imnvs
Local Legend
1 - Professions:
More than one person means more than one profession is being brought into play. When looking at guides, remember that most are written with a single player in mind. All the optimization guides. All the challenge guides. All of them assume one player when they recommend professions. Which ones to take, and which ones to take temporarily and change later. A lot of those optimal choices are still going to be optimal for at least one of you to take. Then you need to think a lot more carefully about what the other person will take. In a lot of games, the person doing all the farming doesn't need to take Artisan, but can go Agriculturalist, and someone else goes Artisan to get the boost to sell prices. Or someone goes Rancher/Shepherd to get friendship with the barn animals done real quick. Pig-centric plans could benefit from a Shepherd and an Artisan. So, some less-optimal choices become quite useful when you have two people.
2 - Beginning Resources (and some later ones too):
- A - Cash
Any cash you would spend for everything is being split in some way between the players, and this holds true whether you share a wallet or not. The costs for everything, in a sense, are shared, no matter which check box you clicked at game creation, if you look at it honestly. So you have two people doing things, and you think that'll make things progress so much faster, right? Well, it also means you need to upgrade 2 houses, 2 hoes, 2 pickaxes, 2 axes, 2 watering cans, get 2 stables, 2 return scepters, 2 horse whistles, and all sorts of other things.
- B - Metal
Yeah, you think splitting the cash is bad? Splitting the metal bars you all need for upgrading tools is worse. Either you are all playing the game like it's a single player game, and everyone's mining the same amount, which is not how people usually play... you now have, just like the cash costs for upgrading we've already covered, you have the metal bar requirements multiplied by the number of people you have playing. So either this will slow down your tool upgrading (overall) or one person has to mine like s/he's two people to keep up with the demand.
- C - Experience
I already hear people thinking, "Whaaaaa.....?" when I start this one, but this is why I need to mention it. Experience is a limited resource in some ways, and in some ways you need to worry about compartmentalizing who does what so that you aren't encroaching on each other's experience. Why would it be considered encroaching? Because you still want to unlock the things you get from experience in your skills at the same rate. If three people are splitting the farming experience, for example, you won't get cheese presses too quickly without also tripling the amount of farming you would do in a single-player game. The same holds true for other skills, in a sense, though not quite as stringently.
- D - Other Resources (hardwood, time, etc)
Similar holds true, as mentioned in Metals above, about other resources, one notable example being hardwood. Because you want two stables for two players to each have a horse, that's 100 hardwood you need twice. That's two days of construction twice. Same goes for house upgrades, that both resources and time are needed for each. This all compounds together, especially during the build-up phases of things. While this all sounds grim, it also frees everyone up because they don't have to worry about the things others have claimed as a focus.
- E - Cabin Space
Cabins have space in them, and a lot of us do some crafting or processing in the house. You now have as many houses as you have players. Split that stuff up! One person's house can have the cheese processing and the other's house the egg processing. Whatever. Just remember you have the space as you're planning where to do what. And since everyone's houses (the farmhouse and the cabins both) are upgradeable, you have a cellar for every person available down the road too, so keep that in mind. (Also, a reminder that all cabin upgrades have the same cost as the farmhouse upgrades.)
3 - Co-ordination:
- A - How Socialism Is Already Built Into Your SDV Experience So You May As Well Lean Into It
If you're playing the game with someone, this game, you realize you're on the same side, right? And you're sharing the income. Share your wallet. Decide what is best for the farm based on the needs you have at the time. Upgrade the tool of the person that will help abate any bottlenecks in resource gathering you have. You need more ore to upgrade all your tools? Sounds like you need to upgrade the pickaxe of the person doing most of the mining. Then upgrade a tool that the person doing the farming needs upgraded to speed up their day. Then the forager. Then the fisher. Because the ingredients in crafting and upgrading equipment are shared (unless someone's hiding a chest somewhere with their gold bars nobody knows about), you may as well share the cash cost. You just need to focus. That's another part of coordinating, like I've suggested, upgrade the tools of folks that are focusing on doing the things those tools do. The person that isn't planting plants or watering them doesn't need their hoe and watering can upgraded right away. Someone that isn't chopping down trees doesn't need their axe upgraded. Someone that isn't mining doesn't need their pickaxe upgraded. (To be fair, someone that is mining and isn't farming may need to upgrade their hoe.)
- B - Friends And The Like
You both will be making friends. That's good. You can't get in each other's way doing that, right? Well, you can when it comes to spouses. Plan ahead who will marry whom, because otherwise you may run into an issue later where multiple people are rushing to marry the same person, and that's a bad race. This is a cooperative game, so figure this out ahead of time and save yourself the work and headache of having to readjust.
4 - Time
Time works differently in a multiplayer save compared to solo. When playing solo, when a cut-scene happens, the clock stops giving you plenty of time to appreciate the story of the game. In multiplayer, you do not get this luxury. Your clock is still ticking, so a cut-scene effectively shortens the time you have to get everything done that day. And using the /pause feature doesn't help much, as it will prevent most cutscenes from progressing. For these reasons, if you've seen the cutscenes before, I do recommend skipping most cutscenes during a multiplayer game. Get those in a solo game when you have all the time in the world.
5 - Summation (and invitation for suggested additions):
- A - Your Best Takeaway
Okay, the best way to think of everything after reading all of this? Doubling the players doesn't double everything, and in fact it can halve things. Tripling can do the same, etc. Just keep in mind which things go which ways and you'll do well.
- B - Suggestions
Anybody have anything they think wasn't included but should be? Post below or message me and it could be added.
More than one person means more than one profession is being brought into play. When looking at guides, remember that most are written with a single player in mind. All the optimization guides. All the challenge guides. All of them assume one player when they recommend professions. Which ones to take, and which ones to take temporarily and change later. A lot of those optimal choices are still going to be optimal for at least one of you to take. Then you need to think a lot more carefully about what the other person will take. In a lot of games, the person doing all the farming doesn't need to take Artisan, but can go Agriculturalist, and someone else goes Artisan to get the boost to sell prices. Or someone goes Rancher/Shepherd to get friendship with the barn animals done real quick. Pig-centric plans could benefit from a Shepherd and an Artisan. So, some less-optimal choices become quite useful when you have two people.
2 - Beginning Resources (and some later ones too):
- A - Cash
Any cash you would spend for everything is being split in some way between the players, and this holds true whether you share a wallet or not. The costs for everything, in a sense, are shared, no matter which check box you clicked at game creation, if you look at it honestly. So you have two people doing things, and you think that'll make things progress so much faster, right? Well, it also means you need to upgrade 2 houses, 2 hoes, 2 pickaxes, 2 axes, 2 watering cans, get 2 stables, 2 return scepters, 2 horse whistles, and all sorts of other things.
- B - Metal
Yeah, you think splitting the cash is bad? Splitting the metal bars you all need for upgrading tools is worse. Either you are all playing the game like it's a single player game, and everyone's mining the same amount, which is not how people usually play... you now have, just like the cash costs for upgrading we've already covered, you have the metal bar requirements multiplied by the number of people you have playing. So either this will slow down your tool upgrading (overall) or one person has to mine like s/he's two people to keep up with the demand.
- C - Experience
I already hear people thinking, "Whaaaaa.....?" when I start this one, but this is why I need to mention it. Experience is a limited resource in some ways, and in some ways you need to worry about compartmentalizing who does what so that you aren't encroaching on each other's experience. Why would it be considered encroaching? Because you still want to unlock the things you get from experience in your skills at the same rate. If three people are splitting the farming experience, for example, you won't get cheese presses too quickly without also tripling the amount of farming you would do in a single-player game. The same holds true for other skills, in a sense, though not quite as stringently.
- D - Other Resources (hardwood, time, etc)
Similar holds true, as mentioned in Metals above, about other resources, one notable example being hardwood. Because you want two stables for two players to each have a horse, that's 100 hardwood you need twice. That's two days of construction twice. Same goes for house upgrades, that both resources and time are needed for each. This all compounds together, especially during the build-up phases of things. While this all sounds grim, it also frees everyone up because they don't have to worry about the things others have claimed as a focus.
- E - Cabin Space
Cabins have space in them, and a lot of us do some crafting or processing in the house. You now have as many houses as you have players. Split that stuff up! One person's house can have the cheese processing and the other's house the egg processing. Whatever. Just remember you have the space as you're planning where to do what. And since everyone's houses (the farmhouse and the cabins both) are upgradeable, you have a cellar for every person available down the road too, so keep that in mind. (Also, a reminder that all cabin upgrades have the same cost as the farmhouse upgrades.)
3 - Co-ordination:
- A - How Socialism Is Already Built Into Your SDV Experience So You May As Well Lean Into It
If you're playing the game with someone, this game, you realize you're on the same side, right? And you're sharing the income. Share your wallet. Decide what is best for the farm based on the needs you have at the time. Upgrade the tool of the person that will help abate any bottlenecks in resource gathering you have. You need more ore to upgrade all your tools? Sounds like you need to upgrade the pickaxe of the person doing most of the mining. Then upgrade a tool that the person doing the farming needs upgraded to speed up their day. Then the forager. Then the fisher. Because the ingredients in crafting and upgrading equipment are shared (unless someone's hiding a chest somewhere with their gold bars nobody knows about), you may as well share the cash cost. You just need to focus. That's another part of coordinating, like I've suggested, upgrade the tools of folks that are focusing on doing the things those tools do. The person that isn't planting plants or watering them doesn't need their hoe and watering can upgraded right away. Someone that isn't chopping down trees doesn't need their axe upgraded. Someone that isn't mining doesn't need their pickaxe upgraded. (To be fair, someone that is mining and isn't farming may need to upgrade their hoe.)
- B - Friends And The Like
You both will be making friends. That's good. You can't get in each other's way doing that, right? Well, you can when it comes to spouses. Plan ahead who will marry whom, because otherwise you may run into an issue later where multiple people are rushing to marry the same person, and that's a bad race. This is a cooperative game, so figure this out ahead of time and save yourself the work and headache of having to readjust.
4 - Time
Time works differently in a multiplayer save compared to solo. When playing solo, when a cut-scene happens, the clock stops giving you plenty of time to appreciate the story of the game. In multiplayer, you do not get this luxury. Your clock is still ticking, so a cut-scene effectively shortens the time you have to get everything done that day. And using the /pause feature doesn't help much, as it will prevent most cutscenes from progressing. For these reasons, if you've seen the cutscenes before, I do recommend skipping most cutscenes during a multiplayer game. Get those in a solo game when you have all the time in the world.
5 - Summation (and invitation for suggested additions):
- A - Your Best Takeaway
Okay, the best way to think of everything after reading all of this? Doubling the players doesn't double everything, and in fact it can halve things. Tripling can do the same, etc. Just keep in mind which things go which ways and you'll do well.
- B - Suggestions
Anybody have anything they think wasn't included but should be? Post below or message me and it could be added.
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) others.