Needing some advice...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Burdenxbe, Aug 10, 2019.

  1. Burdenxbe

    Burdenxbe Seal Broken

    I am a beginning player, and I would love some tips about playing.
    I had to start a new farm because I just couldn't get money.

    Also, I'm also debating on who to marry.
    I want Harvey, but I just can't because of his mustache. :(
     
      Honeywell likes this.
    • GeekWoman

      GeekWoman Subatomic Cosmonaut

      I am sure there are others who can give some awesome tips. What I did was forage everything I could (also use your hoe on this little wiggly things you see in the dirt), fished and sold all of that, planted the parsnips I was given to start with. That all gave me enough to buy more parsnips which I planted and kept going in a cycle. I also kept an eye on the bulletin board in town for little quests (bring this X to that person) and that also got me a little gold. I had read somewhere to keep one of each thing you grow/find in a chest (you can make one with 50 wood) just in case someone asks you for one.

      Getting married was also one of my goals but that took a while as you have to have upgraded your house at least once I think. The wiki has a list of people who can be married as well as what their "loves" and "likes" are as far as gifts. You have to get to 10 hearts to marry someone. In general, I have found the wiki to be invaluable and keep it up when I'm playing. https://stardewvalleywiki.com/

      There are lots of youtubes on tips and such. I only found one that had some of the tips I just mentioned for your first month of playing.

      Hope that helps!
       
      • Elenna101

        Elenna101 Scruffy Nerf-Herder

        Yeah, long story short, plant, sell, buy more seeds, replant, repeat until your farming plot is as big as you want to deal with. You can look up on the wiki what sells for more, if you want, there are pages for each season listing all the crops for that season. Fishing is also a good source of early-game money if you're good at it, but if you're just starting it'll probably take some practice. Later you can get animals for a steady (if smaller) source of income, but that takes some initial investment.
        Getting to level 80 in the mines to get gold for quality sprinklers (you get the recipe at farming level 6) is also useful. Once you get sprinklers up I recommend aiming to have at least 20ish around a scarecrow for decent money. Adding jars and kegs, once you get the recipe/have the materials, is also good money as it multiplies the base value of the crop by 2-3 times.

        Mechanics-wise, the spouses all do the same thing (not much), so the decision of who (if anyone) to marry is entirely up to who you like best. If you're playing on PC, I wouldn't be surprised if someone out there has made a mod to remove Harvey's mustache at some point.
         
        • Burdenxbe

          Burdenxbe Seal Broken

          Thanks everyone! :)

          Oh, I forgot to mention on my last post, I'm playing on the phone, sadly. :(
          So, Harvey is a no go for me. x-x Which is sad, because he's actually the type of person I look for in the RL. :(
           
            Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2019
          • Surenu

            Surenu The End of Time

            One more tip: while it may seem tempting, don't sell ores and coal. In the long run it's better to hold on to those. Once you get your foraging skill up high enough you can build tappers for a comparatively small expense in materials and they produce valuable stuff without any further input. Everyone likes free money, right?
             
            • BentFX

              BentFX Cosmic Narwhal

              First spring, the best thing you can do for money is fishing. I don't know how the phone is for fishing controls. People do complain about it, but they complain about it on all platforms. The mountain lake is the best place to make day-to-day, springtime, fishing money. On rainy days, the river is the best money because of catfish but they're difficult to land. Pump that fish money back into seed. Also, make a dedicated push to get deep into the mines.

              I think the simplest, casual, Spring should go something like this...
              If you plant the 15 parsnips on day 1, they will give exp for level 1 farming, when ripe on the 5th. Sleep to level up and on the 6th plant back 80 parsnips (9x9 with a scarecrow in the middle) 80 parsnip seeds is only 1,600g. That's like 1 day of, even sketchy, fishing. When those are ripe, on the 10th, plant back plant back 80 potatoes(4,000g). The 10th is a Wednesday, so you'll need fishing money to get seeds on the 9th. Those are ripe on the 16th and get planted back with cauliflower(6,400g, the potatoes will pay for that.).

              That will give a cauliflower harvest worth better than 14,000g, on the last day of Spring and if you've managed to get down to gold in the mines, you've got level 6 farming and resources to craft quality sprinklers for Summer.

              Also, probably want to plant at least one green bean early, to fill the Spring Crops, Community Center bundle.​

              But, it all takes fishing money to get the ball rolling...

              EDIT: I think the fiberglass fishing rod, and bait, are the best first investment. I always fish all day on the 2nd and buy the rod upgrade on the morning of the 3rd. Also, if there's any question, sell all gems you find in treasure chests. Gunther wants them, but there will be lots of gems long before the museum is anywhere near filling up. Take the money and run.

              EDIT 2: Remember, you can craft a chest and take it to your fishing spot. It makes it a lot easier to manage your inventory. Just make sure to place it somewhere out of the way, where NPCs don't walk. They will destroy it and everything in it, if it's in their way.
               
                Last edited: Aug 13, 2019
              • Elenna101

                Elenna101 Scruffy Nerf-Herder

                If (like most new players) you're having trouble fishing well enough to meet @BentFX's numbers, you can just keep plowing farming money back into more seeds, you'll still get there, it'll just be a slower start. Fishing is definitely something you should practice, though, if nothing else you'll need some fish for the community center. Very short clicks work better, with the right timing you can hover the bar in place, and then you just have to vary the timing slightly to move it up or down.

                I've seen people fish (in the ocean) and get enough perfects to get the rod by 5pm on the 2nd, since it appears as soon as you hit level 2. I can't do it, though.

                https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Worm_Bin shows maps of where you can place things to avoid their destruction. Ignore the fact that the page is about worm bins, the maps are the same for chests, kegs, or any other crafted item you might want to place outside the farm.
                 
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                • BentFX

                  BentFX Cosmic Narwhal

                  At the risk of hijacking the thread into a discussion about fishing...
                  Fish xp are based on the difficulty and quality of the fish, not their sale price. The ocean fish are garbage for sale price. Anchovies and Herring are both 30g, and Sardines are only 45g. Halibut are 80g but they quit biting for 8 hours during the middle of the day. Chub(50g), bullheads(75g) and large mouth bass(100g) are all better money makers than the anchovies, herring and sardines. As far as xp goes, level 2 by 5pm sounds about equal to what I get at the lake. My xp benchmarks, at the lake, are basically... Start fishing at 9:20am, Level 1 by noon, Level 2 by 5pm, and Level 3 by 1am. With decent luck and happy bubbles, it can be way better than that, but as long as I'm hitting those times, I figure I'm doing okay. Then, with a trout soup, can start catching gold quality fish from the first cast on day 3.
                   
                  • Elenna101

                    Elenna101 Scruffy Nerf-Herder

                    Yeah, same, but if you hit level 2 by 5pm at the lake you can't run down fast enough to buy the fiberglass rod day 2.
                    Thinking about it, I'm not sure that's actually better money than fishing in the lake and buying the fiberglass rod day 3, since by the time you buy the rod and go up to the lake largemouths are almost gone. On the other hand, you do get twice as many chubs/bullheads for the remaining 8 hours or so of day 2, so there's that. Also it saves time running to Willy's on day 3.
                     
                    • BentFX

                      BentFX Cosmic Narwhal

                      I'll accept that. Though I'd still go to Willy's for trout soups on day 3. The casting boost at level 4 makes trout soup a money maker once you've hit level 3, and I can't picture making enough money for the rod, bait, and trout soups before 5pm, day 2, especially at the ocean. Either way, level 5 comes before closing time on the 3rd and then I don't sell fish till the 4th, so I get the fisher perk on the day 3 fish. That funds seeds and the first backpack upgrade.

                      Still, it shouldn't be a discussion about fishing unless the OP wants to steer it that direction. Just saying that fishing is good money in the opening game, so long as a person can get over the hurdle of reliably catching fish.
                       
                      • ShneekeyTheLost

                        ShneekeyTheLost Master Astronaut

                        Hmm? Did someone request assistance in making money?

                        First off, I would like to strongly urge you to remember that there's no one way to play the game, and no clear 'victory' or 'failure' condition. Worst case scenario, it takes you longer to get around to doing stuff. Therefore, while it's always entertaining to get oodles of cash, there's more to this game than just the amount of gold you have. After all, money can't buy you love (well... to a certain extent it can in SDV, but the Beatles reference was too good to pass up). Many good gifting options are either free or are renewable, such as Cheese or Mayo. There are so many more things that this game has to offer than the bottom line.

                        Having said that, and having made... modest contributions to min/maxing profits a time or two... here's some ideas:

                        * A 40 parsnip start (purchase 25 Parsnips from Pierre with the 500g you start off with) is something akin to a King's Pawn Opening in Chess. It's a bread-and-butter opening that won't be amazing, but will be consistent.
                        * When those come up, get Potatoes as your main cash crop. Don't forget to get at least one Cauliflower (or use the 9 you got from the Museum if you turned in 5 items already) and Bean Sprout for the Bundles.
                        * Sell the seeds you get as the reward for the Spring Foraging Bundle. Planting them isn't going to return especially amazing Foraging xp and will consume a considerable amount of space and endurance in watering costs that you can ill afford.
                        * The 2nd and 3rd are almost always Fishing Days on most people's dockets, even if you don't plan on leaning into the fishing strategy that the others have mentioned.
                        * Save up 10k-15k for your Summer 1 seeds. Trust me, it'll be worth. Lean heavily into Melons (I suggest 40x), Hops (remember, they grow on a Trellis so space them accordingly), and Blueberries, but make sure you also get at least some Corn (for quality crop bundle) and the rest of your bundle needs. Even if this means foregoing a bag upgrade.
                        * You want infrastructure, as soon as you can. You're going to want a stand of 30x Oak Trees, which will eventually all have Tappers. This lets you make 30x Kegs per WEEK once they are all tapped, which is invaluable for your bottom line
                        * Process, not produce! The more things you can process instead of selling 'raw', the more money you're going to make. You won't be able to help it in your first spring, and probably part of the Summer. But you're going to want to get 30-60 Preserves Jars down before the end of Summer, and start cranking out 30 kegs a week for your more valuable fruits and especially your Greenhouse.
                        * Hit the mines hard! Once you have your Strawberries planted, you should spend every waking moment not spent on crop maintenance (watering) diving deeply and greedily. You're going to want to hit level 80 as soon as you can so that you can make Sprinklers which require Gold to make. Once you have 20 sprinklers, instead of diving deeper, go back and revisit levels 30-40 and levels 50-60 for copper and iron respectively (also 50-60 for Soot Sprites for the coal you'll need, although inevitably you'll be buying from that extortionist Clint).
                        * Work Smarter, Not Harder! This means Sprinklers to do your job of watering crops for you. Each Quality Sprinkler is 8 crops you don't have to water manually. Eventually, you may also wish to invest in an auto-grabber from Marnie for your barn, although you'll still need to pet your livestock to keep them happy.
                         
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                        • Clovis_Sangrail

                          Clovis_Sangrail Subatomic Cosmonaut

                          No, it doesn't.

                          I never fish. I hate it.

                          So when I start, I put every dime I make into seeds and plant, plant, plant. Goal is to finish spring with a big cauliflower crop so I can plant the melon fields come summer.

                          Even those spring seeds bring a decent profit.

                          And I supplement this with a few eggs and mayo.

                          I find planting much more worthwhile than fishing, which is nothing but a source of aggravation, and I do not play games to be aggravated.
                           
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                          • Salosso

                            Salosso Void-Bound Voyager

                            I’m not Stardew Valley, MLG PRO tier. But, I’ve been playing a while. My advice:

                            1. Make liberal use of the pause/menu button. You will be doing lots of thinking. Planning what you’ll be doing the next day. Time management is crucial in this game. Wake up, step outside of your house and hit pause. Then take it all in.
                            2. Have a pen and paper handy. Take notes. Draw out and design, where you want crops to go and how many you want planted.
                            3. Set goals and objectives. Short term and long term. Some items in this game are Seasonal. You forgot to grab a fiddleheaded fern from the secret forest? Your SOL till next Summer.
                            4. Multitask. You can be chopping down a tree, while smelting copper ore in the furnace. Smelt some Gold bars before going to bed, and voila! They're done when you wake up.
                            5. Convenience is king. Things don’t spoil in this game. The milk and eggs you just got, don’t have to be brought back to your house. You can dump them into a chest near the barn and coop. Same thing with your crab pots and trees with taps. Set some time aside, to go around and collect from the chests.
                            6. Getting the Community Center handled, is your top priority. You want that GreenHouse as soon as possible.
                            7. Go see Robin the Carpenter. Click on build building, and select the MOVE BUILDING option. It’s a nice way of viewing your farm, without worrying about time. Think. Dream. Plan. Implement.
                            8. Get a cheap PS4 or Xbox One. You mobile gamers are shortchanging yourselves on the full SDV experience

                            Getting $payed$ in SDV by tiers.
                            Tier 1: Fishing. Fishing in the early game, pays for the seeds, pays for the Blue backpack that expands your inventory space, pays for the copper upgrades on your tools.

                            By all means, power level it. Get the perk that gives 25% extra for fish sold, and the perk that doubles treasure chests chances while fishing. Don’t neglect Mining!

                            Tier 2: Hops, or rather. Turning Hops into Pale Ale. This takes the game to the next level. Doing this will pay for your horse stable, pay for your chicken coop and barn, and the cows and chickens. It will pay for Iron tool upgrades.

                            Tier 3: Greenhouse packed with Ancient Fruit, Peach and Pomegranate trees. Take the ancient fruit and process them into seeds via the seed maker. Then come Springtime, go nuts planting/spamming Ancient Fruit outside.

                            If you want to go Pigs and truffles, you’ll make money too. Buts it’s time consuming.
                             
                            • Elenna101

                              Elenna101 Scruffy Nerf-Herder

                              Isn't mobile currently on a later version than XBox/PS4?
                               
                              • BentFX

                                BentFX Cosmic Narwhal

                                Hate it if you like, but it is the best early game money. As I said... "...so long as a person can get over the hurdle of reliably catching fish." I never said the game can't be played without fishing. I was speaking in reference to the Spring timeline I laid out immediately above that.
                                 
                                • FickleRhubarb

                                  FickleRhubarb Subatomic Cosmonaut

                                  I don't think it's a matter of hate. Simply put, if you can fish, fish. If you can't, don't. We can all level up eventually with enough money for Trout Soup and time at the Mountain Lake. But that doesn't mean we can or even should try to finance Spring 1 with fishing. Am I wrong about that?
                                   
                                  • BentFX

                                    BentFX Cosmic Narwhal

                                    I only used the word hate because it's the word he used. My first saves got almost no money from fishing. Fishing beat me up real bad to begin with. I got a mod to calm the fish down 50% and made a little money, plus I learned how to fish without it seeming to be a total waste of time. Now, for me, vanilla fishing is fun. Fishing the 2nd and 3rd, for me, buys 40 potato seeds, 40 parsnip seeds, and the first backpack upgrade. That's 4,800g on the 4th. I don't know how else to do that. There are unlimited ways to play the game but if you're having difficulty getting cash in the early game, like the OP, then yes, Try to fish!
                                     
                                    • FickleRhubarb

                                      FickleRhubarb Subatomic Cosmonaut

                                      I agree. And do it with a very good guide as in:

                                      Buy one or two Trout Soup and head straight north and east for the east end of the long fence at the Carpenter Shop (Mountain Lake). Fish all day. Fish without the Trout Soup for a while, then fish with it for a while. Some of the fish can be caught without any clicking. When your line gets longer without any Trout Soup, you just leveled up.​
                                       
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                                      • BentFX

                                        BentFX Cosmic Narwhal

                                        Yeah! Trout soup gives a minor boost on the green bar size. If you're having trouble starting out, it will help. But, for me, trout soup really shines from levels 3 to 5. In a decent fishing spot, with a good cast, you start getting gold fish at level 4 and all gold fish at level 6+. I ignore trout soup on the 2nd but, if I can afford it, I'll eat 3 on the 3rd.
                                         
                                        • Surenu

                                          Surenu The End of Time

                                          One thing I want to add is that the best playstyle is the one you have the most fun with. You can't really lose in this game, and exploring different ways to do things is part of the experience if you ask me. You can't go wrong in this game as long as you have fun
                                           
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