See, to me, nothing is more fun than the ultimate min/max, that's what floats my boat, it's why I've done spring so many times, continually refining my actions to try to get it "perfect", but it's nice that everyone is different. It's also why there are so many things you 'could' do in this game, but none that you must do. Nothing is absolutely right, and nothing is absolutely wrong. Well, apart from wanting to mod the game to marry Pam. That's definitely wrong. But nothing else is wrong Except maybe this Yeah, I wasn't really going for the "who's the best" line there, more trying to confirm that you got there at basically the same time. The gap between us is virtually zero; at this point, any difference is likely to be far more affected by the RNG, by who got an extra L. bass or treasure chest, than by any meaningful skill difference. As I also said, I usually get there between midnight and 2 am, the 11.50pm run was simply my best effort by a minuscule margin, and the extra couple of hours you spent on that run, minus the two errors from "screwing around", will put you in the same zone as my average. Rather, I suspect that it confirms we're already near the limit of what is achievable in this aspect of the game, at least in a vanilla game.
I used to cut wood on day 3 for the same reason, but then I found out that the forage just keeps building up until Saturday. Collecting it ahead of Saturday is less efficient. One of those things that I wish I'd known sooner. (I realise you might also know, but I'm posting this on the off-chance that you don't, and also to help any other readers of the thread.) Nowadays I fish on days 2-4, with just a bit of wood chopping so that I'm already at foraging level 2 by Saturday. That's important for seeds to keep dropping as I chop trees on Saturday - a bug stops them dropping after you level up in foraging any day. (That's another thing that I only discovered recently.) Seeds are necessary for field snacks. I mine on day 5 (Friday), and finish by chopping wood if there is a bit of spare time. Then, on day 6, it is just about possible to smelt 5 copper bars, get to 350 wood, turn my axe in to Clint, repair the bridge, forage the beach, and buy and plant a large bunch of potato seeds that will be harvested the day before the egg festival. I get through a lot of field snacks that day! The money isn't an issue though, because I will have kept most of my fish until the Friday (selling them at fishing level 5). I normally manage upwards of 100 potatoes, which is enough to be on farming level 4 when I plant my strawberries. I have never managed more than 120 potatoes, and that time I didn't upgrade my axe - there just isn't time for planting more as well as chopping the wood. Probably I should fish less on Thursday and chop more wood - that's an experiment that needs running. On the other hand, it was no hardship to wait a day to turn in my axe - I didn't need it back for ages. This plan neatly avoids the need to calculate what to put in the shipping bin. On day 2, I keep all my fish on me, pass out, and should have just enough to fund my better rod at the fishing shop. I take myself down to zero money buying bait, and stay that way until the Saturday. On the Friday, I put everything sellable into the bin so that I'll have maximum money for potatoes. Then I sell nothing until the evening before the egg festival. Yes, I have played through Spring far too often! I even did a controlled comparison of how many strawberries to buy, running two games forward from the same save file. It turns out the answer is, as stated by previous posters, as many as possible. Between 180 and 210 is very manageable. Last game I lucked into a treasure chest when fishing, and managed to buy 250 strawberries. I actually could have afforded more, but wussed out - one day I will go back to that save file and try the maximum. Watering the 250 every day made the mining schedule quite tight, but I was still at level 40 before salmonberry season, ready to hand in my pickaxe for upgrades, and still made it to level 80 a few days before the end of Spring, so I had most of my quality sprinklers ready for Summer and the rest were done soon after. It's worth noting that I don't buy a stable, and nor do I upgrade my hoe or watering can. I normally only upgrade the axe to copper early on. I prefer to save the ore for sprinklers, tappers and kegs. On the other hand, because I'm focused on early community centre completion, I do normally buy an orange tree and a peach tree partway through Spring, and will also try to get a basic coop up before Summer, with a barn right after. The sweet spot for that is probably about 200 strawberries, selling all the silver and most of the gold ones, with the normal ones held in reserve for if cash runs low. (Otherwise they get turned into seeds ahead of next Spring). At some point soon, I am planning to write a guide to early completion of the community centre. I will definitely have to reference this thread, as it had taught me a huge amount. Thanks to all involved.
Does this thing still work? Can't get deep enough in the mines or get enough ore by the upgarde days.
