Thoughts on Meadowlands Farm map

[ChrillBill]

Curious to know what everyones thoughts on the new farm map is.

I get that people most likely haven't been able to progress very long into their new playthroughs, but if you take a screenshot in game through the menu, you can get a good impression of the farm both when it comes to functionality and also design.

But just in case, here is an image from the official Stardew Valley wiki:
Meadowlands Farm[stardewvalleywiki.com]

My first impression: A bit underwhelmed, but I also set my expectations a bit high so that's mostly my own fault. Obviously (or at least from my perspective) this map is meant for someone who enjoys livestock - which I do, so that's good! Designwise, well... That is where I felt underwhelmed I guess. It is pretty, and it also feels like a blend of the standard, forest and a tiny bit of riverland farm for me.

Which is fine. I do wish it was bigger though, lol.

All in all, a nice addition to the rest of the vanilla farm maps for sure.

[Gorem]

TLDR I like it and think its a great addition to the game.

The problem always comes down to how effective the farm map is compared to the standard farm.

I like the 4 corners farm as an example, as it has the only upside to the terrible Hill side farm (in saying that, I did perfection in 2 years with the hillside farm, I still didn't like the farm layout at all when trying to place buildings and constantly ran out of grass during the months grass grew) and the 4 corners map has a ton of tillable land and large enough area's for animals and crop growths.

Compared to say the Riverlands farm which is terrible as well. Unless its been changed with the update and features more fish selection?

Beach farm as well is also pretty bad, and never made much sense considering its placement in the games world, as it should instead be a long the, ya know, beach.

As I like the forest farm and how it offers earlier access to infinite hardwood and allows faster daily foraging exp gain more so then any other farm its issues lie with its size being smaller as you don't have much build area or farmland.

This new map however looks great. The gimmick is cool and could be quite game changing. Also, as you can build buildings on grass you can use all the untillable land area. It leads to a different path to trying to get your farming experience up, as usually the games tutorial is planting the 15 parsnips and getting your first farm level that way, now you will need to get it via the coop, as your new source of constant income.

Quick math: 15 parsnips is 35g x 15 and 8 x 15 farming experience base

Two eggs a day is 100g base a day. Each pet gives 5 farming experience. Oh, the wiki doesn't list how much or if you do get farm exp from picking eggs up. I think you do but if you don't that means farming experience early would be harder, but in the long run the chickens will give you more money over time, as its free extra money.

Testing to be done!

[Doc Cams]

Late game pig farming would be a pain in the @ss, milk and eggs no problemooo

[buttchin]

i never liked planting 100 of crops anyway
fishing and raising animal is more comfy for me

[Nakos]

Bigger would have been nice. Looks fine other than that though.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Gorem:

Beach farm as well is also pretty bad, and never made much sense considering its placement in the games world, as it should instead be a long the, ya know, beach.

Yeah see ... the Beach farm is fantastic it's one of my favorite maps.

Efficiency and effectiveness aren't the only measure of a farm. The maps are meant for different play styles. The Beach actually suits mine pretty well.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by Nakos:

Efficiency and effectiveness aren't the only measure of a farm. The maps are meant for different play styles. The Beach actually suits mine pretty well.

At least not for a lot of us. I feel that is often what many people are first looking at, when seeing a new farm map; how many crops can I plant here? Many say the riverland farm map is bad because it doesn't allow much crops at all, but they are missing the entire point with that map - that it is supposed to focus more on fishing.

Meadowlands will be great for all of us who enjoy livestock. When I said I wish it was bigger it wasn't necessarily because I want to squeeze as many coops and barns in there as possible. It was actually just about that big open feeling that I got with the beach farm, which is also one of the reasons why I like that map so much. It is indeed fantastic.

I wasn't expecting Meadowlands to have a more secluded vibe to it, but I don't dislike it. Now that I have gotten a bit more used to it, I also think it feels super cosy.

Takes me back to my old forest farm days.

[Lady_Galadhiel]

I would have liked a bit smaller map, I don't know what I expected lol.
The thing I dislike about the new map is having the cave so far away from the house, I like to collect my mushrooms each day.But I haven't tried the new map yet, I can only tell from the looks of it what I saw on the Stardew Wiki.

Little off topic; how long does it take the Dev to release new updates on console after the PC gets the update?

[SoloQ]

It's my new favorite starter farm. It gives the start of the game better flow.

[Psycho]

it's good for people that LOVE animals.. but yea. i like a good mix between crops and animals, so it's not really for me

I'm still gonna use standard

my perfect new farm would've been a hybrid between the forest farm and the standard farm. just a really green standard farm

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by 🌻 Haley 🌻:

I would have liked a bit smaller map, I don't know what I expected lol.
The thing I dislike about the new map is having the cave so far away from the house, I like to collect my mushrooms each day.But I haven't tried the new map yet, I can only tell from the looks of it what I saw on the Stardew Wiki.

Little off topic; how long does it take the Dev to release new updates on console after the PC gets the update?

Small farm maps can be quite cosy as well. I have tried a couple of those from the modding community and they were fun. Here is one of them:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2660286783

As you can see, very small, lol! Quite the challenge.

As to your question regarding 1.6 for consoles, it can take quite some time. I know it did when 1.5 came out. But that was also a larger update. The latest I heard from ConcernedApe was that he is going to try and make it happen "as soon as possible". So, at this point console players will just have to be patient

[Storm0267]

for to the S and SW of the new farm underneath the grasslands, is a massive patch of tillable land. sure its grassy and requires the scythe to clear but. you can farm there too. once get enough sprinklers going

[Lady_Galadhiel]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Originally posted by 🌻 Haley 🌻:

I would have liked a bit smaller map, I don't know what I expected lol.
The thing I dislike about the new map is having the cave so far away from the house, I like to collect my mushrooms each day.But I haven't tried the new map yet, I can only tell from the looks of it what I saw on the Stardew Wiki.

Little off topic; how long does it take the Dev to release new updates on console after the PC gets the update?

Small farm maps can be quite cosy as well. I have tried a couple of those from the modding community and they were fun. Here is one of them:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2660286783

As you can see, very small, lol! Quite the challenge.

As to your question regarding 1.6 for consoles, it can take quite some time. I know it did when 1.5 came out. But that was also a larger update. The latest I heard from ConcernedApe was that he is going to try and make it happen "as soon as possible". So, at this point console players will just have to be patient

Thank you,thank you for taking your time to respond. Currently I play without mods, but apart from the Forest farm, the rest is too large for my taste. Smaller maps will never get added officially, so I will give some mods a try in the future. Much appreciate your suggestion!

On PC I play Stardew in co-op with my partner, but for solo play I prefer it on the Switch, to snuggle in bed while cleaning my farm.
Oh well I guess I need to wait still a bit till I can start a new farm then, luckly the new Princess Peach game comes out soon :3 will give me something to play solo.

[supersand]

the early game chicken coop helps so much even if it makes later game farming harder. But you can use the greenhouse and such to get around that just fine. Money is almost never a problem in late game so I don't see the point of filling the entire farm with crops other then for fun.

Its a map you play for early game advantage, for raising animals, and if you like the pretty look.

[EleventhStar]

looks like a great map for people who want to make organic looking farms.

and a bad map if you want a big rectangular piece of tillable soil.

[GamingWithSilvertail]

I like my standard farm, but meadow sure is pushing me into live stock. It made me do different level 5 choices for my skills then I usually go to wehen I play on standard farm.