Are Fish Ponds... Nerfed?

[HaleyRocks]

I decided to riddle my farm soil with fish ponds, remembering fondly the days of my 1.5 playthrough. I was especially enthusiastic, due to the upgraded loot table, according to which my favorite fish drop extra items; but i didn't pay attention to them %chances.

What happened here? With only 2 fish, i find roe at one time and then nothing, ever again. With many fish (5,6 etc), nothing is ever being produced, for many days straight! I remember waking up and picking merrily a ton of pond products, at half population, in the previous version and roe was pretty much too commonplace, to the point of me thinking it was almost "guaranteed" (i know it isn't really and there is a chance for 0% produce, in the charts).

Somebody can confirm that fish pond earnings (rate) changed?

 

[nicodeux]

I only played on farms that have only a handful of fish ponds, so I can't tell for sure, but overall I saw an increase in the fish ponds production. Yes, there seem to be more days where fish ponds produce nothing, but when they produce, they seem to produce more.

I especially noticed this on a farm where I have 6 Slimejack ponds at full capacity. I use the slime in order to fuel the Slime Egg-presses for my Slime Hutches. Roe is jarred.
In update 1.5, the slime and roe production from the ponds were balanced with the processing: every time I pressed an egg, the slime count dropped close to 0 and the same went with the roe.
Since update 1.6, I keep on processing slime and roe at the same rate and with the same capacity, yet my stocks are rapidly increasing, for both items.

 

[MogBeoulve]

Many fish ponds don't have reliable daily output until they are full or nearly full. I never expect low population fish ponds to give me anything.

 

[Johndeere756]

I have 3 ponds, rainbow, squid, and midnight carp and haven't noticed any difference in production to my other game files.

 

[ThePerfectGarden]

For a start, I would think it depends on the fish. I had a lot of different fish ponds in 1.5, and they were producing with different regularity.
Now, on my first farm in 1.6, I have only one pond with sturgeons, and indeed I noticed a decrease in regularity over a long time.
BUT. You can also give animal crackers to fish which I did - and from that time on I get several pieces of roe nearly on a daily basis. However, I didn't get any extra items so far.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I have 5 Fish Ponds with 4 now at 10 Fish capacity and the production doesn't seem to be noticeably different than in v1.5. However my last Pond is a Sturgeon with only 3 so far so I'll keep an eye on its production. Though you'll note that it's overall daily production chance is 5-95% so almost any amount of production or non-production of Roe is expected. Many Fish are like this.

 

[stardew_luv]

I decided to riddle my farm soil with fish ponds, remembering fondly the days of my 1.5 playthrough. I was especially enthusiastic, due to the upgraded loot table, according to which my favorite fish drop extra items; but i didn't pay attention to them %chances.

What happened here? With only 2 fish, i find roe at one time and then nothing, ever again. With many fish (5,6 etc), nothing is ever being produced, for many days straight! I remember waking up and picking merrily a ton of pond products, at half population, in the previous version and roe was pretty much too commonplace, to the point of me thinking it was almost "guaranteed" (i know it isn't really and there is a chance for 0% produce, in the charts).

Somebody can confirm that fish pond earnings (rate) changed?

I think they have to maximum capacity before you get near daily roe. No they aren’t very profitable, most people use them to complete CC bundles and for fun. Occasionally they produce useful items that are rare to find. I think this 1.6 update you can throw an animal cookie in the pond and it doubles their profit which with sturgeon and lava eel can be fairly mid range source of income if put in preserve jars.

 

[HaleyRocks]

Even my 10/10 Rainbow Trout, produce nothing, not even roe, for (2-3) days straight... This IS strange! From when i went outside house in 1.5 and almost all ponds had at least roe, now i go outdoors first thing in the morning, gazing at completely empty (products-wise) ponds!

I am at a loss of words, here. I was thinking of repeating my 1.5 para-economy thing with the many fish-ponds and i find myself in a terrible predicament, with all those materials and resources spent; this is so unfair! :'(

 

[stardew_luv]

Even my 10/10 Rainbow Trout, produce nothing, not even roe, for (2-3) days straight... This IS strange! From when i went outside house in 1.5 and almost all ponds had at least roe, now i go outdoors first thing in the morning, gazing at completely empty (products-wise) ponds!

I am at a loss of words, here. I was thinking of repeating my 1.5 para-economy thing with the many fish-ponds and i find myself in a terrible predicament, with all those materials and resources spent; this is so unfair! :'(

Yes there have been a lot of changes it seems to things in 1.6 and (dodging tomatoes) not always for the better. Things are a harder in multiple areas. I don’t know if was intended to make getting way of mastery harder or what. Regardless others have noticed it too it’s just they love the update so much they let things go easier. Personally I prefer 1.5 better. But I’m in the minority here.

Did you try giving them animal cookies I read those are really helpful.

 

[HaleyRocks]

Yes there have been a lot of changes it seems to things in 1.6 and (dodging tomatoes) not always for the better. Things are a harder in multiple areas. I don’t know if was intended to make getting way of mastery harder or what. Regardless others have noticed it too it’s just they love the update so much they let things go easier. Personally I prefer 1.5 better. But I’m in the minority here.

Did you try giving them animal cookies I read those are really helpful.

No, i left farming mastery for the very end, alas. I first unlocked Foraging and Fishing, because i thought all boxes/chests would now be golden and now, i freshly opened Combat, for trinkets and mini-forge. Next, i plan to do the mining and leave farming last.

Though, golden crackers are pretty rare to come by, anyway. 7% from fishing chests, is your best bet.

I like 1.5 just a tiny step above 1.6, because the changes are way too many -not all of them pleasant/helpful to the player as you yourself correctly noted- and the chance to find Prismatic Shards, was nerfed... Thrice! Whenever i hear about "balance" and "nerf", especially on single-player games, i always groan in pain, discomfort and become both brooding and malcontent.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

If anything they were buffed, I don't think they were changed in any significant way and you can now use animal crackers on them which doubles their production.

 

[riklaunim]

Even my 10/10 Rainbow Trout, produce nothing, not even roe, for (2-3) days straight...

Wiki says they have 13-5% to not produce anything at 9-10 population.

I find those fish ponds super slow to ramp up and then produce and so it needs large scale and those animal cookies to double the output.

 

[ThePerfectGarden]

Though, golden crackers are pretty rare to come by, anyway. 7% from fishing chests, is your best bet.

I like 1.5 just a tiny step above 1.6, because the changes are way too many -not all of them pleasant/helpful to the player as you yourself correctly noted- and the chance to find Prismatic Shards, was nerfed... Thrice! Whenever i hear about "balance" and "nerf", especially on single-player games, i always groan in pain, discomfort and become both brooding and malcontent.

I found as many animal crackers within roughly one year that I could feed them to nearly all of my animals: 3 goats, 3 chickens, 2 rabbits, 1 dino, 1 fish pond.
And I found 11 Prismatic Shards within roughly three years. Current Qi quest I accepted is collecting 4 Prismatic Shards within 28 days. First day I went to the Skull Cavern, digged my way past level 50 with the help of stairs, threw some bombs - and got 2 Prizzies.

I can't confirm that 1.6 is more difficult than 1.5, on the contrary, I think many new features actually make it a bit too easy (I love challenges, and I manage to be patient if I try ). I've never had as much money in 3 years as I have now. Yes, some things might have been made more difficult, e.g. that the Prismatic Shards for Qi now have to be collected first, or that the fish give less roe and extra products on their own - but in turn there are Animal Crackers, and they are not that rare (how much do you need anyway?), and as soon as you get Combat Mastery you are awashed with Trinkets that help you in battle, etc. etc.

 

[HaleyRocks]

I was mistaken, after all. There are a few small changes alright, but at full population, all is well, exactly as lucrative as in the previous version. Fish aren't very productive below 9 population now, but are pretty overworking, past that limit.

 

[Elenna101]

I was mistaken, after all. There are a few small changes alright, but at full population, all is well, exactly as lucrative as in the previous version. Fish aren't very productive below 9 population now, but are pretty overworking, past that limit.

I'm not aware of any changes to fish production chances in 1.6, and the wiki doesn't list any changes, for what that's worth. Maybe you were just getting luckier in previous farms? Were you using the same fish?

 

[HaleyRocks]

I'm not aware of any changes to fish production chances in 1.6, and the wiki doesn't list any changes, for what that's worth. Maybe you were just getting luckier in previous farms? Were you using the same fish?

What changed, is the number of fish asking for an item (in 1.5 there were the same milestones for all fish species, while now the rarer fish, ask for quest item earlier than 3 units in pond).

What i thought changed, was the item production. In 1.5 fewer fish used to produce roe, more frequently. Now, fewer fish produce situationally, extremely rarely, but full force ponds produce the same, if not more items, than 1.5

I wanted to check the patch notes to make sure and as FilthyGorilla already mentioned, "fish ponds appear to have been buffed instead", indeed. At 10/10 i find myself with surplus of roe, now.

All is well

 

[Ereo]

What changed, is the number of fish asking for an item (in 1.5 there were the same milestones for all fish species, while now the rarer fish, ask for quest item earlier than 3 units in pond).

What i thought changed, was the item production. In 1.5 fewer fish used to produce roe, more frequently. Now, fewer fish produce situationally, extremely rarely, but full force ponds produce the same, if not more items, than 1.5

I wanted to check the patch notes to make sure and as FilthyGorilla already mentioned, "fish ponds appear to have been buffed instead", indeed. At 10/10 i find myself with surplus of roe, now.

All is well

No, the rare fish always asked for items after only one fish was in there too. I have a sturgeon pond on my mobile farm with only one sturgeon that wants a diamond and I only want him to produce roe a second time before changing to other fish. I’ve been waiting for weeks.