Minimum villagers for non-Joja community center?

[Giant Octopodes]

I’m considering doing a run where I basically say ‘no thanks’ to the offer of meeting everyone. I’m wondering what the minimum number of people needed is to complete the community center without going the Joja route. Key considerations:

I believe Robin and Lewis are auto-adds right? Since they meet you in the intro?
Willie you could theoretically rely exclusively on the traveling cart for fish, but it would be *really* annoying, and you get a cutscene with him on finishing the fishing tank anyway. If you haven’t met him yet, will that count?
Other than that, I *believe* you can get the furnace recipe from Clint without meeting him, hopefully that won’t add him though. You don’t need him or his upgrades at all right, theoretically you can craft bombs for anything you would need them for I think.

I’ll be testing later tonight and will share my findings, but verifying Willie and whether he’s forced is tough to do independently; honestly I’m hoping he’s forced since that makes life easier but doing the whole fish tank without meeting him only to discover *then* that he’s forced would be absolutely brutal. Any assistance, insights, or thoughts are very appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Lew Zealand]

You can get all the Fish from the Traveling Cart but the odds are so low that IMO it's functionally not viable. While you do get a cutscene with Willy after finishing the CC, as long as the Fish Tank was the last "room" you finish in the CC it would be done before you get that scene. And the cutscene is in the Mountains map while the CC is in the Town map, so you can avoid the Mountains map after finishing the Tank and not meet Willy.

What's the plan for Seeds? Using a mod to easy sleep until every Fri and Sun and wait for everything to become available from the Cart Lady in the course of time? You'll need money for that but enough sales will trigger Demetrius' Farm Cave visit after you rake in 25K g. Will you be choosing the Forest Map for Hardwood and spawns? What about Marnie and the pet? I'm not sure that can be avoided. Also if you can get a Recycler, you need to be careful and not recycle Newspaper as you can rarely get Cloth which will trigger an Emily visit the next day.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

You can get all the Fish from the Traveling Cart but the odds are so low that IMO it's functionally not viable. While you do get a cutscene with Willy after finishing the CC, as long as the Fish Tank was the last "room" you finish in the CC it would be done before you get that scene. And the cutscene is in the Mountains map while the CC is in the Town map, so you can avoid the Mountains map after finishing the Tank and not meet Willy.

What's the plan for Seeds? Using a mod to easy sleep until every Fri and Sun and wait for everything to become available from the Cart Lady in the course of time? You'll need money for that but enough sales will trigger Demetrius' Farm Cave visit after you rake in 25K g. Will you be choosing the Forest Map for Hardwood and spawns? What about Marnie and the pet? I'm not sure that can be avoided. Also if you can get a Recycler, you need to be careful and not recycle Newspaper as you can rarely get Cloth which will trigger an Emily visit the next day.

The plan for seeds / crops is Mixed Seeds for what they cover (Cauliflower, Parsnip, Potato, Wheat and thus Flour, Peppers, Corn, Eggplant, Pumpkins), Yams from Duggies, the rest (Green Beans, Tomato, Blueberries, Melon) from the Traveling Cart and / or Skull Cavern treasure chests. All 4 of them are available from both sources, just a matter of where they show up first. I had actually planned on the Cave, Demetrius I guess I had also considered unskippable by implication as I figure you'll need to trigger it to get the vault done anyway right? Unless I'm missing something, of course, and please let me know if so. But I suspect I'd be choosing between either Demetrius or Emily even if I avoided it with completing the Artisan bundle, since without Fruit I'd need to find a cloth somehow. Definitely appreciate that note, would've likely walked right into that one otherwise.

Honestly Marnie being unskippable would be a blessing in disguise as it would make the animal bundle so much easier, though the idea of Robin, Lewis, Marnie, Demetrius and Willy all being met makes it a pretty unimpressive minimum villagers run. I had been planning on the wilderness farm for easier early mixed seeds, but I'm very open to alternate options; hardwood won't be a thing until I can get bombs anyway at which point the secret woods offers it at likely a pace which will exceed my bomb generation abilities.

 

[imnvs]

Robin and Lewis are only auto-adds if you open your inventory. You can avoid the auto-add, though if you're truly determined as seen here in BlaDe's run where he married Haley super early.

 

[MogBeoulve]

I believe Marnie only comes with the pet on a sunny day, and it might have to be a specific day of the week. So unless you're willing to perform rain dances constantly, she'll be an automatic meet.

Can you skip meeting Willy at the beach if you never open his letter? I think that might actually work, if you simply never open your mail. At least, it would be easier than avoiding the beach for the entire run.

I was under the impression that buying from shops doesn't introduce you to the shopkeeps. You have to go around the counter and talk to them. So if you want to adhere to the letter of the law and not the spirit, you can buy from Pierre and Gus without officially meeting them.

 

[REtroGeekery]

If you're planning to rely on mixed seeds a lot and don't mind taking a little longer to build up a supply of hardwood, then you might want to consider the Four Corners farm. It has the same special mixed seed weeds as the Wilderness farm but since it's so big, you get a lot of them and you can just let one quadrant go wild to keep respawning weeds without worrying about crop damage, if you wanted. It only has one daily respawning hardwood stump, but you also get a mini quarry and a baby lake.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Robin and Lewis are only auto-adds if you open your inventory. You can avoid the auto-add, though if you're truly determined as seen here in BlaDe's run where he married Haley super early.

Without opening your inventory though you can't prove how many villagers you've met so though that's certainly accurate and sometimes matters (and that was a heck of a run) it's like Schroedinger's Villagers, they're both not there and they are, as you can never observe their absence without affecting their state.
@MogBeoulve
Marnie then sounds like you could use the weather channel and never go outside except when it's rainy. It messes with the ability to get to the traveling cart without substantial additional work, even ignoring the impact on the animal bundle. Seems like a challenge on the level of Willie to skip her if not higher.

Seems like the technical lowest you could prove to have then is 3 (Demetrius, Robin and Lewis) unless Demetrius' event has days it doesn't trigger, which allow for at least some element of shopping from the traveling cart. Marnie and Willie *could* be skipped but I probably won't personally due to the difficulty, and you need to avoid cloth to stay away from Emily.

 

[Ereo]

I don’t think you can do anything in the CC without meeting the wizard because you can’t read the scrolls.

 

[MogBeoulve]

I don’t think you can do anything in the CC without meeting the wizard because you can’t read the scrolls.

Ouch! How about hard mode, then: collect everything you need BEFORE you go to meet the wizard.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I assume you’d just need to meet the wizard tbh (does his cutscene count as meeting?) and it’s iffy on a few other npcs.

you can avoid Lewis and Robin by not opening the menu. Avoid demitrius by not making 25k until the final day and the vault being your last bundle (unless you count watching the cc completion cutscene as finishing the cc)

I don’t remember if marnie comes on rainy days or after a certain time but I’m pretty sure she’ll be unavoidable If you don’t want to rely on the cart for fish that appear during sunny non spring days.

You will need to rely on the cart/trash if you don’t want to meet Willy as you automatically meet him during his fishing rod cutscene.

Every other npc is just a matter of not talking to I beleive.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Ouch! How about hard mode, then: collect everything you need BEFORE you go to meet the wizard.

Technically would still be meeting him before you complete the cc no matter what really

 

[SurprisedPikachuBob3]

You can't

The plan for seeds / crops is Mixed Seeds for what they cover (Cauliflower, Parsnip, Potato, Wheat and thus Flour, Peppers, Corn, Eggplant, Pumpkins), Yams from Duggies, the rest (Green Beans, Tomato, Blueberries, Melon) from the Traveling Cart and / or Skull Cavern treasure chests.

You could skip the Demetrius meeting by not completing the vault bundle and selling everything on the same day if you can access shops without meeting them

 

[ArtifactSpot]

I assume you’d just need to meet the wizard tbh (does his cutscene count as meeting?) and it’s iffy on a few other npcs.

you can avoid Lewis and Robin by not opening the menu. Avoid demitrius by not making 25k until the final day and the vault being your last bundle (unless you count watching the cc completion cutscene as finishing the cc)

I don’t remember if marnie comes on rainy days or after a certain time but I’m pretty sure she’ll be unavoidable If you don’t want to rely on the cart for fish that appear during sunny non spring days.

You will need to rely on the cart/trash if you don’t want to meet Willy as you automatically meet him during his fishing rod cutscene.

Every other npc is just a matter of not talking to I beleive.

Marnie comes by with your cat or dog on day 5 if you make 1000g I think if not then the end of Spring regardless.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

Your menu will say you’ve met Robin and Lewis even if you don’t do cutscene. Also Wizard is unavoidable. So those 4 Robin, Lewis, Wizard and Marnie are unavoidable. Demetrius will show if you make 25000g. Also Clint will come by as soon as you break rocks in mines, or on your farm if you have hill top or 4 corners, or dig an artifact spot that has copper. So he’s unavoidable too. Although if memory serves right it doesn’t show as a friendship meeting. Don’t know.

Very interesting run through. I’ll be watching this thread for sure.

 

[DragonGwen]

Your menu will say you’ve met Robin and Lewis even if you don’t do cutscene. Also Wizard is unavoidable. So those 4 Robin, Lewis, Wizard and Marnie are unavoidable. Demetrius will show if you make 25000g. Also Clint will come by as soon as you break rocks in mines, or on your farm if you have hill top or 4 corners, or dig an artifact spot that has copper. So he’s unavoidable too. Although if memory serves right it doesn’t show as a friendship meeting. Don’t know.

Very interesting run through. I’ll be watching this thread for sure.

You can avoid meeting Robin and Lewis if you don't open your inventory but I think that would be very hard

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Also it’s impossible to verify who you’ve met without opening the menu, meaning you can’t show the number of villagers you’ve met without them being included. IIRC you can only complete one bundle a day, and there’s lag on completing the community center vs getting the cutscene regarding it, so I’m not sure the proposed methodology to skip Demetrius is viable. Also you need to be able to farm the skull cavern for a lot of bundle items, which means delaying the vault until the end isn’t really viable either. However it’s worth testing if Marnie can be skipped by not going outside unless it’s raining during Spring year 1, I’m not sure if those event triggers ever expire. If Demetrius is similarly rain averse this might turn into ‘never go outside unless it’s raining’ though I’m not sure how that would impact the community center completion event, I’ll need to check if that is similarly weather limited.

The Wizard seems unskippable yeah, and Willy is definitely not but I’m not prepared for the nightmare fuel that would be required to skip him; even with Blade’s RNG predictor we would be talking years upon years of in game time, plus I like fishing and it’s thematically appropriate for a self sufficient hermit type character. So far we’ve got:
Robin - can’t prove you haven’t met her
Lewis - can’t prove you haven’t met him
Wizard - needed to turn in bundles
Willy - Either you meet him or the fish tank is close to impossible
Marnie - Gives you a pet, need to figure out if she’s skippable
Demetrius- Gives you a cave, need to figure out if he’s skippable
Emily - Must avoid cloth to avoid her

Greatly appreciate all the responses and ideas!

Edit: Also, what about Pam? Do I need to talk to her to unlock / take the bus? Never really had a goal of avoiding her before, and I can't recall what is and is not required for that whole thing to occur. I guess I'll find out when I get there but if someone knows offhand whether interaction with her is / is not required to farm the skull cavern I'd certainly appreciate it.

 

[Ereo]

You can complete as many bundles as you want in a day, it’s only that there will only be one cutscene if you complete several rooms the same day. But you’ll get the rewards all the same.

The wiki states the per event does count for meeting Marnie, and I doubt it would expire after spring.

I don’t think you need to talk to Pam, since you’re buying the tickets at the machine.

edit to say: tested and Marnie will appear in summer, even on rainy days. After the 20th of spring, she can appear any day so I suppose she’d also come on rainy days. Can also confirm it counts as meeting her.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Marnie comes by with your cat or dog on day 5 if you make 1000g I think if not then the end of Spring regardless.

Yeah but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t come if you leave your house past some late hour. Also regarding your other comment, opening the inventory is how you meet robin and Lewis so by not opening the inventory you completely avoid that.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

You can complete as many bundles as you want in a day, it’s only that there will only be one cutscene if you complete several rooms the same day. But you’ll get the rewards all the same.

The wiki states the per event does count for meeting Marnie, and I doubt it would expire after spring.

I don’t think you need to talk to Pam, since you’re buying the tickets at the machine.

edit to say: tested and Marnie will appear in summer, even on rainy days. After the 20th of spring, she can appear any day so I suppose she’d also come on rainy days. Can also confirm it counts as meeting her.

Does marnie come say after 8/10pm?

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Does marnie come say after 8/10pm?

Sadly yes. 12:40 AM. In the Rain. On the 9th of Summer. Year 2.
So yeah, even ignoring how impossible it would be to try to sneak out at 8 every night to get everything done for the bundles, sadly Marnie seems well and truly unskippable.

Out of curiosity, I've seen you recommend a couple of times now not opening the inventory to avoid adding Robin and Lewis. While this is true and it does work that way, how would you propose we verify the villagers who have and have not been met at the end of it all, if not via the listing in the inventory? It sounds absurdly difficult, but honestly less of a nightmare than skipping Willy, so I'm certainly not disregarding the idea. I've just yet to see a suggestion for a practical way to verify the results at the end which won't show the two of them as having been met.