New to Farming Sims? Read this Newcomer / Overview Guide!

This is a hefty introduction to the farming simulator genre - if you have never played games like harvest moon and struggle to figure out what to do and how to enjoy farming in Stardew Valley, this is the guide you should read to learn how to enjoy the game!

It contains no spoilers and will only give you a good direction for when you get lost in the game.

This is NOT a minmaxing guide; some elements are recommended for enjoyment and pacing purposes rather than for absolute value.

What You Will Find In This Guide

Tips on farm planning ✅

Progression milestones ✅

What to look out for ✅

Most importantly: How to enjoy the game! ✅

What You Won't Find Here

Tips on how to min-max / optimize farm output to ridiculous levels (i.e. get rich quick) ❌

Spoilers ❌

Look for these in the various other guides!

Overview

A little bit of background: I’m a really hardcore fan of the harvest moon series with my favourite game being Friends of Mineral Town. After waiting too long for multiplayer HM to come along, Stardew Valley appears as possibly the most brilliant farm simulator that has ever existed, surpassing HM in many areas both mechanical and content-wise.

While waiting for multiplayer co-op, I’ve decided to write this guide in order to help out players new to the genre as well as offer general advice on how you can maximize your ENJOYMENT of the game.

If you’re currently sitting outside your house with absolutely no idea how to start, this is the guide for you.

Changelog
v0.4 - First Published on Reddit
v0.5 - Published on Steam
v0.6 - Added images
v0.7 - Added bonus tips

A) What are the Goals in SDV?

There aren’t any goals explicitly stated, but here are the three main goals:

1. Build up the farm left to you by your Grandpa, restoring it to its former glory. This can be done through many different ways – from rearing animals for produce, hardcore soil-smashing, rock-bashing or caveman style foraging.

2. Cultivate relationships with the townspeople and build up a community.

3. Enjoy the game.

SDV plays very differently from your typical sandbox game. Whereas most games like Minecraft, Terraria, Starbound, etc tend to have player-set goals, SDV directs you in a very well-balanced progression complete with plenty of unlockables and story. Your actions will have consequences that do not necessarily hinder your enjoyment of the game; what you do can easily be rectified through time and effort. For example, you may have chosen to plant the wrong crop, missed a seasonally restricted achievement or milestone, or chosen the wrong option conversing to the girl you are chasing, but given enough time you will ALWAYS be able to progress again (forage more to make up for the lost cash, wait till the season rotates next year round to try again, or prepare gifts to satisfy your crush once more).

Remember: LEARNING IS A HUGE PART OF THE GAME!

B) I’m currently sitting outside my house. How do I begin?

Start with learning to use the given tools on your farm, starting with the area directly outside your house. Do not fret if something cannot be removed (e.g. a tree stump, a giant boulder). General guideline is that you have to break rocks, cut trees, slash grass and weeds, till the soil with your hoe in preparation for growing crops, and water the crops you planted.


After you understand the basics of how to “clean up” the land, head out to the town to your right and explore as you wish. The story will give you ideas on where to go and what to do, but not in any specific direction.



(You can always bring up the journal that logs your current quests by pressing F.)



example of foregeable at bus stop
Once you have finished some simple tasks, it is time to begin earning your first buck. Start by foraging for items scattered across the map; almost every area, even the town, has random “spawns” of forageables such as berries, flowers. Even the trashcans can be searched – but be careful not to be seen by villagers or they will dislike you!

RESOURCES

There are 2 infinite resources you work with – stamina, and time. Infinite in the sense that they may be ticking down on every action you take, but you can always rest at home to get a new fresh day to work with. On your first playthrough of SDV, take it slow and do not fret if you are unable to make full use of either as there are no hard-timed quests, achievements, or permanent consequences (unlike in some harvest moon games)

Stamina allows you to perform actions. Eat food to keep it non-zero. If it hits zero, you will be debuffed with "exhaustion" that slows you until you regain stamina, and you will be subjected to a loss of half your max stamina on the next day - so don't let it hit zero!

The day starts at 6AM and ticks at 45 seconds per in-game hour. After 12 Midnight, you will start being minorly penalized with lower stamina on the next day - intiially, this will not be an issue since the penalty applies to bonus stamina obtained later in the game, so feel free to work hard until 1.30AM. However, do not let the time hit 2AM as you will enter forced-sleep and wake up with half your max stamina.

The five core moneymaking activities you can do are:

Farming
Mining
Fishing
Foraging
Animal Husbandry

They are closely tied with each other. For instance, you mine for ore to sell or to use with upgrading tools you use for farming, you forage for items to sell/craft with, or to buy seeds or edibles to eat for stamina to mine with, you fish when you need to conserve stamina and/or you need bonus income, you rear animals to get produce for selling and cooking.

Ultimately the starting priorities are always foraging, farming and mining in that order, as they offer the highest profit to investment ratio. As such, try not to aim for completion of certain story quests too quickly, such as building of a coop – it will set you back a lot for very little reward.

GENERAL TIPS:

• 1. Watch the TV every day, all channels. Weather affects your planning for the next day – if it is raining you don’t need to water your crops and many activities will change. The fortune teller indicates your luck for the day, which will affect tasks such as the amount of wood you obtain from cutting trees, or how often staircases appear in the mines.
  
  
• 2. During Salmonberry season (prompted by the TV, spring 15-18) it is recommended to keep the berries to eat rather than sell them – they go for very little gold but restore plenty of stamina for mining, watering crops, fishing etc. It is okay to sell some if you need the gold, but keeping all of them will last you through summer for pretty much anything you do.
  
  
  
• 3. Skills level up at the end of a day, based on activities you have done, and decrease the amount of stamina required to perform related tasks. Doing more of something will hence make it easier over time. At levels 5 and 10, you gain a unique perk out of 2 choices that cannot be changed, so it pays to read up online on which is recommended.
  
  
  
• 4. Save up 300 wood to repair the bridge at the beach as soon as you can, as it gives bonus beach forageables that supplements your initial income well.
  
  
  
• 5. Look for animated, wriggling worms in dirt tiles around the map and hit them with your hoe for a chance at an artifact unlock, lost book for the library or small amounts of rewards.
  
  
• 6. Leave half to two thirds of your farm overgrown for as long as possible (2 seasons or more), maximizing the use of the space you have cleared. This generates wood/stone/hay resources really quickly once you reach the point you need them, as you can harvest them in close proximity. Alternatively, clear out your farm and plant grass/tree seeds in the empty land.
  
  
  
• 7.Check the calender in town for birthdays and events (buy one for your house from the carpenter once you have spare gold)
  
  
  
• 8. Friendship points earned through gifts are OCTUPLED (8x) on birthdays; be wary that negative gifts will also have octuple the negative effect. Check the wiki for likes/dislikes of characters! If you are not the type to check online, stick with flowers as 90% of villagers appreciate flowers. Those who don't probably aren't worth being friends with :)
  
  
  
• 9. Important items to not sell on impulse despite how useless they may seem:
  
  Slime
  Tree Seeds (Acorns, Maple Seeds, Pine Cones)
  Stone
  Excess wood
  Flowers (while more expensive and thus profitable over selling salmonberries, do consider keeping some for villagers)
  
  
• 10. Upgrade your watering can on the 2nd last day of the season if you want to upgrade it; finish watering all your plants on the 27th, send it for upgrading (takes 2 days) and it will be ready for collection on the 1st of next season.
  
  
  
• 11. Do not chop down this if it ever spawns on your farm.
  
  Tap it for mushrooms. They also drop seeds and grow like regular trees.

Lastly and most importantly: Aim to plant and store at least 5 of every plant by the end of each season, which will help greatly with gifting and quests.

C) STORY OPTION: JOJAMART MEMBERSHIP / COMMUNITY CENTER

After some time, you will be given a cutscene that introduces you to the worn-down community center as well as the option to purchase a jojamart membership. Purchasing the membership will result in the community center being torn down and removing gathering-style quests in favour of the unlockables paid for with cold hard cash.


Ultimately, the more enjoyable option is community center, which unlocks gathering-style quests with smaller, intermittent rewards building up to the unlocks. Membership on the other hand simplifies the game to a science of earning gold and focusing on churning out gold through your activities to purchase the unlocks. For new players it is recommended to try the community center option as it is generally more fun. However, feel free to select the membership option if you tend to be an impatient player or prefer the game to be easier.

D) IMPORTANT LOCATIONS AND TRAVEL HACKS

Blacksmith and Museum - Bottom right of town.
Blacksmith closes before 4 and on fridays, museum closes before 6 and has no closing days.



Pierre's - Middle of town, straight line from entrance via farm.
Closed on wednesdays



Jojamart - Above the blacksmith, across the bridge from pierre's
Never closed but seeds are more expensive. Avoid using the path above the jojamart as you make a silly u-turn.



Beach - South of town.
Foraging location.



Community Center - North area of town.



Carpenter - Directly north of town.
Open on all days before 5 except tuesday.



Mines - Going north-east from the town/carpenter's.
Unlocked after Spring 5.
Fastest way to reach the mines from your farm is to use the northern farm entrance to head there, which spits you out above the carpenter's.



Hot Baths - North of Carpenter, unlocks after Summer 3rd.



Travelling Cart - Exit your farm South into Cindersap Forest and go left following the upper edge of the map. In Spring / Summer, it sells Rare Seeds for 1k gold which can be planted for a Sweet Gem Berry (2k gold profit)



Secret Woods - Exit your farm South into Cindersap Forest and follow the upper edge of the map leftward until you reach a huge log. You will need a steel axe or higher to break this log, giving access to this area with forageables, a daily supply of tree stumps that give hardwood, and has a statue that gives you a stardrop if you give it a sweet gem berry.

E) Things you should get ASAP

1. BACKPACK UPGRADES



Initially, all gold you earn should go towards buying backpack upgrades and some fast-return seeds.

The game is incredibly frustrating when you run out of bag space, and you find yourself unable to truly explore or commit to any activity without turning back to place items and tools into your chest. Foraging for items as a routine is much easier with a larger backpack as well.

2. COPPER UPGRADES FOR AXE AND PICKAXE



These are the two tools you absolutely need upgraded as they save you vast amounts of stamina and allow you to clear giant obstacles. Watering can and hoe are not necessary to be upgraded as they only get a multi-tile clearing charge. Get them to iron as well once you start being able to mine them at level 40+ in the mines.

3. LEVELS IN THE MINES



Aim to descend 5 levels at a time into the mines, which automatically “unlocks” that level for later access via the elevator. Monsters are difficult early on in the game, but health and stamina can be easily recovered through eating berries or any food item. Your goal is to reach level 50+, which are highly rewarding levels with coal sprites and plenty of iron ore. Try not to die at all as you may lose gold and items. The game also rewards you with a suitable weapon/footwear as you progress into the mines, so the difficulty scales very fairly as long as you sustain your health and stamina.


4. QUALITY SPRINKLERS, RECYCLING MACHINE, CHARCOAL KILN



Recycling machines are craftable at level 3 fishing and turn trash you find into a good supply of coal, refined quartz and other goodies. Quality sprinklers, unlocked at level 6 farming, essentially save you 8 tiles worth of stamina every morning for an iron and gold bar, making them absolute essentials (and the reason watering cans are not as important). Charcoal Kiln is difficult to craft as it requires a gold bar found much later in the game, however you get one as a reward for completing the construction bundle at the community center (198 wood, 99 stone, 10 hardwood). You can get hardwood by chopping down large trunks with a steel axe.


5. MINECART UNLOCK



Once you have unlocked the boiler room in the community center, focus your efforts on completing the bundles here. This is the only occasion where if you get a fire quartz from a geode, DO NOT donate it to the museum as it is a level 80+ mines drop that you may not see often! Use it to complete the geologist bundle.

For the adventurer's bundle, farming 99 slimes can be a pain depending on your progression into the mines, but it can be done being at level 1-60, whereas void essences are easy to obtain but are strictly an 80+ mines drop. It is recommended to submit solar essence (drop from ghosts at 40-80) and 10 bat wings as these are easy to obtain.

The minecart unlock vastly reduces the amount of time you spend in a day heading to and fro from the museum, blacksmith or mines. Even after you get your horse, you'll likely end up parking the horse at the bus stop and using the minecarts instead, making it highly recommended for an early unlock.

6. HORSE UNLOCK



To unlock the horse, simply collect enough hardwood and gold to purchase the stable from Robin's in the mountains. It is a good investment and reduces your travelling time around the place by about 20%. Consider buying this even before your coop.

Note that your horse will make his way back to the stable at the end of every day, so it is not necessary to bring him back home. For this reason, it is also wise to keep the stable built directly west of your home (Building it right below your house tends to be ugly as the stable blocks the view of your home)

F) MINING / COMBAT 101

So you've found the mines, you're killing monsters, but you're having major trouble getting past X level or find yourself severely undergeared. What are your options?

The Mine is split into 3 segments - Brown, Cold, and Hot. Each spans 40 levels and carry an abundance of copper/iron/gold ore respectively, with unique monsters increasing in difficulty as you go deeper into the mines.

Staircases have a chance of spawning on every rock you mine or monster you kill. Luck plays a huge part in this, so watch the TV to find out if you are having a lucky day before you go mining! Typically players would want to avoid mining on unlucky days, but neutral / lucky days are fairly decent and will allow you to progress fast.

Do not try to go mining with low stamina or health as it tends to be a wasted trip.

For most players, getting past the first 20 floors tends to be more difficult as you will be stuck with your starter weapon, a broken sword given by Marlon, which deals next to no damage. The difficulty then changes to that of lack of light between 20-40, and once you enter the cold region you'll find that the game becomes much more rewarding for sticking around levels rather than rushing downwards blindly.


Timing your weapon attack is the most crucial aspect of combat in Stardew (for the purposes of this guide we will only be talking about swords). There are two things of note when swinging your sword - knockback and animation mechanics. Your sword swings in an arc in front of you that covers about 160 degrees beginning from your direct left (hand) and ending slightly above the right-side horizontal. Hitting an enemy knocks them backwards, and depending on the weight of the monster in question and the weapon you are using they will fly back a significant distance should they not receive a KO.

For the most part, swinging your sword madly by holding left mouse rarely works out well. It gets the job done but you are almost guaranteed to take damage. A much better way of playing is to understand the position of your sword;

Assuming a player facing north, when an enemy is heading towards you from the top left, slash only when enemy is in range as your sword's starting position is favorable to its "spawn" (left hand). If an enemy is heading towards you from top right, slash earlier so that you can make up for the travel time of your sword as your swings towards the right. This is relevant when battling Slimes and Bats, which face heavy knockback.

Slime Strategy

OPEN AREA

Walk towards the slime with it always on your left hand side. Slash at it, walk forward, slash again, and repeat until dead. Slimes use a charging attack that gets cancelled if you hit it in time. Attempting to spam the attack key often results in taking damage instead (again, still gets the job done, so if you have adequate regeneration it is not a concern)

SLIME CORNERED

If there is a wall or obstacles behind the slime, this is where spamming your attack on him works well.

Bats Strategy

Stand still and time your attack noting weapon position and how fast the bat is flying towards you. Running at bats or facing them causes them to enter "rotate" AI, which has them flying in an odd arc around you that can be problematic if you have a weak weapon and cannot risk swarms gathering.

I'm Getting Swarmed Strategy

Sometimes, you may get swarmed by enemies. When this happens, use a "retreat" and attack strategy; slime charge attacks tend to fall short of your position when you move backwards, allowing you to slash at them and retreat again to a comfortable location. If you get slowed by slimes, slash madly and eat food before you die!

Other Enemies Strategy

Most other enemies have no special attacks besides walking towards you blindly and having less knockback compared to slimes and bats. Ghosts will vanish if they hit you, but otherwise they are much easier to hit than bats as they have a larger hitbox. Spamming your weapon on them tends to work well and usually only results in one or two hits taken in damage (recover with items) - if you have low defense and health, hit them and move backwards to prepare another hit (safer but slower)

G) FISHING 101

TO BE UPDATED

H) FRIENDSHIP 101

I) RECOMMENDED ITEM STORAGE LAYOUT

6 x 3 Arrangement, Fits in House

(+2 grown flower chests not shown)


Layout that stores everything in game of all qualities with no spillables.

Row 1:
Spring Crops

Summer Crops

Fall Crops

Wearables (Weapons, Hats, Rings, Footwear, Misc)

Furniture

Fair Items (for reuse every year; Optional)

Row 2:
Seeds

Gems and Minerals

Misc Fishes (Sea cucumbers for example), Crab Pot and Beach Forage

Bronze Fish Collection (Optional: Can use as the 2 unshown chest)

Silver Fish Collection (Optional)

Gold Fish Collection (or chest for all your spare fish)

Row 3:
Resources / Important / Misc (Stone, Wood, Hardwood, Monster Drops, Tools, Fertilizer, Ores, Bars, etc.)

Flowers + Misc Forage (Desert Forage, Wild Flowers, Mushrooms, Holly)

Seasonal Forage (Berries, all other seasonal forage items)

Artisan Goods (I prefer to keep saps in the important box, otherwise all goes in here)

Farm Collectibles (Eggs, Duck Feathers, Milk, Wool etc. I also keep cave carrots here)

Gifts (Optional but useful if you want to have a labelled stash of gifts for villagers)

Unshown: FLOWER CHESTS (hate flowers grown on farm. 5+ different flowers each taking up their own slots with 3 different qualities and 2 variations for spring/summer/fall seasons = 2 chestfuls++)

J) RECOMMENDED FARM LAYOUTS

Square Quality Sprinkler Tesselation with full coverage by scarecrow. Check online for other variations but this is the easiest and most pleasing to the eye. Can have fruit trees in the spare corners (not covered by scarecrow)

K) DATING CHEATSHEET

To Be Updated

L) BONUS TIPS

1. Rabbit Coop

Rearing rabbits is an expensive but rewarding option as they directly drop their wool on the floor in the mornings without requiring a tool (unlike sheep). They also have a chance to drop a lucky rabbit's foot, which is universally loved by all villagers except Penny. Consider investing in rabbits once you have progressed far into the game as it will help you to raise friendship points with difficult villagers easily.

2. Villager Gift Circles

Try to select a group of 3-4 villagers to be good friends with at any point of time, preferably those who hang out together or in a similar area. For example, if you are dating Abigail, consider Pierre, Caroline, Mayor Lewis, Marnie as your "clique" as they hang out in Pierre's shop. That way, it is easy to pass them all gifts without going out of your schedule.

Gus, Emily, Shane, Marnie - Hangs out at the saloon almost every day

Emily, Haley, Evelyn, George, Lewis - roaming town

Jodi, Kent, Vincent, Jas, Sam, Penny - Always near each other (town)

Sebastian, Demetrius, Robin, Maru, Linus (north of town, live in same house / area)

You can also make your own gifting routine if you realise you always meet certain villagers in a day.

3. Reharvestable Crop Benefits

In addition to not requiring a constant seed investment, reharvestable crops also tend to be the more profitable items of the season (esp blueberries, cranberries). Most importantly, when the season ends, the plants will wither but stay in their positions, keeping the soil tilled and thus saving on a lot of effort tilling the soil on the first day of the next season. Use the scythe to get rid of the dead crops.

4. Crab Pots and Quality Fertilizer

Crab Pots are a great investment if you commit to collecting from them every day, as they are a constant source of "fish" type items that you can turn into Quality Fertilizer at a minimal cost. They also act as a source of useful trash for the recycling machine, easily forming your main source of refined quartz (broken glasses, broken cd) and coal (trash) or even the occasional cloth (soggy newspaper). Place them in the ponds on your farm for easy harvesting - don't keep them too far away as they can be an inventory hog.

5. Learn where are the prime fishing spots

Check the fishing article on the wiki for prime fishing spots rather than casting your rod randomly. These areas have higher quality fish and a better bite rate. As a general rule of thumb, areas further away from walking paths tend to have better fish, and darker water spots / obscure water regions have better fish.

6. Infinite Stamina/HP: The Hops trick

When in Summer, plant hops. These give new harvests every single day when mature and are extremely cheap, making them highly appropriate as an endless supply of stamina. Use fertilizer to increase their quality and thus give better burst recovery.

7. Coal Shortage? Check out the 60-70 region of the mines

Coal Sprites are those black bouncing ball monsters. They are easy to kill and have a fantastic loot table, giving coal half of the time and forming an easy source of coal.

8. Quick Harvesting

Hold right click and hover over crops to harvest them. Time also pauses when harvesting so this method will save you plenty of time!

Thanks for reading!

This is an incomplete guide and will be updated regularly.

Be sure to check out the original guide on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/4z40y1/overviewnew_player_guide_how_to_enjoy_sdv/

When you have gained more experience, be sure to try for speed runs or faster clears / different marriage options / different playstyles as the game offers a lot more than just your virgin first run!

The goal at the end of the day is to ENJOY THE FARMING LIFE!

[ivan the terrible]

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