How fast can you finish the community center?

[Zevvo]

I've played through the game to year four, started another game so I could marry Shane (I couldn't bear to divorce Harvey in my original game), and now I have decided to start a file just to see how fast I can possibly finish the community center. My goal is to finish within the first year. I'm about halfway through and though I've planned pretty well and made good progress, I'm starting to think I might not get there! It makes me wonder if anyone has tried this before and if so how fast could you do it? What strategies did you use?

 

[Magically Clueless]

I haven't tried it, but I've seen people attempt finishing the community center as early as Summer y1. I think the fastest reasonable time is early Fall Y1. It's intense!

people heavily rely on the traveling cart and random items in the mines, though i can't say i have any detailed strategies

 

[Zevvo]

That makes sense. I'm definitely living off the hope that I find a truffle at the traveling cart! Also relying on emily to (please) send me some wool or cloth so I'm maxing out her hearts as soon as I can. The hardest part I've found is actually just making enough money fast enough alongside the challenge to pay for coops and upgrades and such. I think you need to have a steel axe before the end of summer for sure for the fiddlehead fern. I chose mushroom cave because I always do but I actually think in retrospect I should have chosen fruit bats to help with the artisan bundle because I'm really behind there (animals are expensive T-T). I've learned that mining in the gold levels of the cave with a copper axe is a Whole Process.

 

[Odin]

Good luck with your goal!

 

[Paranoic]

Well, finishing the CC ASAP is always a gamble, since the red cabbage HAS to be found at the Traveling Merchant if you want it year 1. Other than that, you can get everything you need by Fall 17 without any other help from the cart - 'cause pumpkins with Deluxe Speed Gro + Agriculturist will take 10 days to grow (and should be the last thing you'd need for a Greenhouse on such run), and then you need 6 more days to grow Winter Seeds in your Greenhouse (you can get them early by farming Winter Roots from the Ice Slimes, and putting them in the Seed Makers), which are the only "winter-exclusive" item you need.
When I've attempted minmaxing the CC I went for my usual strategy of opening the Skull Caverns in early spring and just grinding money by selling Iridium Bars, and focusing on the Coop and the Barn to get large eggs and milks ASAP, and then rushing high farming levels to have the wines on time. Fishing alone can give you good money if you do it all day every day, but will make the run longer due to all the pausing when fishing. Still, if you stick to a plan, you can't really go wrong in the end, so good luck, and, most importantly, have fun

 

[Zevvo]

Oof if only I was good at mining! That's my biggest struggle honestly - no matter what I've never been able to get to level 25 in the skull caverns in any of my saves. I'm going to try to build up enough stone in one of my saves to just ladder my way down eventually.

 

[Vell]

The fastest I've completed it is Spring Year 2 Day 7. A lot my success came from choosing Fruit Bats over Mushrooms, checking the Travel Cart every Friday and Sunday for necessary items, and only planting crops needed for the Bundles. I also had two chests I kept exclusively for storing items needed to complete the Bundles, that way I could complete more than one Bundle at a time. I also planned ahead. I knew what I would need by checking the wiki.

 

[Journi]

Good luck with your goal! :)
The fastest time I finished my community center was spring year 2! I just got lucky with the traveling merchant with the red cabbage and she also had a truffle.

 

[Elimicats]

We completed it in Summer Y2

 

[SgtPickles]

Depends. How fast can I get a red cabbage?

 

[Zevvo]

UPDATE! I have officially finished the community center on the First day of Spring year 2! I really thought I was going to finish during the first week of winter, but I made ONE SILLY MISTAKE and forgot that pigs don't produce truffles in winter. My strategy was to aim for a fully upgraded coop by the end of summer and a fully upgraded barn by the end of fall and a house with a kitchen by the end of winter. In retrospect, I DEFINITELY should have swapped the barn and the coop. The truffle was the only thing I needed, so I basically slept through winter except to check the traveling cart.
Anyway, it was a fun experience that I don't think I'll do again any time soon. If anyone wants to give it a go, though, here are my take aways:

SPRING
- Money, money, money you need to max out the cauliflower.
- Don't stress about getting those five gold parsnips you will have time for that. If you get them great if not no stress.
- Grind through as much watering as you can to get the max money seriously you will need it.
- Spend your extra time fishing. Get a fiberglass rod as soon as possible.
- Upgrade your axe asap to copper and then to steel as soon as you can afford it.
- Start buttering Emily and Linus up with the best stuff you can get. These guys give very relevant gifts to help you finish bundles!
- Controversial opinion: Choose the mushroom cave because it will give you a ton of money and energy and it will fill out many bundles. Fruit can be bought or grown!
SUMMER
- You should now be done with Spring foraging and Spring crops.
- If you haven't gotten a steel axe by now get it ASAP because you need to go to the secret woods for the fiddlehead fern in summer
- This is the season to worry about getting your gold quality crops. Get a Whole Bunch of melons and corn.
- Focus money expenditures on upgrading your barn. Don't worry too much about buying animals just get to Deluxe Barn and get yourself a pig. (you can always get a cow early winter and have a large milk by the end of the season).
- A rabbit will give you wool (and Emily might just send you wool or cloth as well if you have succeeded in buttering her up) so DO NOT buy a sheep it is a waste of money.
- Try to automate most of your farm with sprinklers by the end of this season if not earlier. This means lots of trips to the mines. Get a copper pickaxe if you haven't yet.
- Don't forget of course to get all the /fish you need/ and all the crops you need etc. Pay attention to rainy days! These are for fishing!
- VERY IMPORTANT buy an apple tree and a pomegranate tree and plant as soon as you can but definitely BEFORE the last week of summer. These are the only fruit trees that are required for the community center. Other fruit is good for padding the artisan bundle and can often be bought at the traveling cart so pay attention.
FALL
- After all that prep work you should be in pretty good shape for several key bundle items.
- It's time to get your coop and coop animals going. Try to get animal products from the traveling cart as much as possible to "skip over" animals and save money.
- Get your gold quality pumpkins and of course the regular fall crops. Plant a bunch of wheat to get free hay both for your animals and for marnie's fodder bundle.
- Finish the fishing bundle This Season! It's best to get it off your plate! Sell extra fish for profit!
- If you haven't yet, use tappers to get the exotic foraging bundle done.
- Make a list of items that you have left and separate the ones that can be done in winter with the ones that can't. Obviously, prioritize.
WINTER
- If you have kept a good eye on things, you should be nearly done.
- This might be a season of waiting on new animals to produce satisfactorily or mining day after day to get that last gem you need. Be patient. It can get a bit grueling.
- Now is the time to buy your vault room. If you have been making smart crop choices and saving as much as possible, you should be able to do this in one go.
- Now is also the time to upgrade your house if you haven't yet. Get that maki roll done!
- Nautilus shells are ONLY found in winter so that will have to be picked up now.
- Basically, finish it up!

HOT TIPS
1. Everyone knows to check the traveling cart. Do it. Do not skip a day. You will always wonder what you missed.
2. Don't waste time/energy making friends unless you need their gift items. Emily is bae always make friends with Emily.
3. Don't go to the desert unless you're pressed for time and you need exotic foraging items I guess otherwise waste of money.
4. I was sentimental and gave stuff to Gunther. Some people might make an argument about getting Krobus' shop unlocked but honestly I never used it. Sell the gems.
5. If you use a harvest with scythe mod, do NOT use it on your one year community center farm. It will dramatically slow your progress in going up farming levels and you need that keg!
6. If this sounds really regimented and not fun to you then save yourself and don't do it. Honestly, I'm exhausted and there were plenty of days where I was just like ughghghghhhh because I just had to push through to get x item I needed. BUT I feel pretty accomplished at the end and I had fun with the logistical challenge! You do you!

Interested to hear people's thoughts : )

 

[TheHaboo]

you can get everything you need by Fall 17 without any other help from the cart.

This is correct for only the red cabbage, but if you are looking for a true theoretical limit to completing the CC for In-game days It would technically be Summer 2nd year 1 but it's more realistic is summer 10th year 1. The main limiter in these runs is the quality crops bundle due to them being unobtainable from the traveling cart.

For summer 2nd to be possible you would need a perfectly placed fairy to grow 5 golden melons, 5 golden corn, and summer crops. while getting 14 specific items from the traveling cart.
For summer 10th you only need 9 items from the traveling cart.

For real life time (RTA) or speedrunning WR for CC completion on https://www.speedrun.com/stardew_valley is 2:56:27.

 

[Tegrity Farms]

Oof if only I was good at mining! That's my biggest struggle honestly - no matter what I've never been able to get to level 25 in the skull caverns in any of my saves. I'm going to try to build up enough stone in one of my saves to just ladder my way down eventually.

Jade in a crystalarium, bring to turban lady in the desert on sundays for 1:1 staircases

 

[JonathanJONeill]

Reasonably speaking, Fall of Year 1 if you've gotten lucky and received a Red Cabbage or Seeds from the travelling cart.

The main items that will slow you down are Red Cabbage, Crocus and Snow Yam (can be grown in Greenhouse from Winter Seeds), Hazelnut, Tiger Trout and Walleye. Apples can be a pain too as they seem to be extremely rare in my games when relying on the Fruit Bat cave. So I tend to buy one sapling in Summer after my first Blueberry harvest. They can all be found at the Travelling cart but the odds of getting them all in one run by the start of Fall is slim.

 

[Sings_off_key]

If you make friends with Demetrius, he might give you a nautilus shell. It's nice to get it before they show up on the beach in winter.

 

[tommybob]

If you can get the Red Cabbage in the travelling shop in Y1 then you can easily do Y1.

My current save is just waiting for the Red Cabbage now, haven't been blessed by the RNG gods.

Look up the spreadsheets on reddit for what to prioritise. It helped me, my goal for this save was to finish the community centre in Y1 so I did well.

 

[EssentialDad]

I finished Spring Y2 like 10 days in
I never upgraded barn enough for pigs so I struggled to get a truffle off the cart but did right at the beginning of Y2

Got a fiddlehead and cabbage off the cart Y1 in my first two weeks!
The rest just came along naturally with the seasons
I did grind out 100 slimes before realizing I only needed 3 of four for the adventure bundle

I think the hardest thing was getting those gold parsnips no speed grow or fertilizer I just never had good enough crops took almost all spring

 

[Lucifer]

Fastest I got was 2 years since most of the items are pretty much difficult to have in the first year unless you're very lucky and can get them off the shopping kart.

 

[Sopoaku121]

i dunno how fast i will be, but i just need some items (i think its 3) that appear only in winter. if lucky, i could finish it in winter day 1

 

[Ellajoy]

I can not fish, but I once broke open no less than 30 rocks on the bottom of the mines thinking that there was another floor. Oops