About your problem with the gold fruit: Make yourself some Fertilizer with Sap - you should have plenty of that. The % chance is 12,5% of Gold with the standard fertilizer and farming below 4, i.e. if you plant 40 melons on it (or go for 2x20) you should end up with at least 5 gold ones. Just as tip for the next time you start a new game ^^
It can be useful to harvest parsnip even after Spring 23: In summer 1 you have to buy your new seeds, you have to plant them, you have to water them... All that needs time and energy. So it is a big help if you don´t have to dig up your field with your hoe. For that some cheap parsnip helps, even if they will not grow mature. They protect your fields from disappearing.
I was following the guide's advice about using basic fertilizer, but I only had a 3x3 plot of melons. After the disappointing results of the first crop, I planted a second batch of 8 in addition to the 9 from the original plot and got 2 gold melons. I think my luck just sucks
Nah, on my first play through I also got only 1 or 2 gold ones from 15. This time around I planted 30 and got 5 gold ones. It's just a numbers game I guess. Do note that you only need 3 out of the 4 crops listed for the quality crops bundle so if you missed out on the melons you can do both corn and pumpkins in the fall and still finish it in the first year.
^^ This is what I usually do; I usually skip the melons and go straight for the Corn and by the time Pumpkins come around, I've got the 2nd slot filled. Considering you need Fall crops in that Bundle anyways, you can't complete it any sooner than 1st Fall, so no reason to fall over backwards trying for Gold Melons (though I usually hope for 1 as it is the easiest way to get Best Reaction from the Governor during Luau).
This is also a good thought too: Even if you miss the first Parsnip AND Melon and end up hitting Winter with only Pumpkins and Corn, you'll get the Greenhouse maybe a month or two late. It's not that big of a deal because most likely, A). you ain't got much to plant in it, and B ). You probably don't have very many I-Sprinklers yet. The stuff you REALLY want to fill the GH with are stuff like Strawberries or Ancient Fruit, the SBs aren't available until Spring and the AF...well that varies and is random. And to really make profit off the strawberries, it's best you start like 20-30 of them and use the crops in the seedmaker to get more (same with the Ancient Fruits). So it's not a huge deal if you gotta wait till 2nd Spring to get your Pantry done.
Even if you do get all the quality crops there's still a good chance you'll have to wait until your second year to complete the artisan and animal product bundles unless you're lucky enough to find what you need at the Gypsy on Fridays and Sundays. On my current play through I'm at the end of fall again but this time I haven't found a single large egg, milk, cheese or anything else so I'm forced to wait until I can produce those myself. Also, there's no real reason to rush as you only get evaluated the first day of year 3.
Well, some people manage to get a barn up during their first year, which admittedly isn't too hard -- it's just what, 8000G for the Barn or there-abouts, negligible money for the silo (that could be done earlier in the year and filled as grass appears) and then a cow for 4-6k. It's not that hard to get a Cow and a Heater going, though that only gives you Large Milk and Cheese. You could add a Coop and a couple chickens (1 brown 1 white) for about another 8k. 240 Hay should be enough for 3 animals, easily. I'd say that'd cost you the 9 days of Robin working and then a couple weeks for the animals to grow up... it could be do-able by 1st Spring if you really squeezed and tried to get it all together asap. But yeah, more trouble than it's worth. I usually do my animals during the First Spring, sometimes I'll have a building or two up before then, but I usually wait to buy the animals.
Personally, I try for a mid-summer of first year for my barn and coop. After your first blueberry crop comes in. This gives you a couple of seasons to get your large drops before the end of the first year. I'm just stumped as to what to grow in the Fall these days. Cranberries are now horribly overpriced for their yield. There really are no viable plants for the fall as far as a cash crop. It ends up being a farmer's worst season, mostly because the oasis fall crop is so lackluster. Spring has a decent Rhubarb, and Summer has the amazing Starfruit (which is still pretty amazing, if not nearly as amazing as it used to be), but Fall just plain... sucks.
small bits of hoarding are helpful, when you get regular, silver, and gold produce, if you like to cook keep some of the regular use the gold star for the keg if it will become wine and set it aside. I have chests in my shed in that order for produce and animal products, all my artisans from either go in the chest at the end. I also keep red chests for things I accumulate all year to sell on winter 28. Just like when the game was brand new and it wasn't so obvious how much you could make with certain things you have to make your own strategy. I have a mix of crops, and by now in my game I have the green house I have two ancient fruit plants in there and nine coffee bushes, everything else get's pickaxe'd and it's re filled with something else. I like working toward a goal so it's more fun for me that way but if again if that's not your thing it's good to test things out.
Yeah I dunno why CA didn't nerf the price of cranberry seeds, if he's going to slash the profits by 40%, he needed to nerf the price by 40% to keep it balanced.
Made it though my first year. Unfortunately, I did not get enough gold pumpkins either, so it looks likely I will be waiting until fall 2. If there is one piece of advice I can offer, it's to err on the higher side of the numbers of seeds suggested by Xylia. Also holding down the mouse button on your upgraded hoe and watering can cycles through the new area of effect. Great guide and thanks again for the checklists. They help keep me on track!
You shouldn't have to wait until Fall 2 -- you only need 3 out of the 4 listed crops, and you surely got Corn? It is nearly impossible to miss 5 Gold-Star Corn, being you grow them in Summer and Fall. If you got the Corn and nothing else, then you can aim for Parsnips and by the time Summer 2 rolls around, getting those 5 melons should be easy-peasy; you should be able to either make or buy advanced fertilizer which should be overkill, especially if you have Lv8+ farming.
Fall crops, I'm mostly growing a little of everything and just concentrating on my artisan goods(pale ale, cheeses, mayo, honey, jams) to fund everything. Choosing Artisan is still amazing, even at 40%. Beginning of Winter I only need a Large Goat Milk for the Greenhouse to become available. The last week of Fall, I got the bus working so I expect to spend a lot of time in Skull Cavern this first year Winter, with the occasional fishing when luck is down.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make this guide! It helps me remember little things. I tend to forget what items to stash for later use in bundles and quests, so that part was particularly useful to me. This may be a very dumb question, but why is rain so important for fishing? Is it because they'll bite at a higher frequency?
During the Spring, if you fish from the river south of town, you will catch a lot of Sunfish and Smallmouth Bass which are worth very little. HOWEVER, if you fish during the rain, you will instead catch Catfish and Shad, which are worth a lot more money (but are a good slice harder to catch).
It isn't a must, per se, but I find it is pretty helpful when I go delving into the mines. I suppose if you don't mind stashing "non-necessary" tools in a chest, you could get by with the 24, but inventory management tends to be a sore spot for me in most games. If there's an upgradeable inventory, I beeline for that ASAP. Personal playstyle I suppose lol. I'd say, to judge it on a personal basis: If you're not running out of room regularly with the 24, then no, you could wait awhile.
No. In fact, I very rarely ever have the 24 slot backpack by the end of spring. You have too many other things to be spending money on, and need to make sure you have the money you need to get your crops into the ground Summer 1. Then start thinking about things like backpacks.
