HELLOFREND
Newcomer
Hi, I'm new to the game, what are your tips?
I just started what should I do
- Thread starter HELLOFREND
- Start date
IntoxicHeart
Planter
Welcome to the game and the forums! ^^ One of the great things about Stardew is that there is an array of things you can do.
- Be sure to talk to the NPC’s frequently. You can gain friendship points with them giving them gifts that they like and love, and while not as many points, you still gain points with them by talking to them. You don’t have to talk to them every in-game day, but still be sure to do it as frequently as possible.
- When you go south of your farm, if you keep moving down, you’ll see a sewer area. During spring, that area can produce ‘spring onions’, which can serve as a decent free source of food to restore energy in very early game. Don’t sell them in early game
- When you get the mines unlock, you can place a chest in the top of the mines (I place mine near the elevator). That way, since you have limited inventory slots, you can come back to the first floor, unload items into the chest, and then take the elevator back down to keep mining.
- Try to make at least inside of your farmhouse before 2am in-game. If not, you will be charged a ‘fee’ of sorts (you will receive a letter in the mail about either having been found by Joja employee, Marlon, being brought in to Dr Harvey’s, or being found by Linus, and will inform you the amount of gold lost). It can very from 25g to 1000g, but I’ve never seen it more than 1000g.
- Check the tv in-game everyday. It can provide tips, recipes, show you the luck you have for the day, and the weather forecast for the following day.
There is also a Stardew wiki that can assist as well. While there are some spoilers in there, it will inform of spoilers. You can look up just about anything about the game on the Stardew wiki (such as what gifts villagers love, like, neutral, dislike, and hate; villagers’ schedules; when festivals occur, etc.).
stardewvalleywiki.com
Cheers and happy gaming!
- Be sure to talk to the NPC’s frequently. You can gain friendship points with them giving them gifts that they like and love, and while not as many points, you still gain points with them by talking to them. You don’t have to talk to them every in-game day, but still be sure to do it as frequently as possible.
- When you go south of your farm, if you keep moving down, you’ll see a sewer area. During spring, that area can produce ‘spring onions’, which can serve as a decent free source of food to restore energy in very early game. Don’t sell them in early game
- When you get the mines unlock, you can place a chest in the top of the mines (I place mine near the elevator). That way, since you have limited inventory slots, you can come back to the first floor, unload items into the chest, and then take the elevator back down to keep mining.
- Try to make at least inside of your farmhouse before 2am in-game. If not, you will be charged a ‘fee’ of sorts (you will receive a letter in the mail about either having been found by Joja employee, Marlon, being brought in to Dr Harvey’s, or being found by Linus, and will inform you the amount of gold lost). It can very from 25g to 1000g, but I’ve never seen it more than 1000g.
- Check the tv in-game everyday. It can provide tips, recipes, show you the luck you have for the day, and the weather forecast for the following day.
There is also a Stardew wiki that can assist as well. While there are some spoilers in there, it will inform of spoilers. You can look up just about anything about the game on the Stardew wiki (such as what gifts villagers love, like, neutral, dislike, and hate; villagers’ schedules; when festivals occur, etc.).
Stardew Valley Wiki
Stardew Valley Wiki is the #1 resource for the country-life RPG Stardew Valley, covering gameplay, villagers, quests, fishing and more.
stardewvalleywiki.com
Cheers and happy gaming!
nicodeux
Farmer
Don't be shy about planting crops: see every seed you buy and plant as an investment and future income.
One side note: be careful about crops planted by the end of the season! If they are not fully grown and harvested by the 28th of each season, the crops will wither and die on the 1st day of the next season (each season has 28 days).
Gather wood and stone: you'll never have enough of them.
One side note: be careful about crops planted by the end of the season! If they are not fully grown and harvested by the 28th of each season, the crops will wither and die on the 1st day of the next season (each season has 28 days).
Gather wood and stone: you'll never have enough of them.
imnvs
Local Legend
Note, though that some crops can be grown in multiple seasons. Corn and Wheat, for example, are both Summer and Fall crops. I often will grow wheat at the end Summer so timed that they are harvested on Fall 1. This means that any fertilizer I used is still there for use in the Fall.
Advice unrelated to that?
If you've just started playing Stardew, just enjoy it. Explore. Figure out what parts of the game excite you and which parts of the game you consider a chore. Discover what YOU want to do. Finding (not that hard) the Community Center and attempting to complete the bundles it asks for is a good way to discover things, too.
If something frustrates you too much, ask for guidance or maybe check the wiki for that topic. Otherwise I'd try to ignore strategies that people suggest, certain tasks they say need being done and the like (except watching Queen of the Sauce every Sunday
), as well as ignoring the wiki for the most part. Doing this for a while at least maintains a bit of the wonder of discovery while, as I'd talked about earlier, allowing you to discover for yourself what you like about the game.Later on, or when you're ready to start a second save? Well, then all bets are off. Ask whatever you want. Look up on the wiki whatever obscure thing you were curious about...
....but the wonder and excitement you get for discovering something on your own? You can't get that back.
Have fun!
Laissez_Faire_Farming
Farmer
I envy you just like I envy people in their 20s. The beginning is the most exciting part.
Make a lot of money from fishing.
Make a lot of money from fishing.
Lew Zealand
Helper
Your dedication to very early game accomplishments is focused and admirable. Some would expound on all the tiresome, confusing and ultimately forgotten plans owing to their complexity, resulting in guaranteed disappointment. But not you!
Simple. Focused.
......Parsnippy.
Perfect!
Lew Zealand
Helper
General recommendation:
Take it easy and enjoy. As others have said already, the first time you play this game is real magic, lightning in a bottle. Don't go for spoilers or hit the Wiki. Instead roll along with how the game involves you in it's community and where it takes you. I wish there was another game which does that as well as Stardew Valley and I've tried a lot of them. And as Laissez_Faire_Farming said, I envy you being at the beginning!
Take it easy and enjoy. As others have said already, the first time you play this game is real magic, lightning in a bottle. Don't go for spoilers or hit the Wiki. Instead roll along with how the game involves you in it's community and where it takes you. I wish there was another game which does that as well as Stardew Valley and I've tried a lot of them. And as Laissez_Faire_Farming said, I envy you being at the beginning!
Tom
Farmer
First and foremost, enjoy and have fun. And keep this first savefile for future nostalgia. Even if you feel like you made a "fatal blunder" somewhere along the way, the day may eventually come when you would like nothing better than the joy of picking up that old "ruined" farm and continuing it. So keep it handy.
What imnvs and Lew Zealand said.
Crops: Actually I'd recommend you be careful about going overboard at first: Energy management! And you need to progress from Parsnips so your watering load doesn't get out of control. A classic progression might be:
Quibbles: Fainting outside your house costs you 10% of your money on hand with a max penalty of 1000. And if you aren't leveling up that night (on your first weeks you are often leveling up, so what you are observing can get confusing), falling asleep after midnight gives you a progressive energy recovery penalty.
Backpack/chests and TV: Yes. What IntoxicHeart said.
What imnvs and Lew Zealand said.
Crops: Actually I'd recommend you be careful about going overboard at first: Energy management! And you need to progress from Parsnips so your watering load doesn't get out of control. A classic progression might be:
- 15 Parsnips on Spring 1
- 40 Kale on Spring 5 or 6
- 80-120 crops (mixed) on Spring 12 or 13 through 24
Quibbles: Fainting outside your house costs you 10% of your money on hand with a max penalty of 1000. And if you aren't leveling up that night (on your first weeks you are often leveling up, so what you are observing can get confusing), falling asleep after midnight gives you a progressive energy recovery penalty.
Backpack/chests and TV: Yes. What IntoxicHeart said.
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Dastin
Farmhand
Save your money for egg festival, there you can buy a strawberry seeds which is really profitableHi, I'm new to the game, what are your tips?
Tom
Farmer
IMHO this is a spoiler and should have been in a spoiler tag.
I had accepted this conventional wisdom on faith until my last playthrough, when—distinctly underwhelmed—I actually did the calcs and found that Strawberries are only a little more lucrative than Cauliflower, even using a special strategy to put Deluxe Speed-Gro on them. They certainly aren't an earth shattering game changer like Pale Ale.
Giant Octopodes
Farmer
First, welcome! Both to the game and to the forums, I hope you enjoy!
Others have offered fantastic advice, I won't repeat what they've already said except the two most important bits. First and foremost, have fun. That's the whole goal of the game, so whatever you decide to do, make sure it's what you enjoy doing, and not what you feel obligated to do.
Second, watch the Queen of Sauce on Sunday. I strongly suspect you'll be happier in the long run if you don't go Too too long ignoring her, though you can always catch reruns on Wednesday to catch up on any you missed.
As far as other tips? Here's a few:
1) The advice regarding putting a chest in the mines applies to other things as well, you can put things down anywhere, not just the farm. Putting a chest near a fishing spot you like, so you can toss fish in there, is a fantastic idea especially when you have rather limited inventory space. I've got screenshots of a few I put down every save. These are just spots I like, lots of spots work, but be careful because if someone's path crosses an item you have down, it'll be destroyed. The last one also highlights putting furnaces in a convenient spot, don't worry about getting anywhere near that many especially early on, but having them there vs on the farm has dramatically improved my enjoyment of both heading into the mines and of smelting ore, since I can achieve them both at the same time.
2) In a similar vein, try to avoid overly taxing your time and your energy. It's easy to get caught up in redoubling your money and plant 100+ parsnips, only to end up exhausting yourself (virtually and in reality) watering all of them every day. This leaves you very little space to do anything else. Money will come and your farmer will get more efficient ways of doing things. Keep it simple early to give yourself plenty of space to explore.
3) There are different fish depending on where you're fishing, the time of day, the weather, and the season. Some are more valuable than others so check the TV for info, try a few spots to see what works for you, and if you feel like a challenge try for the river (in town or in the forest) while it's raining. There's large profits to be had if you catch something rather slippery!
4) Final fishing related tip, purchasing the Training Rod from Willy is very useful, especially while you're learning the game, and as long as your fishing level is 5 or less. However, you can't catch difficult fish with it, so if you're trying for something a bit harder make sure you're not using it.
I hope that helps!
Others have offered fantastic advice, I won't repeat what they've already said except the two most important bits. First and foremost, have fun. That's the whole goal of the game, so whatever you decide to do, make sure it's what you enjoy doing, and not what you feel obligated to do.
Second, watch the Queen of Sauce on Sunday. I strongly suspect you'll be happier in the long run if you don't go Too too long ignoring her, though you can always catch reruns on Wednesday to catch up on any you missed.
As far as other tips? Here's a few:
1) The advice regarding putting a chest in the mines applies to other things as well, you can put things down anywhere, not just the farm. Putting a chest near a fishing spot you like, so you can toss fish in there, is a fantastic idea especially when you have rather limited inventory space. I've got screenshots of a few I put down every save. These are just spots I like, lots of spots work, but be careful because if someone's path crosses an item you have down, it'll be destroyed. The last one also highlights putting furnaces in a convenient spot, don't worry about getting anywhere near that many especially early on, but having them there vs on the farm has dramatically improved my enjoyment of both heading into the mines and of smelting ore, since I can achieve them both at the same time.
2) In a similar vein, try to avoid overly taxing your time and your energy. It's easy to get caught up in redoubling your money and plant 100+ parsnips, only to end up exhausting yourself (virtually and in reality) watering all of them every day. This leaves you very little space to do anything else. Money will come and your farmer will get more efficient ways of doing things. Keep it simple early to give yourself plenty of space to explore.
3) There are different fish depending on where you're fishing, the time of day, the weather, and the season. Some are more valuable than others so check the TV for info, try a few spots to see what works for you, and if you feel like a challenge try for the river (in town or in the forest) while it's raining. There's large profits to be had if you catch something rather slippery!
4) Final fishing related tip, purchasing the Training Rod from Willy is very useful, especially while you're learning the game, and as long as your fishing level is 5 or less. However, you can't catch difficult fish with it, so if you're trying for something a bit harder make sure you're not using it.
I hope that helps!
LRangerR
Local Legend
You've already stolen all the words from me that i would reply with. All i can say for myself is "parsnips, yes, doit"
I mean, seriously, what else are you going to do besides parsnips? The only other concise directions you could give would be "hoe dirt" or "clear weeds and trees and rocks".
Tinks
Planter
I just got my copy of Stardew Valley!!...love the little booklet with map!.... no-one does that any more just usually get a tiny cartridge in an otherwise empty box! Remember the SNES when you'd get a proper booklet and sometimes even a limited edition poster! Actually the graphics do remind me of the original Zelda's, FF's, Harvest Moon's on the SNES!
I have plans for 2 very different farms and game styles so given what most have said about just enjoying it and exploring in your own time rather than looking up how to do everything and rushing to complete everything I'm wondering whether to start my own farm first? ...cos the other one (my 'Kenny & Penny Quest' ) is much more focused..... make money quick, upgrade house as quick as possible, marry Penny, get her mum out of the caravan (buy Pam a house quest) so we can have it and do that up too..lol!
My Forest Farm game is going to be a lot more laid back, just a place to chill, de-stress and transported back to my younger years!!
I have plans for 2 very different farms and game styles so given what most have said about just enjoying it and exploring in your own time rather than looking up how to do everything and rushing to complete everything I'm wondering whether to start my own farm first? ...cos the other one (my 'Kenny & Penny Quest' ) is much more focused..... make money quick, upgrade house as quick as possible, marry Penny, get her mum out of the caravan (buy Pam a house quest) so we can have it and do that up too..lol!
My Forest Farm game is going to be a lot more laid back, just a place to chill, de-stress and transported back to my younger years!!
Tinks
Planter
I've set up my first farm! on day 4...couple of questions
Firstly I picked a cat as pet and haven't seen it yet!! where do I find it??? (wished I'd picked the dog now but they didn't have a black one!)
Secondly an exclamation mark has appeared on the top right of screen just under where it shows how much money I have...what does it mean???
Firstly I picked a cat as pet and haven't seen it yet!! where do I find it??? (wished I'd picked the dog now but they didn't have a black one!)
Secondly an exclamation mark has appeared on the top right of screen just under where it shows how much money I have...what does it mean???
WhiteEagle12
Farmer
First question, it might be over by the cat bowl should be over to the left of your house. Your second question, The exclamation point simply indicates that you have a journal quest. To open your journal just press the minus button (I remember you saying that you play on switch)
Tinks
Planter
Xytronix
Greenhorn
Just wait for it ^^
LRangerR
Local Legend
I thought you said you wanted to wait and explore the game in your own time :P
Don't worry, you chose cat so cat will come in time. Just be patient.