New player questions

[Worblehat]

A few questions so far (sorry, I'm sure threads like this pop up a lot):

1. Are fences functionally necessary, or just cosmetic? I'll be getting my coop soon (been thinking that for a while, but no really I'll get it, I'm sure... ). Do I need to keep the chickens from wandering wherever they want on the farm? I don't see anything on the wiki, but maybe I'm not looking in the right place. The Crop page says farm animals never damage crops, and the Coop page says chickens go back inside on their own. Should I put up fences to make sure they don't wander over to my storage chests (or scarecrow?) and destroy them? Or are they not "NPCs" in the sense of being able to destroy items by pathing into them? Now I'm wondering if my cat might destroy items (or chickens, for that matter) - that would be very cat-like behavior...
2. Mining skill isn't rising in proportion to the others, even though I've been spending a fair amount of time in the mine. It feels like I'm using my non-Combat skills about equally, but Farming/Foraging/Fishing are at 5 (a couple should be very close to 6), while Mining just hit 3. Looking at the XP table on the Mining wiki page, I think this is probably working as intended since XP comes almost entirely from ore/gem nodes and lucky coal drops. So it looks like a skill that ramps up once one gets deeper into the Mines (I've only just started seeing gem nodes, for example). Just checking to make sure I understand this correctly.
3. Trying to understand how I should use what the TV tells me about the day's luck each morning - for quite a while I didn't even check because I didn't have a sense of how it should change my plans for the day. But I think bad luck days mean it's best not to go to the mines (decreased chance of finding staircases), and maybe de-emphasize any fishing I had planned (decreased chance of treasure chests), and instead just putter around the farm (lay paths, clear debris/weeds, scythe grass to build up the silo hay supply, that kind of thing) and spend more than the usual amount of time chatting with people in town or processing ore at the furnace. Whereas a good luck day would mean "Off to the mine and/or fishing spots!" Though there was one mine level where even on a good luck day I still had to mine almost every single rock to find the staircase, so maybe daily luck doesn't have a huge effect and I shouldn't really care after all?
4. How urgently do I need a kitchen? The house upgrade has been a fairly low priority so far, compared to tool upgrades and getting started on the silo and (soon, really) the coop. But I've been getting a lot of recipes lately, so I wonder if the game is hinting that being able to cook is important and I should get that kitchen. I don't think I need it to make food for myself; I still have a lot of salmonberries to eat while mining, and if need be I could make quite a few Field Snacks.

Thanks in advance for any advice! I'm really enjoying the game so far.

 

[Elenna101]

1. Farm animals (including the pet) won't destroy anything. The main reason to fence them in, IMO, is that if they stand on top of your crops it makes it harder to harvest/plant/water on that spot, which is annoying. Plus, if they're not fenced it occasionally they wander far away and don't manage to get back when it gets dark, but you can cheese that by leaving and re-entering the farm map after 6pm to make them all respawn in the coop/barn (entering and exiting a building counts). But fencing is mostly cosmetic.

2. Yeah, it'll go up as you break more gem nodes, and when you start seeing more expensive types of ore (iron/gold rather than copper).

3. You're basically right about the effects of luck. It's definitely a noticable increase, but as you've seen, sometimes you just get unlucky even on a good luck day, or lucky on a bad luck day. If you really want to go mining/fishing, you don't specifically need to hold back just because of the luck.

4. There's a few recipies that give nice buffs, but I don't personally find the kitchen to be a huge deal. If you want to cook for fun, go ahead! And you'll eventually need it for the community center. But I don't think there's much need to prioritize it over farm buildings or tool upgrades.

 

[imnvs]

1 - Fences aren't necessary, but they are more than cosmetic. Fences and floors (and tea bushes when you get them) can be used to organize and compartmentalize your farm. You can keep, as Elenna said, your animals away from your crops, not because they'll damage the crops but because they'll get in your way. It'll keep grass from overtaking the entire world except right in front of the barns/coops.

2 - Usually my mining skill follows up behind my combat skill a bit closer, but yes, as you get further in the mines it'll ramp up faster.

3 - I'll go do whatever I want despite my luck... but on a good luck day, I might make different choices about how I go about it. On a low luck day I make sure to bring more bombs with me into the Skull Cavern, for example, because I know I'll need more.

4 - I usually don't get my first house upgrade until I have a big barn and a big coop. There's no point in being able to cook when you have so few recipes and ingredients both with which to cook.

 

[LRangerR]

4 - I usually don't get my first house upgrade until I have a big barn and a big coop. There's no point in being able to cook when you have so few recipes and ingredients both with which to cook.

The only benefit would be the ability to get married as soon as possible. Because, y'know...

 

[imnvs]

The only benefit would be the ability to get married as soon as possible. Because, y'know...

I can get both the big coop and big barn, and then house upgrade too well before I'm even able to buy the bouquet let alone the pendant.

Edit to add: I suppose, if I really, really, really tried, and remembered to give 2 loved gifts every week (160 friendship points) and say hello every day (70 friendship points per week)... I might be able to get to 8 hearts before getting the house upgrade. It'd probably slow me down on getting to house upgrade too. It would probably slow me down getting the my greenhouse as well... and that's not something I'm willing to do.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

This is a little sideline: I completed the community center and theater without ever getting the kitchen in one playthrough, because I just really loved the tiny cottage. I got the fried egg at the saloon and the maki roll as a gift in the mail. And for the theater I got all the other items instead of the aged wine. However, in 1.5 you can't complete perfection without cooking every recipe.

 

[Elenna101]

This is a little sideline: I completed the community center and theater without ever getting the kitchen in one playthrough, because I just really loved the tiny cottage. I got the fried egg at the saloon and the maki roll as a gift in the mail. And for the theater I got all the other items instead of the aged wine. However, in 1.5 you can't complete perfection without cooking every recipe.

True, yes, you can get lucky with saloon/mail/travelling cart. And in 1.5, the island farmhouse will always have a kitchen regardless of whether you've gotten one on the main farm yet. (Technically I guess you can also go Joja, in which case you could obviously finish it and open the island without needing a kitchen.)

 

[Worblehat]

I might be able to get to 8 hearts before getting the house upgrade.

There's the birthday gift too. I'm at 7 hearts with Maru already (mid-summer), surprisingly close to getting the bouquet. Though as I understand it I'll still need to get her to 10 before marriage, so that motivation for the house upgrade doesn't feel too urgent yet.

Another random question that occurred to me: what is the use case for the spa? I understand how to use it, but can't really come up with a scenario when it would be useful. You'd have to drain your energy early in the day, then go up to the spa, go through the spa animations (which feel very slow to me), let it restore you, go through the animations again getting out, then go wherever you'd want to do more work (mines, presumably). Hard to see how that would leave enough time in the day to actually use the energy the spa restored. Maybe this becomes more useful once the minecarts are unlocked?

 

[BringsTheSnow]

There's the birthday gift too. I'm at 7 hearts with Maru already (mid-summer), surprisingly close to getting the bouquet. Though as I understand it I'll still need to get her to 10 before marriage, so that motivation for the house upgrade doesn't feel too urgent yet.

Another random question that occurred to me: what is the use case for the spa? I understand how to use it, but can't really come up with a scenario when it would be useful. You'd have to drain your energy early in the day, then go up to the spa, go through the spa animations (which feel very slow to me), let it restore you, go through the animations again getting out, then go wherever you'd want to do more work (mines, presumably). Hard to see how that would leave enough time in the day to actually use the energy the spa restored. Maybe this becomes more useful once the minecarts are unlocked?

I have hit exhaustion while mining and still had 3-4 hours left in the day. A dip in the spa meant I had the energy to chop down a few trees or do something else after I got back to the farm.

More useful early in the game if you are bad at managing your energy/health and don't have room in your backpack for snacks to top you up.

 

[LRangerR]

Another random question that occurred to me: what is the use case for the spa? I understand how to use it, but can't really come up with a scenario when it would be useful. You'd have to drain your energy early in the day, then go up to the spa, go through the spa animations (which feel very slow to me), let it restore you, go through the animations again getting out, then go wherever you'd want to do more work (mines, presumably). Hard to see how that would leave enough time in the day to actually use the energy the spa restored. Maybe this becomes more useful once the minecarts are unlocked?

And if you're playing multiplayer you can just nap in your bed while the other players are doing stuff instead, then wake up with plenty of energy for the rest of the day.

 

[Worblehat]

And now for a stupid UI question (probably easily solved if I could just phrase it so that google returned something useful, but my google-fu is weak...): what do I have to do to be absolutely certain that I won't pick up the processing device (preserves jar, furnace, etc.) I'm attempting to use? Usually when I click on it everything works as expected, either I put ingredients in to be processed, or I pick up the finished output. But sometimes, bam, it bounces into my inventory, and any processed output is lost.

Very frustrating when that happens when the lost output is nice (for this stage in the game - melon jelly, for example) and happens late in a busy day...

 

[LRangerR]

Do you happen to be whacking these with an axe or pickaxe when you're trying to pick them up? @Worblehat

 

[PoppyForPenny]

I've found the best use of the spa is for mornings I wake up with my energy already drained, or after waking up in the clinic, especially if all my food was stolen.

 

[Worblehat]

Do you happen to be whacking these with an axe or pickaxe when you're trying to pick them up? @Worblehat

The furnace incidents were surely with the pickaxe, since that's what I hold by default when in the mines. The melon jelly incident was with the hoe, inside the farmhouse, so I thought it was a safe neutral tool to hold.

For now I'm trying to remember to pause and adjust inventory as needed so that I have an empty slot selected (if possible) when I interact with these devices.

PoppyForPenny, thanks, I hadn't thought of that scenario. I try very hard to always be in bed as soon after midnight as possible, to avoid those situations.

 

[LRangerR]

The furnace incidents were surely with the pickaxe, since that's what I hold by default when in the mines. The melon jelly incident was with the hoe, inside the farmhouse, so I thought it was a safe neutral tool to hold.

They scythe, watering can, and sword (or whatever weapon) are all safe tools to hold when harvesting stuffs from machines.

 

[Worblehat]

Apparently combat difficulty spikes through the roof around mine level 85 or so. I have The Slammer, and the Firewalker Boots; the latter are by definition the most up to date defensive gear available, and the former looks like it should be a particularly good weapon (the listed damage is far higher than the Forest Sword it replaced).

But I'm consistently getting slaughtered by those shadow guys. They often just eat my hits, walk onto me, and at that point there's nothing I can do. No matter what WASD keys I hit I cannot move or change facing to start hitting the enemy again, and it quickly knocks me out as it stands on me.

Is there some trick to these guys? Do I just need to farm level 81 for gold ore until I can upgrade my pickaxe, then attempt these levels of the mine again just evading the shadow guys whenever I see them and hoping a rock will reveal the staircase quickly (and/or just building my own staircases whenever I see them?)? Is this what the slingshots are for? The only ammo I have in sufficient quantity to use is stone (I go mining to get ore; I'm certainly not going to use it as ammo!) and the damage seems underwhelming...

Semi-related point: I've seen people say in other threads that mining is a good money-maker in the early game. How? So far I've gotten almost zero money from the mine; the point of going there appears to be gathering ore for tool upgrades and various crafting recipes. And picking up cave carrots for quests like Marnie's.

 

[Ereo]

Level 85 to 90 is always the hardest for me.
The part where you can't move is what annoys me about hammer type weapons, so I stick to the best sword I have. Usually, it's the insect head because I don't fish a lot.

Try to avoid them and just break the stones to get down quickly. And bring food to replenish your energy when you can't avoid them.

 

[imnvs]

Shadow Brutes are resistant to knockback, which makes them difficult. If you want to kill them, the best way to do so is to swing once or twice and then run away.

 

[Bilqy]

In addition to keeping animals out of the way of crops, putting up a fence around them means they're easier to pet each day while being able to leave their door open overnight.

Upgrading the house isn't urgent. Speaking of cooked dishes, I really don't regret buying a telephone so I can check Gus's special of the day each morning. It could be that Maki Roll for the Community Center or the loved gift of someone that's hard to please, just in time for their birthday relationship point bonus. (I'm looking at you, Pierre and Alex.)

 

[Worblehat]

A few more questions:

1. I keep getting tripped up by quests not counting previously acquired materials. Is there a way to do Robin's Project (80 hardwood) that doesn't require hitting the Secret Woods every single day for a week? Which in turn would require seeing the Special Order board on Monday, which was not the case this week - didn't get there until Wed. due to the Stardew Valley Fair...
2. Is there a better method of grinding out copper than just repeated trips to mine level 21? That works, and each visit is very quick, but the rate of copper accumulation is less than I'd prefer (I just hit the point where making an arbitrarily large number of kegs, and thus a large number of tappers to put on oak trees, is a major priority). Does the Quarry largely solve the copper problem? I should have that unlocked in the first few days of winter.
3. There's an annoying gurgling/slurping noise all the time when I'm at the farm now. If google is to be believed, this is from the kegs, right? So that would be the real reason to build lots of sheds to stick them in. I have plenty of space outside, but that sound effect is already driving me nuts.