I think the quality crops one is one of the easier ones to get. There is plenty of room for error on that one, since you need 3 of 4 different crops, and out of those 4, 2 of them are available in both summer and fall. It's a very noob-friendly bundle, imo.
From what it seems, (and what i agree with) it seems that fishing is one of the hardest ones for new players, but then it becomes the bulletin board bundles, which honestly i feel isn't really all that hard. I think what makes it hard is that people want to finish it as soon as possible, which the cabbage throws for a loop. I'm just curious about the people who said that the bulletin board (friendship) bundles are the hardest, is it just the cabbage? And also, is it because you're now veterans of the game and are trying to complete CC as soon as you feel like it (not necessarily speed running, but just getting it out of the way but that damn cabbage holds everything up!)?
Well, as a... very much not new player (still salty about the 1.1 Great Berry Nerf), I find the Friendship bundle difficult for a few reasons. Mostly resulting from my Year One Completion habit.
The Fish Tank, once you are familiar with what fish are available when (I may write up a guide on this topic in a bit since it seems like something several new players here would be interested in) aren't that difficult.
The Boiler Room I find is the absolute easiest, I frequently complete it and get my minecarts before the end of Spring these days, although it depends on how efficient you are on diving, which I prioritize because of my desire for Quality Sprinklers. Basically, you get everything you need while diving for your sprinklers, so it's a non-issue for me.
The Vault is literally just a money sink. That's it.
The Crafts Room is fairly trivial to complete as you play the game, unless you're trying for a Fall completion. Basically, four of the six bundles involve foraging in the appropriate season. Obtaining a Crocus out of season is surprisingly difficult, but waiting until winter makes it a trivial completion. The Construction Bundle is absolutely trivial, requires less wood and stone than I spend weekly building up my processing, plus a tiny bit of hardwood. You can either get hardwood in the mines, or by upgrading to a Copper axe and chopping the stumps on whichever farm you happen to be living on. The Exotic Bundle is completed as you dive the mines and start basic production of resources. The three Tapper resources is half of what you need. Cave Carrot and the two mushrooms and job's done. If you live on the Forest Farm, Morels can be used instead of the Purple Mushroom which has more important uses.
That's four out of six rooms that, at least to me, are trivial to complete as you play the game. So let's talk about the two other bundles.
The Pantry has a few things that can be tricky, managing your Artisan Bundle and your Animal Crops bundle are the most challenging aspects of this set, and can be offset with some RNG. Taking Bats instead of Mushrooms gives you a chance of getting a fruit tree produce that can be used to complete the Artisan Bundle. So, the 'gimme' natural picks for Artisan are: Goat Cheese (you want Goat Milk for the Animal Products bundle anyway), Cheese (you need milk for the animal products bundle, and it's not just valuable to sell, but many villagers like it as a gift AND is makes an amazing food for mining), Honey, and Jelly. So that's 4 out of 6 that you basically get for playing the game, leaving two others. Now, Marnie's Fodder Bundle (which we'll get into in a bit) needs 3x Apples. So, providing an apple here is a non-issue as well, that makes it 5 out of 6 done. Just one more. If your bats drop any tree fruit, unless it is an Apple or Pomegranate, you're done. Otherwise, recycle Soggy Newspapers until you get Cloth. For the Animal Products, you'll need both a Big Barn and a Big Coop for the Goats and Ducks respectively, and just skip the wool. The three crop bundles just requires planting and harvesting the requisite crops in the appropriate season, completion is trivial. I went over the five-star bundles in a previous post, and someone else has also chimed in with their strategy, both work equally well.
So, the Pantry requires a bit of forethought, with some RNG making things easier for you, but able to be completed by mid-fall at the latest even with poor RNG. With that, we have... the Bulletin Board.
So, this is, far and away, my least favorite batch of bundles, because they all require something obnoxious that you have to plan in advance and take into consideration to complete, and are generally a pain in the keister. Let's go over them bundle by bundle and how to handle the... problem children.
Chef Bundle requires you to upgrade your farm house at least once for both the Fried Egg and the Maki Roll. The Maki Roll is obtainable in the late summer from the cooking show, so it isn't difficult, it just requires the upgrade to the house. Poppies are a summer crop. Plant, harvest, you know the drill. For that matter, Poppy Honey is pretty profitable, so plant one near your beehouses and rake in a bit of extra cash, then harvest it on the last day and turn it in for bundle completion. You'll want Maple Syrup for the Exotic Foraging bundle anyway, so getting another one for this bundle is as simple as waiting another week. So far, so good. Just requires a home upgrade. Fiddlehead Fern is trivial if you are on the Forest Farm, because the Fern will spawn like any other foreagable on the ground in your farm, obviating the need to access the Secret Woods. If, however, you aren't on the Forest Farm, you're going to need a Steel Axe to get into the Secret Farm to grab one, which is kind of annoying to fit in this soon since it'll be competing with your pickaxe upgrades and the price is high enough that it'll be competing with getting your production sheds down. But the real problem is the Truffle. Barring lucking into one at the Cart Vendor, you're going to need pigs, which means a Deluxe Barn. However, not just that, you need an *adult* pig, and they don't look for truffles in the winter, meaning it needs to be fully grown and rooting around by Fall. Which is kind of a tight timetable for such an expensive upgrade, and fitting it into Robin's busy building schedule can be problematic.
Dye Bundle. Yes, this one. The Duck Feather should be trivial, as you'll need a Duck Egg anyway for the Animal Products bundle. Aquamarine should also be trivial as well. Sea Urchin requires you to fix the beach bridge and go foraging in the tidal pool area, which isn't too bad. The Sunflower can trip people up, since the Bulletin Board is the last set of bundles to unlock, if you don't unlock it before Summer, you may not realize you need the Sunflower for the bundle. But, warned in advance, you just get one planted at the beginning of the season and move on with your life. Red Mushroom is likewise fairly trivial, you'll want one for the Exotic Foraging bundle, and you'll find plenty as you mine. Then... there's the Red Cabbage, the meme itself. The only way to obtain it in year one is from the Cart Vendor, either buying the cabbage itself or the seed to grow one (Greenhouse should unlock by mid-fall so you'll have time even if you get it out of season). In 1.5, there's a game option to guarantee the Red Cabbage is obtainable in Year 1 somehow, which removes RNG from the equation entirely, assuming you have both the money for the purchase when it shows up and you are actually checking the cart vendor when it shows up.
Field Research Bundle. Already salty at Demetrius over his overreaction to helping his daughter with a few of her projects, I find this bundle to be more annoying than difficult. The Chub and Frozen Geode are pretty trivial to obtain while going through your normal play. Purple Mushrooms are rarer, especially since you'll want one for the Exotic Forage bundle unless you get a Morel to replace it, but finding a Mushroom Level in the mines solves both problems. The Nautilus only shows up on the beach in the winter, so barring Cart Vendor RNG, that's the earliest you can complete this bundle. Which is annoying, but not particularly challenging.
Fodder Bundle. Marnie throws you a curveball with this one, and like the Sunflower, this can really screw up your plans if the Bulletin Board doesn't unlock until half-way through Summer. The Hay and Wheat are fairly trivial, wheat grows in Summer or Fall so whenever you can fit it in (and brewing into beer isn't bad for profit margins either). It's the 3x Apples that can really get you. It means you need to plant an Apple Tree, which takes a full season to grow, and demands its own space with nothing around it, which means you need to make sure that grass or other tree seeds don't try to give it a friendly hug. And it means planting by mid-summer at the latest so you have enough time to complete both this bundle and the Artisan bundle, the earlier the better.
Then there's the Enchanter's Bundle. The Oak Resin and the Wine should be absolutely trivial. It's the Rabbit's Foot and, to a lesser extent, the Pomegranate that is the monumental pain in the posterior. Unless you plan on farming the Skull Cave's flying serpents (you know, those flying lung dragon style mobs?) your only real option here is a rabbit in a Deluxe Coop. And it's a silly rare drop, only available after you've raised your heart level with the rabbit, after it has fully grown. Which is... quite problematic if you want a Year 1 completion. Barring RNG with the Cart Vendor, this is probably the single most difficult item to obtain for purposes of bundle completion. The Pomegranate is another deceptively annoying find. If you get one from your Bat Cave, this obviates the problem entirely, and you can move on with your life. Otherwise... you have a choice to make. Option one, you can plant a Pomegranate Tree outside somewhere early to mid Summer, right when you're already trying to plant an Apple Tree for the Fodder and Artisan Bundles, and right when you're trying to expand your production, get Big Barn and Coop, get Deluxe Barn and Coop so you can get the Truffle and Rabbit's Foot done, and generally be at a point where you have far more expenses than income. Worst part is you end up with a pomegranate tree outside, which only produces fruit one season out of the year, which is NOT particularly profitable, and it takes up space, with the same sorts of annoying restrictions that we talked about previously with the apple tree. However, as a silver lining, it trivializes the completion of the Artisan Bundle. OR you have Option two, wait until you unlock the Greenhouse, plant Pomegranate trees inside it (either the full 30 tree economy build, or just the perimeter around a field of ancient fruit casual farmer build) wait for them to fully mature, then start filling in the rest of your Greenhouse. The advantage here is that these trees will produce fruit daily in all four seasons, making them ludicrously profitable (barring post-CC content, the most profitable thing you can plant in the Greenhouse) but delaying how early you can complete the bundle, and also possibly delaying how rapidly your Greenhouse can be populated, depending on layout. I generally go for Option Two, but the choice is yours.
