First summer crop choice: an experiment

[Tom]

But in this version I haven't felt tight for money at any point, which I did in the starfruit trial.

This is exactly what I find amazing about Hops and Pale Ale. As long as you get Tappers started early, you can find yourself suddenly swimming in money with next to no initial investment or being "tight for money". I have become so addicted to this reality that I am completely willing to plant much more Hops than I have sprinklers.

 

[Squigglyruth]

Final update:
The hops and starfruit strategy worked very nicely.

Planting:
316 hops and fill in with melon.
Then replace melon with DSG starfruit for two starfruit harvests.
Finish with wheat to keep the DSG over into Fall.

Results at the end of Summer:
356 unsold pale ale, 101 being processed, and 5,343 hops. With full processing and Artisan that will sell for 2,436,000g.
335 unprocessed starfruit. With Artisan, the wine will fetch 1,055,250g.
Enough other stuff to sell so I can fill my field with DSG beets and wheat for fall.
Fish pond full of carp.
Lots of coffee beans.

3,491,250g is definitely the highest money of the three runs. I also had plenty of free time, getting my stats up to mining 9, foraging and combat 7. I didn't buy the barn yet, but I did upgrade my tools - steel axe and gold pickaxe. All in all I found that summer good fun.

I think this is the run that I will continue, and the strategy I will try for next time.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Yea, that's what I love about Hops, it's that there's no ongoing costs. Once it is planted, it's all pure profit from there. You not only save costs on more seeds, but also costs on DSG not needing to be purchased. Your overhead is lower, which gives you enough surplus cash during the month to start other things going like your barn/coop upgrades and such.

I also have been enjoying watching you Do The Science(tm) on the different strategies. Sometimes, there's more involved than raw numbers and math. Seeing someone actually try out the two competing strategies, along with their log of how it feels to be doing each as they are doing it, is far more valuable than just breaking out the old calculator and going 'well, this *should* be more profitable'.