Early game moneymaking strategies?

[morris]

I’ve recently started a new game (I am currently on 12 Spring) and I’m looking for efficient ways to make money. Fishing has made me some profit, but not nearly enough, and farming so far is a lot of work for minimal payout. I still only have ~1300G. Any advice/tips would be appreciated!

 

[ISSsloth]

In the early game, I believe fishing is the best way to make money. If you want a tip, though, during spring you'll want to fish in the mountains on clear days, since it generally has the best selling fish, and in the town rivers on rainy days for the catfish, the actual best spring fish in terms of moneymaking.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'm not a Min/Maxer so you can expect better though possibly harder (maybe more boring?) high end strategies from those people.

Instead for the lazy Farmer like myself, the easiest early game strategy I find to make extra G is to befriend Caroline to 2 to get the Tea Sapling Recipe from her. They sell for 250g each and the ingredients to make them aren't hard to come by. Many people recommend Fishing and yet others prefer growing high g Crops like Cauliflower and Melons. Those pay off pretty well for a minimum of watering per g spent on seeds. I do all of these though perhaps less on the Fishing side.

 

[morris]

I'm not a Min/Maxer so you can expect better though possibly harder (maybe more boring?) high end strategies from those people.

Instead for the lazy Farmer like myself, the easiest early game strategy I find to make extra G is to befriend Caroline to 2 to get the Tea Sapling Recipe from her. They sell for 250g each and the ingredients to make them aren't hard to come by. Many people recommend Fishing and yet others prefer growing high g Crops like Cauliflower and Melons. Those pay off pretty well for a minimum of watering per g spent on seeds. I do all of these though perhaps less on the Fishing side.

Oh, I hadn’t thought of that! If I remember correctly Caroline is quite easy to befriend as well, so that will probably be my best bet. Thank you!

 

[morris]

In the early game, I believe fishing is the best way to make money. If you want a tip, though, during spring you'll want to fish in the mountains on clear days, since it generally has the best selling fish, and in the town rivers on rainy days for the catfish, the actual best spring fish in terms of moneymaking.

That makes sense! I hadn’t realized fish from different regions of the town sell better; I mostly fish at the beach due to Willy’s shop set there, so I don’t have to run all the way back to my farm.

 

[Benhimself]

Yeah, if you're decent at fishing, Catfish are HUGE (a bit tricky to catch at early fishing levels, though: invest in trout soup at Willy's). I've found myself very frequently just buying the iron from Clint so I can make a bait maker the moment I hit Fishing 6 without having to go down to level 40 into the mines, because a few catfish will give you a nice chunk of change, but a rainy day of fishing nothing but catfish practically feels like cheating. And sunny days at the mountain lake fishing Largemouth Bass is certainly an acceptable substitute.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Early on there are a few viable ways to make money. While basically anything can work, you usually want to prioritize doing things that make money and set you up for later on in the game (through making you work on infrastructure, clearing the farm, levelling up skills, etc.).

The best way early on for a new player is fishing. It may take a little while to get used to but scales pretty well as you progress through it as a skill and unlock new tiers of associated gear.

The only other really viable money making strategy that doesn't start to delve into more complex strategies is killing monsters and harvesting gems in the deeper levels of the mines. Done well this can easily rival and outpace equivalent fishing (before you get more fishing infrastructure up), and is especially useful in getting mining/combat leveling up, getting materials/tool upgrades, etc. vs fishing which gets money and fishing levels but not a lot else on it's own.

If it's your first time playing I would recommend dabbling in everything but fishing is your best choice for money making early on, you can supplement with crops here and there (especially if your mining on the side is netting a few sprinklers) but the return on it is usually not worth the investment early on due to the comparatively long time for crops to pay themselves back in the first few weeks/month.

 

[morris]

Early on there are a few viable ways to make money. While basically anything can work, you usually want to prioritize doing things that make money and set you up for later on in the game (through making you work on infrastructure, clearing the farm, levelling up skills, etc.).

The best way early on for a new player is fishing. It may take a little while to get used to but scales pretty well as you progress through it as a skill and unlock new tiers of associated gear.

The only other really viable money making strategy that doesn't start to delve into more complex strategies is killing monsters and harvesting gems in the deeper levels of the mines. Done well this can easily rival and outpace equivalent fishing (before you get more fishing infrastructure up), and is especially useful in getting mining/combat leveling up, getting materials/tool upgrades, etc. vs fishing which gets money and fishing levels but not a lot else on it's own.

If it's your first time playing I would recommend dabbling in everything but fishing is your best choice for money making early on, you can supplement with crops here and there (especially if your mining on the side is netting a few sprinklers) but the return on it is usually not worth the investment early on due to the comparatively long time for crops to pay themselves back in the first few weeks/month.

Fishing does seem to be the best option for now- It’s my favorite minigame as well, so I’m quite happy about this.
It is not my first time playing, however I’ve never completed a save. I’m hoping to complete the Community Center this run and run my farm more efficiently.
I have never gotten far into the mines- In my last save my companion did the mining work- So I’m excited to see what this has to offer.
Thank you!

 

[chaskuchar]

fishing is good but i have learned to get 300 wood and fix the bridge. then i can get those beach items and sell them to willy. i do that first to get the backpack upgrade to make life better.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Agreed with everything said thus far. Also a note, when trying to focus specifically on early money making strategies, the goal of early crops is XP in order to unlock sprinklers faster, since sprinklers are what change crops from an inefficient energy sink into a completely overpowered profit source. As such kale is my preferred spring 1 crop if there’s nothing unique going on in the play through to change things. It takes 220 iirc to get quality sprinklers unlocked, which is typically my goal before summer.

 

[VampireCake]

fishing is good but i have learned to get 300 wood and fix the bridge. then i can get those beach items and sell them to willy. i do that first to get the backpack upgrade to make life better.

I do this too, it's definitely worth grinding the 300 wood, and then going there daily. Sea urchins are 160g at normal to 240g at gold quality. The beach also doesn't have a forage spawn limit, afaik.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

It takes 220 iirc to get quality sprinklers unlocked

Even less, about 196 kale for the 3300 total experience needed

That being said, it's even fewer to get to plain sprinklers, which are also very viable. Not only are they incredibly cheap, space efficiency doesn't matter unless you're actively optimizing an area that can't grow, otherwise just expanding outwards.
They also only require level 2 farming (still speaking in kale, that's only 23 kale) and you only need a few to basically give you the xp to passively level you up to level 6 for quality or even further if you're not going all out on crops. Very underrated and much better than many perceive them to be.

 

[Yogurt_The_Cow]

You are lucky you have a lot of money ish i only nave 600 gs

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

There are several decent early-game money making strategies.

The 'best' option is, of course, fishing. You can net an enormous income by going to the lake and fishing all day. If you spend all of the second day fishing, you can get your skill up to at least the point that you can use the next tier of rod that can use bait to further your profits on catfish when it is guaranteed to rain on the third of spring. From there, it snowballs.

This, however, requires that you master the fishing minigame. My carpel tunnel syndrome objects to this. So, there are other, albeit less profitable, options.

First off, forage can actually net you a decent chunk of change. Save one of each foragable for the community center, sell the rest. Maybe eat some if you're working on building infrastructure, but selling is probably going to be the best bet. Second off, a 40 parsnip start is a good way to kickstart your produce production. Basically, take all your starting money, buy more parsnips, and plant 40 on day one. Sure, you might lose a couple to crows, that's the price of doing business, but you'll still be in position to sell them to buy at least one potato and some kale, as well as everything else you'll need for the spring crops bundle. If you've been industrious, you might have collected enough minerals in the mines to have gotten nine Cauliflower reward from Gunther before the middle of the season. That's a heft chunk of change.

Strawberries are also extremely profitable. You can normally only get two harvests from them if you buy them from the egg festival, barring a very tightly timed technique to get 20 speed gro from the community center bundle so you can get a third harvest, but that's not a very easy thing to do. However, even with two harvests, they're still more profitable than anything else you can grow in the first spring. They're worth a decent amount of farming experience when harvested as well.

It's not nearly as profitable as the fishing strategy by any means, but it can get you going as an entry-level strategy.

 

[MogBeoulve]

If you're collecting forage, do not sell them outright. Hoard until foraging level one, then craft as many spring seeds as you can. You can then sell the seeds or save some for crafting tea saplings.

 

[Yogurt_The_Cow]

Go fishing ! It’s the best way to earn money early in game. It is also very enjoyable. With the fun “Mini-games!”

 

[Quirinea]

Riverland map starts with a fish smoker, and boy that is a moneymaker!

 

[AguynamedBurt]

I’ve recently started a new game (I am currently on 12 Spring) and I’m looking for efficient ways to make money. Fishing has made me some profit, but not nearly enough, and farming so far is a lot of work for minimal payout. I still only have ~1300G. Any advice/tips would be appreciated!

Buy strawberry seeds at the egg fest. I’ve never mid maxed this game, so I’m sure others will have so great money making tips… but I usually dump all my money into strawberries

 

[chaskuchar]

one game i had 20 strawberries and planted them when i got home. that night the fairy flew and i had the first harvest. i should have saves the key for that game. other rhan thatg i have learned to fish and it is profitable.

 

[Elliottshusband54]

I’ve recently started a new game (I am currently on 12 Spring) and I’m looking for efficient ways to make money. Fishing has made me some profit, but not nearly enough, and farming so far is a lot of work for minimal payout. I still only have ~1300G. Any advice/tips would be appreciated!

I feel that mining is a very good way to earn early money, it certainly helped me. Although it’s not always easy, it can reap fantastic rewards such as minerals like earth crystals and frozen tears - as well as the minerals or artifacts you can find within geodes. Bug meat through killing grubs and bugs can also let you craft more bait. More bait = more fishing = more profit. I hope this helps!!