What do you think is underrated in SDV?

icKyou1025

Sodbuster
So what are some things that you really like to use but the general public kind of underrates in your opinion.

I've got 2.
The first is Corn. It took me a long time to come around for corn. While waiting for the 1.5 update for console I was testing some ideas to prepare myself. One of those was getting the First House upgrade sooner than I usually do because of how the Beach Farm interacts with Supply Crates. So I ended up with the upgrade before my first Corn Harvest. I normally only plant 2 in an effort to get the 5 Gold Star for the Comm Center and save the rest for oil later. But with access to the Kitchen I was making some random food for buffs when I noticed I could make Tortillas. When I was making the Tortillas I realized its a really consistent way of having regular energy and I regretted not planting more corn. So now I kinda realized the great utility a decent Corn crop has. I only wish I could make Lucky Lunches this early.
My uses so far
I turn basic corn into oil (eventually) and Tortillas. Those Tortillas give a solid small boost of energy for basically no work. For Silver and Gold Corn I gift them or occasionally sell them if I'm a little short on a Target Buy. They're widely liked and unless I'm going Fishing or Mining I tend to keep a stack of giftables on me and that Corn fit my needs.


My second one is the Retaining Soil. I've used it a bunch in another playthrough and when used in large quantities its kinda nice. At the very least I didn't dislike it then. The only frustrating thing is that bigger crops can make it harder to see if something is still watered the next day until you water next to them. I've never been a fan of upgrading the Watering Can early. Since you can't use sprinklers on sand I decided to look into the Retaining soil again. Really where it shines is Summer.
So backstory, I usually separate crops into a For Profit section and a For Utility/Refinement section. For Profit is stuff I'm going to sell right away, (like blueberries) so the Quality matters. The other section is stuff that gets eaten for energy, or thrown into a Preserves Jar, Keg, Mill, etc. where quality doesn't matter and anything silver or gold gets gifted or eaten (or still processed).
So in my utility section I decided to use Retaining soil everywhere. It was really nice not having to water 20-40% of the crops there, and it really made me feel it would be ok to not upgrade the watering can right away. (The other side still used Sprinklers since I plan to toss them in the 10x20 area of the Beach Farm)

Honorable Mention:: Cork Bobber
The Trap Bobber still wins when it comes to the extremely hard to catch fish. But it's nice to try to go after more perfect catches for the moderate difficulty fish and down (Eel and Stonefish or easier).
 

mouse

Farmer
Is cork bobber really underrated? Lacking a sweet tacklebox to lug around with me everywhere, I pretty much only ever use that (especially on hard fish). I never really know what is currently thought of as "best", so I just thought that was interesting :)
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
I used the Cork Bobber almost exclusively to make Fishing easier as I was learning it towards the end of my first SDV save (v1.3) and all through the second one (v1.4). But the Legends were a bit of a problem until I read that the Trap is especially good for them and now with it's help (and Seafoam Pudding and Dish O' the Sea), I've caught all of them. But not all in one save yet!! Sooooon, my pretties!

And yes, I also grind for Winter Wild Seeds Year 1 and plan a full Farm of them Winter Y2 and later as they do bring in a decent amount of g with the Botanist perk. But I'm not sure that the effort expended is even worth it by Y2 as many people will have a Greenhouse full of Ancient Fruit (or something similarly lucrative) by then but my current save will test this as I have the seeds all ready to go (made Winter 28 Y1) and the Ancient Fruit Greenhouse.

I'll just throw Seafoam Pudding in here as I don't see many people mentioning it and a lot of people don't like Cooking, like me. I like fishing in the lake for the Midnight Carp and on the Beach Farm or Ocean for Flounder, and I always make a Midnight Squid pond, so I can make as many Puddings as possible. Then go fish up all the Legends, Lava Eel, Ice Pip, Scorpion Carp, Octopus, etc. with SFP and the Trap Bobber.
 

Odin

Moderator
Staff member
Is cork bobber really underrated? Lacking a sweet tacklebox to lug around with me everywhere, I pretty much only ever use that (especially on hard fish). I never really know what is currently thought of as "best", so I just thought that was interesting :)
Personally I always use the trap bobber, both because it does seem to help a lot and you only need to carry two items for them. I don't know that I've used the cork bobber much though, so I can't compare them.
 

LRangerR

Local Legend
Personally I always use the trap bobber, both because it does seem to help a lot and you only need to carry two items for them. I don't know that I've used the cork bobber much though, so I can't compare them.
Depends on what you're fishing for.
 

Cptldsilver

Planter
The mill. It makes beets and wheat very attractive cash crops if you lack the processing equipment to mass produce artisan goods. With only one click you can process an entire crop of wheat or beets into sugar or wheat flour. The wheat flour can also be turned into bread for additional profit.
 

Baconfry

Sodbuster
In 1.4 I would have said Dark Sword, since it was a viable source of healing with a surprisingly high activation rate. After vampirism was reworked, Dark Sword became genuinely awful. I found this change odd given that no one really seemed to appreciate Dark Sword back then either, but it happened and there's nothing I can do about it.

So it's been replaced by +Vampiric Dwarf Sword forged with 3 Topaz. It's basically the ultimate tank weapon, heavily reducing damage from monsters, bombs, and anything the game sends your way. Unlike the Dwarf Dagger (which has slightly higher defense), the Dwarf Sword is an actual weapon and you can use it to defend yourself. Everyone be like Galaxy Sword blah blah blah, Infinity Blade blah blah blah... but I think it's better to bring two weapons, and Dwarf Sword is a great candidate for slot 2.
 

Akemisora

Planter
Lobster bisque, it's far more cheaper than seafoam pudding. It gives +3 fishing that it's more than enough to catch hard fish.

I think people still stick to their swords. But if you manage to have good clubs (dwarven / dragontooth / galaxy) then forge them with emerald, it's very useful in the new mines. Use acrobat skill and if you can get, Artful enchantment, then spam that special move.
 
The most underrated items are the slingshots. Almost everyone finds the basic one in the chest on floor 40, has one or two tries with it, then discards it. I was no different until I watched a YT video of someone using it properly, and once you get the hang of it, you realise how it makes life much easier.

For instance, ghosts are a real PITA on your first descent, because most early weapons barely scratch them, but load up the slingshot with iron ore, and you can drop them in about 4 or 5 shots, without getting close. Easiest Solar Essence ever for the adventurer's bundle, BTW.

Combat is a grind to level up, but shadow brutes are worth 15xp each, so once you hit level 80+ you will have collected the Master Slingshot on your way, and loading the big one up with gold ore will deal an average of 75 damage, which is on a par with the Galaxy Hammer. Those shadow brutes will drop like flies and you don't need to get steamrollered by them if you weren't lucky enough to pick up a lead rod.

Best of all, Skull Cavern is a lot more productive with the slingshot, when loaded with Explosive Ammo. You can destroy iridium nodes the other side of the level almost instantaneously, rather than either waiting for a bomb to detonate or, even more laboriously, smacking it several times with a pickaxe. This is still worthwhile even after Explosive Ammo got heavily nerfed in 1.4

Yes, the slingshots takes practice, but that effort is undoubtedly worth it.
 

Xristos

Tiller
Fishing is underrated. No one I know uses fishing to get money although i think it's one of the easiest and most efficient ways to get quick money.
 
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