With the arrival of the long-awaited 1.6 update, there’s never been a better time to play Stardew Valley. Since the game’s release in 2016, several updates have added an impressive amount of new content for players to experience. However, the game gives you lots to do and it can often be difficult to figure out where to begin.
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Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update has added lots of new content, including new crops, eight-player multiplayer, and the new Meadowlands Farm map; designed especially for aspiring ranchers, it’s perfect for a fresh start. However, Stardew Valley’s freeform approach to farm life can often make your first few seasons feel rather daunting. A few tips and tricks will help you start your new life in the countryside.
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10 Pick The Right Farm Type
Different Farms Fit Different Playstyles
With the addition of the new Meadowlands Farm in update 1.6, Stardew Valley now features eight different farm maps for players to choose from. Each farm map focuses on a single aspect of the Stardew Valley experience and has unique features that the others lack.
For new players, the Standard Farm is the best choice. This is the default farm map and highly recommended for a first playthrough as it has lots of land for crops, raising some farm animals, and buildings. It lacks special features, but it’s easy for you to design your farm the way you want over the next few seasons. If you want to try something different, keep in mind that some farm maps are more difficult than others.
Farm maps not recommended for beginners include the Wilderness and Beach Farms, due to the difficulty added by hostile monsters and soil that has to be watered manually.
9 Establish A Clear Morning Routine
Watch The TV And Check Your Calendar To Start Your Day
Your farmhouse comes with a TV that tunes into several different channels. The first thing you should do every morning is to watch all of the channels available to you. Every show provides crucial information for running your farm and planning your days. Programs include:
Program
Description
Weather Report
Tells you what the weather will be like tomorrow. Weather affects lots of different mechanics; for example, some fish only appear during rainy weather and villagers alter their daily schedules.
Fortune Teller
Lets you know what your Luck is. Higher Luck means you’re more likely to get better outcomes from activities, such as receiving more rare gems in the Mines.
The Queen of Sauce
Gives you cooking recipes. Many villagers, including Stardew Valley’s bachelors and bachelorettes, have favorite meals. Gifting them these dishes is a great way to win their hearts.
You should also buy a calendar from Robin to keep track of upcoming birthdays and festivals. A communal calendar can be found in town, but having one at home makes it easier for you to schedule your days.
8 Always Visit The Traveling Cart
Buy Rare And Off-Seasonal Items Every Friday And Sunday
The Traveling Cart arrives in Pelican Town every Friday and Sunday, and can be found just south of your farm. The Cart sells furniture and a random selection of items, including out-of-season crops, seeds, and fish. If you’re aiming to complete your Community Center bundles, then visiting the Traveling Cart is essential.
Artisan Goods that require special processing equipment, fish you didn’t manage to catch in-season, and other rare resources can all be bought from the Cart. The best items to buy include:
Item
Description
Coffee Bean
Ancient Seeds
Grows into Ancient Fruit, a highly profitable crop whose seeds are hard to find.
Red Cabbage/Red Cabbage Seeds
Required for the Community Center’s Dye Bundle, but Red Cabbage Seeds aren’t sold at Pierre’s until Summer Year 2.
7 Never Go To Bed Early
Use Up Almost All Of Your Energy Before Ending The Day
Your first year in Stardew Valley will be tough, but there will be days where you’re less busy. The best thing you can do is to not stay idle. Anything you do today will save you trouble later, whether it’s fighting monsters in the Mines, spending your whole day fishing, or even just clearing debris from your farm.
Almost every item in Stardew Valley has some use, so try and find activities to fill your time. Any resources you pick up from the Mines might be useful later on when you need to upgrade your tools, fish can always be sold for extra gold, and it’s always worth checking the town bulletin board to help one of your villagers with a task. In summary, you should ideally be crawling into bed at midnight with practically no energy left in your meter, even if you spent the day just clearing out weeds.
6 Save Some Gold For Your First Few Seasons
Early Farm Buildings And Strawberry Seeds Are A Priority
The best items to spend gold on will vary depending on your chosen playstyle, but there are certain items all players should get as soon as possible. The Silo and Stable are the priority when it comes to farm buildings, as both offer useful early-game features.
The Silo converts any grass you cut into Hay, which is used to feed farm animals. Almost all of the farm maps start off overgrown, so you can build a Silo and clear grass from your farm, creating Hay to feed your animals on rainy days and during the winter. The Stable gives you a Horse to ride, which offers a big boost to movement speed.
A good way to save money is to eat foraged items to keep your energy up instead of eating crops. This has the benefit of increasing your Foraging skill while still allowing you to maximize the Gold you get from selling crops.
One date to keep track of is the Egg Festival on Spring 13, where you can purchase Strawberry Seeds. Strawberries are one of the best crops to grow in Spring, as they sell for much more than other Spring crops, and the plant can be harvested multiple times.
5 Don’t Ignore Crafting
Some Essential Farm Equipment Must Be Crafted
You’ll need to dedicate time to crafting equipment and items for your farm. Storage will quickly become a concern but it’s easily addressed by crafting chests, which you can color-code and use to store all of your items. Keep everything you find as all items in Stardew Valley, trash included, have their uses. It’s also a good idea to craft a furnace, which you’ll need to smelt Ore and Coal into Bars, which are essential for tool upgrades.
In Stardew Valley, new crafting recipes unlock as you gain levels in your five Skills: Fishing, Farming, Mining, Foraging, and Combat.
Other important early items include scarecrows, which scare off crows that would steal some of your crops, and sprinklers, which are great for introducing automation to your watering routine. As you level up, you’ll be able to craft much more complex equipment, including better sprinklers and equipment for making Artisan Goods such as Wine and Cheese. You’ll need to spend time outside your farm, gathering all of the necessary resources for crafting.
4 Focus On Your Bundles
Assuming you don’t go down the Joja route and help your former employer take over the valley, your main goal will be to restore Pelican Town’s run-down Community Center. To do this, you’ll have to fill Bundles with seasonal crops, fish, and other special items to restore individual rooms and areas.
There isn’t a set time limit for doing this, but many players aim to restore the Community Center by the end of Year 1. This is a challenging goal that requires you to keep track of all of the Community Center bundles.
Filling Bundles means ensuring that you and your farm are producing a wide range of different resources, rather than focusing on crops with big profit margins. It’s a planner’s dream; timing is incredibly important, and you’ll need to make every single day count.
3 Restore The Greenhouse
Grow Crops Outside Their Usual Seasons
If you manage to complete all of the Bundles in the Community Center Pantry, the Greenhouse on your farm will be restored. Inside the Greenhouse is a small plot of land where you can grow plants year-round regardless of their native seasons, making it the perfect location for your most profitable crops. This includes rarer crops that produce multiple harvests such as Strawberries and rare Ancient Fruit.
As a bonus, you can also plant Fruit Tree Saplings inside the Greenhouse. Fruit Trees only produce fruit during specific seasons outdoors, but inside the Greenhouse, they produce fruit regardless of the season. This works with all of the Fruit Trees, and you can even grow Bananas indoors with Banana Trees after restoring the Community Center.
2 Give People Gifts
Make Friends With The Good Folk Of Pelican Town
Stardew Valley is inhabited by lots of different NPCs, including the twelve marriage candidates. Most of them can be befriended by figuring out their likes and dislikes and gifting them their favorite items. As you make friends with these characters, they’ll often reciprocate by giving you all sorts of useful items, including meal recipes and gifts.
Give a gift every day if possible, and keep track of birthdays: gifts given on birthdays grant eight times the friendship points according to the Stardew Valley Wiki.
It’s important to build relationships early and maintain them through gift-giving. As you make friends, you’ll begin to experience heart events for each character. These are brief, but special snapshots of life in Pelican Town that often reveal more about a character or even progress their personal storylines.
1 Attend The Festivals And Be A Part Of Town Life
Socialize At The Egg Festival, Flower Dance, And Luau
Festivals are special occasions that bring everyone in town together to celebrate. Each season has at least two festival events and it’s highly recommended that you join in. Festivals often have unique items for sale and fun activities where you can win prizes.
Some of these events also offer you the chance to develop your relationships with the townspeople, so there’s a social aspect to festivals that shouldn’t be missed. All of the festivals are listed below:
Festival
Date
Egg Festival
Spring 13
Desert Festival
Spring 15-17
Flower Dance
Spring 24
Luau
Summer 11
Trout Derby
Summer 20-21
Dance of the Moonlight Jellies
Summer 28
Stardew Valley Fair
Fall 16
Spirit’s Eve
Fall 27
Festival of Ice
Winter 8
SquidFest
Winter 12-13
Night Market
Winter 15-17
Feast of the Winter Star
Winter 25
As a new player, your most important festivals are the Egg Festival, Flower Dance, and the Luau. The Egg Festival features a fun easter egg hunt and the opportunity to purchase Strawberry Seeds, while the Flower Dance is your opportunity to invite a marriage candidate to dance. Finally, by contributing to the Luau potluck soup, you can gain friendship points with everyone in town.
Overall, Stardew Valley can be a surprisingly intimidating game when you first start playing. However, the keys to a good life in the countryside are simple: look after your farm and your crops, focus on building up your community, and make plenty of friends.
Source: Stardew Valley Wiki
Stardew Valley
Released February 26, 2016
Developer(s) ConcernedApe
Genre(s) Simulation , RPG
How Long To Beat 52-156 hours