How do you feel about the fertilizer changes in 1.6? (1.6 spoilers)

[goboking]

I used to hoard clams during my first spring so I could have a reliable supply of speed-gro during my first summer. 1.6 changed the speed-gro recipe from 1 clam to 5 moss. Moss doesn't start growing until some point during summer, meaning speed-gro is delayed enough to cost a few harvests of some cash crops. I'm not a huge fan of the change not only because of said reduction in productivity to summer crops, but also because it shifts value away from clams (an otherwise relatively low-value piece of forage) onto moss (something that's in high demand even if it wasn't used to make speed-gro).

I'd be interested to hear what others feel about this. Do you feel the change was for the better, worse, or has it not moved the needle for you one way or the other?

 

[Lew Zealand]

I used to hoard clams during my first spring so I could have a reliable supply of speed-gro during my first summer. 1.6 changed the speed-gro recipe from 1 clam to 5 moss. Moss doesn't start growing until some point during summer, meaning speed-gro is delayed enough to cost a few harvests of some cash crops. I'm not a huge fan of the change not only because of said reduction in productivity to summer crops, but also because it shifts value away from clams (an otherwise relatively low-value piece of forage) onto moss (something that's in high demand even if it wasn't used to make speed-gro).

I'd be interested to hear what others feel about this. Do you feel the change was for the better, worse, or has it not moved the needle for you one way or the other?

I'm not a fan of it but for the slightest of different reasons: I wait until Quality Speed-Gro becomes available (Faming Level something-or-other) before I start using Fertilizers and something I religiously did was hit the Beach every 3 days or so to Forage up some Coral so I'd never be without. Now it's Bone Fragments which frankly I find harder to get before Ginger opens up (Mines Floor 70-80, maybe Artifact Spots). Coral is also pretty valueless unless you like Beach Totems.

It's the same problem, except that Moss is worse as it has other good uses. Bone Fragments have a use in later game but by then you'll have ample access.

 

[Yvi]

That's why my clams are still sitting there! I instinctively hoarded them because I remembered always running short in previous runs, but then I haven't used them once in this run. That answers that mystery!

 

[goboking]

I'm not a fan of it but for the slightest of different reasons: I wait until Quality Speed-Gro becomes available (Faming Level something-or-other) before I start using Fertilizers and something I religiously did was hit the Beach every 3 days or so to Forage up some Coral so I'd never be without. Now it's Bone Fragments which frankly I find harder to get before Ginger opens up (Mines Floor 70-80, maybe Artifact Spots). Coral is also pretty valueless unless you like Beach Totems.

It's the same problem, except that Moss is worse as it has other good uses. Bone Fragments have a use in later game but by then you'll have ample access.

Bones can also be milled for random fertilizers. This means you can use them to directly craft the fertilizer you want instead of bothering with the mill, which might spit out something you didn't need.

 

[Antsy]

The change to Speed-Gro and Deluxe Speed-Gro is the only thing in 1.6 that frankly annoyed me. I had a nice system worked out in year one to maximize my strawberries and blueberries, and felt in reasonable control of my farm. Now I feel a little irrationally discouraged about growing them at all. It also irritates me that early on in the game my precious bone fragments are being competed for by two different ways to make fertilizer, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. And as you say, clams and coral have become largely useless, and pine tar has lost its brief heroic moment. You're at the mercy of the weather before you can even begin to make Speed-Gro, and by the time you can make it, it's likely not worth bothering with. The only time it's really valuable is in Spring and the begining of Summer of year 1. After that it is occasionally useful but not nearly as important. It's hard to see how any of this improves "balance" in the game, though I can see a rationale for most other changes that I might not have been overjoyed with. Ah well.