Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is my go-to game when I wish to relax. Yet, relaxing as it is, there is a level of challenge; gaining Grandpa's approval by the beginning of year three, repairing the Community Centre, getting to the bottom of the first mine then level 100 of the Skull Cavern mine, and fishing enough to get a Stardrop from Willy.

One of the aspects I love, is designing my farm. There is a lot of choice and different pathways a player can take. This, I think, is why the game has such appeal. It's possible to plan different approaches and experiment. Part of the fun is challenging yourself to try something different. The variety of farms assists with this.

Right now, I'm farming on the farm where all sorts of beasties appear when night falls. Although this aids with raising your combat skill, to begin you're ill equipped to go on a killing spree and survive. I decided to farm for at least the first year without purchasing any animals apart from a horse. I've got my level 3 barn and coop ready, but no animals as yet. Instead I'm focusing on getting to level 100 of the Skull Cavern. Thanks to the Gypsy cart, I manged to get a get the greenhouse up and running by mid-winter and, by raising my forage skill level to 10, made a mint out of iridium level Winter crops.

I rarely get married, but this time I just might ask Krobus to move in.

I've realised that I've started on the forest map which is not the regular one...

It took me a while to realise I needed scarecrows and I basically deal with chores in the most haphazard fashion.

Let's face it my farm is a bit of a mess but I have a pet dog called Puss.

Well, the names I call my animals may give you a bit of a giggle.

Cat - Mr Tibbs
Horse - Biscuit (that's what the colour makes me think of)
Cow - Daisy
Goat - Gertie (after an overbearing woman at bridge)
Pigs - Winston and Winnie
Hens - Henrietta and Picky Pecker
Duck - Duckie
Rabbits - Peter (Beatrice Potter) and Petra

My farm is pretty organised with lots of flowers and honey

One thing I love is how any barn animal can give birth, including one that's on it's own.

I like Daisy for a cow, I may have to steal that one from you.

If I ever get a cow that is...

I didn't know the game featured parthenogenesis.

Build a silo before you buy any animals

Makes sense, thanks for the tip, I'm truly terrible at this type of games.

I wouldn't worry, not building a silo first caught a lot of players out in the early days.

The game tells you to 'build a coop' but, happy hens need food. So your coop needs to be placed where they have easy access to grass. On rainy and cold days, you need to take food from the receptacle in the coop and place it on a feeding bench. The receptacle is automatically supplied by a silo. If you don't feed them, you get grumpy hens and no eggs.

Btw, male animals can also give birth.

I don't like poultry. I was assaulted by a rooster when I was a toddler (true story, I still have a scar just above my left eye) so I will eat coq au vin but I don't like the idea of having them around.

That sounds nasty. Poor you!

I and a boyfriend were nearly crushed by cows when I was 17. We were saved by the farmer. I've been wary of cows ever since.

I can cope with cows in Stardew though. It might be because of the cute heart that appears when you pet them. :p

I don't mind cows but then I've always have a safe respect for this animals considering I grew up in a tiny village and I had to drive my bike around cow dung splattered on the road.

I was very lucky not to lose an eye because of that rooster. In the end I got my revenge since my grandfather killed it and we ate coq au vin the next day.

That's how I roll, if something makes me bleed I'm going to make a meal out of it and season it with red wine!

This thing is an unholy time vampire.

Blood Red Eagle wrote:

This thing is an unholy time vampire.

Tell me about it...

Ironically that's the reason I'm not playing it more.

Darn it, I missed making 1 million in my first year by just 2,500.

Bah.

That was close... Impressive!

Frustratingly so.

The trick to achieving this is: constant foraging, upgrading tools asap and fish, fish, fish, strawberry jam! Mine mine mine, sprinklers! Fish fish fish, jam jam jam, mine mine mine, minecarts! Fish fish fish, Desert Bus! Star fruit! Jam jam jam, beer!

I'm sure you get the picture.

I did try some fishing but never got anywhere lol.

Fishing gets easier, but there's a knack. There's a few things you can do to help make it easier:

1. Willy has a training rod
2. He also sells trout soup (+1 to level)
3. Complete the crab pot bundle and use them to raise your fishing level up to 2 or 3
4. Fish in the river on a sunny day into the evening. Sunfish and Bream are very easy to catch, as are Carp in the Mountain lake.

Thanks for the tips. Ok now I need to try that -next time I get some time to play games that is.

I usually farm like a madman during all seasons and focus on fishing and the mines in winter.

Blood Red Eagle wrote:

I usually farm like a madman during all seasons and focus on fishing and the mines in winter.

Farming is hard work - how do you cope without sprinklers?

I tend to focus on making and using the gold/silver ones asap as it saves so much energy.

Mind you, one of the reasons I love this game is there are so many ways you can spend your time in game.

Personally I just keep faffing about without making plans.

I built my well in a central location and farmed around it. I have did some mine levels to gather enough copper and iron to build about 10 sprinklers and the copper watering can but I am nowhere near done with the mines. I tend to stick with crops that keep growing also. I have silos and some animals also plus a fish pond with super cucumbers.

Those made from copper and iron are all but useless IMHO. The ones made using gold and iron are much better until you can access the Skull mines.

Farm plan sounds cool - pictures!

I am in the process of nuking Win11 from my NVME SSD so for now the only games I can play are those running on BSD. I have not yet found a satisfying way to run GOG stuff on BSD...