Fishing rod change (contains 1.6 spoiler)

[ShivanAngel]

I love fishing in Stardew and think with the advanced Irridium rod its super close to being perfect.

the two bobber options unlock a range of possibilities, and make for some very interesting combinations.

Challenge bait is awesome, however I feel like with the addition of targeted bait its only sometimes preferable .

I did some testing and for example on rainy days when catfishing is an option challenge bait barely outperforms targeted bait, especially with lvl 10 fishing and lvl 10 farming when you smoke everything. This feels…. Kind of bad when challenge bait is a mastery unlock, and requires consistant perfect catches to outperform targeted bait.

So thats the background so on to the suggestion. Make the third slot on the advanced irridium rod able to hold a bait or tackle, allowing you to combine challenge and targeted bait. This would allow fishing to be a decent money making option later in the game.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I love fishing in Stardew and think with the advanced Irridium rod its super close to being perfect.

the two bobber options unlock a range of possibilities, and make for some very interesting combinations.

Challenge bait is awesome, however I feel like with the addition of targeted bait its only sometimes preferable .

I did some testing and for example on rainy days when catfishing is an option challenge bait barely outperforms targeted bait, especially with lvl 10 fishing and lvl 10 farming when you smoke everything. This feels…. Kind of bad when challenge bait is a mastery unlock, and requires consistant perfect catches to outperform targeted bait.

So thats the background so on to the suggestion. Make the third slot on the advanced irridium rod able to hold a bait or tackle, allowing you to combine challenge and targeted bait. This would allow fishing to be a decent money making option later in the game.

Each bait is designed to have it's ups and downs as well as the fish it's better or worse at, just because a bait is unlocked later doesn't mean it's meant to completely overrule any use of a previous bait. Challenge bait is made to be skill dependent, how good it is will solely be dependent on fish difficulty and your skill, if you can perfect every catfish it'll be far better than targeted bait and for a harder fish it may be worse on average.
Fishing is already a great possibility for money making too, just fishing on the volcano caldera in the midgame can net 200,000-300,000g every single day with the new smokers (the real fishing game changers). If you get the extended family qi quest from the walnut room later in the game, you can get millions per quest (just catching 5 legend 2s is more than 200k in a single day)

 

[REtroGeekery]

As someone who always uses bait asap but only uses tackle a few times, I would probably choose the fishing mastery sooner if this were the case. As is, it's always the last I choose despite how much I fish in the game.

Just think how quickly you'd be able to balance the biomes for Demeitrius with a combo of wild bait and targeted bait. "Too many Shades causing trouble? Don't worry, buddy. I'll have it handled by this afternoon."

 

[ShivanAngel]

Each bait is designed to have it's ups and downs as well as the fish it's better or worse at, just because a bait is unlocked later doesn't mean it's meant to completely overrule any use of a previous bait. Challenge bait is made to be skill dependent, how good it is will solely be dependent on fish difficulty and your skill, if you can perfect every catfish it'll be far better than targeted bait and for a harder fish it may be worse on average.
Fishing is already a great possibility for money making too, just fishing on the volcano caldera in the midgame can net 200,000-300,000g every single day with the new smokers (the real fishing game changers). If you get the extended family qi quest from the walnut room later in the game, you can get millions per quest (just catching 5 legend 2s is more than 200k in a single day)

You make a great point, and it brings up another issue.

the fish smoker that can be grabbed pretty early game has a way higher impact on fishing then the mastery.

Both of those insane ways to make money with fiahing have nothing to do with the mastery and cane be done with the basic irridium rod and a fish smoker.

I would like fishing to be a more valid option outside of just those two options. Challenge bait+largemouth bass bait. Then set up a bunch of smokers and you got yourself a pretty solid money maker.

are there better options? Of course, but it at least makes things interesting.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

You make a great point, and it brings up another issue.

the fish smoker that can be grabbed pretty early game has a way higher impact on fishing then the mastery.

Both of those insane ways to make money with fiahing have nothing to do with the mastery and cane be done with the basic irridium rod and a fish smoker.

I would like fishing to be a more valid option outside of just those two options. Challenge bait+largemouth bass bait. Then set up a bunch of smokers and you got yourself a pretty solid money maker.

are there better options? Of course, but it at least makes things interesting.

That’s OK though, the use of something unlocked doesn’t have to be linear as you progress through the game. That’s just super boring.

If it was so then you’d get all the useful farming stuff like sprinklers and processing machines from qi, upgrade your tools at the volcano forge, etc.

That isn’t fun, something late shouldn’t be the only viable option and just because it’s unlocked late doesn’t mean it should be better than everything else