. The Fiberglass pole is available to me, but it's expensive (relative to my earning power). I think that'll have to wait until after I've gotten at least a Copper Axe and a Copper Pick.

I think for this run I may actually start placing chests at my preferred fishing spots (provided I can be sure they're "safe") that would make doing a lot of fishing easier.

I'm also trying to think about actually going fishing EARLY in the day, and do my farming chores in the afternoon-evening. I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing that, but there are some fish that aren't available later in the day.

I'd also really like to have several rods and just keep them in the chest at my preferred spots, but more tools is kind of an expensive investment at the moment.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

For me, beer and animals were a favorite way to make money. But you could go any direction you like. You have room for lots of fish ponds, or could put in tappers/fruit trees, or try to get mushroom trees in the fall.

I will need one fish pond at least. I still have the Animal Bundle and the Artisanal Bundle, so I'll still need at least one Coop and one Barn. I think ... I may do a lot more with Tappers, and some Fruit trees. I always find Animals to be time intensive relative to the return.

I'd like to get the Cave up and running, but the wiki says I need 25k before that's available, and that's going to be further away in this run.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I'm absolutely thrilled to see this post of yours and read of how it'll go! I love seeing you thinking through the issues and coming up with new solutions!

I hope it amuses ;)

We'll see how far I get and how fast.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by no1schmo:

Crab pots might be a decent, predictable source of income, catching actual crabs and lobsters since it's ocean water.

Yeah, I was thinking about that, lots of water, low energy to use, and I can gather the materials myself.

Even if I buy it, bait is still pretty cheap. There are probably going to be a lot of crab pots in this run. Might be worth taking Trapper when I get to that level.

I'm not really sure why anyone would WANT Mariner though ... I generally find Trash to be pretty useful. I'd probably go with Luremaster.

[Nakos]

So, for Summer (thus far) I've got about 153 spots under cultivation, and that seems to burn about 3/4's of my energy bar. So, it's manageable, but I'm going to need to eat to do other stuff during the day.

(I don't have any Radishes in yet though, so I might add another 10 spots, even though I'll probably hate myself for it later. Although, right now I've got 30 spots of Wheat, I could cut that back to 15 and substitute in Radishes when the first batch is grown.

I like to have a lot of Wheat so as to make Beer later, but I'm only at Farming 6, so Kegs are a a while away. I do have three Oak Tappers set up though, so I've got a pipeline for the materials).

My Watering efficiency will go up as I continue to level farming. But ... I'm not going to be gaining any Stardrops until Fall I don't think.

***********************

One of the bundles in the remixed package is Linus' Forager's Bundle, that needs 50 Salmon berries. I've got about 110 left at the moment, but normally I burn through those as gifts and as supplies for health and energy in the Mines. I doubt I'm going to manage to complete the Community Center in Y1 for this run, so I suppose I shouldn't worry about it, but it makes me feel like my normal supply is a lot smaller.

The basic water retaining fertilizer is ... not impressing me. It's too unpredictable, and with the Copper Watering Can hitting three spaces at once, I often end up re-watering spots that don't (technically) need to be anyway just because of the can's pattern. So, not only is the chance of retaining water low, but utility is even lower given that it's only useful about half the time due to random placement.

Maybe the deluxe stuff will be better.

I'm gradually filling in the open spots on the farm with trees (ordinary ones at this point), clearly I'm going to need a lot of wood (and sap), and I'm clearly NOT going to be buying much of it. I'll probably be cutting a lot of it down too, so ... I guess I'm going to be tree farming for a while.


The pacing of this run is a little strange. The energy economy is basically the same as normal, but there's a lot of stuff I just won't be able to do (in Y1) because I just won't have enough cash yet, so ... some stuff is slower. There's a lot of stuff I go rushing around to do in a normal run. Getting all the bits for the Greenhouse before the end of Y1 is a big one, but since that's going to require a lot larger percentage of my profits to get set up, I probably won't be able to manage it. That means no Greenhouse (and no Strawberry seeds) for the start of Y2, but it also takes some of the pressure off. Since I CAN'T accomplish some of those goals, I'm relaxing a bit more, which is kind of weird.

[Snowy Sprout]

Yes! Relaxing into it is important. We run around expecting days to be super-filled with chores and being unable to choose between all the stuff that screams "DO THIS RIGHT NOW". But with a challenge often you must accept that things cannot happen at that same pace anymore, so it makes the game actually more relaxing and enjoyable sometimes, instead of the pressure and stress.

Deluxe retaining soil is better than regular, but still spotty. I have only ever found retaining soil of any kind useful in lieu of watering, not in addition to it. On a run where I cannot use my watering can, I like retaining soil to give crops a chance for rain to grow them. But I see no advantage to it otherwise.

Energy shouldn't be a problem if you have fish to eat. And in summer hops are great. Once you get a cave I highly recommend mushrooms, because those have about the highest energy-to-value ratio of anything in the game. It's nearly one-to-one.

There are other reasons I've recently fallen back in love with the mushroom cave. I love that you can turn brown mushrooms into fall seeds with a seed maker. That has become one of my favorite strategies lately! You know how useful wild seed are!

I've never really spec'd into crab pots. I guess I just never enjoyed them much. I'll be interested to hear how that goes for you if you do it.

To be sure if a public spot is safe to place a chest, type in "pathing" on the wiki and it'll show you exact maps of safe spots.

I agree that sometimes fishing early is the thing to do! It does feel weird though, after always playing with chores coming first. It's just important to not forget to DO the chores.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

Deluxe retaining soil is better than regular, but still spotty. I have only ever found retaining soil of any kind useful in lieu of watering, not in addition to it. On a run where I cannot use my watering can, I like retaining soil to give crops a chance for rain to grow them. But I see no advantage to it otherwise.

Yeah, that's kind of my impression so far. I probably won't bother with it for my main crops during Fall.

However, I might set up some wheat fields off to the side and just let the rain grow them. More of a fire-and-forget kinda thing and then come back in a few rainstorms and see what grew. It's not like Wheat is too expensive in this mode.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

Energy shouldn't be a problem if you have fish to eat. And in summer hops are great. Once you get a cave I highly recommend mushrooms, because those have about the highest energy-to-value ratio of anything in the game. It's nearly one-to-one.

Huh ... I hadn't considered eating the fish. I'd been saving some for quests and the Community Center, and mostly selling the extras.

As for the cave, I always go with Mushrooms, mostly just because I love mushrooms in real life ;)

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

There are other reasons I've recently fallen back in love with the mushroom cave. I love that you can turn brown mushrooms into fall seeds with a seed maker. That has become one of my favorite strategies lately! You know how useful wild seed are!

Yeah ... hmm ... wild seeds would ALSO be good for my set-it-and-forget-it fields. 'Cause my problem isn't finding or affording things to grow, it's not having enough energy to water it all ;)

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I've never really spec'd into crab pots. I guess I just never enjoyed them much. I'll be interested to hear how that goes for you if you do it.

I find them a bit tedious to work with, but given the nature of this farm, I think they might be a good fit and I'll probably set some up. We'll see how it goes. While I can SPEND energy, I'm still more limited than what I need to work the land in the more "normal" fashion.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

To be sure if a public spot is safe to place a chest, type in "pathing" on the wiki and it'll show you exact maps of safe spots.

Yeah I researched that before I plunked a chest down. Even so I'll probably be leery of leaving anything really valuable in it. I've kept a chest at the head of the mine pretty much since I first started playing though, and that's always been fine.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I agree that sometimes fishing early is the thing to do! It does feel weird though, after always playing with chores coming first. It's just important to not forget to DO the chores.

And budget how much energy I'll need as well. It was a little disturbing to be there, watching the sun setting, and my half watered fields, and my energy bar on red thinking "Oh no! Can I manage this? Onions, onions, stat!"

[Nakos]

Well, I’ve been working my way through Summer.

I did set up my set-it-and-forget-it project with 15 Wheat, basic retaining soil (and a Scarecrow, because it’s off in a remote section of the farm). Despite raining quite frequently during Spring (like 5-6 times probably), it hasn’t rained at all during the first half of Summer. But Wheat is a two season crop, so maybe it’ll still yield some results. Either way, it was a very low cost to set up. Wheat is only 2 gold each in this mode.

Beyond that, I’ve stuck with my existing 153 crop spots. My farming is up to 7 by now, but it’s still about 3/4’s of my energy bar to water everything, and an Iron Watering Can is a long way off (the Iron I already have, but the 5k is a distant dream).

Upgrading my Axe to Copper is probably next on my agenda. That would allow me to clear the big stumps, and make logging a bit easier. I also really want a Copper Pick, I’m at about level 45ish in the mines, and the basic Pick is really starting to show its limitations. I need a lot of wood though, so the Axe will be first.

The thing I find myself agonizing most over is Profession choices. Farming still came up first, and I considered Rancher much more than I normally would, but ultimately, I’m still more fond of Farming than Animals, and I still wanted Artisan, so I went with Tiller.

Foraging came up next. That one was a hard choice. Forester has (potentially) a shorter use horizon, but I need a lot of wood. Gatherer has a longer payoff, and ultimately Botanist helps with inventory management. It is possible to change professions, but it’s expensive, and anything that costs a lot is much harder in this play-through. I finally decided on Forester, because I really need to make all kinds of machines for the farm, and for buildings, house upgrade etc. Also, it’ll help with Robin’s jobs for Hardwood and resources once the larger jobs board is set up. (I’m a bit tempted to wait on clearing the Stumps until I see the Hardwood job come up, it’s not like I really need the space just yet). And finally, I’ve never taken Forester before, so I suppose I might as well give it a try this time, this is a pretty optimal situation to use it.

I did spend a looooooooong time staring at the choice though.

The next thing that came up was Fishing (surprisingly). Since I have been doing more Fishing, and making decent money with it (relatively speaking of course) I was pretty tempted by Fisher. But again, I’m on an ideal map for Trapper, and I’ve never tried it, so I went with that. Trappers can make Crab Pots pretty cheaply, and it’s a low energy-cost way to utilize the farm’s space.

I’ve got about 6 Tappers set up, and with easier wood access, I’ll probably make more. I don’t think I’ll take the Tapper profession though, I think Lumberjack would be better. Right now I’ve got two maples, one pine and three oaks. I don’t feel the need for much Pine Tar, but I can use a LOT of Oak Resin.

One of my benchmarks for a run is getting an Apple Tree in as early as possible. Curiously, the Fruit Trees are cheaper to purchase too. So that was less of a chore than it normally would have been. Got that in on the 8th of Summer, so I’ll get a fair amount of production out of it this year. In a normal game I’d also try to get a Pomegranate tree in so as to complete the Enchanter’s Bundle, but I don’t think I’ll manage the Community Center in Y1, so it’s less important. If I have the funds free towards the end of Summer I’ll think about it, but I’ve got a lot of other things I’d rather have first.

The Traveling Cart is much less useable, as the prices haven’t changed. I’d have to really, really want something to be willing to invest the cash. With the lower profit margins, I’m probably just going to accept that it’ll all take longer and just do it all myself. Although, I may still buy a Sandfish, because the Vault is a pretty daunting prospect.

Weirdly, Sunflowers are NOT discounted like every other crop or seed. They still cost 200 each. I’ll probably still buy one or two, but I haven’t made the commitment yet.

I’ve still been trying to do all the jobs I see. They don’t seem to show up quite as often, but they’re still one of the most lucrative things I can do, so I try to grab them when I can. I took one job to bring a Sunfish to George, I had two (one for the Community Center, and one “just in case”) but I didn’t pay enough attention. I saw a “G” at the start of the name, and I read that it was for a calzone, and I figured it must be Gus who wanted it. And I went and got my precious, extra Sunfish out and took it to him and he was horrified! “No, no, no!” he told me. And then I actually READ the order and realized I was supposed to take it to GEORGE, not Gus. But now I only had one Sunfish left, and I wanted to save that for the Community Center.

I ALMOST restarted the day over that, but I’d already done a fair amount, and it felt sort of like cheating. So I took the friendship penalty and the loss of my fish and got on with my day. Fortunately, I was able to get out and do some fishing the next day, and I managed to catch another, so I was able to make the delivery anyway, and Gus will get over the horror of being gifted with a fish.

I befriended Caroline and did the Tea Ceremony, so I have the recipe now, not sure how valuable it’ll be for me, although I do have extra fiber. The following day, I was GOING to just check the farm and think about what I wanted to do and then restart the day, but in addition to the Tea Seedling recipe, Linus sent me a fish … a Catfish. I hate trying to fish up Catfish. So … I just played the day, because I knew if I restarted, he’d still send me something, but it probably wouldn’t be a Catfish again. Even though I’m doing more fishing this time, that’s still one less annoying fish to collect for the Bundles.

I’m trying to be better friends with the Wizard, but I don’t have too much he’s interested in at the moment. Ultimately, I’ll start giving him Beer, or Essences, but for now, raw Quartz is the thing he most likes that I have (fairly) easy access to. But … when I go south to visit the cart, I keep forgetting to pack it. Alas for my aging brain ;)


Buy order:
The things I most want as I have cash available:

Enough cash for Fall seeds. That one I have to put first, so I don’t forget it.
2K for an Axe.
2K for a Pick.
After that, I may try to save up for a Fiberglass Rod.

After that, I’ll probably start looking at buildings. I need a Fish Pond for the Fish Farmer’s Bundle, so that’ll be pretty high on my list. Hmm… I’ll need a Squid for that too. Squid Ink might be the one other thing I might actually buy if I saw it at the Traveling Cart.

I’m going to need a Coop and a Barn, as I still have the Animal Bundle, but those are going to set me back quite a bit, I’m skeptical I’ll be able to manage those by Winter Y1.

We shall see ….

[Snowy Sprout]

I'm surprised you find animals less worthy of your time. Granted, in this run it's harder to get the startup cash for them, but I have always found animals very profitable, especially after you get the processing machines. Not to mention how fast they raise your farming skill.

I'm sorry to hear of the drought at your place. I had the same issue on my recent runs. It's very odd. Climate change is seeping into games now, it seems.

I think that with the tea recipe, and plenty of fiber, and a mushroom cave, and the Forester profession, you should have an easy way to make money available right now! Even at 25% value, that should be several thousand dollars available to you right away, and pretty consistently ongoing once you get a seed maker!

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I'm surprised you find animals less worthy of your time. Granted, in this run it's harder to get the startup cash for them, but I have always found animals very profitable, especially after you get the processing machines. Not to mention how fast they raise your farming skill.

Enh .. I dunno, I tend to cultivate an awful lot: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2651094744

That's a run I did on the Forest map. That's from Fall Y2, but I'm using at least 75% of the available space for crops.

Somehow, animals just seem to eat more time, and produce less wealth. I do have a Coop and a Barn on that map, they're south of the pond. I also feel bad leaving them out and leaving the doors open and I hate having to go home early if I'm down in the mines. (Although I think in that run I just kept the Chickens inside all the time).

Probably I'm just miscalculating though. It's probably just the illusory effect of harvesting a big crop and seeing a big payoff vs a more steady income from the animals.

I dunno though, they're still going to be a long way off. A basic Coop is 4k, and chickens are 800 each. That's probably feasible within Y1, I already have enough Earth Crystals for the Mayo machines. 10k for a big Coop though? Ouch.

Hmm.. Silos are still cheap, I should get one set up. I REALLY don't want to have to buy hay.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I'm sorry to hear of the drought at your place. I had the same issue on my recent runs. It's very odd. Climate change is seeping into games now, it seems.

Heh.. yeah, apparently.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I think that with the tea recipe, and plenty of fiber, and a mushroom cave, and the Forester profession, you should have an easy way to make money available right now! Even at 25% value, that should be several thousand dollars available to you right away, and pretty consistently ongoing once you get a seed maker!

Yeah, if the Tea Saplings really don't require watering, then they'd be another thing that's perfect for this map.

I'm still making less cash over all (naturally, given the profit margins), but Summer is starting to feel smoother in terms of income generation. Spring felt like some days I was making next to nothing.

[Snowy Sprout]

Yes, think of a tea sapling just like a fruit tree, only shorter. They produce tea leaves during the last week of spring, summer, and fall outside. Winter too, in the greenhouse. And I've heard you can plant them in a garden pot inside the cave, but I haven't confirmed that myself. They don't need watering. And they don't need any space between them.

[Nakos]

Okay, I’m into the back end of Summer.

I’ve upgraded the Axe. Between the upgraded Axe and Forester, I’ve got tons of wood now (that and I completely deforested the Cindersap Forest, Global warming? What Global warming, I need wood!)

Right now, my biggest limiter on building stuff is Metal bars and Coal. Coal is pretty much always a problem for me, and I frequently take Miner and then Prospector when the chance arises. I don’t see this run being different on that.

I’ve got about 6 Tappers set up and as I free up copper bars from other needs, I’ll be adding more of those. Those are very nice for this farm, stick them on and forget about them, then collect the harvest once in a while. I’ve also got 6 traps out. I made three myself (they’re also competing for Copper Bars), and then I completed the Crab Pot bundle, which is three more, so I’ve got 6 running. I’m actually contemplating investing in a second Recycling Machine. Traps are a bit more finicky to work with, as you’ve got to bait them (although once I get to level 10, I’ll definitely take Luremaster, so I won’t need bait anymore).

Still both Tappers and Traps are a steady flow of both materials and income, for very little energy invested, so more of both of those as I have the Copper available.

I’ve ordered a Silo (Silos are still pretty cheap), and that’ll let me get some use out of the grass growing all over the farm. I don’t think I’ll be able to afford a Coop until at least Winter though. And the Fish Pond will still come first.

Some time soon I’m going to do the first Pick upgrade (more Copper, *sigh*).

So far there’s been only one rain storm this Summer, but the next day I play will also be a rainy/stormy one. I’m still too low on Foraging to be able to make Lightning Rods, so I’ll just have to hope I don’t lose much. Last storm I lost one Mellon plant. That was annoying, but I would have been a lot more annoyed if it had been a Corn, a Blueberry or a Hops. Especially the Corn, as that’s a two season crop. I’m probably pretty close to Foraging 6 though, so … I should probably chop down more trees.

I’ve got a fair amount of cash at the moment (relatively speaking), I think I’ll get two more Blueberry harvests and I’m up to the point where I can start making Kegs (which will take both Copper and Iron).

I have one Jar, which I got from a Bundle. I’d like more Jars, as I’ll probably need them for the Aged Fish Roe. But that requires Coal. It’s always annoyed me how much Coal Jars and Bee Houses consume. I’m going to have to find the time to kill a lot of Dust Sprites.

Looking at the Pantry bundles, I realized that the thing the Fish Farmer’s Bundle replaces was the Animal Bundle. I still have the Artisan Bundle, but the Animal Bundle needed TWO buildings, where as the Fish Farmer’s Bundle might be possible with only one.

I’ve got Honey, Jelly and Apples already available, I’ve got at least a chance of getting some Cloth from the Recycling machines. That puts me within two items of completing the Artisan Bundle. I’ve got enough cash, so I may end up buying a Pomegranate after all. There’s still enough time left for it to mature and give me several fruits. If I can get even one of the other items from the Traveling Cart, then that bundle might actually be something I could complete this year. And if I can mange those two, then I can still get the Greenhouse up and running in year one. I had originally decided that it was simply out of reach and I shouldn’t worry about it, but now I’m thinking it might actually be feasible. I guess it’ll depend on how the Fish Pond works and how fast it produces Roe. Hmm… guess I have to pick a fish. It would probably work better with two Ponds, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that, at least not at first.

Hmm… looks like Carp or Herring might be my best choices.

Anyway, much to my surprise, the Greenhouse might actually be possible. I don’t have a Seed Maker yet, but I do have some saved Strawberries (to seed), and a Coffee Bean. I also don’t have an Ancient Seed yet, guess I need to go kill more bugs.


Jobs remain a pretty important source of income, especially the kill quests. Amusingly the Wizard wanted me to kill Dust Sprites, and I’m thinkin’ “Wait, what? You want to PAY me for killing those? I was going to be slaughtering generations of them ANYWAY, but sure! I’ll take your cash!”

And speaking of … I did pretty well in the mines. When I was in the 20’s on levels, I found the Forest Sword, which is one of my favorite early weapons. That actually made the dark levels of the mine a breeze. And once I got down to the Iron levels, I found the Iron Edge. That’s a lot slower than the Forest Sword, but it hits a lot harder too. So … for fighting, I’m doing pretty well. Still don’t have a Glow ring though. I can make one when I get 5 Solar Essences, but I’m sure as soon as I make one, one will drop.

I purchased ONE (1) Rare Seed from the cart. I want to be sure I can please Old Master Cannoli, a second one would be nice so I could work towards Full Shipment, but … we’ll see. The one I do have will probably end up over in the section where I can put down Sprinklers (and its own Scarecrow). Even if it’s the only thing over there.

So, anyway, things are moving along.

Pick Axe, Pomegranate, Fish Pond. More Tappers and Traps.

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

Yes, think of a tea sapling just like a fruit tree, only shorter. They produce tea leaves during the last week of spring, summer, and fall outside. Winter too, in the greenhouse. And I've heard you can plant them in a garden pot inside the cave, but I haven't confirmed that myself. They don't need watering. And they don't need any space between them.

I've made some, I can't decide if I should plant them, or sell them. I guess it'll depend a bit on how much I can get for them. I don't know if they're impacted by the profit margin shift or not. I guess I should do a bit of both.

[nanami]

kill those dust sprite things on floors 61-65 till you kill 500 for the burglar ring then they will drop about 1 coal all the time and other things would have lots of good drops more often.
if you dont have a good weapon yet you could rush to floor 120 then buy the lava sword from guild for 25000 gold if you can afford it at some point the plus 3 defense on it is great. and cant get prismatic shard till you hit floor 120 as well

[BaronCappuccino]

My current game is also a beach map. I'm halfway into fall of year one, and all day, every day, I fish. My goal for the map's sandy region is a fish pond for every unique pondable fish. The sheer volume of fishing required so far is maddening and I'm not halfway there.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by nanami:

kill those dust sprite things on floors 61-65 till you kill 500 for the burglar ring then they will drop about 1 coal all the time and other things would have lots of good drops more often.
if you dont have a good weapon yet you could rush to floor 120 then buy the lava sword from guild for 25000 gold if you can afford it at some point the plus 3 defense on it is great. and cant get prismatic shard till you hit floor 120 as well

Well, I'm certainly going to kill a lot of sprites, but I don't think I'm going to target them specifically. I’ve got a lot other projects I’m working on that I’d like to try to complete before the start of year 3. We’ll see how I do in Winter, I probably will kill a lot then, but I also want to push down to level 80 so I can start mining Gold.

After I’ve done Robin’s Hardwood Challenge, I’m going to clear the section of the farm that can take Sprinklers, and I will want T2’s for that.

The Lava sword is certainly nice, but I’m doing a 25% profit margin run. Functionally, everything that isn’t crops is 4 times as expensive as normal. So I definitely will not be buying (what is, effectively) a 100k sword from the guild. The Obsidian Edge is in the chest at floor 90, even if nothing else drops, that’ll be fine.

Eventually, even in this run I’ll have more money than I know what to do with, but for now, even a 2k purchase requires saving up for, and agonizing over with regard to the best use for the opportunity cost.


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I’m almost to the end of Summer now. I’ve been trying to catch a Pufferfish, but they’re schedule is annoying. I tried fishing from the farm, but I kept getting other stuff besides Beach fish and items. I also tried fishing from the Ocean, but … I got a lot of Tilapia and Mullets instead.

I think, I may have to accept that I’ll simply have to buy one from the Traveling cart.

I purchased a second Rare Seed, so I’ve got two of those, I also bought two Sunflowers, and the 4 of them will go off where I can use a Sprinkler for them.


I think … that I’m going to get 3 rainstorms total during Summer. My little set-it-and-forget-it project actually produced three full grown wheat plants from the first rainstorm. I’m going to see what I get at the end of Summer. I think the project might have worked better with Quality Retaining Soil. It’ll probably still take about a month to produce one batch of Wheat (I’m planting in batches of 15). But … I’ve got a lot of land, and something like that that I can just leave alone isn’t too bad a long term investment. Wheat is cheap (2 gold each in this run). I think that means I can still get about 25 gold per Beer, so … I’m going to call that project a tentative success. I’m not sure it would work with anything that wasn’t wheat though. Maybe seasonal seeds, or mixed ones.

Radishes seemed weirdly lucrative. I had days where I’d make 100-150 gold more than I expected and I’d realize it was because I’d sold off a batch of Radishes. It’s probably my imagination, but it sure seemed like they were lucrative.

I finally hit 25k total earnings and Demetrius came by and set up the cave.

… and …. I had to think about it. I love mushrooms, I always go for mushrooms, I think mushrooms are the better long term choice … but my biggest stumbling block in getting the Greenhouse in year one is fruit for the Artisan bundle.

I’ve got Jelly, Honey, Apples and Pomegranates, I just need two more things. And the Fruit bats probably would have provided them well before Winter. I’m still hoping I can get a cloth out of a Soggy Newspaper, which would put me down to one, and … maybe the Traveling Cart will help me out.


I’m wishing I had more time. I’ve still got 153 spaces (154 actually, with the “extra” flower I don’t pick) I’m cultivating. Fall will be good, because I can get the Stardrop from the Faire. So energy-wise, I’ll get easier. But it still takes a lot of time to manage the watering and handle the traps.

Upgrading the Watering Can again would help with that, but that’s a 5k purchase, so … that’s off beyond the Fish Pond (and possibly other buildings).

I’d love to scale the amount of watering I’m doing back by 10-20% but I hate to give up anything.

I’ve got 15 Corn, those are going to stay.
Pumpkins will just replace Mellons in their spot.
Eggplant will replace Tomatoes.
I guess Grapes will replace Hops, that’s one of the places I feel I could most cut back, but … they are a fairly high ROI.
Cranberries will replace Blueberries, I really don’t want to reduce those any.

What does that leave me with? Amaranth, Bok Choy, Yams and Faire Roses.

I guess Amaranth will go where the Wheat is now, and maybe I’ll set up two or three more batches of self growing Wheat. Yams can replace … hmm… probably the Radishes. I suppose, it would be better to set up the Wheat sooner rather than later, I’ve got a couple of days left in Summer, I might do that now. I think … the day I’m about to do is supposed to rain, that would be a good start.

I was growing 5 Poppies and 5 Summer Spangles, I’ll substitute Fairy Roses for those. That’ll leave the Bok Choy to replace the Peppers .. and to fill in when the Yams are done.

Guess that’ll work.

I’ve going to have to figure out where I want to put all my kegs. Normally, I build a second barn for them, but this run even a first barn (for animals) is going to be a ways off. Guess I’ll just have to leave them out in the open, I hate that, it feels messy. But … needs must when the devil drives.