Pros and cons of more involved farming.

[SuperChouette]

I’m wondering what is the general desire here: for the game to increase in complexity alone, increase in difficulty (with options or by requirements) or do people want aspects of the game to be easier.

More complexity/difficulty: I’m interested in advanced watering techniques. Some crops need lots more water to be successful! If you watered melons, tomatoes and hops in the morning as well as the afternoon you could get a harvest or growth speed bonus. Conversely, cactus doesn’t want to be watered everyday! If you put them on a sprinkler, they would struggle.

More ease: Can we get the option to craft a second set of tools? Instead of upgrading, Clint could require more bars and more money to make a new tool (maximum one of each tool per player?) but only the metal portions. Any wooden handles would have to be crafted by Robin from hardwood.

 

[CryogenCrystals]

I like the cactuses idea, it would make sense for these to grow in pots without watering, like tea bushes. I'm kinda boring with watering though, and hit the mines hard to get metal for sprinklers as early as possible... but, I could understand the appeal for folks who really enjoy farming.

I'm not much into farming, doing what I have to and generally preferring other things, so I'm probably not going to give the best opinion on it. For me personally there are so many other things that can be improved over changing farming, like explanded storylines so that interacting with characters isn't just dropped once they are at full hearts, having the community center not be so means-to-an-end one-dimensional since once wonderfully restored, it has no function or character interaction (recently brought up by someone, I thought they had an excellent point that it did nothing after completion). Some folks really do love farming though, I could see them potentially enjoying the extra yields benefit for specific watering perhaps.

 

[SuperChouette]

explanded storylines so interacting with characters isn't just dropped once they are at full hearts, […] the community center […] did nothing after completion.

I know exactly what you mean. I feel bad because the characters and community center are so impressive that it’s a kind of let down when they don’t evolve. I also think this is probably their hardest part to improve. The game is crippled by its own greatness!! Lol

Farming gets in the way of all the other fun stuff I want to do. But I’m obsessed! And if there was an option to baby my plants more I don’t know if I could resist.

But I would prefer to baby the actual baby some more…

 

[Zen_the_Ogre]

The advanced watering was a mechanic in the later harvest moon. The quality of the produce was influenced by seed quality and daily fertilizers. You could make crops take longer to grow by skipping a day of watering so you could raise a crop up to 3 stars higher than it's base seed value. You also could do this for tea saplings and fruit trees though you couldn't get a seed bonus by stacking seeds on one another.

If this was comparable to Stardew essentially you could iridium quality crop seeds that make iridium quality guaranteed with no fertilizer once you unlock the green house.

It was fun but hm had decay on crop and food items to prevent hording

 

[SuperChouette]

I’m so torn on product decay. It makes so much sense and adds to the strategy but…

But…

I love hoarding. I’m a wine mogul and it’s all because of hoarding. Also I would hate to hear all the people whining about product decay.

 

[Zen_the_Ogre]

Don't worry hording wine is a little different than trying to figure out the age of the potato in the bottom of the fridge.....eek an eye blinked

 

[SuperChouette]

Can I still throw that sucker in a preserves jar? Or is it poison now…

 

[imnvs]

Can I still throw that sucker in a preserves jar? Or is it poison now…

When it blinks... I think it's about time to move it out to the barn because soon you'll need to milk it.

 

[Polaris]

I'm on a new save and rediscovering how rough it can be at the beginning. I think the one thing that I'd request that makes sense is for the campfire to allow cooking. My char is learning a bunch of food recipes and acquiring lots of ingredients but can only eat the things she forages.

I've upgraded the bag, axe and pick once, and bought seeds. But still feel broke all the time because everything costs so much and sells for so little in the beginning. I can't upgrade the cabin to get a kitchen until I have 10k that isn't needed for something(s) else. So allowing the campfire to cook some foods would be helpful.

 

[Ereo]

There is a camp fire that allows for coming, but it's unlocked at a pretty high foraging level.

 

[SuperChouette]

I'm on a new save and rediscovering how rough it can be at the beginning. I think the one thing that I'd request that makes sense is for the campfire to allow cooking. My char is learning a bunch of food recipes and acquiring lots of ingredients but can only eat the things she forages.

Exactly all of this. Emily will let me use her sewing machine but not her stove? Lewis knew grandpa didn’t have a kitchen so maybe he could offer to let me cook in his house once he trusts me enough. Everyone is content to watch me eating those nasty field snacks, a universally disliked item. Queen of Sauce food porn every night

 

[Polaris]

Exactly all of this. Emily will let me use her sewing machine but not her stove? Lewis knew grandpa didn’t have a kitchen so maybe he could offer to let me cook in his house once he trusts me enough. Everyone is content to watch me eating those nasty field snacks, a universally disliked item. Queen of Sauce food porn every night

Hehe gave me a chuckle, thanks. I can make a torch from wood and sap easily so I don't need it for light. So I kind of wonder why there is a campfire at all since we can't cook at it.

 

[Lew Zealand]

The campfire seems to make a wider spread light, so I put them along the outsides of my crops so zombies don't spawn in the center.

Mmm? Oh, whoops not Minecraft.

I still use campfires so I can see my fully mature crops at 12:30am which I forget to pick n' replant as I was carousing at the Saloon erm, furiously fighting lava thingys in the Volcano Dungeon. No Haley honey, the beer breath is from... dousing my hot wounds. And it wouldn't stand to just waste the leftovers.

 

[Ellajoy]

I do like the idea of product decay, but I think it would need to be an option.

 

[SuperChouette]

Another layer of difficulty I’d like to have is making fencing and keeping gates closed more important. I currently only leave the gates open on the far side of the pasture so most of the critters hang out in the grasses instead of my plowed fields.

I kind of wanted all the farm animals to munch on crops if they are not properly coralled. If real life chickens are free range, you literally cannot grow any crops. They peck everything green until it is no more. And most farm dogs learn how to eat sweet peas off the vine. So I totally expected some kind of loss from roaming farm animals.