Farmer Bobbi's suggestions for med/meh easygoing Stardew Valley play

[Lew Zealand]

Note: This is a work in progress and will be updated with suggestions from forumpersons and there will be following posts about more specific aspects of the game.

Farmer Bobbi worked too hard at her previous jobs and realized that while a more pastoral existence in Pelican Town implies an increased appreciation in the chillax of Nature, communications with other Farmers revealed a great many of them forget that to become one with Nature, they must find a balance with it.

Also she's become used to being farmlazy and instead of managing so many blahblahbah details to combat this, it's easier to make excuses for it and then feel better about herself if she convinces others of its value.
__________

Overarching playstyle themes, focusing early game:

Edit: The new Farmer doesn't have everything they want but they don't need everything they want. The new Farmer already has everything they need from the first day in the game. For example, you can play never leaving the Farm (a fun strategy that some choose to do!) and grow many things from your initial Parsnips, Mixed Seeds, Tree Seeds and various bits dug up from Artifact Spots. So all the rest is just adding to an already special experience.

1. Do the fun thing and put off the grind/money thing. With an ugly 10M g eyesore in the game, you by definition will always be short of g unless you enjoy Farm aesthetics. Accept this lifestyle.
2. Mostly plant crops that take a long time to grow (Y1 Cauli, Melon, Pumpkin, Y2 Rhubarb, Starfruit, Red Cabbage). You get more g for less work, that's the game hinting at ya! Plant near a water source.
3. Plant half of what you can tolerate, especially early on when hand watering. Leave room for expansion (if you want) for when you get Quality Sprinklers.
4. Consider playing the game by E, especially early on. If you're out of Energy then the day's over and you accomplished a lot. Head on pillow.
5. Take 2-3 days each week to cruise around and give Gifts or just talk to Villagers if you like this game mechanic (I do). Do nothing else off the Farm except maybe Forage and dig Artifact Spots if they're on your way.
6. Pick a day or 2 each week to Mine, no than 5 floors a day (OK unless you're really lucky) to open up the next Elevator stop. Give up and grab the ladder if it's not going well, there's always tomorrow.
7. Pick a day each week to Fish and pick a different location each time: River, Mountain Pond, Ocean. You'll end up with most Fish pretty quickly and your Energy goes down fast enough that you'll retire early for the afternoon. Yeah Ok or night if you fall asleep after elevensies...
8. Keep/don't sell 1 or 2 of everything you Farm/Forage/Mine for the Community Center and Museum donations. When you hover over any inventory, the Community Center icon will pulse if it can be donated. You get many good things from these in return.

Note that I've only mentioned 5-6 days each week as the other 1-2 are flexible for:

• Any/All of the new v1.6 Events. Your Farm will wait, enjoy the new things guilt-free!
• Harvesting and replanting (the crops in #2 above are all 12-13 day harvests, 9 with Delux Speed-Gro)
• Rainy days to Fish up something special
• Craft or Catch or Forage for a Birthday Gift or Help Wanted request
• Random thing you like to do like Forage on the Beach or chop Trees in Cindersap
• Reorganizing your Chests which I need to do by the time ~4 of them are just randomly full of stuff

More to come but my Coffee's wearing off and I think I left the Spicy Eel in my other outfit...

 

[Lew Zealand]

General ideas about Targetted Accomplishments, Early Game

On second/subsequent playthroughs, consider dismissing quests as they come up so there's no in-game pressure to follow a certain path. Do it your way. @LRangerR 's excellent suggestion

1. The Greenhouse will be finished in Summer Year 2 at the earliest. No stressing about early Red Cabbage seed or Ancient Fruit seed or Coffee Bean.
2. Take Help Wanted requests as they pay 3x the going rate for the item. Afterwards you can lounge about for twice the time you spent on it! Also you gain Friendship and a new v1.6 bonus.
3. The Traveling Cart Lady is there twice a week, if you miss her it's no biggie as she'll be back and see #1 above. The Rare Seed is available thru the end of Summer so there's no rush there either.
4. The Silo could be a nice first target when you feel like it (usually Fall for me) as it's cheap except for the Copper Bars. It's useful for a recommendation in the following post (lol not added yet).
5. Quality Sprinklers are a very nice way to reduce early morning Farm duties, this really eases some implied time pressure, this is the point of all this!

The balance from here on (OK on all of this!) is very individualized as different people like different things. I tend to prefer:

Copper for the Silo first, then Pick, then Axe. But I forgot the Silo in my current save, so LOL! Yeah it just doesn't matter much.
Iron for the Pick, then Axe, maybe then Stable? What do you enjoy the most? Mining, cutting Trees, the rush of wind through your hair?
Gold for Quality Sprinklers. I kinda stop upgrading my Tools at Iron (until much later when Mining becomes annoying, etc.) and then save some with Gold for the QSprinklers as they make almost every day easier and do so from the time you wake up. This is really a great feeling.

Coop is cheaper and Chickens! so I start here and never get more than 1. And no need to fill it more than 1 of each animal for a long time. More animals is more work and processing which we're trying to avoid.
Barn is more expensive but Chickens can't moo. Also never more than 1 Barn and 1 of each animal early on. If you love Animal Husbandry then by all means max out on Coop+Barn and enjoy the petting!
Stable is even more expensive but Hardwood is rare unless you're on the Forest Farm. Some people ignore this entirely but I play the Forest Farm specifically to make the Stable easy to get.

And then there's g. The ephlelevfleanttt in the room.

Not sure what to say here, really super not. Almost anything becomes a min/max strategy which I'm trying to avoid. As mentioned above, early on I plant crops that take a long time to grow as they also happen to be good for g. Then sell, buy Seeds, repeat. 2 crops per season, 3 days per season of big work, watering each day until sprinklers. This is why I said above to plant half of what you can tolerate. That's a BIG half to do on the BIG days and a little half to do on the handwatering days.
When you get animals, process their products as you get those machines, either from CC rewards or making them yourself!

There are lots of little strategies to make more g but I'm going to actively avoid them as IMO they work against taking it easy.


This is definitely incomplete but the longer it gets the more it feels like a Targetted Accomplishment list, which is what I want to avoid LOL!

 

[Lew Zealand]

placeholder for: More specific ideas

 

[Lew Zealand]

placeholder for: Later game laziness, aka The Big Challenge

 

[LRangerR]

...communications with other Farmers...

Yo.

1. Do the fun thing and put off the grind/money thing. With an ugly 10M g eyesore in the game, you by definition will always be short of g unless you enjoy Farm aesthetics. Accept this lifestyle.

Something I will be trying soon is completely ignoring the Community Center/Joja quests (drama) until I feel the need to go to Ginger Island, or some other thing that requires them being completed. Also, deleting any Journal quests that come up. This vastly alters the early-game playstyle as the game won't be holding your hand, and you'll just be doing whatever you want. This is the way Harvest Moon played, and sometimes I miss that kinda vibe.

2. Mostly plant crops that take a long time to grow (Y1 Cauli, Melon, Pumpkin, Y2 Rhubarb, Starfruit, Red Cabbage). You get more g for less work, that's the game hinting at ya!

Sometimes, if I don't feel like harvesting. Like, anything. If this is the case, I will plant only seeds that require the scythe to harvest. Reseeding them is a cinch, especially if you have everything covered by sprinklers. Very low maintenance way of farming.

5. Take 2-3 days each week to cruise around and give Gifts or just talk to Villagers if you like this game mechanic (I do).

I also enjoy giving the villagers gifts, and it is one of my dreams to one day give every villager every item that is giftable (this may take a while). However, if I don't feel like going out-of-the-way to meet everybody early game, I will just wait til the Egg Festival and just say hi to everybody there.

6. Pick a day or 2 each week to Mine, no than 5 floors a day (OK unless you're really lucky) to open up the next Elevator stop. Give up and grab the ladder if it's not going well, there's always tomorrow.

Nothing to say, just highly agree with this one.

7. Pick a day each week to Fish and pick a different location each time: River, Mountain Pond, Ocean. You'll end up with most Fish pretty quickly and your Energy goes down fast enough that you'll retire early for the afternoon. Yeah Ok or night if you fall asleep after elevensies...

If you're someone who really enjoys fishing, like me, I will often plop my buns down near Willy's. When my E gets low, I'll go in and sell off all my fish and buy a Trout Soup, and maybe give Willy a fish or something. Just remember that he closes up shop at 5p, and that his shop isn't open on certain days.

Also, Fruit Trees are a very low maintenance way to farm and they look really pretty too. I know this thread is supposed to not care about money, but all the fruit trees will pay for themselves in full after a maximum of 2 harvestable seasons, so 2 years, and then they only get better from there.

 

[Benhimself]

Mid casual effort play is my favorite jam. One of my favorite minor simple tips is to always save a gold cauliflower from spring y1 for the summer luau to get the best result: your melons probably won't be ready in time, and catching gold catfish or sturgeon early can be a pain.

Also it's against conventional wisdom but if you're hanging out at the docks fishing, I personally always go for treasure chests over perfect catches. It's low odds but a neptune's glaive or broken trident is a HUGE game-changer of convenience early on that it's worth taking the chance every time you can, and even outside that extra resources like ores or coal can easily be worth more than a few extra gold from that sardine. (I know perfect catches are more about XP than gold, but still)

 

[Lew Zealand]

Yo.

Adrian! (sorry but in my head that is a fixed point in the universe)

Something I will be trying soon is completely ignoring the Community Center/Joja quests (drama) until I feel the need to go to Ginger Island, or some other thing that requires them being completed. Also, deleting any Journal quests that come up. This vastly alters the early-game playstyle as the game won't be holding your hand, and you'll just be doing whatever you want. This is the way Harvest Moon played, and sometimes I miss that kinda vibe.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................................

I like this. I don't have a complete enough knowledge of the game to know if deleting the Journal quests will permanently remove anything (of value?) from the game experience. Deleting Birdie's Quest will lose a Recipe but it's one I have yet to and will likely never use.

Sometimes, if I don't feel like harvesting. Like, anything. If this is the case, I will plant only seeds that require the scythe to harvest. Reseeding them is a cinch, especially if you have everything covered by sprinklers. Very low maintenance way of farming.

There's a new v1.6 item which solves much of this tedium but as such takes a bit to uncover. LOL and I forget how you get it right now!

I also enjoy giving the villagers gifts, and it is one of my dreams to one day give every villager every item that is giftable (this may take a while). However, if I don't feel like going out-of-the-way to meet everybody early game, I will just wait til the Egg Festival and just say hi to everybody there.

Nice aspiration! I think this is low enough in this chat to mention that I'm considering going for Perfection in my current save and the thing that will prevent this from happening is Cooking. If I somehow make it that far then I may try part of this but only the Neutral to Loved Gifts, as the Cooking part of Gifts is what prevents me from Gifting anything more complex than Sashimi.

If you're someone who really enjoys fishing, like me, I will often plop my buns down near Willy's. When my E gets low, I'll go in and sell off all my fish and buy a Trout Soup, and maybe give Willy a fish or something. Just remember that he closes up shop at 5p, and that his shop isn't open on certain days.

Yes I like to Fish in the Ocean for the convenience of the quick sale to Willy but my favorite is directly South of the Farm late at night when I have a couple of hours and some extra E before the end of the day. The g is irrelevant, just the fun of Fishing.

Also, Fruit Trees are a very low maintenance way to farm and they look really pretty too. I know this thread is supposed to not care about money, but all the fruit trees will pay for themselves in full after a maximum of 2 harvestable seasons, so 2 years, and then they only get better from there.

I love Fruit Trees in the Greenhouse but never plant them outside because of the Season-specific thing. G is still a necessary part of the game and this guide is tied to that as I want to address...

how to manage or even reset our personal expectations, our frame of mind? Balancing the inherent usefulness of g while minimizing the feel that doing something relaxing or fun in the game is costing time or g. This is more about how to enjoy the process but still do as much of it as you want to.

Genuine timesavers like Fruit Trees are ideal for that as you can put them off for 3 days while you do something else and lose nothing. And all they take is a bump as you run by and with a Magnet Ring you'll still gather everything.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Mid casual effort play is my favorite jam. One of my favorite minor simple tips is to always save a gold cauliflower from spring y1 for the summer luau to get the best result: your melons probably won't be ready in time, and catching gold catfish or sturgeon early can be a pain.

I usually forgo adding a good/Gold star item at the Y1 Luau as I'm growing only a modest amount of everything and to be honest, I don't know what the breakdown of "good" vs "great" is when it comes to the friendship values from the Soup.

Also it's against conventional wisdom but if you're hanging out at the docks fishing, I personally always go for treasure chests over perfect catches. It's low odds but a neptune's glaive or broken trident is a HUGE game-changer of convenience early on that it's worth taking the chance every time you can, and even outside that extra resources like ores or coal can easily be worth more than a few extra gold from that sardine. (I know perfect catches are more about XP than gold, but still)

In this save I went for Fisher and Pirate for the first time in any save and I prioritize Treasure Chests over catch XP. And this IMO is a good part of a more casual play because it's using simple game mechanics to make things easier. There are sooooo many good and diverse things that you can get from those Fishing Treasure Chests that selling a few Fish for a lower price and getting lower XP on a few Fish is an easy tradeoff.

A key point about "lazy" play is using the game mechanics to make gameplay easier, not getting a little more g. The easiest example being Crystalariums with Jade, Quartz, Ruby for the Desert Trader to make Skull Cavern/Mines/Volcano easier vs. Diamonds for 750g/ea.

 

[Yvi]

My favorite lazy farming technique is to primarily plant multiple harvest plants. No remembering to buy new seed (which invariably happens when Pierre is closed), no replanting, no hassle. It's as easy as foraging. Just walk past and pick blueberries.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

I LOVE these keep them coming! I get so over whelmed with the game when I see how freaking good some players here and elsewhere are, and how easy they make it look. With my disability I could never in a million billion years do what they do even with things like item id glitch. I need to appreciate Stardew, not gold. Simplicity without stress or worries. The game never officially ends. No need to rush to get to a non ending ending. Perfection sucks, worst addition to the game ever, and I rarely complain about it. Some love it, I hate it with a passion. I think it could be darn right dangerous for some kids, tweens and teens who initially play to relax, find this challenge then stress out over nothing. Kids, tweens and teens are stressed enough these days, no need to add to it accidentally or on purpose.

 

[Bawby]

I played multiple farms with different groups and it was always the same- make muchos moneys and complete CC year 1. Which is fine, but really burned me out. No Man's Sky/Samurai Warriors/any other game was looking better and better!
Started playing Stardew again and my wife wanted to play too. I biffed on Summer crops, failing to turn in a blueberry for CC. My wife's exact words after this massive blunder were, and I quote,

CHICKENS!!

.
It's been so refreshing to just play the game. Playing it with someone to enjoy the stories, get excited when the cow can now make milk, grin from ear-to-ear as the smug slimes now run in terror because now we have a bone swords.
I have no real point. It's just, I like this. This is a good topic.

 

[Benhimself]

I usually forgo adding a good/Gold star item at the Y1 Luau as I'm growing only a modest amount of everything and to be honest, I don't know what the breakdown of "good" vs "great" is when it comes to the friendship values from the Soup.

I don't have the list memorized either, I just know that gold-quality cauliflower is sufficient for the best possible result, and since it's a crop that gets decent returns with minimal harvesting, I'll usually plant enough to have at least one gold one by the end of spring. Then slap it in my "to do" chest so I don't forget it. Minimal effort for maximum possible returns!

Ben's Tips Continued: Make a "to do" chest and put things for the community center, geodes to break open, artifacts to donate, gifts to give, items for your grange, etc, in it. A convenient way to remind yourself "Don't sell this! You want to do something with this. But y'know, later. Those artifacts will wait until you're going in that direction for another reason, really. And who needs to visit the community center for EVERY fish you catch? Wait until you're about to finish a bundle at least." I tend to put mine right on the path leading from my farm to the bus stop since it's easy to both put stuff in and take it out.

I also tend to have a "My inventory is overflowing but I'm too lazy to go to my storage and put everything in the PROPER place so I'll just dump it here and sort it later" chest. Needless to say since 1.6 that's been a big chest as soon as I can reasonably afford it.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I LOVE these keep them coming! I get so over whelmed with the game when I see how freaking good some players here and elsewhere are, and how easy they make it look. With my disability I could never in a million billion years do what they do even with things like item id glitch. I need to appreciate Stardew, not gold. Simplicity without stress or worries. The game never officially ends. No need to rush to get to a non ending ending. Perfection sucks, worst addition to the game ever, and I rarely complain about it. Some love it, I hate it with a passion. I think it could be darn right dangerous for some kids, tweens and teens who initially play to relax, find this challenge then stress out over nothing. Kids, tweens and teens are stressed enough these days, no need to add to it accidentally or on purpose.

Yes and thank you for the reminders to focus on game appreciation and not making a number go up. There will always need to be that balance as not being able to afford a Barn (they're spensive!) to get those fun and pettable Animals will be an annoyance but I hope I can remember to emphasize enjoying the thing you're doing now instead of needing to get to the thing you'll be doing in the future. Enjoy the process, getting there is half the fun.

One post a number of years ago that stuck with me the most was from a new person expressing not a small amount of frustration with Fector's Challenge because someone had mentioned that SDV was an easy way to get XBox achievements and they were trying to get a lot. Yeah that made me sad as someone got pretty badly hung up on making a number go up. Please nobody do that.

I have no problem at all with min-maxers as they are trying to see what the limits of the game are and what their personal limits are and that's great, I love watching to see what's possible. But slowly allowing more min-maxing to creep into everyday play can subtly ruin anyone's playthrough if they are getting hung up on not finishing something as quickly as someone else or not getting the next round of yummy Jelly out the door. Everything can wait another day.

....

Hmmmm, just thought of something. A lot of it could be tied to our limited time IRL to play the game. So really it's the everyday limits of gameplay time which are intruding into our need to do too much. I will think about how to manage that.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I don't have the list memorized either, I just know that gold-quality cauliflower is sufficient for the best possible result, and since it's a crop that gets decent returns with minimal harvesting, I'll usually plant enough to have at least one gold one by the end of spring. Then slap it in my "to do" chest so I don't forget it. Minimal effort for maximum possible returns!

Ben's Tips Continued: Make a "to do" chest and put things for the community center, geodes to break open, artifacts to donate, gifts to give, items for your grange, etc, in it. A convenient way to remind yourself "Don't sell this! You want to do something with this. But y'know, later. Those artifacts will wait until you're going in that direction for another reason, really. And who needs to visit the community center for EVERY fish you catch? Wait until you're about to finish a bundle at least." I tend to put mine right on the path leading from my farm to the bus stop since it's easy to both put stuff in and take it out.

I also tend to have a "My inventory is overflowing but I'm too lazy to go to my storage and put everything in the PROPER place so I'll just dump it here and sort it later" chest. Needless to say since 1.6 that's been a big chest as soon as I can reasonably afford it.

I have a To Do chest, too. It gets the things I'm accumulating for requests and the CC, like Gold Melons (LOL I've never once made the Gold Cauliflower donation). When I get that first Starfruit it goes in there until the special request from Jodi, which always comes later than I expect.

 

[LRangerR]

Adrian! (sorry but in my head that is a fixed point in the universe)

Sup.

Hmmmm, just thought of something. A lot of it could be tied to our limited time IRL to play the game. So really it's the everyday limits of gameplay time which are intruding into our need to do too much. I will think about how to manage that.

Stardew is a game to be savored, not chugged. It's set up that way since there is no winning or losing or even missing out on things, there is just more time to do the things you want to do.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................................

I like this. I don't have a complete enough knowledge of the game to know if deleting the Journal quests will permanently remove anything (of value?) from the game experience. Deleting Birdie's Quest will lose a Recipe but it's one I have yet to and will likely never use.

I don't know either, but you can always see what the reward will be before you can decide to delete it or not.

Nice aspiration!

Everyone will be getting a stick, and only Leah will like it. The crabs understand.

I LOVE these keep them coming! I get so over whelmed with the game when I see how freaking good some players here and elsewhere are, and how easy they make it look. With my disability I could never in a million billion years do what they do even with things like item id glitch. I need to appreciate Stardew, not gold. Simplicity without stress or worries. The game never officially ends. No need to rush to get to a non ending ending. Perfection sucks, worst addition to the game ever, and I rarely complain about it. Some love it, I hate it with a passion. I think it could be darn right dangerous for some kids, tweens and teens who initially play to relax, find this challenge then stress out over nothing. Kids, tweens and teens are stressed enough these days, no need to add to it accidentally or on purpose.

This I totally get and understand. It's something that's bothered me as well since 1.5, which is one of the reasons why I'm so onboard with Lew's project. I know how to be a min-maxer, I may have been one before, I just make the conscious choice not to, because it's often not worth it. I don't play games to be the bestest ever, I play games to have fun, destress, unwind, or a myriad of other reasons. If I find that a game is stressing me out or doing something else that I don't like, I will drop that game faster than a hot pan. I can gratefully say that optional perfection aside, this is something that I have never felt with SDV. I wasn't much of a fan of the 1.5 update, but I can't wait to get into 1.6. Super stoked about a lot of the new changes and additions.
P.S.- I blame the parrots

...and I quote...

To be fair, chickens...

Ben's Tips Continued: Make a "to do" chest and put things for the community center, geodes to break open, artifacts to donate, gifts to give, items for your grange, etc, in it. A convenient way to remind yourself "Don't sell this! You want to do something with this. But y'know, later. Those artifacts will wait until you're going in that direction for another reason, really. And who needs to visit the community center for EVERY fish you catch? Wait until you're about to finish a bundle at least." I tend to put mine right on the path leading from my farm to the bus stop since it's easy to both put stuff in and take it out.

Expanding on this a bit, I have chests scattered all over the valley. I have chests in the mines for tools and loot. If i'm doing well, my bag is getting full, and get to a 5th floor and got plenty of time left in the day, I'll hop on the elevator and drop my loot in a chest, hop back on the elevator and keep plugging away. All that stuff in the chest? I'll deal with it another day... And I can always make more chests if i need them as well. I also will keep recycling machines near Willy's, maybe a chest or bait machine inside his shop as well (it's hard to find safe places outside where they don't kick things around). This makes it so that I'm not feeling compelled to grab bait every single day, or micromanaging my trash but instead putting it in the machines when I get it. It'll be done by the time I'm done fishing, so no biggy.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Expanding on this a bit, I have chests scattered all over the valley. I have chests in the mines for tools and loot. If i'm doing well, my bag is getting full, and get to a 5th floor and got plenty of time left in the day, I'll hop on the elevator and drop my loot in a chest, hop back on the elevator and keep plugging away. All that stuff in the chest? I'll deal with it another day... And I can always make more chests if i need them as well. I also will keep recycling machines near Willy's, maybe a chest or bait machine inside his shop as well (it's hard to find safe places outside where they don't kick things around). This makes it so that I'm not feeling compelled to grab bait every single day, or micromanaging my trash but instead putting it in the machines when I get it. It'll be done by the time I'm done fishing, so no biggy.

Chests in map spots is currently #4 in the More Specific Ideas section but I admit to hauling Trash home instead of processing it in situ. However I do like to Fish in various places so a Chest in each spot is usually about the biggest Map modification I do outside of occasionally converting Cindersap Forest into Meadow when I'm short of Wood.

 

[LRangerR]

Chests in map spots is currently #4 in the More Specific Ideas section but I admit to hauling Trash home instead of processing it in situ. However I do like to Fish in various places so a Chest in each spot is usually about the biggest Map modification I do outside of occasionally converting Cindersap Forest into Meadow when I'm short of Wood.

I'm sure you're familiar with my farming method, so I always forget that wood is a resource that people run short on, lol. Seems like you've got a good eye on a lot of the common and uncommon recommendations as well. I'm curious though, what do you have in mind for some of your targeted accomplishments section?

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'm sure you're familiar with my farming method, so I always forget that wood is a resource that people run short on, lol. Seems like you've got a good eye on a lot of the common and uncommon recommendations as well. I'm curious though, what do you have in mind for some of your targeted accomplishments section?

Short version:

Greenhouse done Summer Y2+, accept it and enjoy the ride
Do Help Wanted requests, they're great for immersion and pay 3x regular rates, Friendship and new v1.6 stuffs. aka an accomplishment and afterwards do something fun
The Traveling Cart Lady is nice for window shopping but not necessary (See: Greenhouse)
The Silo is a nice first target as it's (mostly) cheap
The Horse is also nice but expensive. (I'll probably ditch this)
Watering Can until Quality Sprinklers and then no more. One and done. Small Farm then becomes slightly bigger Farm. !! This reminds me of a little thing to add to the first post, plant near water.

I need to have balanced thoughts about the Coop, Barn, and Tool upgrades and that's what's preventing me from posting the final bit for that yet. And I'm very likely leaving things out but I don't want it to be too long/confusing.

 

[LRangerR]

@Lew Zealand Gotcha, I'll see if i can help a bit.
Greenhouse: 100% agree. Aiming for 1st year Greenhouse is a bit of an accomplishment, but not necessary to do every run.
Help Wanted: Because why not? It's like a journal quest but only when you want it. Can't do it? No biggy, there will be more.
Travelling Cart: Great for things like fish and CHEAP FRUIT TREES. Sometimes in bulk. As long as you know what the base price of most fruit trees are then you can get a pretty good deal on this one.
Horse: I would keep this in there, however I always forget to build the Stable so I don't have much of an opinion on this one. I know it's a goal for a lot of people though, but I don't know if it goes more against or more with your lazy farming philosophy.

My thoughts about the animal buildings, they're relatively cheap to build. As far as upgrading them, upgrade them when you can/when you're comfortable. Everyone will get to it in their own time and at their own pace.

Tools however, some people exhaust themselves in the mine trying to get the ore, which is bad, especially if they're not good at, or don't like the combat part of the game. Buying ore from Clint is always an option, and relieves that stress from you if you don't want to do it. However, he does not sell Iridium. To go around this Iridium shortage, you can always get the statue gifted from grandpa.

If you decide to buy ore from Clint in order to get bars for tool upgrades it can get a little pricey, but not prohibitively so. Just bear in mind that prices will go up in time. (Coal not included)
Price per bar (Y1 Price)=
Copper: 375g
Iron: 750g
Gold: 2,000g

Price per tool (Y1 Price)=
Copper: 1,875g
Iron: 3,750g
Gold: 10,000g

As you can see, expensive but not unreasonable. If you're willing to pay the total price, this is totally an option for lazyfarming. (tm)?

 

[Malymin]

Mid casual effort play is my favorite jam. One of my favorite minor simple tips is to always save a gold cauliflower from spring y1 for the summer luau to get the best result: your melons probably won't be ready in time, and catching gold catfish or sturgeon early can be a pain.

If you're using the new Meadowlands farm, I found that you can pretty easily make some gold-quality mayonnaise by the time the Luau comes (since you start with chickens and the blue grass makes their friendship raise faster, they'll already be producing Large Eggs in Summer Y1), which also gets you a best-result outcome.

Really, I love the Meadowlands for a more laid-back run. Chicken eggs are a great bit of passive income to get so early, and I feel less pressured to grow big fields of profitable crops. There's also just something fun about petting animals compared to harvesting crops, to me, even though it both cases it's just pressing a key or button.

I, also, hate Perfection. Sorry, ConcernedApe - it just feels really unfair to lock Golden Chickens behind 100% completion, when the only long term "completion" goal I have other than the CC is owning at least one of every livestock!