When should I start getting really deep in the mines?

Farrow

Sodbuster
I suggest going down as fast as your comfortable with, the further you are the more valuable ores and gems you fine. And skull cavern is definitely meant for late game but with some skill can be tackled in the first spring even. So really it's whatever pace you feel comfortable with is what you should do
 
To keep making progress in the game, you will want to get quality sprinklers set up. This will allow you to grow more crops than you can water by hand due to time and energy constraints. So you need to get down to the gold!
 

Rhiannon

Farmer
What kind of weapon do you have? At that stage it can make a big difference. Don’t worry about every rock, just get down 5 levels. Then you can come back to that level.
This is what I have done. I made a goal that each time I went to the mine, which wasn't every day, I would try to go down 5 levels. Some days I couldn't make it that far. Some days I was able to make it 10 levels. I didn't worry about hitting every rock. My only true goal was five levels that day. I was able to get to the bottom by late Summer year One.
 
The beach farm has a 10×20 sprinkler area, fitting 8 iridium sprinklers or about 28 quality sprinklers. The greenhouse can be watered with 6 iridium or 16 quality sprinklers. I sometimes wait until I can just buy iridium sprinklers, upgrading my watering can instead.
Tool upgrades take 25 ore, plus the 5 coal to smelt the bars. Ore/bars and coal are also needed to make kegs, preserve jars, and beehives. Some people purchase the ore/coal instead, usually supported by income from crops or processed goods.
Stardew Valley is an open ended game, without many deadlines or penalties. Although you do not have to focus on mining, the various aspects are connected, and support each other. Wood is easier to collect with an upgraded axe, for instance. Another example is that many craftable items only unlock as you raise your skill level. To achieve perfection and "complete" the game requires maxing all skills, crafting every item, and meeting all the monster eradication goals.
To continue making progress in the mine, you may need better footwear, more food, coffee, better weapon, rings, and an upgraded pickaxe.
And of course, you can't get to skull cavern until you reach the bottom of the regular mine!

Edited to add: To access the sewer and purchase iridium sprinklers, you have to make 60+ donations to the museum. The easiest way is with minerals from geodes. Some minerals can only be found in frozen and magma geodes from levels 40+ and 80+. Additionally the completed museum is required for completion/perfection.
 
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qaija

Sodbuster
I don't know when to get deep in the mines. Should I do it early-game or late-game? Currently on Lvl 40.
Here's what I do:

I start off farming so I have money to buy things like coops, barns, tool upgrades, weapons, etc. This does not leave me with enough energy to go into the mines. With the summer gold melon crop I get my first good health/energy buff. At that point I am ready to enter the mines, though even at that point I only go when it is rainy and I don't have to water crops. Mining in earnest begins with winter when there are no crops to water. At that point I spend most days mining until I get to level 120 and can then go to skull caverns. Also note that when you first enter the mines you will get a message in the mail about the Adventurer's guild. (I'm not certain if you have to also kill your first slime to get this message or not, but by then you probably will have anyway). After you get this message and kill ten slimes you will be able to purchase weapons at the Adventurer's guild. The quality of weapon you can purchase increases as your mining skill increases. I believe you get a wooden sword as a reward at level 10 or 20. By the time you reach mining skill of 5 you can purchase decent weapons from the Adventurer's guild which makes fighting the mobs a lot easier. If you are already at level 40, you will already know about the Adventurer's guild and probably the weapons they sell.
 

MissDandy

Farmer
I would get down as far as you possibly can as soon as you can. You'll need that gold to update your tools, and if you want to start producing kegs, preserve jars or bee hives, you'll need the copper, iron and coal. (Personally that's where I think all the money is.) Get at least down to level 70 for the iron and copper, but you'll have a hard time mining it without a gold pickaxe. (Side note: I always found it funny that gold was the strongest upgrade while it's the softest metal of the bunch).

Get down as fast as you can so you can start making that bank $$$
 

Hill Myna

Farmer
I have a checklist of things that I have to like to get done by the end of the first Spring:
  • I want to be at Farming Level 6 (for the Quality Sprinkler recipe)
  • I want to be at Floor 100+ in the Mines (for the Stardrop and easy access to all the ores)
  • I want to have my Axe and Pickaxe upgraded to steel (for the ability to clear all the large rocks, stumps and logs on the Farm + access to the Secret Woods)
  • I want to have the Minecarts unlocked and all the Spring-only fish in the Fish Tank (so I don't have to worry about them later)
  • I want to have 15k+ G for Summer crops
Here's my strategy to complete all these objectives:
  • Early on I fish 24/7. From the morning of day 2 to the midnight of day 4, I'm nonstop angling. This gives me thousands of G to spend on crops, an early Pickaxe upgrade, and the Fiberglass Rod (on day 2)
  • By the end of Day 5 I like to have given Clint my Pickaxe to upgrade, so that I can make faster progress in the Mines
  • While I wait for my Pickaxe, I (you guessed it)... fish! Now that I have the Fisher profession for +25% on fish sales, I can earn 2-4k G a day from fishing, plus I score a bunch of Chub to eat in the Mines
  • At this point I also have to think about which crops I'm going to plant. Typically I lean heavily into Kale for the XP and cash that they provide, plus they're faster to harvest (because you can use a Scythe), which means I can spend more time mining!
  • Now that I've got a more powerful Pick, I can descend 10-20 Floors per day, depending on my fortune with ladders. This also yields tonnes of Copper and Iron, which I save for Kegs in Summer
  • As soon as I reach Floor 40, I upgrade my Pick again. At this point I should note that any rainy days that occur are spent down at the Cindersap River fishing, because Catfish are extremely lucrative if you can reel them in somewhat consistently
  • Now I have to start balancing my Mining ambitions with making sure that I'm at Farming Level 6. I typically do some calculations using these two XP charts on the Wiki, to figure out exactly how much more Kale I need to plant. Watering all the Kale takes I lot of energy, so I make sure to save my Chub for high-protein snacks
  • When I have enough money, I upgrade my Axe twice, so that I can clear my farm of debris for a large Sprinkler grid
  • Now that I'm nearing the end of the season, I start saving cash for Summer crops, and ores for Quality Sprinklers. To achieve the 15k that I need, I sell all of my unused crops, fish, Minerals, Artifacts, and Seaweed
This preps me for a really successful Summer, which I use for early Skull Cavern access (which I find really fun and also very lucrative).

As you can see, Mining is pretty essential to my plan. Maybe it's not as useful in satisfying your objectives, but hopefully this helps paint the picture of how powerful Mining can be!
 
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