The game can surely use some more automation...

[HaleyRocks]

There are too many machines and tasks, to micromanage. Even with the rare few "automatics" (autograbber, hoppers, junimo huts etc) in the picture, nobody can finish up all their tasks in only one day (or even two days, three days, four days etc), from the things that are ready to collect, or the gear ready to accept new items, etc.

Even in my endgame farm, with the epitome of machinery and everything unlocked, i struggle badly. To the point that i am being forced to let down planting completely, or completely ignore a certain aspect (forget my animals even exist) of the game, in order to finish up other tasks.

Since the game already has an item such as a "computer"... Is there any chance, in a future update, to see some more automation that something like another type of computer, can achieve? Or even worker-robots or something? Since mannequinns are already a thing?

 

[Draconifors]

Sounds like you might want to cut down on the stuff your farm produces.

My farm will never be one of those "a million machines producing stuff" places. I can be done with everything by 11 am or earlier.

 

[Multanox]

There are too many machines and tasks, to micromanage. Even with the rare few "automatics" (autograbber, hoppers, junimo huts etc) in the picture, nobody can finish up all their tasks in only one day (or even two days, three days, four days etc), from the things that are ready to collect, or the gear ready to accept new items, etc.

Even in my endgame farm, with the epitome of machinery and everything unlocked, i struggle badly. To the point that i am being forced to let down planting completely, or completely ignore a certain aspect (forget my animals even exist) of the game, in order to finish up other tasks.

Since the game already has an item such as a "computer"... Is there any chance, in a future update, to see some more automation that something like another type of computer, can achieve? Or even worker-robots or something? Since mannequinns are already a thing?

I can completely agree with you. There are so many tasks you have to manage, so you have to ignore other aspects of the game. I can imagine an integration of some reliable options you can choose to support all the farm processes. Meanwhile it is possible to manage other (important) tasks or simply to have an opportunity to do whatever you want.

 

[OwOTech]

I think all of us are secretly awaiting the Stardew Valley x Factorio crossover

 

[Lew Zealand]

Sounds like you might want to cut down on the stuff your farm produces.

My farm will never be one of those "a million machines producing stuff" places. I can be done with everything by 11 am or earlier.

This is the answer. Don't be a slave to your Farm.

IMO it's imperative for any long term Farmer to manage their time. That means only a few of any machine and only checking it maximum of once a day, ideally much less often. My Med-Meh guide (still unfinished and too long) addresses this but here's what I do on my Farm, in order:

Every day:
let animals out
close Coop/Barn at night
Harvest daily machines (Statues, Bait, Crystalariums, etc.) on the way to the Coop/Barn
check Fish Ponds as I ride by to see if they produced something interesting

Every 2 days:
Pet 24 animals (1 Coop and 1 Barn full)
Process Autograbbed items in Coop (4 Mayo Makers) and Barn (4 Cheez Makers)

Every ~3 days:
Process 1 Shed full of Jars
Scythe the single line of reharvest crops and pick Tree Fruit in Greenhouse
Scythe Ginger Farm Blueberries and other reharvestables
Pick Tree Fruit at Ginger
Check Tapped Trees and Mushroom Log

Every 7 days:
Process half Shed of Kegs
Scythe Ancient Fruit & Pineapples in Greenhouse
Scythe Pineapples at Ginger

Every 10 days:
Scythe 190 Rhubarb (Sp), Starfruit (Su), Pumpkins (Fa), replant


So some days I'm opening and closing the Barn and Coop. That's it. Every other day I pet Animals and process 8 machines. All done quickly.

The Daily producers (Crystalariums, Statues, Fish Ponds, Bait maker, even the Tappers) are arranged so I walk by them anyway, so little if any extra time taken to look and grab stuff if needed.

About twice a week I add the Jar processing, scything, tree picking, this finally adds time but it can wait a day or two if I want to do something else. Nothing's gonna happen to it. And the same goes for everything else except the every 10 days stuff. That needs to happen that day or the whole thing is thrown off. I can make the time for a single requirement which takes me 2.5 hours, 3 times a season.

For everything else:

It can wait if I want to do something else.

 

[chaskuchar]

i like your schedule. doing some things the same way, however haven't been to ginger island yet. still working on fixing the boat. it took me over twenty games and forcing myself to learn fishing to complete the community center. and finally married Leah and have a son. this is on the original farm and doing some farming but all irrigated. can you place a map of your barn and coop please? i only have half of the original farm or less without any trees. i am busy all the time. winter 3... xbox game.

 

[Fsc]

Infinite auto farming guide:

Regrow plant (blueberries, crainberries, i think ancient fruit, etc.)
Junimo.
Hoppers.
Chest.
And last but DEFINETLY not least, Sprinklers.
Now, final step.
Glitch junimos into a greenhouse/shed, so you never have to plant again :D - or use an Iridium sycthe for very minimal effort.
Hire freelancers from fiverr (not sponsered) to join your game and harvest for you.


Or just mod the game, recommended solution...

 

[MithranArkanere]

Right now hoppers are mostly useless for anything other than having sets of 3 hoppers with coffee beans attached to kegs to get quick speeds boots all over without having to carry the expressos around and to deconstruct them for radioactive bars..

So it would be nice if they had an actual use. But any more automation than that would save tons of time, so automation should take more space to limit automated production.

If there was an "out" hopper, that would only increase the space required by 1, and I think that would not be enough.

If hoppers had no storage space of their own, and instead connected chests and machines. To 'automate' 1 machine, you would need 2 chests and 2 connectors, using 5 tiles instead of 1. Or it could be that the current hoppers would be the "In" of the system, but then you'd also need "Out" hoppers and connectors. So it would not only take more space, it would also be more expensive as out hoppers would be much more expensive than in hoppers and the connectors would add extra cost.
Having connectors would also allow configurations other than always having the machine in front of the hopper.

That change would free lots of your time, but in exchange produce much less than 5 times less in the same space as you would need the space for the in and out hoppers and the connectors, and also have to leave space to walk to the in and out hoppers.

 

[Njin]

Some more automation would be nice I only think about it every time I play my oldest farm. Maybe an auto Grabber that works for machines in sheds would be great. Even if it was large like a Junimo hut would be awesome Or It could even be a super expensive endgame shed upgrade or something. I'd pay up for that, not a lot of things to spend your money on in the endgame.
I rarely play my best farm because after I empty out my statues and my crystalariums. I only have 5 in game hours to do other projects. So must agree would be happy to see more automation
options in a future update. But rn I'd be happy just to get my hands on that 1.6 update on my playstation :|

 

[Sinmenon]

I like to focus on a farm: I will mainly work with animals or I will work with crops?

Crops? Sprinklers + Junimo Hut + regrow crops if you want the minimum effort on that part. Might not be the most money, but certainly is low effort when you don't need to count every gold and keep a steady earning.

Spoiler: Crops

Coffee : Spring and summer (regrows in 2 days. 15g Add speed-Gro at the very least to have coffee every day)
Green beans : Spring (regrows in 3 days, 40g)
Strawberry : Spring (regrows in 4 days, 120g)
Blueberry : Summer (regrows in 4 days, 50g)
Corn : Summer (regrows in 4 days, 50g)
Hops: Summer (regrows in 1 day, 25g)
Hot Pepper : Summer (regrows in 3 days, 40g)
Summer Squash : Summer (regrows in 3 days, 45g. From the Raccoon)
Tomato : Summer (regrows in 4 days, 60g)
Pinneaple : Summer (regrows in 7 days, 300g)
Broccoli : Fall (regrows in 4 days, 70g)
Cranberries: Fall (regrows in 5 days, 75g)
Eggplant : Fall (regrows in 5 days, 60g)
Grape : Fall (regrows in 3 days, 80g)
Ancient Fruit : Spring through Fall (regrows in 7 days, 550g)
Cactus : Greenhouse, garden pots or Ginger Island (regrows in 3 days, 75g)

Prices are based on the lowest possible price

I usually plant strawberries, tomato or pineapple , cranberries. I have a thematic farm that is a vineyard so this one is mostly grapes tho.
My greenhouse is half ancient and half coffee most of the time, the former usually goes directly to the kegs and casket for ancient fruit wine. Sure, starfruit is amazing, but I don't need to replant.

Animals? If you get an autograbber and an autopetter you are set, just open and close the door every day
Coop : filled with dinos that now with the Treasure Appraisal Guide the base egg goes from 350g to 1050g, meaning no mayo machine is necessary. Just check inside the coop once a week.
Barn : goats . Yes, not pigs. Hear me out: you need to collect the truffles. The auto grabber means you also just check the barn once a week, turn the milk into cheese and then place the goat cheese into caskets. Iridium quality goat cheese for 800g in 7 days if you use large goat milk for the cheese and get the gold quality cheese out of the gate. Otherwise, 14 days.

Another thing to manage my time with the 1.6 is to write signs to tell me when my wine will be ready to collect.

 

[Quirinea]

Every day:
let animals out
close Coop/Barn at night

Why are you doing that? I admit that I cheat shamelessly with mods, Automaton, Timespeed etc... but I've never been running to open and close coops and barns. On the 1. Spring I open them (or preferably late at night before) and just before winter I close them. Mansikki (a Finnish traditional cow name) comes and goes as it likes. And the animals are mosly "very happy".

 

[HaleyRocks]

We should have other villagers help, with certain tasks we assign to them, much like the spouse waters the pet bowls. I have three pets, sprinklers do not work with bowls, so i waste at least 1-1,5 in game hours, to merely do the pets' thing. I need 1 worker to harvest my many fish ponds, 1 worker to tend to my Kegs-Shed, 1 worker to tend to my Crystallariums-Shed, 1 worker to tend to my Barrels-Shed, 1 worker to hoe for plants near my house, 1 worker to tend to my 2 coops and 2 barns, 1 or more workers for my syrups and mushrooms farms (i have 5 tree orchards with 28 trees each and 25 mushroom logs each) complete with my Dehydrators-Shed, so i have enough time to do quests, go adventuring/combat and use my main Shed with generic machinery, which isn't tied to mass production!

Why not be able to hire other villagers, like Gunther or Morris do? I could pay a big salary, gladly! I can never finish (daily, or when they are ready) one or with much difficulty, two at most, of the above tasks, myself! Because there is Ginger Island too and the occasional, short Desert trips in the picture! I haven't even found time to gather honey for 6 seasons, now and i have 3x44 beehives, spread in three nice formations, with ~150,000 selling price each harvest!

I might build another big shed, with mayonnaise, cheese and woll processing machines, complete with hoppers... I have huge quantities of animal products to process and no time for endless clicks. Only one for gathering is already more than enough. Damn.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Why are you doing that? I admit that I cheat shamelessly with mods, Automaton, Timespeed etc... but I've never been running to open and close coops and barns. On the 1. Spring I open them (or preferably late at night before) and just before winter I close them. Mansikki (a Finnish traditional cow name) comes and goes as it likes. And the animals are mosly "very happy".

In v1.5 and earlier there was no Animal happiness penalty for leaving the doors open but there is one in v1.6 now so I've added opening the doors to my routine. At the point I'm in the game now I probably don't need to do it and I'll try that as a test.

I'll leave them open for a Season but otherwise do all my normal stuff and see what happens.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

I sometimes tell new players to just let the game guide you. Do things at the pace the game sets, and don't worry about doing everything all at once. There is no requirement to have multiple processing machines for every farm product. There's no penalty or time limit, no minimum income, nothing like that.
Most players find a play style to maximize their enjoyment of the game. That's usually either light diversification, or heavy specialization. So just a little bit of each thing, or a ton of one or two things.
If you're frustrated that you have too many tasks, I suggest doing fewer tasks! Narrow it down to a few things that work well together.
You can always try new specialties on your next farm!

 

[MogBeoulve]

If it's too boring or taxing to do all the time, I stop doing it and just collect/refill machines only when I feel like it. On my rabbit farm, I only put wool into looms if it's less than iridium quality. I got rid of the fourth fish pond because collecting roe everyday got annoying. My crab pots haven't been emptied in months. I have a massive field of ancient fruit on Ginger Island but never harvest it on time. I never have sheds full of garden pots or machines because tending to them bores me to tears. No, no. I want to get up, run outside, chug some espresso and run through the fields looking for rabbits to pet, giggling maniacally the whole time.

 

[Fsc]

my rabbit farm,

Huh. The rabbit profile picture has a rabbit farm. Unexpected.

 

[Bawby]

As nice as extra automation would be, all it would likely do for me is create more chores for my poor farmer. Don't have to worry about one thing? Let me ruin it by building two more things!

 

[Sinmenon]

I do have to admit it would be nice if at least our spouse helped. Could be a "fed the animals" if you have hay in the silos or "I let the animals out" kind of deal. "I watered the plants" could make a difference. I'm sure it would be too much to ask for "I collected the eggs" or "I harvested the greenhouse" and have a temporary bag right by their side that disappears but eh.

 

[Ereo]

I do have to admit it would be nice if at least our spouse helped. Could be a "fed the animals" if you have hay in the silos or "I let the animals out" kind of deal. "I watered the plants" could make a difference. I'm sure it would be too much to ask for "I collected the eggs" or "I harvested the greenhouse" and have a temporary bag right by their side that disappears but eh.

they do some tasks (water the pet, feed the animals (which I think doesn’t use up hay), water the crops, repair the fence), but randomly and rather rarely and at that point, most people have those things automated.