1.5 Suggestion: Improve Hopper

bioweapon

Farmhand
The Problem

Hopper, at its current state (only auto-insert-input, but not auto-collect-output), given that it requires a full Radioactive Bar to build, is extremely underwhelming.

I have crafted one and have experimented with it for a while, hoping to find it useful somewhere. Objectively speaking, Hopper offers a little bit of convenience with:
  • Recycle Machine
  • Deconstructor
  • Bone Mill
But that's it. Even without considering its costs, Hopper is just a slightly-better chest (in some aspect, worse, as it has only one color). Is the extra convenience worth the high costs? Absolutely not.

Solution

The one and the most important is to add the ability to auto-collect-output. This alone would fundamentally improve it and open up a lot of possibilities:
  • Seed Maker. For Ancient Fruit Wine manufacturers, every year we have to spend one whole day to prepare the next batch of seeds. With just one Hopper + one Seed Maker, this whole process can be automated and completed in a month. This applies to batch seed making in general (such as Qi Bean).
  • Animal Product Machines (Mayonnaise Machine, Cheese Press, Oil Maker, etc).
  • Charcoal Kiln (turn woods into coals) and Furnace. It'll be a huge time saver.
A remote dream of mine would be for Hopper to work like Auto-Grabber: for every machine indoor, or every machine within a range when outdoor, it auto-collects the output and auto-inserts the input. But that would be a totally different item (Deluxe Hopper?). I've been playing without any Mod, but I'm seriously considering getting or writing some related to automation.

Side Notes

If there is one thing I don't like about the 1.5 Update, it is Hopper. All other new items have their purposes, be it aesthetical or practical. But the current Hopper? I can't seem to find any.

I've searched online and found other players feeling the same way about Hopper. As time goes by I believe more and more players will have this item (as this is a crafting requirement for 100% completion) and share similar thoughts.
 
imnvs

imnvs

Local Legend
I will buy the recipe. I will craft a hopper. I will then put it in a chest and never use it. The only reason I will craft one is for completion.
 
LRangerR

LRangerR

Local Legend
imnvs said:
I will buy the recipe. I will craft a hopper. I will then put it in a chest and never use it. The only reason I will craft one is for completion.
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Better yet, put it in a deconstructor.

IMO i don't think the hopper should be evolved on too much. This game is about farm-life, not factory life.
 

bioweapon

Farmhand
LRangerR said:
Better yet, put it in a deconstructor.
IMO i don't think the hopper should be evolved on too much. This game is about farm-life, not factory life.
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Farm-life can be ancient or modern though. Given the SDV story takes place in modern times, it wouldn't deviate from the narrative too much to have highly mechanized and automated farms.

Hell, we are talking about a highly magical world with wizards, fairies, spirits, monsters, literal teleportation & mind manipulation, and most of all overpowering parrots. Tbh being "factory life" is the least I would care about...
 

Drullo321

Sodbuster
LRangerR said:
Better yet, put it in a deconstructor.

IMO i don't think the hopper should be evolved on too much. This game is about farm-life, not factory life.
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While i totally agree with you and i think that is one of the reasons the Hopper is currently implemented the way it is. But then again it is useless and noone bothers using it, only for the 100% completion. So honestly, tweak it or you can even remove it from the game.

I mean it is not that we have one type of automatisated machine already in the game, it is the Mill.
 
Akemisora

Akemisora

Planter
Automated factory in Stardew Valley won't be too op, imo. Assuming the setup consisting of input hopper - machine - output hopper and don't forget about 2 empty space for you to input and take the output, that's already 5 tiles. So you're trading maximum theoritical throughtput for convenience, I think that's fair.
 
Bacchus

Bacchus

Cowpoke
I think these are fine suggestions. I'm all for more automation but also for more end game stuff to farm and spend gold on.
If an Auto-grabber is acceptable to somehow milk cows/goats and sheer sheep I don't see an issue with something similar for furnaces, seed-makers or crystalariums and the like...

My suggestion to make it more SDVish is maybe implement it as a junimo upgrade.
I've always thought the greenhouse needs a junimo hut upgrade that will collect from trees and crops. Why not something similar for barns or sheds?
You could have a shed with furnaces fitted with hoppers and seed-makers etc and they all get collected and placed in a bin out front.....

...now I'm getting super lazy :love:
 
LRangerR

LRangerR

Local Legend
Bacchus said:
I think these are fine suggestions. I'm all for more automation but also for more end game stuff to farm and spend gold on.
If an Auto-grabber is acceptable to somehow milk cows/goats and sheer sheep I don't see an issue with something similar for furnaces, seed-makers or crystalariums and the like...
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Yeah I think that the auto-grabber should be Joja exclusive, so yeah i kinda think that the hoppers are in-line with the auto-grabbers/petters.

...now I'm getting super lazy :love:
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I can tell, lol. Junimos could be used to something to that effect, but if they do then there would have to be something that makes them inherrently different from auto grabbers and petters.
 
Bacchus

Bacchus

Cowpoke
LRangerR said:
Yeah I think that the auto-grabber should be Joja exclusive, so yeah i kinda think that the hoppers are in-line with the auto-grabbers/petters.


I can tell, lol. Junimos could be used to something to that effect, but if they do then there would have to be something that makes them inherrently different from auto grabbers and petters.
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Like a hell-tonne of resources and cash? - I'm up to grind for that.

I'd seriously pay a few million for an upgrade to get my greenhouse collected into a chest without me having to step inside :D
 
LRangerR

LRangerR

Local Legend
Bacchus said:
Like a hell-tonne of resources and cash? - I'm up to grind for that.

I'd seriously pay a few million for an upgrade to get my greenhouse collected into a chest without me having to step inside :D
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I'm surprised you don't play Factorio more than Stardew. That seems like it'd be more your jam.
 
Popsy

Popsy

Tiller
As a big fan of ancient fruit wine, I find it easier to just grow it in the greenhouse - more than enough to keep the cellar busy.

i have to agree though, that I would like to have more automation.
 
noobsqoou

noobsqoou

Planter
Yeah, honestly, I don't understand the point of the hopper without some sort of auto-collection functionality. If you still have to remove a finished item by hand, couldn't you just place a new item inside by hand anyway? And this is an end-game machine we're talking about – one that takes radioactive bars to craft lol.

I'd like to see the hopper modified to where it can both take from and deposit into machines and chests, maybe even have it to where the input and output points can be independently oriented. Until then, I'll stick with my Big Shed filled with diamond crystalariums.
 
LRangerR

LRangerR

Local Legend
noobsqoou said:
Yeah, honestly, I don't understand the point of the hopper without some sort of auto-collection functionality. If you still have to remove a finished item by hand, couldn't you just place a new item inside by hand anyway? And this is an end-game machine we're talking about – one that takes radioactive bars to craft lol.

I'd like to see the hopper modified to where it can both take from and deposit into machines and chests, maybe even have it to where the input and output points can be independently oriented. Until then, I'll stick with my Big Shed filled with diamond crystalariums.
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You're probably right. Something similar to the windmill would work.
 
MelodicSavant

MelodicSavant

Greenhorn
noobsqoou said:
Yeah, honestly, I don't understand the point of the hopper without some sort of auto-collection functionality. If you still have to remove a finished item by hand, couldn't you just place a new item inside by hand anyway? And this is an end-game machine we're talking about – one that takes radioactive bars to craft lol.

I'd like to see the hopper modified to where it can both take from and deposit into machines and chests, maybe even have it to where the input and output points can be independently oriented. Until then, I'll stick with my Big Shed filled with diamond crystalariums.
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I definitely agree with you, but I feel like more could be added to this -- one of my favorite things to do in Minecraft is engineering redstone builds for automation, but what I like is that the mechanics encourage you to think through your setup, and I feel like a similar thing should happen here. One idea would be to add a "chute" or "funnel" to remove or "suck" items, and to make them orientable as well as hoppers. And I also think it should stick to the endgame, because I love automation but it doesn't belong in the early game. That's why I like that it requires radioactive ore to craft, and I think that these "chutes" should require that or something similar to function. But I still want it to have a Stardew Valley feel, so I think it makes sense for the functionality to be limited such that chutes maybe can't output into other chutes, and like hoppers in Minecraft, they have a limited storage capacity -- maybe 3? And then the chutes can funnel into a chest for the items to be kept, but as cool as it sounds to me, I feel like lines of chutes darting about wouldn't really fit the vibe of Stardew. But idk, let me know what you think! ^^
 

Common SV farmer

Farmhand
Alas , hopper is semi-auto device and thus useless . For me it's one of two big disappointments in 1.5 update . Second one is cookout kit which appears in the game way to late due to requirements and also becomes useless .
 
Quirinea

Quirinea

Farmer
Freizeitfarmer said:
As written in another thread already (https://forums.stardewvalley.net/threads/we-need-this-feature.8043/post-52485) this mod...
www.nexusmods.com

Automate

Place a chest next to a machine (like a furnace or crystalarium), and the machine will automatically pull raw items from the chest and push processed items into it. Connect multiple machines with a ch
www.nexusmods.com www.nexusmods.com
...is a nice idea.

As an extra item it would be even more awesome!
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Yeah. I started using Automate and the problem is that it is sometimes even too effective (beware putting an item in a chest that is connected to a machine that can use it if you don't want to).
 
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