When it comes to playing Stardew Valley, players are going to have to be particular about how they make their income as there are a variety of methods players can take in order to gain an income, but if done unsuccessfully players can quickly get stuck with no funds for seasons on end.
Essentially, players will have to set up a solid enough plan in order to get their farm running smoothly as without a plan players will not be able to actually purchase the items that they need in order to advance in Stardew Valley. Similar to in real life advice when it comes to making money, players are going to have to spend money if they are going to want to make a lot of money as spending money will be the best way to passively raise funds without having to spend a lot of time doing menial tasks in order to obtain cash.
As players get used to Stardew Valley they will quickly realize that there are actually a lot tasks that they can complete based on their play style, meaning that players will not absolutely have to do particular tasks if they find them boring or don’t have enough energy to spare in a day.
ALWAYS INVEST IN CROPS
When we were playing on our community farm on Twitch one of the things we realized quickly, especially when you are in co-op, is how efficient it is to actually invest in crops in Pierre’s General Store in Stardew Valley.
While players will always start with 15 turnip seeds for each player, players will want to spend the remainder of their money on seasonal seeds so that they can begin a large enough farm that fuels their funds while doing other chores around Stardew Valley.
It should be noted that while there are optimal seeds that a player can buy in order to ensure that they make the most income out of their crops, these seeds will vary from season to season, though players who don’t want to focus too hard on optimizing can grow every type of seeds, especially if they have not completed their community center.
There are some great seeds to have as some of them only require players to purchase them once and they will regrow a number of times before the season ends, making a variety of seeds a good idea in most cases.
In most cases the plants that grow multiple times per season without the need of replanting are berries and they will grow back every few days, meaning that a player will simply need to water these plants every day.
I will write a more in depth guide on which seeds are the best to invest in each season.
ALWAYS GROW IN SQUARES (UNLESS YOU AUTOMIZE YOUR FARM)
While there is a great appeal to automize your farm, especially in the later stages of Stardew Valley, players will want to start off by planting nine seeds in a 3×3 square as this raises the chance that they will spawn a giant crop.
Giant Crops take 9 squares in total and are sold for more than single crops, making it more worth it than throwing a sprinkler in the middle.
It should be noted that only some crops can grow into giant crops including the following:
Cauliflower
Melons
Pumpkins
For the rest of your farm you might as well throw a sprinkler as this will reduce the amount of energy you need to use in order to farm.
FISH, FISH, FISH!!
I’ll be honest, fishing is my absolute least favourite task to ever do in Stardew Valley, not only because of the mechanic being a bit tricky, especially for those of you who are newer to fishing, but also just because fishing in general is a huge time suck.
While a time suck, fishing does provide players with some of the best resources for selling, making it a great way to start off your early funds in Stardew Valley.
There are a number of areas that will spawn in more expensive fish, such as the area to left of the beach by the rock. Many of these areas are depicted with darker water, though I will do a thorough fishing guide soon with all the fish available to a player and where players will want to head if they want some extra cash.
UNLOCK THE BEACH BRIDGE!
At first I didn’t realize how important it was to repair the Beach Bridge as I thought that 300 wood was too steep of a price to pay and that I wouldn’t see a return on my investment, nothing could be further from the truth.
Players will want to repair their bridge as soon as possible as there are a lot of valuable items that spawn on the other side, seemingly on a daily basis.
Players will always want to make sure that they keep at least one of each resource for character quests and for Community Center offerings, but any excess can be used to make some extra profits for your day.
Players will be collecting different types of Shells, Sea Urchins and Coral from these, all varying in selling prices, but all being worth it, especially because it doesn’t cost you any energy to collect these resources.
MINE AS DEEP AS YOU CAN IN THE CAVES
One of my favourite past times is to mine the caves, simply because I’m someone who really enjoys combat in games.
While the first few levels of the Cave are not very profitable, players will be able to make bank in the later levels as there are a variety of very expensive resources players will be able to get and they can also sell off many of the items that they collect by killing mobs.
Not only that, many of the resources mobs drop can be used for crafting recipes making it easier to complete tasks such as fishing or even different foods.
Players will also be able to locate different forms of Geodes that may drop a highly priced resource or even a resource that can be turned into the Museum to get some great rewards.
ANIMALS AREN’T AS IMPORTANT AS YOU’D THINK
While we all want some cute and cuddly animals on our farm, the reality is that animals are actually a resource sucker and will take the majority of your profits in order to maintain and purchase.
Players should wait until they are well into the game before they attempt to purchase animals and their houses, making this a year 2 investment for me.
The issue is that players can also get stuck with a variety of animals that they will not be able to feed in the winter, essentially making it so players have to purchase hay from Marnie due to the lack of grass regrowth.
As hay is priced at 50 Gold, this can essentially destroy a newer player who has not rationed their resources to prepare.
CONSERVE YOUR ENERGY
Unless you’ve managed to collect yourself a good amount of resources and are able eat enough food to recharge your energy, though this does come with a dip in your funds as you will not be able to sell those meals.
Players will want to make sure that they have their farm properly set up, meaning that if players have access to Sprinklers, they should start building those so they can simply collect their plants as soon as they’re ready to pick up and can essentially do other tasks instead.
There are three types of sprinklers:
Sprinkers, which water in a “+”, essentially watering only 4 plants.
Quality Sprinklers, which water the square around the sprinkler, essentially watering eight plants.
Iridium Sprinklers, which can water up to 24 plants in a square.
Sprinklers can be avoided, though Quality Sprinklers should be placed as soon as a player has access to them and Iridium Sprinklers can be used on a plot where players are trying to get Giant Crops.
When you’re running low on energy, spend your time looking for crops to pick up instead of completing tasks. This can make you a bit of extra profit before the day ends.
ALWAYS FOCUS ON IMPROVING YOUR SKILLS & TOOLS
Skills and tools are going to be two of the most important things players will have to focus on as both can help you get tasks done more quickly and yield more resources.
In terms of Tools, players will be saving energy by having more advanced tools as these will help you mine quicker, water more plants in one go, etc. Making it worth upgrading as soon as you can, unless you’re focusing on investing your funds on new seeds.
Tools can be upgraded at the Blacksmith.
In regards to the skills, players will want to ensure that they level up a skill to tier 5 before moving on as tier 5 will allow players to gain a profession which can increase the yield a player gets from doing that task or can even increase the amount of money players receive from selling a unit.
I always recommend choosing one skill to max out first before moving onto the next as having low tier skills don’t help as much as having one higher than the other, especially in the early game.
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