16 December 2015

New Updates bring Snow and more in Family Farm Seaside

A new update to the game changes the splashscreen, causes snow to fall on your original Farm (but not the Island) and introduces a new Buddy system as well as Favourites for neighbours, among other things.  Some of the changes are:

Favourites Menu
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You now can organise your Neighbours' List by Favourites as well as the older options.  To create a Favourite, you first need to visit the Neighbour and then tap on the Heart icon next to the name of the Farm.  This will create a Favourite.  You need no response or reciprocal action from the Neighbour for this.

A nice addition to the Neighbour Icons are the three little icons that display all actions that can be taken on the Neigbhour's farm currently.  It may not always be accurate at this point in time but it is potentially very useful.  The three icons show whether or not a Cleanable Decoration is available, if there are Crops or Trees to be fertilised and whether there are Cooking Bags to collect from the Cooking Stand.

Buddy System
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I now have created an entire post dedicated to the Buddy System.  This one simply gives a few details.

The Buddy system is quite different.  This is a situation where there will be many new options and any Buddy chosen must accept.  At present, there is a limit of 15 Buddies for any farmer.  To choose a Buddy, you need to go to the Neighbour Menu and find the second (lower) tab, then tap on it.  You will see a list of your neighbours.  You can choose up to 15 if you have no Buddies and then send Requests to them all at once by filling the little box next to the farm name.  Neighbours thus chosen must accept your request before you can become Buddies.
There are Levels to the Buddy system and these will be available as time goes on.  You can see the special Gifts you can send and receive at specific levels by accessing your Gifts Menu and choosing the second tab.

You receive 1 Buddy Point for each of the 5 ordinary actions you can complete on a Neighbour's farm if that Neighbour is your Buddy and you will receive 1 Buddy Point for cleaning that Neighbour's Decoration as well.  If you eat at your Buddy's Cooking Stand, that is worth +1 Buddy Point in some cases, although so far that action sometimes yields zero points.   You therefore can receive 7 Buddy Points for one visit in some instances.

From the game itself:

Here is all the information you need about the Buddy system:  Grade up by collecting Buddy Points from helping on this buddy's farm.  Reach Buddy Grade 1 and discover many new activities!  For buddies on Grade 0, if you do not help each other for 3 days, your Buddy Connection will be cancelled.

Getting Rid of a Buddy
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A member of my group posted that, if you should find yourself removed as a Buddy, it does not necessarily mean that you were a 'bad' buddy.  I suspect there are many players who would like to have their personal friends as their Buddies.

There are two ways to get rid of a Buddy.  One is if the person does not interact with your farm for three days.  The other is more pro-active.  Simply go to the Buddy List in your Neighbour Menu and hold down that Neighbour's icon until it begins to shake and displays an 'x'.  You then will be able to remove that Buddy and any others you do not wish to keep.

Here are some tips, however, on being a good Buddy:

Being a Good Buddy
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A Good Buddy will make his/her farm Buddy-friendly by making certain that there are sufficient Crops and Trees to be tended by ALL his/her Buddies.  If you have 15 Buddies, you need to have options for 5 ordinary actions (fertilisation or harvest) by each every day.  Furthermore, you need to have sufficient cleanable Decorations for all of your Buddies to clean as that action is worth 1 Point. For this purpose, the Decorations that can be purchased for Coins are as good as any.

Finally, Buddies can obtain 1 Point by eating at a Buddy's Cooking Stand.  At present, the current Contest is coming to an end, but when the next Contest begins, remember this option.

Perhaps this is too much effort for some farmers.  There is no need to engage in the Buddy option if you find it too demanding.  Simply do not accept Buddy invitations and if you have, remove all your Buddies from your List if you feel you cannot be a 'Good Buddy'.

It is similar to the Friendship Flower option.  Although many players actively seek Friendship Flowers from Neighbours, there is the option to place an X on your Friendship plots to let Neighbours know that you do not want any more of them.

To visit your Buddies, first choose the second Tab in the Neighbour Menu.  This screen shows all your current Buddies and the three icons beneath each will show you what actions currently can be performed on their farms.  Oddly enough, in some cases, eating from the Cooking Stand gives 0 Points instead of 1.  Need to research this further.

Remember that many of your Neighbours/Buddies have two farms.  If you cannot find any way to interact with Crops and Trees on the original Seaside Farm, go to the Island instead.

N.B.  The Buddy option appears to be a permanent addition to the game and there is NO time-restrcition to it.  Players are being rather impatient about Buddy interactions and tend to delete their Buddies quickly if the Buddy's total points are below specific values each day, but remember that this may not be the Buddy's fault.  It may be his/her Buddy who has been inactive!

Buddy Trees
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The game declares that:  You can help Buddy Trees a limited number of times.  Get your Buddy Grade higher to increase the limit.

Help your Buddy Tree with different items. It could give the Tree some Tree Hearts and Buddy Points for you also.

The Buddy Tree is a Level 1 option.  You reach Level 1 when you have a total of 100 Buddy Points in the game.

The game states:  Once you reach Buddy Grade 1, you will be able to unlock the Red Mystrons tab.  From here, you will be able to purchase such items as the Buddy Tree.

After purchasing the Buddy Tree, you will need to build it by tapping on it.  After that, you will need Buddy Hearts to grow it.  You will receive Buddy Hearts when your Buddies tend the Tree.  After it is grown, it will give a Reward to both you and your Buddy and then it will disappear.

Buddy Tree Rewards:
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When you go to your Buddy's Farm and tap on a Tree with the Heart icon, you will see the following:

For a Magic Wand: 5 Hearts, 2 Buddy Points, 1 silver Gift Bag containing 1 Red Mystron, 10 Coins, with a chance to receive 1 Green Watering can and 1 Blue bucket

For 1 Organic Fertiliser: 10 Hearts, 5 Buddy Points, 1 Red Gift Bag containing 2 Red Mystrons, 100 Coins, chance for Green Watering Can and 2 Buckets

For 1 Watering Can: 20 Buddy Hearts, 10 Buddy Points, 1 Blue Gift Bag containing 3 Red Mystrons, 100 Coins, change to get 3 green Watering Cans and 3 Buckets

For 1 RC: 100 Buddy Hearts, 50 Buddy Points, 1 Gold Gift Bag containing 6 Super Watering Cans, 10 Red Mystrons, 1 Power, 100 Coins, and a chance of 5 Green Watering Cans and 5 Buckets

You can grow any regular Buddy Tree to maturity with 5 Buddy Tree Fences or you can opt to use 5 RC (1 for each Buddy Tree Fence).  

Some items for the Buddy Tree are found in the Mystery Shops.  They include:

Buddy Tree Sign: 2 Blue Mystrons
  4 available
Soil Shovel: 5 Blue Mystrons
  83 available

Other Items are available in the special new Buddy Free Gifts Menu, but not until you reach a higher Buddy Level than zero.  They include:

Buddy Tree Fence
  5 of these are needed to grow any Buddy Tree.  For the higher level of tree, you will need other items as well.

Magic Stick
  This can be used to tend any Buddy Tree

Soil Rake

Cheese Mould

Broom
  No longer available.

Cement Bag
  This is used to upgrade the Decorations section of the Warehouse.

Note that some of these items are for the new Upgraders.

Gift Mailbox and Snow Bench
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These items no longer are available!!!

These were two Buddy Items that you can purchase with Coins in the Festival Mystron Shop.  After placing them on your Farm, like the Buddy Tree, a Buddy can interact with them to 'build' them for a Reward.  They will upgrade a few times before they, like any Buddy Tree, will vanish.  After that, you can purchase another one.

The items used to upgrade the Bench and Gift Mailbox can be crafted in the Beauty Shop, Glass Factory and Workshop.  One actually is a Gift in the form of the Broom that you can request from your Buddies.

They include:

Broom (Buddy Request)

Cyrstal Giftbox:  2 Blue Crystals (made in Glass Factory) and 2 Oil Painting Frames

Starfish Envelope: 2 Sakura Flowers, 1 Envelope (buy in Coin Mystery Shop) and 1 Dried Starfish

Shell Box: 1 Scallop, 2 Silk Ribbons (Buddy Request) and 5 Red Roses

Buddy Boost
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There is a temporary Boost to the points you can earn by tending a Buddy's farm until 27 December.


Daily Order Board
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The Board remains the same but now ALL Farmers will receive 1 Blue Mystron for each Order that is completed.  The Rewards path remains valid for farmers who have not completed it yet, with the Special Sheep in the wrapped Gift Boxes at intervals along the path but instead of having to wait until you have collected all the Sheep to receive any Blue Mystrons, they now will be given for each Order.  Blue Mystrons now can be used to purchase upgrade materials as well as for Decorations from past Missions and special Avatars.

You now can refresh your Order Board during the course of any day by paying RC.  The number of times that you can refresh differs and may depend either on your level, your Club Level or the number of times in total that you refreshed.  The price to refresh the first time is 1 RC but increases each time.  Note that you can complete the highlighted Order only and then pay to refresh again if you wish to earn more Festival Mystrons.

Winter Decorations in Market
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The old Decorations that were removed from the Market last Spring have returned.  These include the following three that can be placed on the Snow Base:

Snow Globe: 2000 Coins
  +1 Charm

Snowman: 3 RC
  +2 Charm

Snow Man: 6 RC
  +4 Charm

Other Decorations with Charm value but that cannot be placed on the Base are:

Snowy Arch: 9000 Coins
  +6 Charm

Sledding Hill: 20000 Coins
  +8 Charm

Snowlauncher: 4 RC
  +6 Charm

Charm values usually are related to the size of the footprint of the item.

New Theme Items in Market
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The Snow Tree Arch and Bunny Snow Girl now have been added to the special sale items that include the Snow Magician, the Tree Reindeer and the Christmas Crystal Ball.  Their values are:

Snow Tree Arch: 5 Charm

Bunny Snow Girl: 15 Charm

Both the Snow Magician and the Bunny Snow Girl will give a special item from 18 through 25 December.

New Wheel
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A new Wheel of Luck is available in the Market.  It costs 100 Coins and when purchased can be placed either on your Farm or the Building Area.  You will find that the old Wheel now has to be accessed through the new one.  You will find them side by side when you tap on the new Wheel.

Circus Monkey
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The Circus Monkey is another new option, found in the Buildings section of the Market for 1000 Coins.  It offers boosts to various activities.  Apart from this, you can access a Calendar when you tap on the Monkey, not only to schedule a boost but to see what special options may be available throughout the month.  Special Missions are denoted by an open book.  Weekly Activities are denoted by the icon of the Magic Bunny.  When special Tokens or other items are offered, they will be shown on the Calendar.  The Calendar shows a 7 day period.

To the left of the Calendar is a Wheel that shows all possible Boosts with their prices.  Prices will vary depending on the day when you schedule the boost.  The further in advance that you schedule a boost, the less you will pay for it.  You will have to pay two types of Mystrons for any boost.

Monkey boosts are:

Machines/animals produce in  half the time (4 hours)

Machines/animals need half OP (1 hour)


Get 2 fish with one catch (2 hours)


New zeppelin shipments take half the time  (10 hours)

Get 2 Mastery Points when producing  (4 hours)

You can schedule your boosts in advance and both Green and Blue mystrons are used to pay for them.

Carrie Spurgeon, a member of our Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group posted the following experience with the monkey:  I did a test last night on the monkey and it seems that the hour equates just to setting up the machines. I had 4901 op before doing so and set up 5 machines, 4 @ normal 2 ops per item and 1 @ normal 4 ops per item. Total items set up was for 631 items and op taken was 901 leaving me with a straight 4000 left, an average of 1.5 op per item. The times for each machine were between 1 hour 50m to over 6 hours. I opened up this morning and all items had been made and no more op taken. So I think that's a pretty good deal. Lots to sell or make into other things for very little op. I assume from this you could put all machines on for 24 hours! I paid 88 green and 22 purple tickets.

Upgraders
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There are two Upgraders, one for Holstein Cow and the other for the Cheese Maker.  You will find a new tab in the Animal Menu for Upgraders and the same in the Machines Menu.  The Cheese Maker Upgrader costs 2000 Coins and the Holstein Cow Upgrader costs 1000 Coins.

The Upgraders are similar to Bases.  You need to first choose the Move tool and then the jigsaw icon to place the proper item (Animal or Machine) on its Upgrader.

You can buy other items for your Upgrader.

For the Cow Upgrader, these are:

Super Milk Container: 35 RC
  This is a Level 2 item that will allow you to add and collect 2 more products

Extra Milk Gadget: 25 RC
  This is a Level 5 item that will give you extra products 'by chance'... in other words, randomly.

For the Cheese Master Upgrader:

Super Cheese Container: 35 RC
  Level 2 item that allows you to add and collect 2 more products

Extra Cheese Gadget: 25 RC
  Level 5 item that will give you extra products 'by chance', i.e. randomly.

Note that the Upgraders can be stored.

Upgrading the Upgraders
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The upgraders can themselves be upgraded:

To upgrade any Upgrader, you need to use the Move Tool and then tap on the icon of the House with arrows that go in two directions.  It is the last icon.  You then will see what is needed for the upgrade.

Level 1 Cow:
Produce 100 Milk
5000 Coins
3 Soil (1 RC each)
Production speed increase of 10%

Level 2 Cow
Produce 250 Milk
8000 Coins
10 Soil Shovels (1 RC each)
30 Soil Rakes (Buddy gift)

Level 1 Cheese Master Upgrade
Produce 100 products (Cheese)
10000 Coins
3 Red Bricks (1 RC each)

Level 2 Cheese Master Upgrader
Produce 250 Milk Cheese
16000 Coins
10 Red Bricks (1 RC each)
30 Cheese Mould (Buddy Gift)

You will find some Level 5 Gadgets available in the Blue Mystron Shop now, including:

Low Fat Gadget: 100 Blue Mystrons
  Level 3 Item, allows Holstein Cow to produce Low Fat Milk

Milk Powder Gadget: 150 Blue Mystrons
  Level 5 item:  Allows Holstein Cow to produce Milk Powder randomly

Cheese Container: 50 Blue Mystrons
  Level 2 Gadget:  Add and collect 1 more product

Low Fat Cheese Gadget: 100 Blue Mystrons
  Level 3 Gadget:: You now can produce Low Fat Cheese

Blue Cheese Gadget: 150 Blue Mystrons
  Level 5 Gadget:  Get Blue Cheese randomly

Mozzarella Gadget: 500 Blue Mystrons
  Level 3 Gadget:  Produce Mozzarella (randomly I expect)

Other Items for Upgraders in Mystron Shops:

Winter Theme (Holstein Cow) 150 Purple Mystrons
Winter Theme (Cheese Master) 150 Purple Mystrons

Warning about Upgraders
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The basic Upgrader takes more space on your Farm than the item it houses, whether it is the Holstein Cow or the Cheese Master.  Unfortunately, each progressive upgrade of an Upgrader is larger, requiring more space.  If you have no clear space on your farm and you upgrade an Upgrader, you may see the horrible situation shown in the photo above.

This is a photo of the Level Editor.  The game will force you into it when any situation arises where the items on your Farm do not all have a space to be placed.  You then will be forced to sell something before the Menu will close.  The easiest solution is to sell some plots and then move items about until you can place the Item that caused the problem.  In this case, as previously indicated, it was the upgrade of an upgrader that required more space than the original.

It is a very good idea to keep some vacant space on your farm always to avoid this situation.  Harvest Moon FDC and Rosewood Farms now are so overcrowded that I have experienced this nightmare situation on both farms.  Try to avoid it if you can!

Message from Felicia
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There is a new tab in your Requests for Messages that has the icon of a gold envelope.  Access this to find a letter from Felicia with some Farm Aids attached to it.



Xmas Tree
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This was a holiday item and you cannot purchase either Tree nor Decorations now.  Festival Mystrons were transformed into Green Mystrons when the options expired.

A new base is being released in the form of the XMas Tree.  This is one of the Theme items for the current Farm Beauty Contest.  You will be able to purchase Decorations for this Tree Base in a new Festival Mystron Mystery Shop.  The Decorations are theme items as well...

The Festival Mystron Shop is the lowest tab in the Mystery Shop.  Prices now are as follows:

XMas Tree: 50 Festival Mystrons

XMas Gingermen: 300 Festival Mystrons

XMas Tree Baubles: 200 Festival Mystrons

XMas Shooting Star: 400 Festival Mystrons

XMas Stocking: 200 Festival Mystrons

XMas Garland: 200 Festival Mystrons

Other items are:

XMas Avatar: 200 Festival Mystrons

Snow Hedge x 5: 50 Festival Mystrons

Snow Hedge x 3: 30 Festival Mystrons

Snow Hedge x 1: 10 Festival Mystrons


Note that, like any Mystron Mystery Shop, the actual items are random and may change daily.  All Xmas Decorations as well as the Snow Hedge now have been included in the Gallery so you can register them.  To register any stackable item, it needs to be on the Farm (removed from its base temporarily).  With respect to all the Xmas Decorations, you can opt either to place them on the farm or on the Xmas Tree.  When placed on the farm, the Decoration will be displayed as a box filled with the items.  When placed on the Tree using the jigsaw icon, the box will fly apart and the decorations will be placed in different locations on the Tree.

Other New Mystrons
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Festival Mystron Shop no longer available.

We now have a total of 6 Mystery Shops in Seaside.  The first is Coins, then Green Mystrons, Purple Mystrons, Yellow Mystrons, Blue Mystrons, Red Mystrons and finally Festival Mystrons.

You will unlock the Red Mystron Mystery Shop when you have a Grade 1 or Level 1 Buddy.

Blue Mystrons formerly could be obtained only by players who had completed the entire Reward Path for the Daily Order Board.  Now all players can earn them daily.  You earn one for every Daily Order that you complete.  As indicated above, you now can pay RC to refresh your entire Order Board a few times each day.   The first one costs 1 RC and the second may cost 1 or 2 RC and so on. Players now appear to be able to refresh three times each day for the most part.

You will find that materials used to upgrade some of the new items now will appear randomly in the various Mystron Mystery Shops.

New Beauty Shop Items
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February 2016: These no longer are available.

There are two new items for crafting in the Beauty Shop.  They are:

Starfish Envelope:
  Requires 2 Sakura Flowers, 1 Envelope, 1 Dried Starfish

  The Envelope is a new purchase found in the Coin Mystery Shop.  You can purchase 2 for 2000 Coins.

Shell Box:
  Requires 1 Scallop, 2 Silk Ribbons, 5 Red Roses

The Silk Ribbons are a request item from your Buddy.

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