Soft (easy) challenge runs

[hexnessie]

I'm looking for ideas to spice up the game without making it too much. An easy challenge, something that will change the way you'd usually do things on a new save and make you try out other aspects of the game.

What I tried already is the "Thou shall not profit from spirits" challenge, which simply involved not making any wine, beer or ale to sell. A fun, easy, quick challenge.

I'm now going to expand it into the "Health nut" challenge - no profiting on any unhealthy foods, so both alcohol beverages AND sweet jams/preserves are banned. Coffee only allowed in moderation - for your own consumption. The idea is to focus more on vegetables.

I'm also thinking vaguely of a "Shops open only on the last day of season" challenge but I'm not sure it would be easy/doable - the idea is to make you focus on forage / wild seeds and making friends with villagers to get stuff from them instead of straight out buying seeds from Pierre.

Can you think of some other easy to do challenges that slightly change the typical game run without being too hard?

 

[Lew Zealand]

Random thoughts:

Marmalade
Fuzzy blankets
Deer crossing

Less random on-topic thoughts:

1) Mixed Seed-only challenge for Crops, which is a variation on one of your suggestions. Maybe start with the 15 Parsnips Lewis starts you with and you can use any you receive from Community Center bundles, as well as the Ancient Seed you'll eventually find.

2) @Tom 's Pacifist challenge - no killing Monsters, which also means the Community Center might be difficult/impossible (Adventurer's Bundle)?

3) Maybe a Natural Farming challenge with no Fertilizers and no Iridium or better Sprinklers? Or even no Sprinklers at all but you can use Retaining Soil. I would likely find this annoying after a while but you might not?

Your Heath Nut challenge is really interesting, though. I like it! Maybe only 1 cup of Coffee a day and 1 cup of Tea, but no Triple Shot Espresso!

 

[Hill Myna]

I'm scheming for my next save, and I'm pretty sure I've come up with a "rule set":

• No seeding Ancient Fruit. There are so many more fun ways to get money.
• Rotating Crops. Whenever you harvest a single-harvest crop, you have to plant a different one in that spot. So no mass Starfruit or Wheat or Pumpkins all throughout the season.
• Pick a different profession! I feel like we always fall into a routine once we've found our favourite professions, so mixing it up sounds like fun!
• As soon as the Kitchen is unlocked, use the profitable recipes as much as you can. Why make Beer when you can make Bread?
• You can only give people gifts "purposefully" on their birthday. I might make an...exception for Caroline if I want to try the Tea Sapling method (thanks for sharing it people!).

I feel like these could shape the end game up a bit, which I'm all for, but I'm in no mind sure about them. If I see some cool suggestions here, maybe I'll add them in! FYI, I am NEVER going to restrict myself from Coffee. Ever.

If you want a really soft change, you could try a 75% Profit Margin in the Advanced Settings. Personally, I don't think I'll ever mess with it, simply because then all the math gets messy!

 

[LRangerR]

How about a complete fish pond collection challenge, and focus on fish ponds and nothing else? I'm not sure if this would be viable on all maps, but for fishing enthusiasts (or amateurs) i can see it being a bit of a different gameplay.

 

[imnvs]

How about a complete fish pond collection challenge, and focus on fish ponds and nothing else? I'm not sure if this would be viable on all maps, but for fishing enthusiasts (or amateurs) i can see it being a bit of a different gameplay.

50 fish including night market fish, 10 crab pot fish, so 60 fish ponds that occupy 25 tiles each but you'll need access so we'll add another 5 tiles (even though it can be shared, you can't do this along one highway and will need cross paths)... 60 fish ponds assuming 30 tiles needed per is 1800 tiles needed to pull this off. While every map has at least that many tiles certain maps may not have them arranged in a way where they can all be utilized. We're looking at you, Riverlands Map. Forest, Hill-top and Wilderness aren't as worrisome, but still may be difficult.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

One of my farms was all about jam. I filled the whole sewer with preserves jars and grew so much fruit to keep the jars fed. But also in that save I played as a monk devoted to Yoba. I did no magic, so no warps, no return scepter. No spirits, no coffee, no buffs at all. My one shed had only a rug, torches, and sign of the vessel. Also no dating. It was really fun but I got tired of all the jam!

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Try for a money goal, I like to spend a lot so mine for in hand money is not much but it is fun to see what you can get.
I doubt many people would think this a "soft" challenge (I think it is somewhere in the middle) but I am trying to achieve getting a billion g and after that working on becoming a billionaire in my standard farm file. In it I am working towards making about 150 million a year but I do not expect to be done the challenge until year 12-13 in game if I even play that far.
So whatever works for you, some people like niche challenges to spice things up but I don't really like them as of now but a "No outdoor crops" challenge where you are only allowed enough crops for the greenhouse so you can get the garden pot recipe. That sounds like It could be fun. Or perhaps a challenge where you cannot use the watering can and can only profit from selling crops, that sounds easy until you realize that you need level 2 farming to unlock sprinklers and you cannot sell iridium or the likes to make money.
Good luck.

 

[LRangerR]

One of my farms was all about jam. I filled the whole sewer with preserves jars...

I'll pass on the sewer jam, thanks.

Try for a money goal...
Good luck.

There comes a certain point in the game where money is just overrated. I know you like to put machines everywhere, but that kinda playstyle sounds more like a chore to me.

 

[hexnessie]

If you want a really soft change, you could try a 75% Profit Margin in the Advanced Settings. Personally, I don't think I'll ever mess with it, simply because then all the math gets messy!

Ooh, I never noticed it! I will definitely try this out.

 

[FairyRing]

Slime farm. All slimes all the time.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Ooh, I never noticed it! I will definitely try this out.

Or go all the way to 25%.

I'll pass on the sewer jam, thanks.


There comes a certain point in the game where money is just overrated. I know you like to put machines everywhere, but that kinda playstyle sounds more like a chore to me.

Yeah, all people play differently, I just want to see how efficient you can become.

 

[LRangerR]

Yeah, all people play differently, I just want to see how efficient you can become.

I get it, mental exercises are nice, just as long as you don't get lost in the exercise/experiment.

Or go all the way to 25%.

I haven't fully explored the profit margin, but from what I could tell at a glance is it changes the prices for seeds (and trees?) down by the same amount. So if you're running a fully self sufficient farm (as in, not buying much from clint or robin), then I get the feeling that It won't really affect you as much, unless you frequent the Traveling Cart much. And with her, I'm curious if Rare Seeds are scaled in price as well, since they're pretty much the only thing she sells that's at a fixed price.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I get it, mental exercises are nice, just as long as you don't get lost in the exercise/experiment.


I haven't fully explored the profit margin, but from what I could tell at a glance is it changes the prices for seeds (and trees?) down by the same amount. So if you're running a fully self sufficient farm (as in, not buying much from clint or robin), then I get the feeling that It won't really affect you as much, unless you frequent the Traveling Cart much. And with her, I'm curious if Rare Seeds are scaled in price as well, since they're pretty much the only thing she sells that's at a fixed price.

Price and sell price is lowered so you make the same money relative to cost but less for each tile so everthing "costs" more.

 

[FarmerJoJo]

A Miss Congeniality run? Max hearts with all available villagers by end of Year 1, don't miss a single birthday and set yourself a target number of help wanted tasks. Or the heart breaker run, wooing all the available singles.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Or the heart breaker run, wooing all the available singles.

I'm doing this right now. All the dateable people are at 8 except Harvey, who's at 6. Once that's fixed, next will be the biggie: 12 Bouquets and 12 Loved or Liked Gifts of highest quality. We'll see how many I can get in one day!

Why yes.

Yes I do have a

 

[WhiteEagle12]

I honestly don't know about 'soft' challenge runs, as I am apparently very bad at coming up with easy (doable) challenge ideas. I'm currently doing a run where I catch the Legend as my first fish and it is proving... difficult, shall we say. If I think of anything doable then I will absolutely tell you though. Not a good chance of that happening...

 

[LRangerR]

How about a Rare Seed-mostly challenge run? Where you just only farm rare seeds in the greenhouse?
Some exceptions can be made to accommodate the way the game builds up to getting the greenhouse (unless you can think of a way to get the greenhouse from joja easily and then completing the route of your choice).

 

[FlyingCatPhillips]

How about where you don't use the shipment box and you sell items exclusively to the shops? Or trash items they don't buy like, trash?

 

[Boo1972]

The Heartbreaker Run is my favorite and I highly recommend it. On the opposite end you could see how fast you can marry a new-to-you spouse. Say marry Shane or Haley the first summer.

I keep meaning to do a brewery run- mead, beer and pale ale but no wine.

I’m gearing up for a anti-Pierre, anti-Joja run. No buying anything from Joja and you can only buy the backpack upgrades, bouquet and catalog from Pierre. But, the traveling merchant, the Oasis, Krobus and the night market shops are fine. This would mean not completing the community center until year 2 unless you get really lucky with the traveling cart.

 

[LRangerR]

How about where you don't use the shipment box and you sell items exclusively to the shops? Or trash items they don't buy like, trash?

This is actually pretty fun, but the one thing that I found that I had trouble with this was tree Saps (pine tar, oak resin, and specifically Pierre doesn't want to buy Maple Syrup for some reason). Other than that it's actually pretty fun, and you get to hear different dialogue from the villagers sometimes.