A casual guide to getting your sprinklers up and running

[ShneekeyTheLost]

This post is rated O for Optimization. This post contains spoilers and min/maxing techniques that are not suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised.​

Wake up at 6 in the morning, head out to water your crops, feed and pet your animals, and by the time you're done with your morning chores, half the day is already gone. Sound familiar? Well, there's a solution: Quality Sprinklers! They automatically water everything in a one-square radius around the sprinkler. The downside? It requires Farming level 6 to unlock the recipe, and it requires Iron, Gold, and Refined Quartz to make. This seems like a daunting challenge for newer and more casual players, but it is entirely possible to get this done, even by the end of your first spring!

Being a Farmer, it makes sense to... yanno... farm. So how much farming is needed to get to Farming 6? Well, let's do some math!

It requires 3,300 farming experience points to hit level 6 farming. This sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Even Parsnips are worth 8 xp each per harvest. If all you ever planted were Parsnips, it would take you 413 of them. But of course, who does nothing but plant parsnips? Let's go over some of the more attractive ways of getting some farming going:

* Potatoes are worth 14 xp/ea, have a small chance of providing a second potato on harvest, take a week to grow, and are an excellent bang-for-your-buck crop for your first Spring
* Kale is worth 17xp/ea, and is actually worth more per each than potatoes are, albeit without the chance of a second yield, and have the same growth time. So for this, we're going to want Kale. Before the 1.3 update, there was an issue with scythe-harvested crops not yielding xp, but that's been fixed on the current version of all versions (except maybe Vita).
* Cauliflower is worth 23xp/ea, but takes two weeks to grow. Still, it's pretty easy to get some by turning at least five minerals/artifacts to Gunther.
* Strawberries are worth 18xp/ea, and you get two harvests before the end of the year if you plant them on the evening you return from the Egg Festival

Note that you only get this on *harvest*.

With those numbers in mind, let's look at some ways of getting some farming xp up and running.


Leveling:

We can take a look at another treatise I wrote on the topic of starting options to get us started. For this, let's go with the 40 parsnip opening as the most user-friendly way of getting going. Now, you're going to likely lose a couple of them to crows, so let's lowball this a bit and say we net 35 parsnips out of our initial setup. 35*8=280 xp on day 4. This is enough to get you to level 1 farming and Scarecrows. Now you won't need to worry about any more crows.

Looking at our next set of crops, we've got some options. We obviously want to look at xp per day if we want to min/max this, and Kale comes up as a solid option. Let's plant 40 Kale, that'll be worth 680 farming xp, which brings our total up to 960, which brings us up to Farming level 3 and halfway to the next level, and roughly a third of where we need to be.

You get 9 Cauliflower seeds by turning in five minerals/artifacts to Gunther. That'll be worth 207 xp, for a total of 1167 xp, as long as it is done before the beginning of the third week.

When the Egg Festival comes up, you're going to want as many Strawberry seeds as possible, let's say another 40 here. Plus a separate extra 40 Kale on top of it. The kale is an additional 680, and the strawberries are another two harvests of (40*18=)720xp each. So let's look at where we are:

Spring 4: 40 Parsnips, 280 xp
Spring 10: 40 Kale. 680 xp, total of 960
Spring 16: 40 kale, 680 xp, total 1640
Spring 21: 40 Strawberries, 720 xp, total 2,360
Spring 22: 40 Kale, 680 xp, total 3,040
Spring 25: 40 Strawberries, 720 xp, total 3760

If you can get the Cauliflower down in time, you can skip the third planting of Kale and just barely squeek in Farming level 6 before the end of Spring. For those who want to hit Farming 10 as soon as possible, a fourth planting of Kale is just barely possible, and can be harvested on the 28th.

Gathering materials:

You're going to need Iron, Gold, and Refined Quartz. Let's say for this example that you want 20 Quality Sprinklers, letting you water 160 crops hands-free. Iron is found in the Mines level 41-79, and Gold is found levels 81+. This means diving deeply and greedily to hit level 80+ before the end of the month. You *can* purchase gold from Clint, but unless you've gone for a highly optimized fishing strategy, you likely won't have the cash to afford it. Very rarely, you can get Gold to drop from Ghosts in the ice cavern layers, but it won't be reliable for this purpose, it's better to use it to get the Furnace Room and your Railcart Tracks up and running.

Mining is handled in a more in-depth guide here that you can check out.

For Refined Quartz, you have two options: Smelting Quartz that you've been collecting on your dive (you HAVE been collecting them, yes?), and Recycling broken CD's and glasses. Some combination of these two options should net you the Refined Quartz needed to get yourself started.


In Conclusion:

Diving while also doing a lot of farming can be challenging in terms of time and energy, but as long as you keep a steady rate of 5 floors per day, you should hit your goal. Hopefully, this will let you hit Summer running, and dramatically reducing the amount of time and energy spent maintaining your crops.

 

[Ray of Hope]

When the Egg Festival comes up, you're going to want as many (?) as possible, let's say another 40 here.

As many what? Do you mean strawberry seeds? I think it is strawberries, but for those new to this game they might not know what are you talking.

But other than the typo, I personally like your guide, coz I usually never use any sprinkler until early Fall. This will help me a lot at my next playthrough.

 

[Squigglyruth]

Nice guide.
Not a contradition, but a thought for those players who might want to go further on min-maxing this. I find that kale can be a bit of a trap in the very early game, because it is so expensive. It's fine at a casual schedule such as that in the guide, but if you want to get to farming 6 earlier in spring, or get to farming 10 before the summer, it can become unaffordable.
To illustrate this:
5,000gp will buy just 71 kale, for 1207xp. Over the growing time of 6 days, your money buys you 201xp each day.
The same 5,000gp would buy 250 parsnips, which would net 2000xp at a rate of 500xp per day.
I'm not saying you should just plant parsnips - though for extreme min/max such as earliest possible farming 10 they would be a solid choice. In practice you want a crop that gives a balance between amount of watering and xp return on your money. This *might* be kale if you have enough money, but I tend to find a mix of potatoes and parsnips works better for me before the egg festival. In my 'best' spring to date, I did stick to parsnips then strawberries: My post about that strategy.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

As many what? Do you mean strawberry seeds? I think it is strawberries, but for those new to this game they might not know what are you talking.

But other than the typo, I personally like your guide, coz I usually never use any sprinkler until early Fall. This will help me a lot at my next playthrough.

Thanks for catching that. The typo has been fixed. Those responsible have been sacked.

Nice guide.
Not a contradition, but a thought for those players who might want to go further on min-maxing this. I find that kale can be a bit of a trap in the very early game, because it is so expensive. It's fine at a casual schedule such as that in the guide, but if you want to get to farming 6 earlier in spring, or get to farming 10 before the summer, it can become unaffordable.
To illustrate this:
5,000gp will buy just 71 kale, for 1207xp. Over the growing time of 6 days, your money buys you 201xp each day.
The same 5,000gp would buy 250 parsnips, which would net 2000xp at a rate of 500xp per day.
I'm not saying you should just plant parsnips - though for extreme min/max such as earliest possible farming 10 they would be a solid choice. In practice you want a crop that gives a balance between amount of watering and xp return on your money. This *might* be kale if you have enough money, but I tend to find a mix of potatoes and parsnips works better for me before the egg festival. In my 'best' spring to date, I did stick to parsnips then strawberries: My post about that strategy.

You do have a point here, but this is a more casual guide, and I doubt many casual players want to have to take care of 250+ crop plots and still go mining. I was just focusing on quality sprinklers by the end of Spring, as a good start for casual gamers. So, I acknowledge your point, just as you acknowledge that it's definitely not something the average casual player is likely going to be interested in attempting.

 

[imnvs]

Okay, not to disparage the advice/guide in any way... I just have to say that I find it hilarious to describe something as both "casual" and "rated O for optimization".

 

[Squigglyruth]

You do have a point here, but this is a more casual guide, and I doubt many casual players want to have to take care of 250+ crop plots and still go mining. I was just focusing on quality sprinklers by the end of Spring, as a good start for casual gamers. So, I acknowledge your point, just as you acknowledge that it's definitely not something the average casual player is likely going to be interested in attempting.

Yep, we're definitely agreeing here!

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Okay, not to disparage the advice/guide in any way... I just have to say that I find it hilarious to describe something as both "casual" and "rated O for optimization".

It's a guide detailing the first few steps to optimization written specifically for the casual player. After all, 'babby's first steps in optimization' sounded a bit... condescending and counterproductive.

Still, glad you got a chuckle out of it. I try to be entertaining as well as educational in my guides.

 

[Cptldsilver]

This post is rated O for Optimization. This post contains spoilers and min/maxing techniques that are not suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised.​

Wake up at 6 in the morning, head out to water your crops, feed and pet your animals, and by the time you're done with your morning chores, half the day is already gone. Sound familiar? Well, there's a solution: Quality Sprinklers! They automatically water everything in a one-square radius around the sprinkler. The downside? It requires Farming level 6 to unlock the recipe, and it requires Iron, Gold, and Refined Quartz to make. This seems like a daunting challenge for newer and more casual players, but it is entirely possible to get this done, even by the end of your first spring!

Being a Farmer, it makes sense to... yanno... farm. So how much farming is needed to get to Farming 6? Well, let's do some math!

It requires 3,300 farming experience points to hit level 6 farming. This sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Even Parsnips are worth 8 xp each per harvest. If all you ever planted were Parsnips, it would take you 413 of them. But of course, who does nothing but plant parsnips? Let's go over some of the more attractive ways of getting some farming going:

* Potatoes are worth 14 xp/ea, have a small chance of providing a second potato on harvest, take a week to grow, and are an excellent bang-for-your-buck crop for your first Spring
* Kale is worth 17xp/ea, and is actually worth more per each than potatoes are, albeit without the chance of a second yield, and have the same growth time. So for this, we're going to want Kale. Before the 1.3 update, there was an issue with scythe-harvested crops not yielding xp, but that's been fixed on the current version of all versions (except maybe Vita).
* Cauliflower is worth 23xp/ea, but takes two weeks to grow. Still, it's pretty easy to get some by turning at least five minerals/artifacts to Gunther.
* Strawberries are worth 18xp/ea, and you get two harvests before the end of the year if you plant them on the evening you return from the Egg Festival

Note that you only get this on *harvest*.

With those numbers in mind, let's look at some ways of getting some farming xp up and running.


Leveling:

We can take a look at another treatise I wrote on the topic of starting options to get us started. For this, let's go with the 40 parsnip opening as the most user-friendly way of getting going. Now, you're going to likely lose a couple of them to crows, so let's lowball this a bit and say we net 35 parsnips out of our initial setup. 35*8=280 xp on day 4. This is enough to get you to level 1 farming and Scarecrows. Now you won't need to worry about any more crows.

Looking at our next set of crops, we've got some options. We obviously want to look at xp per day if we want to min/max this, and Kale comes up as a solid option. Let's plant 40 Kale, that'll be worth 680 farming xp, which brings our total up to 960, which brings us up to Farming level 3 and halfway to the next level, and roughly a third of where we need to be.

You get 9 Cauliflower seeds by turning in five minerals/artifacts to Gunther. That'll be worth 207 xp, for a total of 1167 xp, as long as it is done before the beginning of the third week.

When the Egg Festival comes up, you're going to want as many Strawberry seeds as possible, let's say another 40 here. Plus a separate extra 40 Kale on top of it. The kale is an additional 680, and the strawberries are another two harvests of (40*18=)720xp each. So let's look at where we are:

Spring 4: 40 Parsnips, 280 xp
Spring 10: 40 Kale. 680 xp, total of 960
Spring 16: 40 kale, 680 xp, total 1640
Spring 21: 40 Strawberries, 720 xp, total 2,360
Spring 22: 40 Kale, 680 xp, total 3,040
Spring 25: 40 Strawberries, 720 xp, total 3760

If you can get the Cauliflower down in time, you can skip the third planting of Kale and just barely squeek in Farming level 6 before the end of Spring. For those who want to hit Farming 10 as soon as possible, a fourth planting of Kale is just barely possible, and can be harvested on the 28th.

Gathering materials:

You're going to need Iron, Gold, and Refined Quartz. Let's say for this example that you want 20 Quality Sprinklers, letting you water 160 crops hands-free. Iron is found in the Mines level 41-79, and Gold is found levels 81+. This means diving deeply and greedily to hit level 80+ before the end of the month. You *can* purchase gold from Clint, but unless you've gone for a highly optimized fishing strategy, you likely won't have the cash to afford it. Very rarely, you can get Gold to drop from Ghosts in the ice cavern layers, but it won't be reliable for this purpose, it's better to use it to get the Furnace Room and your Railcart Tracks up and running.

Mining is probably best handled in a separate guide, as it is sufficiently in-depth (pun intended) enough. Suffice to say: Bring food (spring onions and salmonberries are excellent foods, as are salads), try and avoid combat if possible, and focus on descending as rapidly as possible. If you're worried about dying in the lower levels to the very dangerous mobs there, don't sweat it. Just hit level 81, poke your head in, collect any easily reachable gold ore deposits, and bail. Wait 10 in-game minutes, and try again. If you spawn in with enemies nearby, bail and restart. It shouldn't be too difficult once you've hit level 80 to collect the gold needed. As an added bonus, you'll have very good odds of also collecting the Fire Quartz needed for your Furnace bundles.

For Refined Quartz, you have two options: Smelting Quartz that you've been collecting on your dive (you HAVE been collecting them, yes?), and Recycling broken CD's and glasses. Some combination of these two options should net you the Refined Quartz needed to get yourself started.


In Conclusion:

Diving while also doing a lot of farming can be challenging in terms of time and energy, but as long as you keep a steady rate of 5 floors per day, you should hit your goal. Hopefully, this will let you hit Summer running, and dramatically reducing the amount of time and energy spent maintaining your crops.

All great advice for novice min maxers here. One tiny little thing wrong though, you don't have to wait 10 in game minutes to reset the mines. All you have to do is exit then immediately go back down. Multiplayer works differently though so it might not reset the same way. Great guide!

 

[derpymoogle]

Hi, tried to follow this but looks like the Parsnips aren't ready until Spring 5. I didn't miss any days of watering. Was that a typo? And am I supposed to plant the Kale where the parsnips were? If so they won't finish until Spring 11 and so on so I won't be able to fit in that last harvest of kale on Spring 28.