I'm on my second playthrough, and my intention is to focus 100% on 'winning' for the first year to see how much I can get done. I'll switch focus to a more relaxed and aesthetic farm after that. My main aims are as follows, roughly in order of importance Have fun. (I'm not going to do anything that's so repetitive or cheesy that it becomes boring.) Complete the community centre. Ship as many different items as possible Catch as many varieties of fish as possible Maximise money. Maximise relationship hearts. Complete the museum Originally I was intending to spend the first two years focusing on profits; but now that I'm in the third season of the first year I'm realising that if I did that I'd be spending the majority of the second year doing fairly repetitive work; because almost all parts of the farm will be in full-swing by the end of the first year. I've already got the greenhouse; 20 kegs, and a couple of iridium sprinklers. Anyway... I'm interested how successful other people have been with this kind of playstyle. Given that it's just my second playthrough (and I stopped after 2 years on my first), there are a lot of ways that I could have done better. In particular, I've only recently realised that the only way to get purple cabbage in the first year is from the travelling cart. I really should have been checking that cart more regularly, because now it's almost too late. I'll need some good luck to be able to complete the bulletin board of the community centre!
I normally like a more relaxed, go-at-my-own-pace kind of playstyle but on my last save I challenged myself to see if I could unlock the greenhouse before the first winter. I managed to do it, but it required me to invest a lot of money into animals in the first year where normally I wait until year 2 to even buy my first coop. Now, its worth mentioning I play using Timespeed so I'm already significantly advantaged in terms of time/money, but I definitely had to amp up my production to get everything done in time. I think I spent most of the first summer getting the necessary coop/barn upgrades. Because of this, and good luck with the traveling cart, I was able to complete the CC by the end of the first year (technically, by the first winter, but I waited until Spring because it felt more appropriate for the celebration to happen then). That's the fastest I've ever managed to hit that milestone. I think the CC completion really all comes down to that red cabbage and whether or not you can get your hands on one before year 2. The rest is just how you manage your time and money and what you prioritize. I wouldn't do it again myself (too stressful lol), but having the greenhouse that first winter did help out a lot going into year 2.
Generally, in the first year, I complete the community center, get over a million in gross income, and get my greenhouse filled. I'll also have a couple of sheds filled with jars and at least 3-4 more filled with kegs and counting, so that the next year will be stupidly productive. I don't worry on completing the museum, other than to get the sewer key, in my first year. Neither do I particularly concern myself with relationships in the first year. The purple cabbage is, indeed, an RNG dependent item which can keep you from completing the entire community center by the end of the first year, you absolutely require getting it from the cart vendor. The Rabbit's Foot is another chancy item, and so is the truffle for the cook's bundle. The Truffle, you'll just about have to get from the cart vendor because it is highly doubtful you'll have a deluxe barn up before fall for the pigs to have enough time to generate one, since they don't generate truffles in the winter. Most of the rest can be naturally obtained.
On my last farm I set myself "similar" rules as you: - having the greenhouse in year one - marrying in year one - making as much money as possible without sacrificing fun -> for that I used a guide for the first spring - using nearly the whole farm as an orchard in the long run. To share my progress with the people of this forum I made a thread in which I posted my status on several dates. http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/orchard-to-be-the-cupcake-farm.130063/ This was my farm after the first year: Cupcake Farm on 3rd of Spring Year 2 - one shed with 60 kegs, one with 60 jars and one with a mixture of both - the greenhouse was filled with 24 flowers (most of the time sunflowers because I married Haley) and 48 strawberries - the saplings in the west are 5 orange and 30 peach trees. In the south are 45 cherry and 5 apricot trees. - the farm made ~ 1,5 million gold in year one This was the second time that I aimed for the greenhouse in year one and I can get it around the middle of fall. Every animal was sold after getting the greenhouse because I didn't want any on my orchard farm. I don't aim for the completion of the community center because that would include fishing which I don't like. So I buy all my fish from the travelling merchant. I didn't buy or build any iridium sprinklers because I was perfectly happy with quality sprinklers at that point.
I thought I'd easily get a truffle, but I'd forgotten that pigs don't work during the winter. I think I've probably left it too late to go for the deluxe barn now. (There's only about 8 days left until winter.) But I doubt I'll have the red cabbage anyway, so I guess it doesn't make much difference! Maybe I'll get a year 1 community centre some other time. As for Cupcake farm; that thing is pretty impressive! Not only have you made a huge amount of money, but you've also made a pretty nice looking farm too. My farm is a complete mess. I've just plonked down buildings wherever they happened to fit at the time; and most of the land just has scattered trees and grass. It is not at all attractive... I figured I'd fix it up in the second year. On the other hand, I guess I've probably spent more time running around giving people gifts and such, so maybe if I'd spent that time organising the farm then it might look a bit better.
You can always relocate buildings. Even a shed full of jars/kegs can be moved without causing problems. Only trees are planted permanent which made me chop them down in winter year 2 because I wanted to move my sheds...
Ok. I restarted since originally posting this, and used what I've learnt in order to maximise early game efficiency and achieve as much as possible in the first year. Here's what I ended up with. This is on 27th of Winter of the first year. I've got maximum friendship with everyone except Sandy, Alex, and Dwarf. (It's going to be weird for Kent.) I've shipped everything except the red cabbage. (I managed to get most of the difficult items, such as rabbits foot, garlic, artichokes... but the travelling cart just didn't didn't bring the cabbage, and so there's nothing else I could have done.) The red cabbage is the only item missing from completing the community centre. I caught every fish except the last two (which both require the community centre) - this means that I caught the Legend in the first month! I'm missing three minerals, and around 8 artefacts. I never found dwarf scroll 4 - so I couldn't make friend with Dwarf. I've got 4 chickens, 3 ducks, 2 rabbits, 4 dinosaurs, 2 cows, 3 goats, and 2 pigs. My house is fully upgraded, including a cellar. My tools are fully upgraded, except for having a golden axe rather than an iridium axe. I got the Prairie King arcade machine. I earned 1.2 million in total. (It could have been higher, but I shifted my focus away from maximising money during summer, because I figured my income was already strong enough to buy everything I needed.) I didn't marry. All in all I'm pretty happy with that. I achieved almost everything I wanted to achieve; and the only thing that stopped me from getting the key things I was aiming for was bad luck. (ie. if I was lucky enough to get a red cabbage from the travelling cart, I would have got the community centre, a complete shipping collection, and a complete fishing collection.) I'll probably play on for the second year and aim to cook everything and complete all the listed achievements before the end of the second year.
Nice work, all! I'm going to try the same, using elements from posts shared by @Shoukry, @ShneekeyTheLost, and @Filmstudy. And I look forward to checking out the progress path for Cupcake Farm. The red cabbage and truffle worry me; neither are frequently offered on the traveling cart (but she sure loves selling tulips =P). And I am a little puzzled at myself because I am getting ready to delete the game I meant to use for a similar challenge I set up recently. I had decided to go for maximum gold-making, and was using the Joja Mart route for the first time ever, because I thought it would simplify things. Instead, I find it far less engaging than including the Community Center. Someday I'd be interested in hearing how/why some folks prefer the Joja Mart option -- I know we all have different playstyles, but I am actually pretty shocked at how boring the Joja game feels compared to having to balance tasks and priorities in order to fulfill the Community Center bundles. But that's a different topic! Anyway, I am looking forward to this new challenge, and I appreciate the tips many of you have offered from your own experiences.
I try not to complete the CC till year two. The main reason is Kent. Getting those hearts for him really helps.
I reread your post and I understand now. I know who Kent was, I just didn't understand that you meant getting the friendship points from the CC helps with Clint. derp
