First investment ideas

[Dex]

So I've done a few missions and have 120k Euros. I sold off my 3rd tractor, the New Hollands 8340.

I was considering picking up a Vaderstad rapid A 600s cultivator/sower. That requires an 180 HP tractor so I was considering picking up the MF 7700 or possibly the Big Bud 450 (probably overkill at this point).

I don't have the money to straight up purchase these yet so I would be leasing.

Another thought would be looking into animals as my crops have just been planted and I'm not sure what the point would be of having a bunch of new machines sitting around doing nothing at my farm.

Any tips would be appreciated!

[GIJoe597]

Depending on your play style, you may want to consider a few things to get started in forestry. It is something you can work on when you have free time between field work and does not cost much to get started. It is steady income to help you get the other things you want. All you need is a chainsaw, the starter pickup or tipper, stump grinder. The Tajfun winch is very useful, but not required.

[UnableRogue]

I'm not 100% sure about what you're asking. Are you asking for a good tractor? What's a good way to make money? Is animal husbandry good at making money? Or asking for tips in general.

My tip for tractors is getting one with a front loader attachment since it offers more versatility. Sure you cannot use a large bucket like a front loader can but when you are starting out you don't normally need to move large volumes of material. It has an added benefit of using the tree claws (cannot remember the proper name right now) so you can cut down some trees for income which adds some diversity to the game.

[NitroMachine]

I usually start with upping the reputation on the fields nearest to my own and start working on expanding my land, the sooner you can produce enough grain to sustsain yourself the sooner you'll no longer have to rely on missions as your main source of income.

[Dex]

Originally posted by NitroMachine:

I usually start with upping the reputation on the fields nearest to my own and start working on expanding my land, the sooner you can produce enough grain to sustsain yourself the sooner you'll no longer have to rely on missions as your main source of income.

that's kind of the conclusion I've arrived to myself. I was doing missions at first because I saw that there was an achievement and also discounts for land. It was a little shocking because I got almost 100k from a single fields missions (harvest, plough, seed, fertilize) whereas I get 12k from one of my fields.

I ended up leasing a tractor and cultivator/seeder header and I'm currently using 120X time scale when my crops are growing and my machines are idle and then switching to real time when i need to use my vehicles. It feels a bit cheaty but unless I'm focusing on missions (which are insanely overpowered, but give me something to do) I either have to wait an insane amount of time for my crops to grow or lose a lot of money per hour when i use my leased equipment.

I don't know, do most people switch between 120X and real time?

[GIJoe597]

I cannot type for others, but I do not. I do forestry in between field work. Since I do it "by hand" the total investment is only about 15K. One load of wood usually pays that back.

[NitroMachine]

Originally posted by Dex:

Originally posted by NitroMachine:

I usually start with upping the reputation on the fields nearest to my own and start working on expanding my land, the sooner you can produce enough grain to sustsain yourself the sooner you'll no longer have to rely on missions as your main source of income.

that's kind of the conclusion I've arrived to myself. I was doing missions at first because I saw that there was an achievement and also discounts for land. It was a little shocking because I got almost 100k from a single fields missions (harvest, plough, seed, fertilize) whereas I get 12k from one of my fields.

I ended up leasing a tractor and cultivator/seeder header and I'm currently using 120X time scale when my crops are growing and my machines are idle and then switching to real time when i need to use my vehicles. It feels a bit cheaty but unless I'm focusing on missions (which are insanely overpowered, but give me something to do) I either have to wait an insane amount of time for my crops to grow or lose a lot of money per hour when i use my leased equipment.

I don't know, do most people switch between 120X and real time?

That's what I do, I can only stomach doing so many missions in a row. Especially in the early game when I have fewer activities to keep me occupied, I just have the hired help doing most of my field work while I work on missions. Once all my fields are planted and fully fertilized and I've done as many missions as I feel like, I speed up to 120x and wait until my crops are ready to harvest.

[Dex]

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

I cannot type for others, but I do not. I do forestry in between field work. Since I do it "by hand" the total investment is only about 15K. One load of wood usually pays that back.

What time scale do you play on then? I don't want to leave it always on 120X because that's just insane and I'll lose most of my crops, but real time is just silly slow. I'm thinking 30 might be the way to go until I get a lot more fields. 3 fields taking 2.4 hours seems to be about right.

Originally posted by NitroMachine:

Originally posted by Dex:

that's kind of the conclusion I've arrived to myself. I was doing missions at first because I saw that there was an achievement and also discounts for land. It was a little shocking because I got almost 100k from a single fields missions (harvest, plough, seed, fertilize) whereas I get 12k from one of my fields.

I ended up leasing a tractor and cultivator/seeder header and I'm currently using 120X time scale when my crops are growing and my machines are idle and then switching to real time when i need to use my vehicles. It feels a bit cheaty but unless I'm focusing on missions (which are insanely overpowered, but give me something to do) I either have to wait an insane amount of time for my crops to grow or lose a lot of money per hour when i use my leased equipment.

I don't know, do most people switch between 120X and real time?

That's what I do, I can only stomach doing so many missions in a row. Especially in the early game when I have fewer activities to keep me occupied, I just have the hired help doing most of my field work while I work on missions. Once all my fields are planted and fully fertilized and I've done as many missions as I feel like, I speed up to 120x and wait until my crops are ready to harvest.

Yea, I might just start doing a few different things instead of just farming. Take some time and go look for nuggets, do some forestry, etc. I know it's probably more efficient to stick to one thing, but the monotony might wear me down. Do you use 3 stage fertilizing or 1?

[GIJoe597]

There are times I may move it to 120, but that is not the norm. When my crop work is done, and I am doing other things I may set it at 15, but generally leave it at 1 as I am working animals/grass/silage when not in a field.

The nice thing about video games, we can all play how we want o, some will be using every unrealistic mod under the sun, some will be using only MR. The majority I think, just play to have fun.

[NitroMachine]

Originally posted by Dex:

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

I cannot type for others, but I do not. I do forestry in between field work. Since I do it "by hand" the total investment is only about 15K. One load of wood usually pays that back.

What time scale do you play on then? I don't want to leave it always on 120X because that's just insane and I'll lose most of my crops, but real time is just silly slow. I'm thinking 30 might be the way to go until I get a lot more fields. 3 fields taking 2.4 hours seems to be about right.

Originally posted by NitroMachine:

That's what I do, I can only stomach doing so many missions in a row. Especially in the early game when I have fewer activities to keep me occupied, I just have the hired help doing most of my field work while I work on missions. Once all my fields are planted and fully fertilized and I've done as many missions as I feel like, I speed up to 120x and wait until my crops are ready to harvest.

Yea, I might just start doing a few different things instead of just farming. Take some time and go look for nuggets, do some forestry, etc. I know it's probably more efficient to stick to one thing, but the monotony might wear me down. Do you use 3 stage fertilizing or 1?

I use 3 because 1 feels too easy to me.

[Rocket Witch]

Going into grass for silage can quickly return your investment. Selling the silage at the biogas plant will also build up a store of free fertiliser in the form of digestate. With three starting fields on many maps I like to sow one with grass (so it can be fertilised and helpers can work it) and have the other two on normal crops.

If you're spending a lot of time on 120x it would be good to plant trees.

[Grumpy Old Gamer]

I foudn leasoig to be of dubious value with perhaps the exception of equipment you only need temporarily like a cattle trailer. It is almost always more profitable to use the best equipment you can afford to buy outright.

The value of animals is free fertilizer and value added processing of the crop. For starting out I recommend cows, since you can sustain them on grass which is free and the milk money is consistent. Hogs are better at processing crops into fertilizer.

[Dex]

I ended up going with a full grass setup to gain some cash to work with. I stopped doing missions completely because they feel really cheaty (although eventually i want to get that achievement)

The first grass harvest was insanely brutal. A single strip mowing (helper) with me going behind with a crappy baler was so slow. Add that to the fact that I had to manually wrap everything, and then put it on a trailer (8 bales max) and then take it to my barn to sell and I was reconsidering if it was worth it. Having to do 3 out of 4 steps by myself that slowly was just too much.

So I caved a bit and figured out this mod called courseplay. It basically allows me to add extra helper jobs into the game. The helpers still get paid (although i'm not sure how it works exactly) and it allows me to actually work on one or two things without having to babysit the entire crew.

Now I have a mowing tractor (8.4m) pulling a 14 meter rower and the baler tracter following him up. I wrap (or sometimes not) and then a 4th tractor (not purchased yet) will be in charge of putting the wrapped bales on the trailer. Profit was over 100k for one days harvest. That's on normal (first playthrough)

God, this game is so addictive. I've put in like 15 hours in the last 2 days O.o