Making the most of your first year in Stardew Valley

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Do you think you can become a millionaire in the first year? Shae Sackman

Get rich quick with Jorah’s tips on making money fast and easy

I love Stardew Valley. There’s something peaceful about farming and running around a small town. However, it can be difficult to figure out what to do at the start and the best route to take. Throughout my near-300 hours of the game, watching speed runs, and chatting with friends, I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks for how to make your gameplay the most rewarding in terms of ease, money, and little nuisances.

Save your money for the strawberries.

In the first spring, you’re going to want to upgrade your backpack right away. The inventory limit can be annoying and frustrating. You end up throwing away things you wanted to keep and not holding on to as much as you want. But don’t go for the backpack right away; that’s 2000 gold. Instead, wait until after the egg festival.

The egg festival is where you get strawberry seeds, which cost 100 gold each, but are one of the most valuable resources for your first spring. You can make crazy money selling strawberries, and they regrow which makes you even more money. You want to get as many strawberries as possible during your first egg festival to max out your potential earnings.

Foraging days.

Foraging is a great way to earn money early on. If you’re having a bad luck day and you can’t go to the mines or you just don’t feel like fishing, you can take a look around town and try to get some good forage. The best days to forage are on Friday and Saturday because the forage resets on Sundays. If you need just one more piece of forage for that Community Center bundle, go out on a Saturday or a Sunday.

Tool directions for chopping down trees.

Have you ever chopped down a tree only for it to fall into the nearby water? I certainly have. I used to spend so much time trying to figure out how I needed to stand to chop down trees without losing the wood to the currents of the river. The trick is to stand closer to whichever side you want it to fall. Chopping from the top and wanting it to fall to the right? Stand closer to the right side.

Where you stand when fishing.

Have you ever heard the tale of the Lonely Rock? Some say if you fish at the Lonely Rock on the beach, you have a greater chance of catching fish. That’s actually not true, but there is a sliver of truth in it. When you fish horizontally (to the left or right) like when you’re fishing at the Lonely Rock, you get one more space of fish that you can catch. Statistically, you will catch more fish at the Lonely Rock, but you’ll also catch more fish anywhere else so long as you’re facing left or right instead of up or down.

Plant parsnips first.

When you start up the game, you start with 15 parsnips and 500 gold. Your first instinct may be to go to Pierre’s and buy potatoes with that gold. They’re different from the parsnips; they grow quickly, and they’re not that much more expensive.

Don’t do that. Don’t buy the potatoes. I know everyone loves potatoes and they’re so versatile, but don’t do it. Instead, stock up on more parsnips. You can have as much as 40 starting parsnips, which is the exact capacity of the watering can. When you harvest all 40 parsnips, you’ll end up with a guaranteed 875 gold when you sell them. Potatoes are uncertain because you don’t know the amount you’ll get at the end. You’ll also get 200xp towards your farming skill versus the 180xp you’d get with the potatoes, and it’ll only take 4 days to get all of those parsnips, all that money, and all that experience.

Tool hit location.

I learned about this one from a friend on a multiplayer server who was annoyed that we kept accidentally destroying crops. In the settings you can turn on the tool hit location. This will show you where you’re going to click in the game before you do it. Stop missing rocks in the mines and stop accidentally destroying your crops. Always see where you’re about to hit before you click with the tool hit location.

Zooming out in the mines.

Arguably the most precious resource in the mines is the ladder. Getting down to that next level can be so important, and it’s especially great when there’s already an open ladder on the map. Remember all those times that you dug around looking for a ladder only to realize there was an open ladder already there? Try zooming out. When you zoom out in the mines, more of the area is revealed. You can see whether or not there is an open ladder. The best part is you can set it so the minimize and maximize buttons are part of your HUD so it’s easy to access! This is also a great tool for foraging in larger areas like the Cindersap Forest.

Rebuilding the beach bridge.

This is the first hack that was passed on to me by our arts & culture editor, Wren. Unlock the bridge at the beach as soon as possible. It costs 300 wood, and if you follow the next tip you’ll get there pretty quickly. Once it’s fixed, you can access a whole new area of the beach with a ton of new forage that you can sell for some quick cash.

Clean your farm early.

This is the second hack Wren passed on to me. Clear your farm as soon as possible, but not the grass that turns into hay; you’ll need that. If you clear your farm of everything ASAP, grass will start to spread across your whole farm, leaving you with a ton of hay to harvest once you get the silo. It also helps you get resources like wood, stone, fibre, and seeds quickly.

Visit the Traveling Cart.

Sometimes doing the Community Center feels tedious. Some things are difficult to gather. But not with the Traveling Cart lady. On Friday and Sunday, head down to the big tree on Marnie’s Ranch to see what the Traveling Cart has to offer. Yes, it’s expensive, but it can also be worth it. Get those difficult-to-catch fish and hard-to-find items.

And remember, this is just a game. You play it for fun. If you don’t want to spend your money at the Traveling Cart or buy a ton of strawberries, you don’t have to. The only right way to play the game is to have fun doing it, and what’s most important is that you have fun. Not money, or the aesthetic, or how quickly you complete the Community Center. Enjoy the game!

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