I just started a little while ago (in Fall of Year 1 now). Do you guys have any tips on what I should be spending my time on the most/what is the best way to earn money? I know kegs and making wine is good, but I haven't unlocked them yet either.
So. Many. Hypotheses. On turning a profit. https://community.playstarbound.com/threads/processing-your-produce-for-prodigious-profits.128239/ https://community.playstarbound.com/threads/profitable-plants-what-to-grow-when.135017 https://community.playstarbound.com...r-crunching-and-theorycrafting-thread.125096/ https://community.playstarbound.com...helm-people-tl-dr-fish-and-then-plant.130615/ https://community.playstarbound.com...-on-animals-can-they-actually-compete.126059/ MONEYMONEYMONEY WITH THIS ONE EASY TRICK. Ahem. There's no shortage of number-crunchers, adding machines, would-be factotums, tea-totums, voodoo financeers, chartered accountants, and assorted masters of the slide rule and kung-fu calculus around these parts. Just remember, have fun your own way in the game and the profits will take care of themselves. There's no rush to make money unless you impose one for your own play-style; your operating costs during the game are negligible and pretty much any strategy aside from, 'sleep all day and stare at fireflies after dark' will yield a decent profit. (Though that strategy will give you some spiritual benefits.) My favorite advice for a new player is to relax and do what you enjoy doing most in the game, be that fishing, mining, foraging, farming, raising animals, exploring, socializing with the townsfolk, or a combination of the above. Especially during your first Autumn, which is (in my opinion) the most beautiful of all the seasons in the game. The profits will take care of themselves so long as you're diligent and keep active.
Lilliput gave a great answer. Just about any way you run a farm is profitable. The only area you need to be careful about is picking your advanced professions. Research carefully, because the level 5 choices determine the level 10 choices. Mostly, just have fun!
Don't be afraid to make "mistakes" either. This game is very forgiving anyway, but there are dozens of ways to play and you just kinda have to try a bit of everything to find what you like. Like others said, money is easy to make once you get going and you'll soon find yourself with more than you could ever spend, so earn it the way you like.
Lilliput has an attitude similar to mine. Have fun! There is no winning the game so just enjoy the experience. For money, my only suggestion would be to aim for the Artisan skill in farming. A green house full of Ancient Fruit with kegs to match is a very low maintenance way to earn 1mil a month. I like to make sure that by the end of year two, I have grown every type of crop, and caught every type of fish. But that is just me. I love the fishing mini game and enjoy cooking.
Let's see... part of me is embarrassed by having my threads linked earlier, but I would like to reiterate something I state in each of those linked threads: Play your game how you want to for your first play. You only get to play it for the first time once, don't get bogged down in the number crunching yet, just enjoy the game for what it is. AFTER that, of course... well, I daresay there's ways and means of optimizing your cash flow. As has been linked already. I'm also going to be starting recording of a new Let's Play of Stardew Vally. It'll be modded, but should be quite interesting. I won't officially be working on challenges like 'one million in one year' or 'year one community center completed', but it'll probably happen anyway. This last game I played, testing some new practices, I hit both milestones completely by accident. I also managed 20 quality sprinklers by the end of the first spring. So it might be quite the interesting play-through.
A tip based on my personal preferrence: Plant crops that provide multiple harvests. The benefit is a very easy time replanting in the next season, since you just have to cut the withered old crops away and don't need time to till the soil again. This strategy applies more to later in the game, when you completed the seasonal crops bundles in the Community Center and have access to Quality- or Iridium Sprinklers. -Upgrade your tools when you have the chance and can afford it. Better tools make for an easier time and provide access to more space on the farm (and other places that require certain upgraded tools) -Grab all the foraging items you can get. Most are basically free gifts to NPCs (refer to the Wiki for details) or provide a free supply of food to restore health and energy. Increasing your foraging level is another bonus. -Just because you have the G to buy something doesn't mean you should. Things like furniture or other decorative items can wait until your farm provides a decent income.
Don't neglect winter. Turn winter forage into winter seeds. Then make more winter seeds to replant, stuff the roots into seedmakers, the crystal fruit get made into wine, and you sell the rest of the forage. With sprinklers in place you can then go put as much remaining energy/time into the mines/fishing/desert/whatever as you like. Oh, and get into the sewer as soon as you can -- Krobus sells one iridium sprinkler for 10k on Fridays.
Interestingly this playthrough (my third) is the first where I'm genuinely not actively looking to MAKEMONEYS. My farmer is an angler (which we all know doesn't exactly make you a millionaire) who isn't interested in farming or mining as such. She's more attuned to chilling out, making buddies and listening to the waves crash onto the beach. So I suppose what I'm saying is you don't have to be so results driven that you let the game be stressful. This is gearing up to be my favourite playthrough because I've got out of the attitude of I HAVE TO DO THIS SO I CAN DO THIS SO I CAN BUY THAT. Now I appreciate it might be different because this isn't my first playthrough but I don't feel the need to cram the day full of creation or toil. Which is actually really lovely.
You're going to want to do a little of everything. Mining gives you ore to smelt for better farming equipment. Fishing gets you fish (who'd have guessed?), which is required for better fertilizers. Getting the greenhouse up is key. You can get the greenhouse through the bundles by fall, although it is VERY hard. Make sure you have a coop and barn, check your local gypsie smuggler every Wednesday and Friday, and make sure you plant enough crops with fertilizer to meet the quality bundles. I fill my greenhouse first with cranberries, and then switch them out for ancient fruit as soon as I get the seeds. You can also line the walls with peach and pomegranate trees, which will produce all year round. During summer, I plant as many starfruits as I can afford, and spend the rest of the year turning starfruit into wine, which I let sit in the caskets in the basement. Iridium quality starfruit wine is the most expensive thing you can make, selling for 6400g. However, I only have ancient fruit in my greenhouse, because they don't need to be replanted. Also, I leave 10-20 spaces in my greenhouse free, so I can grow quest/gift items, such as the 10 beets I need for Mr. Qi's quest. I've also found having a heard of pigs, with oil presses can bring in a TON of money every day. Just make sure to get the right perks. In theory, you can make ALMOST infinity money in a single day. It will be a VERY long day, though. Steps: 1. Complete Mr. Qi's quests. For it, you need a battery, a rainbow shell, 10 beets, and a solar essence. 2. On Spring 28 of year 2, you will learn the recipe for Lucky Lunch, by watching your favorite cooking show. The recepie requires jazz seeds (from spring), tortillas (from corn), and sea Cucumbers, by fishing in fall or winter. 3. On a day when "the spirits are very happy", take a lucky lunch with you to Qi's Casino. Drop some cash to buy Qi coins. Go high stakes blackjack, and always bet max. 4. Each win you get at high-stakes blackjack will net you 1000qi coins. Each 100 Qi coins will buy you a hardwood fence. Every hardwood fence will get you 10g when you sell it. 5. Time freezes when you play blackjack. With your luck, you can earn the required 2,979,000 Qi coins to buy the 29,790 hardwood fences, which is the max you can carry. These will sell for 297,900g. However, thsi will require at least 2,979 games, provided you win every time, which you will not. Given ten second a hand, this will take you over 8 hours and 15 minutes at least (provided a win every time). 6. It will only take you an hour or two to run back home with your gates, and back to the casino for more. You should be able to make this trip back and fourth around 5 times, getting you just under $1.5mil. 7. Pat yourself on the back for playing the SAME EXACT DAY on Stardew Valley for 40 hours straight. And thank the gods, that you have the financial capacity to play for that long, friends/family that don't mind isolation, and that your power didn't suddenly cut out during that time. Remeber, the game only saves at night. My point is, it is VERY boring to focus solely on money. And all of the things you can buy for more than 100,000g sound cool in theory. But they really make your farm look UGLY! Except for the "warp-home" staff, which is nice. Just focus on having fun.
Well I guess I'll chime in with my 2bits... I made the mistake of reading about all the min/max for money stuff while still in my first year of my first save. Kind of ruined it for me as I started seeing less of the wonder of the game and started pushing for the money farm. I also started dumping mods into my game as well which altered the game enough that it wasn't really vanilla anymore. That being said, it really does sometimes feel like you are being pushed to get so much done in a day with the default game settings. So, I'll make one recommendation right out of the gate: play through one season with nothing added, just a plain vanilla game. You'll see what I mean by feeling constantly time-pressured to get stuff done. I didn't find that fun at all. So, after playing a season like that, get the timespeed mod. It changes everything. You can abuse it if you want, but just it's default setting makes the time tick at about half the normal speed. That gives you so much more time to do things that it changes the whole feeling. It starts being fun instead of a race. My second biggest suggestion is this (strictly from my own playthrough opinion): once the Spa opens up (a rumbling in the night (earthquake)), you now have the ability to make a lot of money. I do all my farming chores first thing in the morning which drops me down to almost nothing for energy. Then I'll run up to the spa and refill my energy bar and then spend the rest of the day fishing, usually on the dock by Willy's shack so I can quickly run in and sell the fish (and junk) I don't want then get right back to fishing (I save whatever I will need for the CC bundles). He's there until 5pm. If I run out of energy with time left to fish, I go back to the spa, refill my energy, then go back to fishing. If I have the energy to keep fishing past when Willy closes, I'll go to the lake to the east (right) of Robin's house and use the rest of my energy there (again, saving what I'll need for the CC bundle). I'll usually fish until about 11pm. With the spa being so close there it's easy to run back and forth as needed to stay out fishing late (the farm isn't all that far away either so I can dump my fish into the collection bin when my backpack is full, then head back to keep fishing). I'll use up all the energy I can (each cast at the start uses 8 I think) so I make sure the active slot on the way home is either an empty one or the scythe as those don't use energy if you accidentally click to 'use' something (that'll make you pass out and cost you a lot of gold). I put this to use on my second save that I said I wouldn't push for a min/max farm and it was an amazing way to make money. That Spa is such an under-rated treasure! If only it wasn't so far out of the way! haha
In the time running back and forth between your fishing spot and the spa you can catch alot of fish tough. And with the money you get from selling that fish you can buy salads at the pub, enough to fill your energy multiple times
Ah true, but the idea is to make money, not immediately buy something to give you energy to keep fishing. That will net you a profit of zero. The spa is free.
You don't understand what I ment to say My point is that it takes you at least two to three hours to run to the spa and replenish your energy. If you sell the fish for salads only cought during that time and keep the rest of your fish to make money you will still have a better deal energy wise. Maybe try it out on a fishingday, first time clock how much time it takes you to go to the Spa and back, second keep the fish you can catch in that timeframe seperat to sell
I just eat all the algae and joja cola. If I get too low on energy while fishing I eat a few regular fish.
Good points. Perhaps the min/maxer in me was still getting through! haha Sometimes that good 'ol tunnel vision sets in....
Algea and cola are good to drink but its always a better idea to sell the fish, any fish, and buy salads. The fish is worth more gold per energy ratio you get from it compared to the energy you get from salads. And I know this is the min/max person in me but how I usually start a new save is: First day, plant the 15 parsnip, get 100 wood for two chests and go round the map for forage and to scyte as many weeds possible. Getting some mixed seeds this way but not planting those yet. I store them in a chest for later. Second day, Water my 15 parsnip, hop a chest in my inventory and leave all tools in the home chest except the hoe, never know where you see worms! Getting fishingrod from Willy's and fishing all day at towns river, My spot is always at Sam's house. Popping the chest I brought with me to empthy my bags when full. When its time to go home I put fishingrod in the chest and prio the fish to take home with me, Keep fish in the chest. This should give fishingskill 2, close to 3 even without exploiting the journaltrick. IF you choose to use the journal trick you can easely get to fishing skill 5 in that one day. Third day is always raining so no watering. Move to my chest again, pick up everything init and relocate myself to the mountain lake, hop the chest out again on that little middle island and start fishing untill its time to go home. Fourth day is watering 15 parsnip again and fishign at the lake. Stil keeping all fish in a chest but if everything went fine fishing level will ding to 5 at friday morning. This is when all fish gets sold. Fifth day is time to harvest the parsnips and again to the mountainlake but this time I pick up the chest and move it to the mines. From this day on my days are more or less, doing farmwork in the mornings, fish at the lake untill about 6 in the evening, (Largemouth Bass go's to sleep at 7 and won't bite anymore and since that is the most valueble fish its less profiteble to fish later) and spend the evenings in the mines to get the much needed ores. Doing it this way will wield enough gold to buy around 100 strawberries at the egg festival and having watering can upgraded by that time makes it easy to water all those plants, And the mixed seeds from that first day scyting all the weeds will probebly get a potato and a caulliflower so with only the beanstake bought to plant you get all veggies needed for the spring bundle. End of spring I always make sure I got all my tools upgraded to copper and the axe, sometimes the pickaxe aswell, to iron. As it shows, I don't plant many veggies in the first spring, simply because fishing is way more profiteble and it gives a very nice start. Summer is the time I focus on farmbuildings and for veggies mainly hops for the profit but also making sure to get corn and melons for the qualitybundle Fishing done in summer is most profiteble in the sea.
I guess I have a new forum question. How do I post a .gif on the forum? I have the .gif uploaded on imgur, but when I try to use the media button, the .gif doesn't show up in the post preview. Can .gifs be posted on this forum? I created one of my farm.
I'm in summer of year one. I am doing ok at the moment, I think. It feels like getting into the progression mindset is something the game wants you to avoid. Been fishing an mining. 1.How hard is friendship to gain? 2. I have a wilderness farm, should I worry about fences?
Friendship isn't too difficult to gain. The problem is that if you don't maintain it, friendship will slowly decay. Personally, I pick a set number of people to start working friendship up with, typically the eligible crew (since giving gifts after you are married makes your spouse quite irate, so maxing all the eligible batchelor/ettes before marriage seems like a smart move), then when they get 10 hearts, I move on to the next batch of people. After your first year, you'll have enough gifts coming in (mayo and cheese are decent 'Liked' gifts across the board for most people) that you can just pick up the rest of the town. The problem is that it takes time to work up and maintain friendship, because it means consistently talking with everyone you are trying to work up friendship with, usually wanting to hit them up once a day, which can really cut into time spent in the mines or fishing. It also requires a lot of memorization and knowing where everyone is at any given time you're trying to talk to them, and keeping that information in mind when planning out your day. It also means knowing what their typical pathing is, and what can change it. For everyone you are trying to be friends with. That's... a lot of information to keep going at the same time. I'd suggest trying for four or five people at once, plus whatever bonus you can get from bulletin board and such.
