How fast can I complete the Vault Bundle (realistically?)

[NotSoSnarky]

No mods or cheats in the game. Just vanilla play through. The major thing I'm always struggling with is the vault bundle. I can get it unlocked, but it takes forever for me to actually complete it.

I'm thinking the Riverland Farm for the free fish smoker. It doesn't give you a lot of tillable soil for crops, but the free fish smoker is nice. I am willing to hear other options/opinions, though!

Once I get enough money for Demetrius to show up, should I go for the Mushroom Cave for the free dehydrator? I usually go for the Fruit Bat Cave for help with the other bundles, but the free dehydrator does sound nice.

Fishpond, is it worth it? I never tried it in any of my play throughs. I know you can put legend fish in it now, but I'm still on the fence about it. Thoughts on the fishpond for money making?

I usually try to get Caroline up to 2 hearts ASAP for the tea sapling recipe. It's still good money making even with the sell reducing in the 1.6 update.

I know what crops make good money. Strawberries in Spring, Blueberries in Summer, etc. But it seems like I never buy enough.

I never seem to have enough resources for mayonnaise machines, recycling machines, crab pots, preserve jars and so on. Even when I spend all day in the mines, never seem to have enough.

Any tips/advice/help would be appreciated.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Realistically 40000/42500g isn't that bad to get, even in spring. However, most find trouble managing how to fit that into their preexisting budget, with other things to purchase such as seeds, tool upgrades, and potentially even other community upgrades if going the joja route.

Your best bet is to get a relatively reliable source of income that doesn't take much input/capital, this ensures that you're not shooting yourself in the foot by investing a relatively large chunk of your cash (at least for early game), into something that won't have great immediate return (unless you can really capitalize off of skull cavern immediately, in which case you should be dumping basically any cash into the vault).
That means something like fishing, void essense+diamond farming (by resetting later elevator floors, this method is good if you're pursuing the vault for skull cavern), and so on, and necessarily means staying away from crops as a means of profit (they just don't scale very quickly early on, especially for the effort you put in and in spring where the crops are really bad compared to other seasons). You have the right idea with possibly choosing riverland for the fish smoker, but it really depends on what you're trying to unlock the desert for, if you want large mainland fields of starfruit, you'll be more limited by riverland farms space than you're helped by a single smoker.

Most of the other stuff doesn't really help much (a single dehydrator at most gives you like 3000g of extra cash by summer, fish ponds aren't great unless you're pairing it with regular fishing and ideally have a legend in it, most animals scale really slow early on, and many machines like crab pots are just outright not good for making a profit).

 

[NotSoSnarky]

Realistically 40000/42500g isn't that bad to get, even in spring. However, most find trouble managing how to fit that into their preexisting budget, with other things to purchase such as seeds, tool upgrades, and potentially even other community upgrades if going the joja route.

Your best bet is to get a relatively reliable source of income that doesn't take much input/capital, this ensures that you're not shooting yourself in the foot by investing a relatively large chunk of your cash (at least for early game), into something that won't have great immediate return (unless you can really capitalize off of skull cavern immediately, in which case you should be dumping basically any cash into the vault).
That means something like fishing, void essense+diamond farming (by resetting later elevator floors, this method is good if you're pursuing the vault for skull cavern), and so on, and necessarily means staying away from crops as a means of profit (they just don't scale very quickly early on, especially for the effort you put in and in spring where the crops are really bad compared to other seasons). You have the right idea with possibly choosing riverland for the fish smoker, but it really depends on what you're trying to unlock the desert for, if you want large mainland fields of starfruit, you'll be more limited by riverland farms space than you're helped by a single smoker.

Most of the other stuff doesn't really help much (a single dehydrator at most gives you like 3000g of extra cash by summer, fish ponds aren't great unless you're pairing it with regular fishing and ideally have a legend in it, most animals scale really slow early on, and many machines like crab pots are just outright not good for making a profit).

The upgrading items is what I'm worried about. Getting the backpack upgrade, getting at least the Pickaxe and Axe upgraded at least once in Spring. Attempting to get a Silo and Coop, trying to get a Barn in Spring if I can. Sometimes I can get Silo, Coop and Barn in Spring, sometimes I can't get all three.

Staying away from the crops is an interesting idea. I never thought of it. Just something that I always automatically did. Though, I am wanting to get the necessary crops to complete the Spring Bundle.

Thank you, any other advice/tips you could potentially give? I want to go the Community Center route, I always go that way, I'm not wanting to go the Joja Route, if I can help it.

I can usually unlock the Vault Bundle at the end of Spring, though completing it takes the longest.

I'm not good with the clay farming. I can never seem to get enough clay. I'm looking for other money making tactics instead.

 

[NotSoSnarky]

@FilthyGorilla Should I let monsters spawn on the Riverland Farm for potential monster loot drop? Or should I not bother?

 

[One More Day]

@FilthyGorilla Should I let monsters spawn on the Riverland Farm for potential monster loot drop? Or should I not bother?

Monsters on the farm aren't really a source of anything other than inconvenience IMO.

The reality is they only spawn for a very few hours late in the evening, so most of the day has to be filled with other activity anyway, and given the short window of opportunity, their loot drops won't add up to enough to make any meaningful difference.