Year 2 tips

I have started Spring year 2. I'm not trying to min/max, just have fun with the game. I wondered what my next focus should be...

So far I have:
Unlocked most of the community centre - have just ocean fish and Bulletin board to complete.
Unlocked the Greenhouse - just done
Unlocked the Desert - just done and visited once
Big Coup with 4 chickens and a duck
Barn with 2 cows
Just got Farming level 10 - Artisan
Fishing is L9, Mining L7, Foraging L8, Combat L6
Mine - L95
About 20K cash (just spent 25K on the last vault bundle for the desert)

I have been to the egg festival and got 40 strawberries planted plus some I had from year 1 that were planted spring day 1 as well as Rhubarb now from the desert.

I'm wondering what I should focus on next?

Get the golden scythe
Get the Skull Cavern unlocked
Upgrades to barns or should I focus on a shed and preserves jars?
Sort out more tappers



My Farm


Tips welcome

 

Thanks Pangea. I guess it's more I know I'm not good at min/maxing so it's playing to my best but not going crazy if you see what I mean.

The mine isn't too far off so guess I can work on that. Trying to grow a lot more crops this year.

 

Thanks. I've got to Level 105 in mine now. I have already set up a few lightning rods but so far no lightning. Given it's so scarce definitely need to make the most of the lightning when it comes. How many iridium sprinklers do people tend to go for? Guess I need some for the greenhouse as well as outside.

I did save quite a lot of blueberries and have slowly been making jam but only have 2 preserves jars and really need more I think. I have loads of fruit to process.
I did put a lot of normal blueberries through the seedmaker so have 100 seeds ready.

 

Honestly, blueberries aren't as good as a lot of people think they are once you get to kegs/jars, because you get a lot of blueberries that sell for a very small amount each, which makes them a lot of work to process. Plant melons instead, you get a lot fewer melons over the course of the summer so it's a lot easier to process all of it, but you get basically the same amount of money as if you processed all the blueberries.
Although I guess if you already got the seeds you might as well plant them. But maybe plant some melons alongside them to process. Let's say you can create 100 jellies over the course of the year, you'll get a whole lot more money if they're 100 melon jellies instead of 100 blueberry jellies.
(In case you didn't know, jelly price is 2*fruit base price + 50. So melon jellies are 2*250 + 50 = 550g each, while blueberry jellies are only 2*50 + 50 = 150g each.)
(side note: cranberries are not quite as bad because you don't get as many of them, but do consider your processing ability before planting them)

Also, hops are better money than either blueberries or melons if you have the kegs to turn them into pale ale. Starfruit from the desert is better pretty much regardless of what kegs/jars you have, although the seeds can be expensive. If you can save the money from selling those strawberries/rhubarb and use it for seeds in summer, I strongly suggest ignoring the above and planting a bunch of starfruit instead.

If you want to go more min-max-y, maybe work on getting more kegs. For whatever reason, almost all of the high value crops (rhubarb, strawberries, melons, hops, starfruit, pumpkin) are fruit or very valuable veggies, which means that they make more money in kegs. Granted, wine/juice takes more time than jelly/pickles, so you'll need more kegs than you would have needed jars. Also they're more of a pain to get - I suggest planting some oaks somewhere and putting tappers on them if you haven't already.

Golden scythe should be pretty easy to get - the quarry mine is really just one floor, you can run through it in an (in-game) hour or two to get the scythe.

Skull cavern can be quite profitable if you're good at it, but on your first few tries you're probably just going to die. Maybe consider killing a bunch of enemies after getting to floor 120 to try and hit the 0.5% chance of a prismatic shard for the galaxy sword (dust sprites are good since you probably want coal anyways), or save up 50k for the lava katana. Also bring a bunch of food and luck/speed buffs. Don't let your HP go below half in SC.

Finally, this should be obvious, but take a quick look at the community center items you're missing and check that you're on track to get all of them, e.g. make sure you have a steel axe by summer if you still need the fiddlehead fern. (I'm specifically saying this because on my first playthrough I didn't look up where to get the fiddlehead until fall Y2 and then I was pissed, lol)

And of course, feel free to ignore all of this and play in whatever way is fun for you

 

Thanks @Elenna101 that's really useful. I actually got really lucky I think and just got a prismic shard from an ore rock in the quarry. So looks like I just take that to the 3 pillars in the desert to get the sword. It's stuff like that that you don't necessarily think of if you don't know to look it up!

I've been unlucky with the quarry mine but I think my weapon wasn't good enough. I kept dying. I now have the Obsidian Edge which is slaying most stuff very quickly now. Makes quite a difference!

I do have the steel axe so I unlocked the secret woods in Winter Yr 1 but hadn't thought to check the bundles for stuff like that. Great tip. I know I need to wait for summer for the Ocean fish and then it's just the bulletin board to do.

Is the only way to get a truffle having pigs? That's something I've not yet come across at the travelling cart. I did luck out with a rabbits foot and the duck gave me a feather early on so those two are done.

Yeah, so I have two kegs so far so really need to try and work on jars or kegs. I do have Starfruit seeds in stock so I can get all those down in Summer.

 

Same problem to the Fiddleheadfern

 

Do you have an Ancient Seed yet? One that can be planted, I mean. If so, then let me introduce you to the wonderful world of the weekend farmer.

You will need the following:

• 6 Iridium Sprinklers. If you have the sewers unlocked, he sometimes has one for 10k. Failing that, OmniGeodes can provide iridium. Bare minimum, you need 4, and several Quality Sprinklers.
  
• Deluxe Speed-Gro. You can purchase from Pierre or the Oasis if you want.
• Eventually, you will need 116 kegs. However, you still have a ramp-up time to build them in. If you don't have an oak tree stand, I'd suggest setting one up. You can use tree fertilizer to grow them rapidly. If nothing else, you can put it in the Quarry to stay out of your way but still be accessible. If you do, don't forget to place flooring around the trees so the rocks/geodes don't overgrow them. I'd suggest 30 trees with tappers.
• A place to put those kegs. I'd suggest a Shed, then upgrading to a Big Shed. A single Big Shed can handle all 116 kegs you need.

The tactic is simple, really. Even with a single ancient seed, your entire greenhouse can be taken over by this remarkably profitable plant. The one-month maturation time is intimidating at first, but Deluxe Speed Gro drops this to three weeks. Plant your lonely little seed (you can plant other stuff in the greenhouse in the meantime if you want, but Ancient Fruit should take precedence) on Deluxe Speed Gro. Give it three weeks, and it will produce a fruit. Put the fruit in the Seed Maker, and you get seeds (there's a small chance it'll be Mixed Seeds, toss those). Replant on Deluxe Speed Gro, and carry on. The following week, you get another fruit, do the same. And the same for the following week. Now, the week after that, you'll have more plants providing fruit, the original and the first seeds you made. All of them go in the seed maker for geometric growth. Continue until greenhouse is full of ancient fruit, with 4 Iridium Sprinklers dotted in the middle and two on the edges (or multiple quality sprinklers along the edge) to make sure the whole thing is watered.

While that is going on, get Robin to make your shed. Then get her to upgrade it. And fill it with the aforementioned kegs. Remember, it's going to be three weeks before your first fruit blossoms and gets turned into more seeds, you've got time to do this a few at a time if you need. The goal is to have all 116 kegs completed when the greenhouse is full of Ancient Fruit.

Once a week, harvest your Ancient Fruit, put them in the kegs. While you are doing so, you're also collecting last week's product. Worth about a quarter million or so. The other six days, you can do what you like. But on the seventh, you harvest.

Congratulations, you're making a million a season, even in winter, irregardless of whatever else happens on your farm. You now have enough money coming in that you no longer care that the cost for building materials has spiked, and are freed from financial burden or care and can do whatever you like with your farm without needing to worry about how you're going to afford it.

 

Yeah, when I said the golden scythe should be quick, I was assuming you had the Obsidian Edge (since you said you were past mine floor 90). If you're having trouble with the timing for hitting skulls, maybe buy some salads from Gus to top up your energy, they're fairly good in terms of energy/gold. Or bring a few of those cheeses your cows are making for food.

You can get a truffle from the travelling cart, but it's a fairly low chance, so you might as well work on upgrading your barn if your want to finish the CC soon.

(and yes, everything Shneekey said)

 

Thanks both. Will give that a go. I think I might have planted an ancient seed in the Greenhouse. Will need to check. I know I planted 3 or 4 rare seeds.

EDIT: I found an ancient seed artifact in my inventory and turned it into a seed so definitely got at least 1 in the greenhouse now.

 

^ This.

• I have fun collecting all the ingredients and making the recipes. So that's what I do. I can taste them when I make them.
• The clothes don't appeal to me at all. So I haven't put wool and cloth to use at all beyond the basic story needs.
• I have learned to enjoy fishing, especially now that I am at level 10, and especially for the treasure chests and the joy I feel when I catch an eel.
• I like collecting gifts and handing them out (with more Chests around town) even though everybody is at 10 hearts.
• Beautify your farm. Light your farm and the whole valley with lamps.
  
• Finish all the secret notes.
• Finish all the story quests.

Tips:

• What everybody said.
• For money, focus on the big money crops. Strawberry, Blueberry, and even Pumpkin and Rhubarb pale alongside Hops (early, quick money, and infill), Starfruit (bi-weekly farming and casks), and Ancient Fruit (weekend farming).
• 4+ Rabbits for Universal Loved gift supply
• Use a calendar! (See Sample and Blank PDFs and wiki format )

 

Thanks