Automation focused playthrough of Spring 1 day-by-day with Pictures (long)

I wanted to record my last playthrough by day to show how I personally maximized automation. There are many ways to play this game, but I'm analytic and goal maximizing. I hope you can take something from my playthrough and adopt it to your own style.

I used a regular farm, since the scalability of sprinklers is greater and I will finish this game at some point. My goals:

• Create 100% quality sprinkler coverage on the largest possible area by the beginning of Summer
• Reach level 80 of mines ASAP to support goal 1 (each quality sprinkler requires 1 gold bar, 1 iron bar, 1 refined quartz)
• Plan to meet all bundle requirements optimally
• Meet skills goals to take advantage of my farm

Let's jump right in:

Day1:

· Cleared a small farming area with scythe in front of farmhouse. Enough for 50 crops to start. Avoid any unnecessary rock clearance.

· Bought 25 parsnips for 500 gold at Pierre’s

· Plant 40 parsnips, including original gift

· Cut down 2-3 trees (ideally oaks) along with wood clearance necessary to reach 50 wood

· Built a chest and dumped everything in it except scythe and axe for foraging run

· Ran to SE Cindersap Forest to harvest spring onions (no energy)

· Used scythe to cut weeds for miscellaneous seeds (no energy)

· Foraged way through town, mountain, bus stop, backwoods in search spring forage sets

· Cleared stones near farmhouse to 0 energy

Gold: 20 (In each case I reported gold as I woke up the following day)

Skills: 00100 (These are the 5 skills in the order they appear on skills tab. I never reached 10 in anything)

Day 2:


· Ran circle foraging Cindersap (entire circuit), Town, Beach, Mountain, Backwoods

· Collected forage set items, felled oaks for acorns

· Met townsfolk (still need Leah, Alex)

· Visited Willy for fishing rod

· Combed beach

· On a free foraging day like this, shaking many trees is important. A free seed is possible, which can be used towards a snack.

Gold: 190

Skills: 00100

Day 3:

· Rain

· 1 more great foraging circle including first artifact (turned in to Gunther for 250)

· Felled oak trees on farm and at bus stop. Up to 14 acorns.

· Met Leah and Alex to complete introductory quest.

· Up to 14 acorns

Gold 440

Skills: 00100

Day 4:

· Watered crops

· Bought 1 bean, 1 cauliflower, 6 potatoes at Pierre’s and plant

· Foraged and cut oaks remaining in SE Cindersap

· Collected spring onions (up to 35)

Gold: 0

Skills 00200

Day 5:

· Harvested parsnips

· Sold all but 1 parsnip

· Buy, plant, water 30 potatoes

· Went to mines

· Reached level 5

· Elevator 0/5 for a few bugs until midnight

· Sold miscellaneous items overnight for money to process geodes

Gold: 110

Skills 11200

Day 6:

· Watered

· Made scarecrow

· Cleared backpack

· Visited Wizard to start community center

· Turned in spring forage bundle

· Processed geodes

· Gift 5 items to Gunther for cauliflauwer seeds

· Planted 30 forageables, cauliflower

· Killed 10 slimes and reach level 10

· Overlapping 8 slime kill quest for Lewis

· Fall asleep outside to reach level 10—minimal charge if fully invested (10 for me)

Gold: 91 (staying fully invested)

Skills 11200

Day 7:

· Watered

· Foraged spring onions

· Bought wooden sword at adventurers guild

· Mines to 15

· Found a diamond (first big break)

· Completed another set of foraged seeds (sold for 350—don’t waste more energy on watering forageables daily)

Gold: 1655 (not fully invested to begin day 8)

Skills 11201

Day 8:

· Sold spring wild seeds to Pierre for 350

· Bought backpack upgrade

· Went to mines 25 with big investment of spring onions

· Upgraded weapon to steel smallsword at 20

Gold: 309

Skills: 11202

Day 9:


· Gathered tree seeds on fam to make field snacks

· Reached level 30

· Completed 360 gold slime kill quest for Lewis

· Reached 62 insect kills

· Returned to prep for dark levels (31-39) with 15 torches


Gold: 669

Skills: 11202

Day 10

· Foraged spring onions in morning

· Huge day of mine progress did not begin till noon, but down to level 40 at 7:40 PM with virtually no combat

· Went back to 15/25 to finish today in search of insect kills, but fell short of 125 needed for insect head. Will finish day 11.

All possessions--Day 10


Gold: 669

Skills: 11202

Day 11

· Left potatoes unharvested until I need the money or space for crop

· Completed 20 kills for Insect head

· Processed 15 geodes while waiting for adventurer’s guild to open, donated all to museum

· Returned to mine and advanced to 45, but pickaxe requires 3 hits per stone and requires upgrade

Gold: 1237

Skills: 12202

Day 12

· Harvested Potatoes

· Left pickaxe for upgrade over festival day

· Fished in mountain lake

Gold: 3179

Skills: 32212

Day 13

· Harvested wild (forage) crops plus several parsnips/potatoes

· Prewatered for crops to be planted after festival

· Still short on leeks, but made 70 new forage seeds

· Bought 31 strawberries

· Planted strawberries and 30 of 70 wild seeds. Sold remainder for 1400.


· Day 3 remains the only rainy day thus far

Gold: 1974

Skills: 32312

Day 14

· Found a leek and made/sold a new seed pack

· Advanced to level 50 of mines, but already regretting decision to plant 30 more wild seeds on day 13.

· Planted 28 newly-purchased cauliflower seeds

· Converted frozed geodes and simply sold rather than donate to museum for an extra 400

· Fished out the day after 50.

Gold: 999

Skills: 32312

Day 15

· Watering takes bulk of energy

· Foraged 14 salmonberries

· Up to 63 iron ore after advancing to 55 of mines.

· Iron and regular stone each take 2 hits to destroy, so no reason to hold back.

· Found first coffee bean

Day 15—All worldly possessions. Dangerously low on food, but salmonberry season is starting. I’ll take what I can on way to mines today and make the full circuit tomorrow.


Gold: 1649

Skills: 33313

Day 16

· No mine advancement

· Some salmonberry foraging

· Foraged 4 leeks, which meant 4 more sets of spring wild seeds

· Planted 24 cauliflower on last day to do so

· After long forage/farming, 4 hours mining time on 40/41 yields 26 iron, 13 copper, 5 quartz, several gems

· Going to be happy when these lousy forage crops are harvested.

Gold: 1424

Skills: 33313

Day 17

· Harvested 35 salmonberries from forest plus a few more on way to mines

· Advanced to level 60 and found a diamond on a spiral level

· Solid day, but still no rain since day 3.

· Holding 59 salmonberries end of day

The Crystal Dagger is garbage compared to the Insect Head, but it’s good to make progress again. Need a day of rain badly to avoid watering duties and make a 10-level push.


Gold: 1424

Skills: 33313

Day 18

· Upgraded the axe, looking forward to horse

· Harvested 9 cauliflower and sold at Pierre’s

· Advanced to level 65 in a disappointing 12 hours of slow advancement ending with a slime-heavy infested 68

· Down to 47 salmonberries end of day

· I still have not found a ring of any sort

Gold: 3662

Skills: 34313

Day 19

Possessions to begin the day. Going to build a 2nd furnace and start smelting iron at a rate of 4+ bars per day. At some point I will need to go back and farm some copper as well.

· Finally advanced 10 levels in the mine, to 75 (can smell the gold from here)

· Down to 32 salmonberries end of day, but well worth it.

Gold: 4337

Skills: 34314

Day 20

One of my big mistakes is in the past with harvest of these forageables. That will significantly reduce watering energy burden.


Later Day 20--Made it to level 80!


Still later Day 20--66 gold ore farmed between 5:50 PM and 12:50 AM.


· Foraged crops harvested in the morning, relieving a big watering burden/energy drain

· Sold 8 wild seed packs for 2800, but no foraging improvement (still 3)

· Will defer foraging skill ups via crops until automated sprinkling fully in place for month 2

· Reached level 80 at 5:50 PM

· Farmed 66 gold ore (13 quality sprinklers) before leaving mine for the night

· The gold nodes take 4 hits from copper pickaxe to break, so I need another upgrade soon, but can’t take a day off from mining yet.

· Down to 21 salmonberries end of day, but well worth it.

Gold: 7679

Skills: 35314 (took gemologist)

Day 21

· Harvested and sold first strawberry crop

· Found 1 more leek for another wild set

· Upgraded hoe and collected copper axe

· Low energy from late previous night used to farm 100+ copper

· Made 4 more furnaces

· Down to 10 salmonberries end of day

Gold: 11,004

Skills: 45314

Day 22

· Inefficiently turned in 4 bundles (2 trips), including all 3 boiler room bundles to repair minecarts

· Farmed 42 more gold ore

· Had several double gem hits (emerald, ruby amethyst, aquamarine), but no diamond

Gold: 11,164

Skills: 45314

Day 23

Possessions to start day other than forageables in a separate chest:


· First rainy day since day 3

· Bought Bone Sword midway through the day (6000 G). It’s extremely fast and better for sprites, slimes, void spirits.

· 5,260 mining profit from 22-23, so I’m guessing Bone Sword will pay for itself.

· Farmed 58 gold ore, 29 copper, 29 coal, several more gems, including 2 diamonds

Gold: 11,424

Skills: 46314

Day 24

· Found an infested level with dust sprites and slaughtered them for approximately 9 hours

Gold: 12,082

Skills: 46315 (selected fighter)

Day 25

· Harvested 2nd and last batch of strawberries

· Felled trees and otherwise cleared space on farm for expanded Summer farming

· Upgraded watering can to copper based on rain forecast for day 26

· Reached 4 foraging and 5 farming (need 6 farming by start of Summer to make sprinklers)

Gold: 13,862

Skills: 56415 (selected tiller)

Day 26

· 3rd day of rain for the month

· Harvested Caulifower planted on 14th

· Infested sprites level changed to infested slimes, so farmed more ore instead

· 94 gold now leaves iron as shortest supply for sprinklers to begin Summer, but 50+ should be on line

· Reached 7 mining with another solid day of gems

Gold: 21,896

Skills: 57415

Day 27

· Collected upgraded watering can

· Cleared space for oak orchard

· Solid iron mining day nets 93 iron, 5 diamonds

· Reached 7 mining with another solid day of gems

· Big surplus of coal is down to 69

· Used last 3 salmonberries. Down to a handful of cave carrots and winter roots to eat.

Gold: 26,577

Skills: 57415

Day 28

· Farming to 6 with Cauliflower harvest in morning

· Cleared some space for oak orchard and planted 16 acorns (need more clearance around existing seeds as well as stones)

· Staked out farm with scarecrows for Summer planting


· Smelted materials to create 54 sprinklers on Summer 1

Planned crops (432 total to start, reasons):

· 311 melon (bundles, low maintenance, good profit, wine option)—may be deferred until day 4.

· 16 peppers (bundle, gifts for Shane, Mayor)—plant/water day 1

· 8 blueberry (bundle, but not as profitable as melon without fertilizer, wrong scale for wine/jelly)

· 16 coffee (farming skill upgrades, expandable, desire for a supply of coffee for speed stacking in Skull Cavern)

· 16 corn (bundles, oil)

· 8 Tomato (bundle)—plant/water day 1

· 2 poppy (bundle, redundancy for lightning)

· 6 sunflower (bundle, fast oil, seed return)

· 0 radish (might be used as a filler later)

· 1 starfruit (seed from museum)

· 8 spangles (crop to repeat for Caroline gifts)

· 0 wheat (several hundred to be planted as season progresses)

· 0 hops (profitable crop in theory, but extremely high maintenance, and not worth labor opportunity cost)

· 40 wild seeds (assumes 2 full sets found day 1)—Wild seeds will take up significant space with rapid scale up of sprinkler system in Summer. At 550 per seed pack they are among the most profitable Summer crops and drive forage skill ups.

Total cost: 30,890

Gold: 31,635

Skills: 67415

Day 29 (Summer 1)

· Cleaned debris

· Hoed farm

· Placed sprinklers

· Bought/Collected seeds

· Planted crops

· Foraged a wild set and turned in bundle for 30 wild seeds

· Fell asleep planting (204 Joja charge)

Gold:1841

Skills: 67415

Day 30 (Summer 2)

· Crop planting, all crops watered

· Space for more wild seeds

· Long forage run finds 2 spice berries and 2 sweet peas, but no grapes

· Farm is automated, but expansion of farming will take lots of energy in month 2

· Spa opens day 3 to significantly abate energy concerns

Gold: 1841

Skills: 67415

End of Guide

 

Day 3 of Summer--No watering required

 

You can never go wrong with focusing on mining and quality sprinklers on Summer 1 and seed packs. My latest playthough (link) is much more casual than this but the principles still apply and scale up or down which is a sign of a good strategy, I think. And I agree about the hops. lol I still planted a few just in case but they're definitely too labor intensive for me to want to focus on pale ale. Otherwise, I planted melons to process for money and blueberries (232 crops total) just to chuck in the bin for some quick, easy cash and farming experience.

I never plant the seed packs during Spring just because I wouldn't want to water them but I was thinking on planting them the next time I start over on water retaining soil and letting the rain water them... I bet it would work and I'm interested in trying that out. I didn't even think about planting the summer seeds but maybe I'll craft more sprinklers and plant a field of forage crops yet, the money is definitely nice.

Great write up! Thanks for sharing.