Tiny Farm

[Snowy Sprout]

There is a mod that makes your farm tiny, and also removes the greenhouse. My variation is to restrict my farm to the size you'll see in the picture.

My goal is to make a million dollars as fast as possible. I'm hoping to do it by the end of year one.

Anyone want to lay bets, give advice, or suggest other goals to add?

[Snowy Sprout]

Spring 22

I got over 300 salmonberries, and annihilated all of Cindersap Forest. I've gotten my pick, axe, and watering can all up to copper. I've made it down to floor 55 of the mines, so I have plenty of iron for my next upgrade, only I'm waiting for the money. I just harvested my first round of strawberries today, and I'll have my other in four days. This harvest pushed me up to level six farming, and of course I'm on the path towards artisan. I try never to sell anything that isn't processed to its highest value.

I'm doing really well on money in general. (Sorry, Nakos, I'm not trying to rub it in! I just don't have to fight the profit margin restriction like you.) I've earned almost 35k so far. Most of it is currently invested in the seeds that I have planted.

I'm so glad I'm on a full-profit run, just so that I can afford to buy coal to make more preserve jars. The coal was a major limiting factor for me on the 25% run. This time I feel able to invest in it and feel confident that I'll earn the money back within a couple of rounds of strawberry jelly or something.

I'm delaying getting a coop for a while. Maybe all the way till winter. I decided to grow as much wheat as I can, both for the beer and for the hay it provides. Nakos, if you're reading this, I think that'd be a really good idea for you too. Low investment, but high payoff! Not to mention fast turnaround.

[Snowy Sprout]

I think those small farm mods you linked all look sweet. They almost look too easy though, compared to the Tiny Farm mod!

It's easy to see the influence that SVE has had on their designs though. I think that's so cute! But some are laid out very specifically to make you put your gardens HERE and your animals THERE etc. I wouldn't prefer that kind of strong guidance myself. I like the freedom to make a mess of things and figure it out myself.

[Snowy Sprout]

Spring 27 - Wrapping up first spring.

Robin is building my coop now. My house is already out of space for preserve jars, so I figured this is cheaper than a whole house upgrade. Also, chickens are good moneymakers (at full profit) even if I have to buy the hay, so I'll probably go ahead and get some. But I won't let them free range until I've completely fenced off my tiny farm.

I have about forty coffee plants planted to carry over into summer. I really like having coffee available so I leaned in as much as I thought I could. I'm even planting around the edges in spots that will be weird to water, but I think it's worth it.

Wheat is still going to be my main crop, so I'm putting speed-gro under as much of it as possible, so it ripens in three days instead of four.

Strawberries are done for the season, so I get to spend that extra time fishing instead of watering. I want to get plenty of cash ahead for summer seeds and the gold watering can upgrade.

The mines are open to floor 95 now. Clint is upgrading my pick to steel as we speak, so that should help get through those last 25 floors very quickly.

Meanwhile I'm fishing the mountain lake as hard as possible to get planting money for summer seeds. I've got about eighty spaces to plant, so I've got my pen and paper handy, trying to figure out exactly how many of which type of plants I want, and how to lay them out.

Every season I do my best to plan logical layouts for things, and every season I feel foolish for doing such a bad job according to how it actually turns out. This time it's the slapdash way I placed coffee plants willy-nilly whenever space came available, rather than planning them in proper rows. That's gonna bite me in the butt later.

[Snowy Sprout]

Starting summer:
Coop is built.
Apple tree is growing, plus some hardwood trees.
Speed-gro under 25 wheat should mean 225 wheat total this season.
Gonna buy grass starters to fill in bare area.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3135923541

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198083135966/screenshot/2282828546325025181/

Nice ... I'm trying to decide how many Hops to grow come Summer time. Hops (->Pale Ale) is always a big money maker for me ... but ... space is once again the issue.

I've done as many as 24, but I think doing more than 12 on the Tiny Farm might be too many. I like the idea of putting the Blueberries in between the rows though.

In most runs I do, I put a line of T1 Sprinklers in between, but ... In this case, that might just be too much real estate to sacrifice.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2651094323

That's a run I did on the Forest Farm (at 100% profit), that section where the Grapes are is where I always put the Trellis plants.

[Snowy Sprout]

I favor wheat/beer over hops/ale. It brews faster, and you get bonus hay.
I still planted ten hops just for the gold ones (as food).
Blueberries are almost an afterthought to me. They don't make much money but they can sometimes be quick money.
Melons for jam.
A few wild seeds for tea saplings.
Coffee for speed.
Hot peppers for friendship with Lewis and Shane.
Tomatoes for recipes.
Corn for gifts.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I favor wheat/beer over hops/ale. It brews faster, and you get bonus hay.

Hmm... good point.

[Nakos]

Okay, Spring has ended.

I ended up finding a Forest Sword in the Ice section of the mines, that makes life a lot easier. I also ended up converting all my Spring Seeds to Tea Saplings and selling them. Feels kinda cheap, but I need the money.

I ended up with about 5.5k, all told (after the Backpack upgrade).

I also purchased an Apple tree and managed to get it in on the last day of Spring, so ... it should produce all Autumn. I'm hoping (depending on start up costs for Summer) that I'll be able to get a Pomegranate in early in Summer.

Also, found an Apricot on Traveling Cart. It was a ruinous 700 gold, but I bought it anyway. Between the Apricot and the Orange I purchased, and the two Fruit trees I'm planning on planting, I should have the Artisanal bundle covered.

Reached floor 50 in the Mine.



This is the plan for Summer.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3136046500

I went with 12 Hops, and 12 Corn and 12 Mellons. Hopefully, I'll get enough Gold Star Mellons. Normally, I do 3 groupings of 15 (or 16 depending on layout). This time it's going to be two groupings of 12 ... so ... hope it's enough. The Corn will be fine, as I've got two seasons for that.

Frankly ... I think I may have over planted, but ... we'll see. I'm not using a Sprinkler based plan so ... I'm just stuck with the Watering Can. Upgrading to Copper it will probably be my first Tool upgrade. Although I'd really rather have a Pick.

Ahhh well, c'est la vie.

Got my first Oak Resin too, so ... kegs soon.

[Snowy Sprout]

I can't stop feeling bad because you're under so much more restriction than me, Nakos. I feel like I'm cheating every time I breeze past something you have a huge obstacle to overcome.

I'm going to have to try to get a farm more compatible with yours. The farm I was working has been fun, and if I was playing solo I might keep running with it, but I really want to be playing a similar challenge to yours. So I'm going to make a new farm with more accurate layout and profit restrictions, and try to catch up as fast as I can.

[Snowy Sprout]

Four Corners farm seemed to have the best layout to try to match the mod. I've even put gravel path tiles on the spaces where boulders and the pond are, so I won't plant there. When the pick can upgrade to steel, I'll remove the boulder spots, of course.

First thing to do was plant as many parsnips as possible. So I plunked down my 500 gold and said "Fill 'er up!" (after buying one green bean). I forgot that seed prices are lower on 25% profit, so I ended up with nearly a hundred parsnips to plant. OOPS!

Much more space than normal needed clearing, and there was just no way to get all those parsnips planted on the first day, even with eating dandelions and spring onions to help. I sure hope I can find more dandelions to complete the spring forage bundle! But that's a problem for later on.

Tuesday the rest of the parsnips got planted, and I was able to fish a little. I really needed to fish, because even watering a hundred parsnips seemed like more than I could handle without some food. But after fishing most of the night the chubs and green algae I caught were enough to finish the job.

Wednesday of course means rain, so definitely heading to the lake to get as far ahead with fishing as possible.

[Snowy Sprout]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3136190613

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Snowy Sprout:

I can't stop feeling bad because you're under so much more restriction than me, Nakos. I feel like I'm cheating every time I breeze past something you have a huge obstacle to overcome.

I'm going to have to try to get a farm more compatible with yours. The farm I was working has been fun, and if I was playing solo I might keep running with it, but I really want to be playing a similar challenge to yours. So I'm going to make a new farm with more accurate layout and profit restrictions, and try to catch up as fast as I can.

Ehhh... if you want to, sure. I don't think you should worry about it too much though, after all, I'm the one who picked 25% (however foolishly ;)

And you're just more efficient than I am in general.

(And I also LIKE the Community Center, whereas you prefer the efficiency of the Joja route).

[Snowy Sprout]

I'm probably still sticking to Joja. I'm okay with us having that difference. It just wasn't fun having so many differences between our experiences. What makes it fun for me is seeing how different people approach a similar situation. If we don't start at the same place, then whatever we go through isn't necessarily comparable, so I don't get to play the "this is the way it could have gone for me if I did it that way" game.

Sometimes I learn cool new tricks, and sometimes I get to show cool tricks, but either way I just get a kick out of running on the same track.

[Snowy Sprout]

So... sitting on day 5 of spring, after my first parsnip harvest. Got some thoughts.
The big challenge today is to NOT plant anything right after the harvest, and to let the tilled soil just sit fallow.

The goal is to hit level 5 fishing, for the cash bonus. Then sell all fish overnight.
Then to level up farming overnight, to be able to make fertilizer.
Then to buy/plant/fertilize potatoes tomorrow, to maximize their value when I harvest them just before the Egg Festival.

I'm just now realizing though that I need to cut a lot more trees if I want enough sap to fertilize the potatoes. No way can I get 200 sap to get the whole 100 or so spaces done, but it'd be nice to get as much as possible. So my goal is to fish JUST until I cross the level 5 mark, then go cut as many trees as I can before time runs out.

Good thing I have so many parsnips to eat for energy!

[Snowy Sprout]

OMG that worked so well! Chopping only the tops of the trees and leaving the stumps maximized my sap-to-energy ratio and I actually did get over 200 sap total! So all the potatoes today get to be fertilized. Plus I got 1200 from selling all the fish I've gotten so far, which is where most of my potato money is coming from. I used up about thirty parsnips in yesterday's wood spree. I still have quite a few parsnips to pick today, and I can sell them if I need to. I have exactly 108 potato spaces I want to fill.