Note on 2 October 2017: For a farmer who knows the basics, but perhaps is not aware of all the new options, duties and responsibilities in this increasingly complex game, here is a link to my most recent post on the topic:
Helpful Tips for New Farmers
For individuals who do not wish to move from link to link, I have incorporated that post into this one near the end.
Furthermore, so many options in the game have changed that my original post will require a lot of work to bring it up to date. I am not deleting it as it still is relevant to new farmers for the most part, but I am working as time permits to add information about the changes.
Note on 17 April 2016: I have included a link below the General Introduction that will take you to my most recent post on 'Starting a New Farm in Family Farm Seaside'. It includes all the new options in the game as well as general advice.
General Introduction
This is a little preliminary strategy guide for the mobile game called 'Family Farm Seaside'. It is the mobile version of the original 'Family Farm' that is available for free play on Facebook. Like the original game, Family Farm Seaside is free, although players may be tempted to invest real money in the game in order to progress more quickly or to purchase items that are not available unless one is willing to pay 'premium' cash for them.
The Introduction section of this Guide deals with various aspects of the game in a general fashion. The sections that follow deal with many of the same aspects but in more specific detail. You therefore may find some duplicated information in the specific sections that deal with Seaside gameplay options and strategies.
I will deal with strategy, profit margins and return of investments (ROI) here. Although Item Values will be included insofar as they are relevant, there are actual Pages for this Guide that are devoted to specific elements, including simple lists of Item Values and a list of Quests/Missions.
My earliest love in gaming, apart from a game called 'Claw' that was centred on the adventures of a handsome swashbuckling Pirate Cat Captain from the 17th century, was Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon is a series of games that fall into the category of 'farming simulation' games, although they are much, much more. Harvest Moon is another reality where the player can become a successful farmer and a beloved member of his/her community while experiencing the wonder and joy of courtship, marriage and sometimes childbearing.
I have written hundreds of guides for Harvest Moon games. I always felt that they would be a wonderful educational resource for children because, although one can simply grow the Crops one likes best, considerations of the cost of the Crop, the length of time it takes to mature and the recipes in which it can be used are important. Family Farm and Family Farm Seaside, therefore, remind me of Harvest Moon in that the player either can grow Crops simply on impulse or really take the time and energy to compute the profit earned by each and the pros and cons of giving the Crop either to an Animal as feed or to a machine to create goods.
One of the first challenges is that of earning sufficient coins to be able to replant crops after harvest. Both Family Farm and Family Farm Seaside are based on the concept of an industrial revolution and machinery that allows basic crops and animal products to be transformed into 'finished' goods or more sophisticated food items. Some machines can be purchased with Coins. Others require premium cash.
Often, goods or products made by machine will be more valuable than the raw ingredients used to create them. Few machines use a single ingredient but even the combined value of multiple items used to make products will be less than the value of the actual product.
For example:
The Juice Machine can be used to create a number of different fruit juices. Among these are Apple Juice which sells for 11 Coins. A raw Apple sells for 7 Coins. When you consider that the act of creating a product in a machine gives the XP or Experience Points necessary to advance to the next level, it usually is wise to use items to create products whenever possible.
An example of a product that requires more than one ingredient is Perfume. A Perfume Machine will arrive on your Ranch in finished form. In other words, you will not be required to ask neighbours for materials to build it. It costs 500 Coins and will create a bottle of Perfume in 45 seconds. The first Flower to be unlocked is Lavender. Perfume is a little tricky, however, as Provence Honey is the second ingredient in ANY Perfume recipe. Provence Honey is made from Lavender but you must purchase a Provence Beehive for 25 RC. It takes only 20 seconds for the Bee to create Provence Honey but, should you harvest the Lavender before it is pollinated, no Honey will be made. Lavender whether unpollinated or pollinated is the other ingredient in Lavender Perfume. In a sense, therefore, you are able to use the same Crop twice.
Provence Honey, like ordinary Honey made from Clover is of negligible value by itself. It sells for 6 Coins. A bottle of Lavender Perfume, however, sells for 76 Coins.
A list of Item Values is of great importance in almost any Farming Simulation Game. Remember always that it is not merely the cost of the Seed/Plant/Animal that is significant but the time required for the Crop to mature or for the Tree or Animal to produce a product. The ability of the player to access the game and spend time on it is of significance as well. A Player who can access the game only once or twice per day may have more success with the slow-growing Crops than a Player who is willing and able to access the game many times throughout the day.
Another consideration is the reality of day and night and the need for many Players to sleep. I usually plant fast-growing Crops in the morning and replant them throughout the day if possible. When night approaches, I plant the Crops that take 10 or more hours to mature.
Making money as a Farmer/Rancher is a slow business at first but one can gain enormously both financially and with respect to XP by completing each of the Quests as they appear on the screen.
This is a very old post and the game has changed in many respects. Here is a link to a fairly recent post that gives information about all aspects of the game:
Starting a New Farm in Family Farm Seaside
Refreshments Mandatory!
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Many players have had trouble with Requests to Neighbours. Although one should be able to request Gifts or special Items from Neighbours EVERY day, often the prompt will declare that you have requested Gifts from all Neighbours even after the passage of 24 Hours. There is a solution for this, however. On a laptop or computer, one would clear the cache and then refresh the page. On the IPad, one may need to 'Power Off' the device completely. That is the only way I can force the game to recognise the fact that an entire day has passed and that I am eligible to make Requests again from all Neighbours.
I do not think this is a problem any longer in 2018, but the developers have added a number of options to the Settings in the game. One of them is an icon of a brush that allows you to instantly clear your cache. Often this will solve any problems you are having.
For some devices, there is a way to shut down the Application completely without powering off the device, but that will depend on the actual device one has as well as its age, as newer versions may have more options.
The way to know for certain that the game has been refreshed is by the splash screen you encounter when you load Seaside. Now it ALWAYS is one of the Special Sales Offers. In fact, if the game does not load this advertisement for whatever reason, your farm WILL NOT LOAD. Error messages about your farm being unable to load usually are due to the fact that this initial screen has not loaded and have nothing whatsoever to do with YOUR farm.
In 2018, the game has become enormous. You have THREE farms now. The first is the original Seaside Farm, the second is the Island and the third is the aquatic Farm of the Sea Resort. There are requirements to unlock the Island and the Sea Resort and players at low levels will not be able to access the Island or Sea Resort until they reach higher Levels and meet some specific requirements.
The Value of Experience
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As previously discussed, Experience Points or XP is one of the most important aspects of any Farming Simulation game. In Seaside, XP is represented by a purple Star and a bar on the far left of the top of your screen.
XP or the total number of Experience Points that a Farmer has earned is given as a number inside the gold bar. Experience Points and Experience Level are two different totals, however. A Farmer's actual Experience Level is indicated by a purple Star with a number inside it displayed to the left of the XP Bar. Each Level requires more Experience Points incrementally but the accomplishment of achieving a new Level always gives the same Reward which is 150 Coins and 1 RC (unit of Premium Cash).
You now will receive a Rainbow Rain each time you have a level increase. This does NOT go to your Gift Box unfortunately so if you fail to use it before you reach another level, you will simply lose it.
You now will receive a Rainbow Rain each time you have a level increase. This does NOT go to your Gift Box unfortunately so if you fail to use it before you reach another level, you will simply lose it.
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Originally, visits to Neighbours yielded only Coins and Experience based on arrival at the Neighbour's farm and the ability to perform 5 specific farming actions. Now the game has changed immensely with the introduction of 'Cleanable Decorations' as well as the Cooking Stand.
When you visit a Neighbour, you can collect +10 Coins and +5 XP simply for the visit. If you are fortunate enough to find Crops that are not yet mature and have not been fertilised by any other visitor, you can fertilise a total of 5 Crops on any Neighbour's Farm. Each time you fertilise an immature Crop, you will gain +5 Coins and +1 XP. This makes a daily ritual of visiting all Neighbours far more than an act of kindness and friendship. You do need to 'Collect' the visit reward at the bottom of your screen. By tapping 'Next', you automatically will be taken to the next Neighbour's Farm.
Note that, should no immature Crops be available for fertilisation, you can return to that Neighbour's Farm later. When you access your Neighbour List, you will see a sack of Fertiliser in the corner of the icons representing the Neighbours whose Farms you have not fertilised that day.
There is another action that can be performed when you visit a Neighbour's Farm but this is something that can be done only once. The Name of the Farm will be displayed in the centre of the top of the screen. Next to that is a yellow 'smiley face' icon. Tap on the icon to 'Like' the Farm. This will change the expression on the icon's face.
Some Decorations can be cleaned and others cannot be cleaned. A Decoration once cleaned will yield a Gift Box or Bag of a specific colour when the owner collects it afterwards. Until it has been collected, no one can clean the Decoration again. Decorations can be cleaned once per day. The Neighbour who cleans the Decoration will receive the same Reward at the time of performing the cleaning as the Owner will receive later.
The other action that can be performed is to eat at the Cooking Stand. Usually there is a limit of 10 Dishes one can eat on any given day but sometimes, on weekends, an announcement will be made that allows visitors to eat a total of 30 Dishes. Again, only one Dish can be taken from any Farm on any given day.
If a Decoration is available for cleaning, the icon of a Brush will hover over the Item. If there are Dishes to be consumed at the Cooking Stand, the icon of a Roast Turkey will hover over the Cooking Stand.
Purchasing Items in the Marketplace gives XP as well. Each Crop Seed is worth +1 XP when placed on a tilled Plot. Other Items have XP value as well, though. For example, when one purchases a Turkey for 6500 Coins, one gains 325 XP.
Experience points are the reward for any action undertaken on your Ranch and it is XP that allows the Player to unlock new Items. Another benefit of transforming raw ingredients into finished products, apart from the financial profit, is the acquisition of XP. You gain 1 Point of XP when you plsny a Crop and you can gain 1 Point of XP from the SAME item when you place it in a Machine. Thus, for example, planting Lavender gives you 1 XP. When you place the Lavender in the Perfume Maker, you receive 1 XP. When you place the Provence Honey made from the same Lavender in the Perfume Maker as the second ingredient, you will receive 1 XP as well.
Feeding any Animal will give you 1 XP. Harvesting a Crop or product from any Animal gives no XP. Trees are the same in this respect although they are planted only once. You receive no XP from any harvest from a Tree, but placing the Fruit/Product from that Tree in any Maker will give you 1 XP. Furthermore, you do receive XP when you plant a Tree initially. Planting a Cherry Tree, for example, gives 6 XP.
Tilling the soil by creating a new Plot costs 15 Coins, but it gives 1 XP to the Farmer. A Farmer who is more in need of XP than Coins therefore can create a series of new Plots for the XP value, then sell (delete) them all. There is no value, however, to a tilled Plot and it will be sold for 0 Coins.
Love thy Neighbour
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There are a number of actions that can be undertaken on behalf of a Farmer's Neighbours. Most of these can be performed on a daily basis. The two fundamental actions from which all others stem are: Visiting Neighbours and Sending Gifts to Neighbours.
You should be able to obtain Rewards at least once each day by visiting every Neighbour on your List. When you access the Neighbours Menu, represented by an icon of two clasped hands in the lower right corner of your screen, you will find icons that represent all your current Neighbours. At the very top left of this menu is an icon with a hand knocking upon a door and a prompt to 'Add'. This, when tapped, leads to a Menu that allows a Farmer to add new Neighbours either by using that individual's Farm ID or through Facebook or Email address.
The icons that represent each current Neighbour display the Cover photo or art for that Neighbour, the name of the Farm or Neighbour's Gaming Name, a purple Star with a number inside it that represents the Neighbour's Experience Level and, if no actions have been performed for a day, a little icon of a Fertiliser Bag in the top left corner. At the very bottom of each icon is a Prompt to 'Visit'. Tap on that to visit the Neighbour's Farm.
The first action to perform upon visiting a new Neighbour's Farm is to 'Like' that Farm by tapping the little yellow 'Smiley Face' icon at the centre of the top of the screen. This is important for a specific Farm Achievement as well as being a requirement in one of the Quests. This is the only action, moreover, that can be performed only once.
The next action is to 'Collect' your Reward for your Visit by clicking the 'Collect' prompt at the centre of the bottom of the screen. You will receive +5 Coins and +10 XP by doing this. Note that the Reward is given simply for the act of making the Visit.
For each Crop fertilised, you will earn 5 Coins and 1 XP. The Coin Reward may be of negligible value unless you are a new Farmer at the start of the game, but the XP increase can be significant, especially when one has 40 or 50 Neighbours. It therefore is worth the effort to visit on a daily basis if possible.
There are additional Rewards that can be obtained by fertilisation of a Neighbour's Crops. If you have not performed this task within the past 24 hours, you will see five red hearts on the lower right border of the screen. These represent the task of fertilisation. Each unripe Crop you tap can be fertiised, provided you have not fertilised a total of five Crops yet and provided always that no other Farmer has fertilised the same Crop.
In many cases, you probably will discover either that the Farm has NO unripe Crops, that ALL unripe Crops have been fertilised by another Farmer or that the Field is empty. You still will have been able to collect the Visit Reward but you will lose the chance to earn more Coins and XP through fertilisation.
The benefit for fertilisation to the Neighbour is that Crops will mature faster. You will be able to see the results rather dramatically if the Crop is nearing maturity when you perform the action as the Crop will become ripe before your very eyes.
Fertilisation by another Farmer often is displayed as a shining dot on the Crop square. Sometimes this shining dot does not appear, however, and the only way to discover whether or not the square has been fertilised is to tap on it. When you tap on any square that has been fertilised, you will see the name of the Farm or Farmer that performed the action.
This, however, does not preclude you from making another visit the later to see if new Crops have been planted. I often visit my Neighbours more than once in a single day to look for Crops to fertilise. (This no longer is true! I seldom have time to visit Neighbours even once now, sad to say!)
Batch Visits
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I deal with this later in this post but you now do have the option to send a generic pet to visit up to 20 Neighbours at a time by using the Green Tickets that are given in the game. There is a new limit of 300 Green Tickets so you need to use a few each day if you wish to benefit from those received from Pet Chests and other options.
NOTE: As of 30 June 2018, there is an issue with batch visits if you perform more than 5 at a time. You can receive all rewards even for a batch of 20 BUT your neighbours will not receive the benefit of your visits in most cases. Your name will be added to ''Recent Helpers' in the Neighbour Menu but your neighbour will not see your icon on his/her farm, nor will you appear in the list of items cleaned... more importantly, NO gift boxes from your cleaning will be given to the owner of the farm. One hopes that the developers will sort out this issue soon. Meanwhile, it is safest to use only 5 tickets per batch cleaning.
Buddy Visits
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I deal with this later as well but the Buddy System has become very important in this game. Buddies are 'special' Neighbours who offer more and possibly better Rewards for visits and for the purchase of special items obtained in the Lucky Wheel. You can have a maximum of 15 Buddies and there are different Levels based on the number of actions either you and/or your Buddy perform on your farms. A new bonus is the 'Buddy Gift Bag' containing Farm Aids that you receive when you make a real visit to a Buddy's Farm. Other Buddy options that require real visits are tending the Buddy Trees and feeding and or borrowing a Buddy's Pet.
Upgraders
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Once upon a time, the Upgraders were few and far between and not really necessary for ordinary gameplay. That has changed. The special products that can be made using Gadgets with upgraded Upgraders now are materials that are required for MANY different options, including Farm Expansions.
Buy every Upgrader as soon as you can and use them all. A basic Upgrader will increase the speed of production by 10% at Level 1. Furthermore, to upgrade any Upgrader, you need to produce a specific number of items with that Animal or Machine while it is on the Upgrader. Thus, even if you cannot afford one or more of the items required to attain the next Level of upgrade, you still can satisfy the requirement to make the total number of Products for that next Level.
Considerations of Space
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Lack of sufficient space always is an issue in Farming Simulation games and Family Farm Seaside is no exception. A Player unlocks new expansions at specific Levels and can 'buy' or 'earn' them by completing three specific requirements, one of which is a Coin total. In most cases, one must make a specific number of Items in a Machine and sometimes sell them as one of the Expansion requirements. You can buy your way out of any requirement by paying a sum of premium Cash.
A cautionary note here: Although in most cases, you can reach the total number of Items needed to complete a Quest even if you sell those items before you reach the necessary total, there are circumstances where the count will be reset to zero is you sell the goods before you reach the goal. If you need coins but are afraid of losing your progress in the quest, it is a good idea to sell 1 product to see if the total is reset afterwards. If not, you can sell as many of the products as you wish and they will continue to count towards the required total.
Note that the same Crop can have more than one use. Most of the Grains serve as Feed for specific Animals and can be ground into Flour of various types in a Mill. One then must make a decision as to whether to use the Crop to make a product or to feed an Animal.
For example, Wheat can be fed to the Sheep to produce Wool. As Wheat Flour, it is one of the three ingredients in any Cake produced by the Cake Machine. How does one decide whether to feed the Sheep or to bake a Cake? The time needed to produce products as well as the Cost of the Items and value of the Products will be included in this Guide.
Every Farmer has a different method of playing any game, even if there are Quests and specific Goals that can be achieved. In Family Farm, there are Quests as well as requirements for Ranch Expansions but a Farmer can ignore these and simply play for fun. It is in the player's benefit, however, to complete Quests as XP and sometimes OP (the energy needed for automation) are earned thereby.
Unfortunately I only decided to write a Guide after I had completed a number of Quests. I would appreciate the help of any player who is interested in filling in the blanks here. The Quests and Missions have been allocated a Page of their own. Pages appear as Tabs above this Guide.
There are two separate sequences of Quests/Missions in Seaside. Quests often are tutorials that serve to introduce Farmers to Crops, Machines, Animals and other aspects of the game. When you complete any Quest, the next Quest in the sequence will be unlocked and will appear on the left side of the screen. You can hide or display Quest icons by clicking on the exclamation point in the top left corner of the screen.
You will notice that you have the option to buy your way out of each of the Requirements in any given Quest for a specific amount of premium Cash or RC. Here it is useful to note that if one is willing to spend Premium Cash to complete Quests, there are better ways of doing it. For example, you can purchase Organice Fertiliser or Super Fertiliser in order to speed the growth process of required Crops.
For example, in the Beef it Up IV Quest, you must Harvest 12 Tomatoes. Tomatoes are a slow-growing Crop that take Hours to mature. Instead of spending 6 RC to skip the step, you could spend 3 RC for 25 portions of Super Fertiliser. A single application of Super Fertiliser will bring a Crop that has been planted a moment earlier to full growth. If you use 12 applications of Super Fertiliser to complete the first step of the Quest, you still will have 13 more applications for use later.
For 1 RC, you could purchase 25 applications of Organic Fertiliser. It requires 4 applications of Organic Fertiliser to bring a Crop that was planted a moment earlier to maturity. Organic Fertiliser is best used to bring a Crop that is almost mature to full maturity in order to complete a requirement or to clear the field for another Crop.
In the same way that Fertiliser speeds the growth of Crops, Watering Cans speed the growth of Fruit on Trees. For 6 RC, you can purchase a Super Watering Can containing 25 applications of Water. 2 RC purchases a Watering Can with 25 applications of Water. The Super Watering Can will bring Fruit on a Tree that has been harvested a moment earlier to full maturity. Like Organic Fertiliser, the regular Watering Can would require 4 applications in the same situation.
Cherry Trees take 12 hours to mature. If the Tree has been harvested recently, the Player probably should use Super Watering Can for a single application. If, however, the Tree needs 8 hours more to mature, three applications of the regular Watering Can rather than the full four applications will ripen the fruit fully.
In practical terms, therefore, instead of spending 6 RC to skip the first step of the Quest and 4 RC to skip the third for a total cost of 10 RC, you can spend 9 RC for a Super Watering Can and Super Fertiliser, use both and still have sufficient applications for another Quest.
Cheddar Cheese is produced in a Cheese Maker from Cow Milk. Cows are fed Clover, a Crop that grows in half an hour. You therefore probably should plant the Clover and simply wait for it to mature naturally in order to complete the second part of the Quest in this example.
As stated above, there are two separate Quest sequences which are given in the Quests and Missions page on this site. You will find links to all Pages represented by 'Tabs' above any Post or Page.
The Tortoise and the Hare
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There are slow-growing Crops and fast-growing Crops. Deciding when to plant each is a strategy consideration. Every Crop is equal in terms of the XP or Experience Points it will give the Farmer. Each Crop when planted gives 1 XP. When any harvested Crop is fed to an Animal or fed into a Machine, it gives another Experience Point, or 1 more XP. XP is as important as money, as it allows the Player to advance to higher Levels where new Items are unlocked. Each time a Player reaches another Level, he/she will receive 150 Coins and 1 RC (premium cash). Although Crop Seeds and most Trees, Animals and Machines can be purchased with Coins, there are items that can be obtained only with Premium Cash or RC.
Loyalty Rewards
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Loyalty is rewarded in Family Farm and FF Seaside. When a Player logs in daily, he/she will obtain a special Reward. That reward tends to become more valuable as the number of days a player has logged in without any gap increases. Miss one day, however and the count resets to zero. Premium Cash (RC) and Operation Points (OP) are log-in rewards, although Coins are the most common reward is in the form of Coins.
It appears that one earns RC or OP every five days, provided there is no gap that exceeds 24 hours in playing the game. The amount of RC will increase a little each time until it reaches its maximum. On Day 15, the Reward was 2 RC. On Day 21 through Day 24, the Reward was in the form of Coins, increasing from 100 Coins on Day 21 to to 250 Coins on Day 24. On Day 25, however, the Reward was 3 RC. The next day, the Reward once again was 100 Coins and each day after that, it increased by 50 Coins until it reached 250 Coins once more. After that, a Reward of 100 OP. It is possible, therefore that the Rewards of RC and OP alternate week by week, every five days after the sequence of Coin Rewards.
Note that a new Reward for loyalty has been edded to the game in the form of the Dedicated Player Bonus. The Dedicated Player Bonus will yield 1000 Coins and a Loyal Player Reward Gift Bag every hour that you remain logged into the game. The Loyal Player Reward Gift Bag is similar to the Cleaning Gift Boxes in the random assortment of items it contains.
The Industrial Revolution
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Family Farm and Family Farm Seaside are interesting in the automation option. Machines are very much a part of the game, and one can operate them manually by feeding the materials to the machine one by one. If one has OP (Operation Points), one can set the Machine to operate automatically as long as the OP is not exhausted. Automation can be particularly useful when a specific total of a product is required to satisfy a Quest task.
Another option that is less expensive in terms of the amount of OP used is the Batch Production option. Batch production is activated by tapping the arrow at the bottom of the screen. You have to build new slots, often paying RC to complete them. Batch Production allows players to choose a specific total for any Animal or Machine that produces an Item. The Animal or Machine must be placed on the Farm first, however. Although you will see it 'move' into the Batch Production slot, it still will take up space on the farm while it is producing the Items.
'I' can be a Negative
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I have discovered that the greatest enemies to success in Family Farm and Seaside are Impatience and Inflexibility. Where slow-growing Crops are concerned, there always is a temptation to use a Farm Aid to speed the growth process, especially if the Crop is needed for a Quest task or if one is attempting to reach a specific XP total in order to attain the next Level. Farm Aids such as Rain, Watering Cans and Fertiliser are used to speed growth but most of these can be purchased only with RC (premium cash). For ordinary Quests, there is no time limit, so the desire to move forward more quickly probably should be resisted if possible. Even where time-restricted Quests are concerned, such as the Easter Quests, the game gives more than sufficient time to complete ALL tasks. Impatience rather than Necessity fuels the purchase of Farm Aids to speed the process of completion of these Quests.
I have discovered that Inflexibility is another defect in my gaming personality. For example, the Love Cake is a favourite of mine both in Seaside and in the original Family Farm. It has the highest value of any of the Cakes that can be made in the Cake Machine at 456 Coins. Furthermore, it is the only Cake that uses a Crop as opposed to a Tree product as an ingredient.
Even if one grows an entire row of Love Fruits, however, the number one will have after harvest is finite. Love Fruit is a slow-growing Crop, taking 20 Hours to mature. Some of the Trees used in other Cakes are slow-growing as well, but at most take 12 hours to mature. Only one Fruit/Product can be harvested from a Tree at any given time, but if one has all the Trees used in Cakes, one can vary the menu to produce Tiramisu, Banana Cake, Black Forest Cake, Almond Cake, Lemon Cake and Coconut Cake while waiting for the next harvest of Love Fruits. The other two ingredients in any Cake are Wheat Flour and Eggs. The Corn that Chickens eat to produce Eggs takes only 4 Hours to mature. Wheat takes 8 Hours to mature, but still grows much faster than Love Fruit. One therefore is likely to be able to replenish the stock of Wheat Flour and Eggs faster than the stock of Love Fruit in the Barn.
One needn't make Cakes constantly either. Wheat Flour is used to bake Wheat Bread. Wheat in its raw form can be fed to a Sheep to produce Wool. Perhaps some products are more valuable than others, but time is valuable as well. Instead of hoarding goods in the Barn, one may wish to use them while replanting or otherwise replenishing stock.
Lending Speed to Crops and Animals
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There are a number of 'Farm Aids' that will speed the growth of Crops and Trees. Rain, costing 8 RC will reduce the growth time of every Crop and Tree on your Farm by 25%. A Thunderstorm costing 15 RC reduces the growth of every Crop and Tree by 50%. The Rainbow Rain, most powerful of the three costs 30 RC and grows every Crop and Tree on your Farm instantly.
Lesser Farm Aids include Fertilisers for Crops and Watering Cans for Trees. Organic Fertiliser can be purchased in different quantities. The cost per portion diminishes if one purchases in bulk. For 25 bags of Organic Fertiliser, one pays 1 RC but for 200 bags, one pays 7 RC. Organic Fertiliser reduces the growth time of ONE Crop by 25%. You can use four bags on a single Crop to grow that Crop instantly.
Super Fertiliser will grow any Crop instantly. 6 bags of Super Fertiliser cost 1 RC while 25 bags cost 3 RC. If you are willing to pay to speed the growth of your Crops, there is a time and place both for the Organic Fertiliser and the Super Fertiliser. If a Crop is almost mature, for example, it would be wasteful to use Super Fertiliser when a portion of Organic Fertiliser would have the same effect.
For Trees, Watering Cans are the equivalent of Fertiliser. An ordinary Watering Can reduces the growth time of fruit/product on a Tree by 25%. A Super Watering Can will grow any Fruit/Product on a Tree instantly. One can purchase 25 ordinary Watering Cans for 2 RC and 25 Super Watering Cans for 6 RC.
One can purchase Watering Cans and Fertilisers in larger quantities as well. A thousand Organic Fertilisers will cost 25 RC. 1000 Super Fertiliser will cost 75 RC. A thousand ordinary Watering Cans will cost 50 RC while 1000 Super Watering Cans will cost 150 RC.
Another Farm Aid is the irrigation system in the form of a Well and Sprinklers. A Water Well costs 10000 Coins and will be in unfinished form when purchased. Sprinklers can be requested as Free Gifts or purchased for 1 RC each. 15 Sprinklers can be used in conjunction with the original Water Well. Each Sprinkler must be placed on a square of tilled soil. It then will reduce the growth time for any Crop planted on that square by 15%. The Water Well is discussed in more detail in a section below.
There are Greenhouses and Tree Greenhouses as well. A Greenhouse can be placed over tilled squares to reduce the growth time of all Crops grown within its borders by 25%. Likewise, a Tree Greenhouse can be placed over Trees to reduce the growth time of the Trees within its confines by 25%.
For Animals and Machines, there is a way to speed the production by means of OP. If you drag your finger across an Animal or Machine while it is in the process of producing a Product, you will see a gauge that gives the number of minutes and/or seconds that remain. Tap on it to produce an instant result. This only works if you have OP. OP is not as easy to obtain in Seaside as it is in the regular Family Farm.
Another way by which to speed an Animal's production rate is by adding more Animals to any habitat or pen. Some Animals, including the various Cows, the Buffalo and the Turkey operate solo. There is no way to add another Animal to the equation. One can purchase ANOTHER Animal but its production will remain separate.
There are Animals who are purchased in pens or habitats, such as the Chicken, the Pig and the various aquatic fowls. Once you have purchased the initial Animal in its coop, pen or pond, you can add additional Animals to the enclosure. The addition of more Animals will not add to the production total but it will speed it. With three Chickens in a Coop, for example, the production of an Egg takes only 45 seconds.
Finally, there are Farm Aids in the form of Rain, Thunder and Rainbows that will speed the growth of EVERY ITEM on your Farm. These can be purchased in the Market and sometimes earned as a Reward in a time-restricted Quest/Mission.
Finally, there are Farm Aids in the form of Rain, Thunder and Rainbows that will speed the growth of EVERY ITEM on your Farm. These can be purchased in the Market and sometimes earned as a Reward in a time-restricted Quest/Mission.
The Water Well
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As of October 2017, the old Water Well has changed and those of us who upgraded it previously have to begin again with the new rules... will post when I have time.
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As of October 2017, the old Water Well has changed and those of us who upgraded it previously have to begin again with the new rules... will post when I have time.
As previously stated, another method of speeding Crop growth is a Water Well. You can purchase a Water Well in the Marketplace for 10,000 Coins, but then will be required to complete the building, using both RC and materials requested from Neighbours. The materials you can request as gifts or purchase for 1 RC each are Stones and Wood Beams. I believe that, for the first level of Water Well, 10 of each are required.
Once the Water Well is completed, you will need Sprinklers. These can be obtained through requests to Neighbours or purchased for 1 RC each. I believe that a total of 15 Sprinklers can be set in place on your Farm with the first level of Water Well. To do so, simply tap the tilled plot where you wish to place a Sprinkler.
Once placed, a Sprinkler will reduce the growth time of any Crop planted in that square by 15%. It is not a terribly significant percentage, but it helps, especially with the slow-growing Crops.
I am a great fan of the Water Well. I believe that it is far more practical than the Greenhouse, as the actual Well takes little space and the Sprinklers are set on the Plots themselves. Sprinklers can be placed on Plots in a Greenhouse as well but there is a little problem with the time required to bring them to maturity when one uses any Farm Aid. An application of Super Fertiliser will NOT bring a Crop in a Greenhouse where a Sprinkler has been set to full maturity! It is best, therefore not to waste Super Fertiliser on any Crop with a Sprinkler that is located in the Greenhouse.
Only 20 Plots can be placed in any Greenhouse but the number of Sprinklers one can place is almost infinite, provided always that the Player is willing to Level Up the capacity of the Water Well. Do not underestimate the effect of Sprinklers. By reducing any Crop's Growth Time by 25%, the Player is able to grow MORE Crops in a Day. This can be extremely useful where Quests and Missions are concerned.
For example, if a Crop ordinarily takes 20 Hours to mature, the addition of a Sprinkler will reduce Growth Time to 15 Hours. A Crop like Clover that takes half an hour to mature will be ready for harvest almost instantly. What this means in effect is that one can produce far more Milk and Honey.
Corn that ordinarily takes 4 Hours to mature will be ready for harvest in 3 Hours. In pracitcal terms, that means the Farmer can produce more Eggs.
I am a great fan of the Water Well. I believe that it is far more practical than the Greenhouse, as the actual Well takes little space and the Sprinklers are set on the Plots themselves. Sprinklers can be placed on Plots in a Greenhouse as well but there is a little problem with the time required to bring them to maturity when one uses any Farm Aid. An application of Super Fertiliser will NOT bring a Crop in a Greenhouse where a Sprinkler has been set to full maturity! It is best, therefore not to waste Super Fertiliser on any Crop with a Sprinkler that is located in the Greenhouse.
Only 20 Plots can be placed in any Greenhouse but the number of Sprinklers one can place is almost infinite, provided always that the Player is willing to Level Up the capacity of the Water Well. Do not underestimate the effect of Sprinklers. By reducing any Crop's Growth Time by 25%, the Player is able to grow MORE Crops in a Day. This can be extremely useful where Quests and Missions are concerned.
For example, if a Crop ordinarily takes 20 Hours to mature, the addition of a Sprinkler will reduce Growth Time to 15 Hours. A Crop like Clover that takes half an hour to mature will be ready for harvest almost instantly. What this means in effect is that one can produce far more Milk and Honey.
Corn that ordinarily takes 4 Hours to mature will be ready for harvest in 3 Hours. In pracitcal terms, that means the Farmer can produce more Eggs.
The second Level of Water Well requires only Materials from Neighbours to complete. As before, you will need Stones and Wood Beams.
With completion of the second Level of Water Well, you can place a total of 40 Sprinklers on your Farm.
It is the third Level of Water Well that once more will require RC to complete. You will need 1 Drill Gear, an item that costs 15 RC and cannot be obtained as a free Gift from any Neighbour. With the Drill Gear, you still will need 15 more Stones and 15 more Wood Beams if you wish to complete the third Level of the Water Well.
With completion of the third Level of the Water Well, you can place a total of 70 Sprinklers on your Farm. Again, Sprinklers can be requested as free Gifts from Neighbours.
To upgrade the Water Well again, you must pay another 15 RC for another Drill Gear, then collect 18 Stones and 18 Wood Beams. This will increase the number of Sprinklers you can place to 120.
To upgrade the Water Well again, you must pay another 15 RC for another Drill Gear, then collect 18 Stones and 18 Wood Beams. This will increase the number of Sprinklers you can place to 120.
It may be possible for a Farmer to purchase a second Water Well instead of performing the upgrade of the first Water Well to the third Level. In my game, the Water Well is available in the Marketplace for 10000 Coins even though an existing Water Well remains on my Farm.
The Greenhouse and Tree Greenhouse
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There are buildings that can reduce the amount of time that it takes for any Crop or Tree to mature. The Greenhouse when completed reduces the time of growth for any Crop by 25%. Likewise, the Tree Greenhouse when completed, reduces the amount of time it takes for any Tree to produce a Fruit/Product by 25%.
The Greenhouse costs 15000 Coins to purchase. It will be in unfinished condition when purchased. Thus, it appears that one must build it on empty space, rather than being able to set it on top of existing tilled squares. Furthermore, you need to make certain there is space for all four walls, making it slightly larger in total size than the actual squares it will encompass.
The Greenhouse and Tree Greenhouse
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There are buildings that can reduce the amount of time that it takes for any Crop or Tree to mature. The Greenhouse when completed reduces the time of growth for any Crop by 25%. Likewise, the Tree Greenhouse when completed, reduces the amount of time it takes for any Tree to produce a Fruit/Product by 25%.
The Greenhouse costs 15000 Coins to purchase. It will be in unfinished condition when purchased. Thus, it appears that one must build it on empty space, rather than being able to set it on top of existing tilled squares. Furthermore, you need to make certain there is space for all four walls, making it slightly larger in total size than the actual squares it will encompass.
Furthermore, a Farmer needs to know in advance that, unless he/she is willing to spend a minimum of 20 RC for materials, there will be no way to complete the Greenhouse. You must purchase 4 Ventillation Windows for 5 RC each, quite apart from the other two Materials that can be requested as Free Gifts from Neighbours. The other two Materials are Glass Panes and Pipe Stacks. You will need 15 of each to complete the Greenhouse.
Specifically, the cost and materials are:
Unfinished Greenhouse: 15000 Coins
4 Ventillation Windows at 5 RC each, for a total of 20 RC
15 Glass Panes
15 Pipe Stacks
If you wish to pay for all materials, you can purchase them for a total of 50 RC.
Note that you can begin to collect materials even before you buy the framework of the Greenhouse for 15,000 Coins. Both the Glass Pen and the Pipe Stack appear in the Free Gifts Menu where you have the option either to 'Send' or to 'Ask'.
The Free Gifts Menu
The Items that are included in the Free Gifts Menu, in the order in which they are displayed are:
Wheat Flour
Honey
Milk
Marble
Chicken
Gear
Screw
Apple Tree
Cheddar Cheese
Wine
Wood
Tile
Glass Pane
Pipe Stack
Shingle Tile
Brick
Cake Mould
Mixing Knives
Orange Tree
Sprinkler
Wood Beam
Stone
Blueberry
Tree Greenhouse Pipe Stack
Glass
Distilled Water
Earring Hooks
Red Rose
White Rose Bouquet
It is possible that more Items will appear at higher levels but I doubt it. The newest items are the Beauty Shop Recipe Materials in the form of the Glass, Distilled Water and Earring Hooks.
If one were to list the items according to type, they would be:
Raw Ingredients and Products:
Wheat Flour
Honey
Milk
Cheddar Cheese
Wine
Blueberry
Red Rose
White Rose Bouquet
Trees and Animals
Chicken
Apple Tree
Orange Tree
Building Materials
Marble
Gear (Juice Machine)
Screw (Juice Machine)
Wood (Warehouse Expansion)
Tile (Warehouse Expansion)
Glass Pane (Greenhouse)
Pipe Stack (Greenhouse)
Shingle Tile (Brick Mill)
Brick (Brick Mill)
Cake Mould (Cake Maker)
Mixing Knives (Cake Maker)
Wood Beam (Water Well)
Stone (Water Well)
Tree Greenhouse Pipe Stack (Tree Greenhouse)
Beauty Shop Recipe Ingredients
Glass
Distilled Water
Earring Hooks
After playing this game for almost a year, I have come to the conclusion that the Wheat Flour and Cheddar Cheese probably are the best Free Gifts to send to Neighbours who have not requested anything specific as these two Products are used in many Quests as well as Kitchen Recipes. Blueberries and White Rose Bouquet are two Items that are not available to Players at low levels. For that reason, they may make good Gifts for low-level Players but even so, are not half as useful as plain Wheat Flour and Cheddar Cheese. Milk, although a lowly Item, can be useful as well, as the Holstein Cow that produces it is large and takes significant space on the Farm. Honey, on the other hand, is easily produced and should be placed permanently on every Player's Farm. As long as one grows Clover regularly, one should have more Honey than one ever will need.
The Beauty Shop Recipe Ingredients may be a good Gift soon after the initial release of the Beauty Shop but I doubt that every Player will be interested in making Items in the Beauty Shop once the excitement has worn off. It may be best to wait for a specific Request from a Neighbour before sending these Items.
Specifically, the cost and materials are:
Unfinished Greenhouse: 15000 Coins
4 Ventillation Windows at 5 RC each, for a total of 20 RC
15 Glass Panes
15 Pipe Stacks
If you wish to pay for all materials, you can purchase them for a total of 50 RC.
Note that you can begin to collect materials even before you buy the framework of the Greenhouse for 15,000 Coins. Both the Glass Pen and the Pipe Stack appear in the Free Gifts Menu where you have the option either to 'Send' or to 'Ask'.
The Free Gifts Menu
The Items that are included in the Free Gifts Menu, in the order in which they are displayed are:
Wheat Flour
Honey
Milk
Marble
Chicken
Gear
Screw
Apple Tree
Cheddar Cheese
Wine
Wood
Tile
Glass Pane
Pipe Stack
Shingle Tile
Brick
Cake Mould
Mixing Knives
Orange Tree
Sprinkler
Wood Beam
Stone
Blueberry
Tree Greenhouse Pipe Stack
Glass
Distilled Water
Earring Hooks
Red Rose
White Rose Bouquet
It is possible that more Items will appear at higher levels but I doubt it. The newest items are the Beauty Shop Recipe Materials in the form of the Glass, Distilled Water and Earring Hooks.
If one were to list the items according to type, they would be:
Raw Ingredients and Products:
Wheat Flour
Honey
Milk
Cheddar Cheese
Wine
Blueberry
Red Rose
White Rose Bouquet
Trees and Animals
Chicken
Apple Tree
Orange Tree
Building Materials
Marble
Gear (Juice Machine)
Screw (Juice Machine)
Wood (Warehouse Expansion)
Tile (Warehouse Expansion)
Glass Pane (Greenhouse)
Pipe Stack (Greenhouse)
Shingle Tile (Brick Mill)
Brick (Brick Mill)
Cake Mould (Cake Maker)
Mixing Knives (Cake Maker)
Wood Beam (Water Well)
Stone (Water Well)
Tree Greenhouse Pipe Stack (Tree Greenhouse)
Beauty Shop Recipe Ingredients
Glass
Distilled Water
Earring Hooks
After playing this game for almost a year, I have come to the conclusion that the Wheat Flour and Cheddar Cheese probably are the best Free Gifts to send to Neighbours who have not requested anything specific as these two Products are used in many Quests as well as Kitchen Recipes. Blueberries and White Rose Bouquet are two Items that are not available to Players at low levels. For that reason, they may make good Gifts for low-level Players but even so, are not half as useful as plain Wheat Flour and Cheddar Cheese. Milk, although a lowly Item, can be useful as well, as the Holstein Cow that produces it is large and takes significant space on the Farm. Honey, on the other hand, is easily produced and should be placed permanently on every Player's Farm. As long as one grows Clover regularly, one should have more Honey than one ever will need.
The Beauty Shop Recipe Ingredients may be a good Gift soon after the initial release of the Beauty Shop but I doubt that every Player will be interested in making Items in the Beauty Shop once the excitement has worn off. It may be best to wait for a specific Request from a Neighbour before sending these Items.
Planning Ahead
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Quests often require specific Crop or Product totals but they usually require that one PRODUCE a specific total of that Crop or Product as well. In other words, one cannot complete the entire Quest sequence simply by using goods from the Barn. In some cases, having a stock of a specific Fruit or Product can expedite a Quest, but one still probably will be obliged to produce a specific number anew.
A Guide offers Farmers the chance to plan ahead to some extent. One of the most useful acts one can perform is that of completing all Machines as quickly as possible. In many cases, Machines when purchased are 'unfinished', requiring a specific number of materials to complete. One material may be available only in the Marketplace for premium cash, but for the most part, materials can be requested as free gifts from Neighbours. By purchasing and completing any Machine before it actually appears in a Quest sequence, one can move forward without delay when the Quest does appear.
The Kitchen Option
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This guide was written before the Kitchen ever appeared in Seaside. With the advent of the Kitchen, the use of Crops, Tree Fruits, Animal Products and Products made by Machine multiplied. Items that previously had no use other than to be sold now often are Ingredients in Kitchen Recipes. Although Family Farm Seaside offers limitless energy to the Farmer in terms of farm chores such as Planting, Harvesting and tending Animals as well as Machine use, there is a limit to the amount of 'Power' available in the Kitchen at any given point in time. The Farmer is given 30 Power and each Recipe requires the use of 1 Power. I suppose this is akin to the amount of natural gas or electricity or even wood burned to 'fire' the cooker or oven. in any event, Power is restored over the course of time, but unless the Farmer wishes to purchase additional Power from the Market, he/she can make a total of 30 Cooked Dishes instantly and then will have to wait for Power to be restored.
I have created a separate Page where all the Kitchen Recipes are given. It includes the Ingredients, selling Value and XP Value of each Cooked Dish. There are two different types of Recipes. One type is permanent. The other is time-restricted and usually requires Items that are time-restricted as well. Once the time limt expires, the Recipes will vanish, even if the Player still has the limited Ingredients, so it is important to use all Ingredients that are time-restricted in the temporary Recipes before they expire if one wishes to gain any profit from them.
Another new option in Seaside is the temporary Machine or Maker that can be purchased for a fairly reasonable sum in Coins but which will vanish from the Farm after three days usually. These temporary Machines/Makers usually produce a Spice or Ingredient such as Vinegar or White Vinegar used solely in the Kitchen. Often released in tandem with a special time-restricted Quest sequence, they offer variety but can be rather frustrating to Players who would like to be able to make the Recipes on a regular basis.
Many of the Recipes use Ingredients that are the product of other Recipes. A number of these create 'staples' such as Cake Flour, Batter and Soft Dough that are used both in permanent Recipes and time-restricted ones. Making these basic Recipes on a daily basis if there are no Quests pending that require specific Recipes is an excellent strategy. . In fact, one of the Quest sequences that is not time-limited requires the creation of a number of these basic ingredients as follows:
Darryl's New Game V
Prepare 10 Cake Flour
Skip for 10 RC
Prepare 10 Batter
Skip for 10 RC
Prepare 10 Soft Dough
Skip for 10 RC
Here you see that the Farmer's total supply of 30 Power is required to complete the Quest.
The Kitchen Option
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This guide was written before the Kitchen ever appeared in Seaside. With the advent of the Kitchen, the use of Crops, Tree Fruits, Animal Products and Products made by Machine multiplied. Items that previously had no use other than to be sold now often are Ingredients in Kitchen Recipes. Although Family Farm Seaside offers limitless energy to the Farmer in terms of farm chores such as Planting, Harvesting and tending Animals as well as Machine use, there is a limit to the amount of 'Power' available in the Kitchen at any given point in time. The Farmer is given 30 Power and each Recipe requires the use of 1 Power. I suppose this is akin to the amount of natural gas or electricity or even wood burned to 'fire' the cooker or oven. in any event, Power is restored over the course of time, but unless the Farmer wishes to purchase additional Power from the Market, he/she can make a total of 30 Cooked Dishes instantly and then will have to wait for Power to be restored.
I have created a separate Page where all the Kitchen Recipes are given. It includes the Ingredients, selling Value and XP Value of each Cooked Dish. There are two different types of Recipes. One type is permanent. The other is time-restricted and usually requires Items that are time-restricted as well. Once the time limt expires, the Recipes will vanish, even if the Player still has the limited Ingredients, so it is important to use all Ingredients that are time-restricted in the temporary Recipes before they expire if one wishes to gain any profit from them.
Another new option in Seaside is the temporary Machine or Maker that can be purchased for a fairly reasonable sum in Coins but which will vanish from the Farm after three days usually. These temporary Machines/Makers usually produce a Spice or Ingredient such as Vinegar or White Vinegar used solely in the Kitchen. Often released in tandem with a special time-restricted Quest sequence, they offer variety but can be rather frustrating to Players who would like to be able to make the Recipes on a regular basis.
Many of the Recipes use Ingredients that are the product of other Recipes. A number of these create 'staples' such as Cake Flour, Batter and Soft Dough that are used both in permanent Recipes and time-restricted ones. Making these basic Recipes on a daily basis if there are no Quests pending that require specific Recipes is an excellent strategy. . In fact, one of the Quest sequences that is not time-limited requires the creation of a number of these basic ingredients as follows:
Darryl's New Game V
Prepare 10 Cake Flour
Skip for 10 RC
Prepare 10 Batter
Skip for 10 RC
Prepare 10 Soft Dough
Skip for 10 RC
Here you see that the Farmer's total supply of 30 Power is required to complete the Quest.
When to Sell
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A delicate balance must be maintained between the need to collect funds for Crops and other expenses and the need to collect Items that can be used to feed Animals or make finished goods in the various Machines and Makers. As a general rule, one ought to try to process ANY item that can be processed, whether it be Clover or Love Fruit. One should NOT sell raw items (Crops or Fruits) unless they cannot be used either to feed an Animal, to feed into a Machine or be used as an Ingredient in the Kitchen.
For the purpose of this rule, I consider Honey, Provence Honey, all types of Milk, all types of Eggs, all types of Flour to be 'raw' items as all can be used to feed an Animal or to feed a Machine. Even Wheat Bread should not be sold unless it is absolutely necessary as it is one of the basic ingredients for the Burger Machine.
Obviously, if a Farmer is desperate for Coins, it is better to sell raw materials than to leave Farm Plots empty. One always can regrow or restock ingredients, although some take longer than others. Waste of space in the form of tilled soil in any Farming Simulation Game is to be avoided at all costs.
A warning may be in order here for Farmers who wish to complete all Quest sequences and Farm Expansion requirements. Where a Quest asks that a specific Crop be planted and harvested, quite often the next Quest in the same sequence will require that the same Crop be sold. If you sell the Crop BEFORE you complete the first Quest, you will find that you will be unable to work on the next quest in the sequence until you regrow the same Crop in the same quantity! Likewise, when a Quest requires that the Player produce a specific amount of a Product, the next Quest in the sequence often will ask the Player to SELL the same quantity of THAT Product. In other words, sometimes it can be a tactical error to think for oneself! It is better to wait until the game dictates the next step.
Where Ranch Expansions are concerned, there will be three different requirements for purchasing the Expansion using Coins. One of the three requirements usually will be the sale of a specified quantity of a Crop or Product. The requirement will not be satisfied unless one sells the Crop or Product in a single transaction when the required total has been attained or collected. Sell less and the count will be reset to zero.
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There are a few Items, Products in themselves, that yet are Ingredients used to create other Products. Among these are Wheat Bread and Cheddar Cheese, the two Ingredients that are required if one wishes to produce Cheese Burgers. I am not a Burger Person, but Family Farm and Seaside both focus on Burgers to an unhealthy extent. There is one Quest in particular that shows the value of NOT selling Cheddar Cheese or Wheat Bread and moreover, the benefit of producing both Items for future use whenever one has the time and inclination.
Friendly Birds IV is a Quest with the following Tasks:
Sell 25 Cheese Burgers to the visitors
Sell 25 Ketchup to the visitors
If one has sold whatever quantities of Cheddar Cheese and Wheat Bread one has produced, one will be forced to produce 25 Cheddar Cheese and 25 Wheat Bread before one can begin the task of producing 25 Cheese Burgers in the Burger Machine. In point of fact, I think it is a good strategy to make Wheat Flour, Milk and Eggs on a regular basis and then to produce Wheat Bread for future use.
Milk is used to make a number of different Products. Making Cheddar Cheese regularly therefore may not be as good a strategy, although having a few on stock is sensible.
I actually balk at the idea of selling Ketchup as well unless required to do so for a specific Quest. It is made with Tomatoes, a rather slow-growing Crop. Once made, I would prefer to keep it in the Barn until it is needed, even though the Profit made from its sale is rather good The cost of a Tomato is 20 Coins and Ketchup is a single-ingredient Product with a value of 55 Coins, making the Profit 33 Coins. On the other hand, as previously stated, Tomatoes take a fair amount of time to mature. The requirements of time and space are as important sometimes as actual Profit.
Now, with the Kitchen, even more Items are potential Ingredients and the prudent Farmer will study the list of available Recipes as well as being aware of the Items that can be used as Animal food or in Machine Production before he/she sells a stash of Items that have taken a fair amount of time to make!
The Mechanics of Selling
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There are a number of different methods by which Items in the Barn can be sold. The one to avoid at all costs is provided at the bottom of the screen when the Farmer accesses the Barn. This is a box that allows the Farmer to 'Select All' and another box next to it that gives the total value of EVERYTHING in the Barn and directs the game to 'Sell all for xxx Coins'. If the Farmer needs money desperately, the option is available but usually it is far better to sell only finished Products and save raw Ingredients in the form of Crops, Trees and Animal Products for use in Machines. Some Items in particular require considerable time to obtain. Many of the Fruits/Products from Trees can be obtained only twice a day or even once a day and have a low value in themselves. It is only when used as an ingredient in a Machine that the Farmer will make a significant Profit.
The Jam Machine and the Candy Machine are two mechanical devices that use Fruit/Products from Trees and although another Ingredient in each case is required to produce the final Product, it is a better use of the Fruit than to sell it by itself.
To return to the actual mechanics of selling items, one always should sell from the box that is designated for the specific Item in question. Again, there are two different options, however. There is a small box that can be tapped at the top left corner of the Item Box. If you select that option, then tap on 'Sell', the total number of that Item stored in your Barn will be sold. If, however, you wish to sell only a few or a specific number, do NOT tap that small box but instead simply tap the 'Sell' button at the bottom of the Item Box. You will be taken to a new Menu with a sliding bar that allows you to choose precisely how many of that Item you wish to sell. As this Guide has discussed, there are definite advantages to a strategy of NOT selling everything. If the Item is a finished Product that cannot be used as an ingredient to produce any other Item, one usually is better served by selling all but if the Item either is a raw ingredient or a product, like Wheat Flour that can be used in another Machine, sell only the bare minimum. In my opinion, the only time one should sell a Crop or Animal Product is when directed to do so by a Quest or when the Item cannot be used in any Machine.
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N.B. There is a separate 'Items Values' Page on this site. You will find the link in the form of a Tab above this Page and every Post/Page on the site.
Knowing the value of the Items as well as any choices you may have between different uses of the same item is very useful. There are Crops, such as the time-limited Pink Primrose that cannot be used in any Machine or to feed any Animal. Its sole use is to be sold as a Crop for Coins and XP value. Other Crops, like the Grape, can be used in many different Machines. Choosing how to use an Item at any given time can enhance a Player's Profit considerably and prevent frustration on occaion when a specific item is needed for a Quest or a Machine.
Profit is not the sole consideration, however, when deciding how to use a specific Item. Being flexible enough to vary the types of products you make in any Machine can make your Farm more efficient. When I use a Machine, I often try to use the Ingredients that have no other application.
For example, there are a number of different types of Jam that can be created in the Jam Machine. Among these are fruits like the Apple, Cherry, Grape and Orange that can be used in more than one Machine. With these are Fruits such as the Pitaya that cannot be used in any other Machine. If one has a supply of Pitaya, therefore, it is best to make it into Jam and use the Grape or Orange elsewhere, even if slightly more Profit would be made if one were to make Grape Jam instead of Grape Juice or Wine.
Another important element in the creation of any Product is the number of ingredients that are required to complete it. If one has to grow Cane in order to use the Grapes one has in the Candy Machine and one does not have many free plots available for the planting of that Cane, it might be better to use the Grapes in a single-ingredient Machine, such as the Wine Maker or the Juice Maker.
Some of the Products that can be made with a Grape are:
Grape Candy: 241 Coins
Grape Jam: 80 Coins
Grape Juice: 77 Coins
Wine: 78 Coins
Of these, the most valuable is the Grape Candy, but that requires Sugar as a second ingredient and Sugar is made in a Sugar Maker using Cane. The value of the Grape Candy therefore is somewhat deceptive as the Cost of the Cane must be subtracted from it. Cane costs 105 Coins, making the actual Profit from Grape Candy (without considering the Cost of the Machines used to produce it) 45 Coins.
The actual Profit when selling Grape Juice, a single ingredient Product is 11 Coins. The actual Profit from Grape Jam is 14 Coins. Although Grape Jam is made with two ingredients, the Clover used to produce the Honey that is the second ingredient is not used so its cost need not be deducted.
Wine is another single-ingredient Product, and the Profit is 12 Coins, only one Coin more than the Juice made with the same Grape.
Apples, Cherries and Oranges, like Grapes, are very versatile with many uses. Lemon, Mango and Pitaya have fewer uses. It therefore might make sense to use your stock of Honey to make Pitaya Jam instead of making Grape Jam and to make a Lemon Cake with your Lemon, Egg and Wheat Flour rather than making a Cake with a Fruit like Banana that can be used in a different Machine.
Jam Profit Comparisons
One can take any Machine and compare the Products that can be created in it to make a Profit Study. Where single-ingredient Machines are concerned, the equation is a simple one, involving merely the subtraction of the Cost of the original Crop from the finished Product. Where Machines that use more than one ingredient are concerned, the equation can become more complex, depending on the type of ingredients that are needed.
This information can be found in my Seaside Strategy Guide, but I thought it might be helpful if I published it as a Post as well for Farmers who wonder about Profit margins and other weighty business matters:
Jam Comparisons
Jam is a very interesting Product because one of the ingredients in it is Honey, an Item that costs NOTHING to produce and yet which increases the value of the final Product significantly. When used with the Fruit from a Tree, one is able to create a Product that is without Cost as the initial Cost of the Tree need not be considered.
With respect to the Crops that can be used in Jam, it is interesting to perform a comparison study of three fairly fast-growing Fruits: Blackberry, Blueberry and Raspberry. The Profit made from all three is decent and the growth time varies from 3 Hours in the case of the Blueberry to 6 Hours for the Blackberry.
The cost of a Blueberry is 85 Coins. If sold for 95 Coins after 3 hours, the Profit is 6 Coins. If made into Blueberry Jam with a value of 103 Coins, the Profit increases to 18 Coins.
The cost of a Raspberry is 95 Coins. if sold for 104 Coins after 5 Hours, the Profit made would be 9 Coins. If made into Raspberry Jam with a value of 119 Coins, the Profit increases to 24 Coins.
The cost of a Blackberry is 125 Coins. If sold for 135 Coins after 6 Hours, the Profit would be 10 Coins. If made into Blackberry Jam with a value of 151 Coins, the Profit increases to 26 Coins.
Strawberry and Pineapple are other Crops that can be made into Jam but they require a significant increase in Level to unlock.
In other words, time and space are part of the Value equation. Furthermore, to use an easier equation, the Blueberry that takes only 3 Hours to grow gives a Profit of 18 Coins. Grow two Blueberries in the Plot that would be occupied by a single Blackberry and one has a Profit of 36 Coins instead of 26 Coins. Thus, from the standpoint of REAL Profit, the Blueberry is a better option.
On the other hand, a Player who cannot access the game every two hours would do better to plant a Crop that takes longer to mature as he/she will have a single Harvest rather than the potential to use the same Plot more than once in that space of time. If the Player only accesses the game a couple of times per day at best, Pitaya Jam might be the best choice.
Pitaya costs 100 Coins and takes 8 Hours to mature. Its value is 110 Coins. Sold as a Crop, the Profit would be 10 Coins, but Pitaya Jam has a value of 133 Coins for a Profit of 33 Coins. If a Player cannot Harvest more frequently than every 8 Hours, Crops that take less time to mature lose their desirability to some extent. Furthermore, Pitaya cannot be processed in any other fashion, unlike many of the other Crops and Tree Fruits used to make Jam. It therefore would make sense to grow Pitaya for Jam if a Player only can manage to harvest Crops every 8 Hours or thrice daily.
There are three Crops available at higher Levels that can be used to make Jam: Strawberry, Pineapple and Watermelon.
Watermelon is unlocked at Level 28. It costs 255 Coins and takes 10 Hours to mature. Watermelon Jam has a value of 289 Coins, giving a Profit of 34 Coins every 10 Hours.
Strawberry is unlocked at Level 29. It costs 185 Coins and takes 9 Hours to mature. Strawberry Jam has a value of 220 Coins, yielding a Profit of 35 Coins every 9 Hours.
Pineapple is the fastest-growing Crop of all Fruits, taking only 1 Hour to mature. It is unlocked at Level 33 and costs 200 Coins. In Harvest Moon, Pineapple was one of the most profitable cash crops, but in Seaside the Profit is negligible unless you process it. Pineapple as a Crop has a value of 202 Coins, giving a Profit of 2 Coins. Pineapple Jam has a value of 211 Coins, giving the Farmer a Profit of 11 Coins. As it takes only1 Hour to mature, the Farmer who is willing to work constantly throughout the day can harvest 24 times conceivably in the course of a single day, but is more likely to restrict the working day to 12 Hours if not less. With 12 Harvests, the Profit is 132 Coins.
As you can see, Pitaya, Strawberry and Watermelon do not have much to distinguish them where Jam is concerned. Pineapple Jam becomes profitable only for the Farmer who plays constantly throughout the day.
Grapes are one of the most versatile Crops in Seaside. They can be made into Jam, Juice, Wine and Candy. The Juice Maker and Wine Maker are single ingredient Machines, making the Profit for Grape Juice and Wine simply a matter of the Cost of the Grape subtracted from the value of the Product. The Candy Machine and the Jam Machine both require two Ingredients. In the case of the Candy Machine, the second ingredient is Sugar, made in a Sugar Machine from the Cane Crop. Candy therefore technically requires TWO Machines to produce and the Profit made by selling any piece of Candy must include the Cost of the Cane as well as the Cost of the other Ingredient.
Grapes cost 58 Coins and take 6 Hours to mature. The values of the products that can be made with a Grape are:
Grape Juice: 77 Coins
Wine: 78 Coins
Grape Candy: 241 Coins
Grape Jam: 80 Coins
Of these, the most valuable is the Grape Candy, but Cane costs 105 Coins, reducing the actual Profit from Grape Candy to 45 Coins.
The actual Profit when selling Grape Juice, a single ingredient Product is 11 Coins. Wine is another single-ingredient Product, and the Profit is 12 Coins, only one Coin more than the Juice made with the same Grape.
The actual Profit from Grape Jam is 14 Coins. Although Grape Jam is made with two ingredients, the Clover used to produce the Honey that is the second ingredient is not used so its cost need not be deducted.
Grapes take as long to grow as Blackberries and the Profit from Blackberry Jam at 26 Coins is 12 Coins more than that made from selling Grape Jam. The only reason to make Grape Jam instead of using the Grape to make a different product would be if Blackberry, Blueberry and/or Raspberry had not been unlocked yet.
Finally, many Jams are made from the Fruit/Products harvested from Trees. In terms of Profit, there is only the initial Cost of the Tree and it is rather pointless to include that as a factor as one can continue to harvest a Tree forever. The Tree Fruits that can be used in Jam are: Apple, Cherry and Orange. Here, time very much becomes a factor as some Trees are very slow-growing, while others produce a Harvest frequently.
The value of Apple Jam is 17 Coins. The cost of an Apple Tree is 400 Coins and it will produce an Apple in 2 Hours. The value of that Apple is only 7 Coins, so making it into Apple Jam increases the Profit by 10 Coins.
The value of Cherry Jam is 49 Coins. The cost of a Cherry Tree is 600 Coins and it produces a Cherry in 12 Hours. The value of a Cherry is 20 Coins, increasing the Profit by 29 Coins when made into Cherry Jam.
The value of Orange Jam is 42 Coins. The cost of an Orange Tree is 500 Coins and one can harvest an Orange in 8 Hours. The value of an Orange is 20 Coins so the Profit is increased by 22 Coins when it is made into Orange Jam.
Toy Machine
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The Toy Machine appears only occasionally in the regular Market for the price of 800 Coins. It does have to be built however, and the materials are as follows:
5 Gears (Request or pay 1 RC for each)
5 Screws (Request or pay 1 RC for each)
1 Filler (1 RC)
3 Switch (3 RC each)
You can complete the Machine instantly by paying 20 RC. Even if you have the items you can request from Neighbours or sometimes find in the Coin Shop, you have to pay a total of 10 RC to complete your Toy Machine. That having been said, it is a very useful Machine that makes valuable Toys.
Night and Day
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Another consideration is the reality of day and night and the need for many Players to sleep. I usually plant fast-growing Crops in the morning and replant them throughout the day if possible. When night approaches, I plant the Crops that take 10 or more hours to mature.
Making money as a Farmer/Rancher is a slow business at first but one can gain enormously both financially and with respect to XP by completing each of the Quests as they appear on the screen.
Daily Orders
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At the start, I ignored the Daily Orders as I preferred to save my Items for use in Quests, but I now have completed all the ordinary Quests and the Daily Order Board does have a number of useful Rewards as well as giving one a source of daily income. I have noticed that the same Orders appear again and again, although it is 'random' to some extent. I suggest that players make a note of the Daily Orders for a period of a couple of weeks and then make certain that they keep a decent stock of all the Items that are required in their Daily Orders. That way, one is usually able to complete the Daily Order effortlessly without being required to plant anything or use RC. Many of the Crops required in my own game appear to be those that are not used in any Recipes or Products.
Machine Production for Profit
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Machines such as the Kim Chi Machine are a very good source of Profit, requiring only White Vinegar and a Crop to produce. There are four types of KimChi now and all are far more profitable than sale of the raw Crop. The newest is Green Bean KimChi. When one buys Green Beans, the cost is 80 Coins. Sale of Green Beans gives a profit only of 6 Coins but if you make it into Kim Chi, you will have a profit of 29 Coins. That is fairly significant. Furthermore, Green Beans take only 6 Hours to mature, making the Kimchi production even more profitable. Finally, it takes only 1 minute to produce any type of Kimchi.
All Kim Chi is profitable. Cucumber Kimchi may give you a profit only of 18 Coins, but Cucumbers take only 2 Hours to mature.
Daily Orders
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At the start, I ignored the Daily Orders as I preferred to save my Items for use in Quests, but I now have completed all the ordinary Quests and the Daily Order Board does have a number of useful Rewards as well as giving one a source of daily income. I have noticed that the same Orders appear again and again, although it is 'random' to some extent. I suggest that players make a note of the Daily Orders for a period of a couple of weeks and then make certain that they keep a decent stock of all the Items that are required in their Daily Orders. That way, one is usually able to complete the Daily Order effortlessly without being required to plant anything or use RC. Many of the Crops required in my own game appear to be those that are not used in any Recipes or Products.
Machine Production for Profit
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Machines such as the Kim Chi Machine are a very good source of Profit, requiring only White Vinegar and a Crop to produce. There are four types of KimChi now and all are far more profitable than sale of the raw Crop. The newest is Green Bean KimChi. When one buys Green Beans, the cost is 80 Coins. Sale of Green Beans gives a profit only of 6 Coins but if you make it into Kim Chi, you will have a profit of 29 Coins. That is fairly significant. Furthermore, Green Beans take only 6 Hours to mature, making the Kimchi production even more profitable. Finally, it takes only 1 minute to produce any type of Kimchi.
All Kim Chi is profitable. Cucumber Kimchi may give you a profit only of 18 Coins, but Cucumbers take only 2 Hours to mature.
Expansions
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Lack of sufficient space always is an issue in Farming Simulation games and Family Farm Seaside is no exception. A Player unlocks new expansions at specific Levels and can 'buy' or 'earn' them by completing three specific requirements, one of which is a Coin total. In most cases, one must make a specific number of Items in a Machine and sometimes sell them as one of the Expansion requirements. You can buy your way out of any requirement by paying a sum of premium Cash.
A cautionary note here: Although in most cases, you can reach the total number of Items needed to complete a Quest even if you sell those items before you reach the necessary total, there are circumstances where the count will be reset to zero is you sell the goods before you reach the goal. If you need coins but are afraid of losing your progress in the quest, it is a good idea to sell 1 product to see if the total is reset afterwards. If not, you can sell as many of the products as you wish and they will continue to count towards the required total.
In every Expansion requirement for a specific Product, the TOTAL Number required must be collected before selling the Item or the Farmer will lose all progress.
When Expansions and Quests coincide
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At certain points in the game, you may discover that a Quest sequence and requirements for the next Farm Expansion coincide to some extent. This is true particularly as your Levels increase. An example of this is the 'Think Big IV' Quest and any Farm Expansion.
For the 'Think Big IV' Quest, you must reach Level 17 and save 35,000 Coins. For most of the Farm Expansions, one of the Requirements will be that you reach a specific Level and that you collect a specific number of Coins.
Temptations to become Rich
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It is when the game requires a specific Coin total that the Player may be tempted either to sell everything in the Barn to reach the goal or to 'buy out' the Requirement with Premium Cash in the form of RC.
Both strategies are flawed, in my opinion. There are no time limits to Expansions and therefore, spending a little extra time to convert the items in your Barn to finished Goods before you sell them is a better strategy. With respect to the 'buy out' policy, it would be far better to spend RC on Farm Aids to speed the growth of Crops than to spend it on the Expansion, earning NO XP and NO Coins through that action.
On the other hand, the Coin totals required for Farm Expansions grow larger and larger as one progresses. For the 21 x 21 Expansion, for example, one must collect a total of 420,000 Coins.
Profit, as opposed to the value of a Crop, is the key to wealth. As described elsewhere in this guide, one can make a better Profit often with an inexpensive Crop that matures quickly than an expensive Crop that takes almost a day to mature. I intend to add the Profit for every Crop and Product to the Items Value page on this site. Meanwhile, as a sort of 'rule of thumb', you may notice that the Crops unlocked at higher levels not only cost more but give more Profit when used in Machines.
Versatility
Note that the same Crop can have more than one use. Most of the Grains serve as Feed for specific Animals and can be ground into Flour of various types in a Mill. One then must make a decision as to whether to use the Crop to make a product or to feed an Animal.
For example, Wheat can be fed to the Sheep to produce Wool. As Wheat Flour, it is one of the three ingredients in any Cake produced by the Cake Machine. How does one decide whether to feed the Sheep or to bake a Cake? The time needed to produce products as well as the Cost of the Items and value of the Products will be included in this Guide.
Variety is the Spice
As discussed elsewhere, there are a few Crops that ALWAYS are useful. These are Clover, Lavender, Wheat and Corn. Clover is fed to Cows to produce Milk and when ripe, will attract Bees to create Honey. Lavender attracts special Bees that make Provence Honey, the second ingredient in any Perfume. Both Clover and Lavender can be used AFTER pollination. The Clover is fodder for the Cow and the Lavender can be used to make Perfume or Bouquets. Both are fast-growing Crops and therefore can produce a fair amount of XP during the course of a single day. I always have at least one row of Clover and one row of Lavender in my field.
Corn is the food that Chickens need to produce Eggs and Eggs are used in a number of different Machines, including the Baker and the Cake Maker. Corn likewise is fast-growing and can be grown repeatedly through the day to give XP to the Farmer. Wheat takes twice the time to grow, requiring a total of 8 Hours to mature, but is equally vital to production. It is food for the Sheep that produces Wool and, when ground into flour, can be used both in the Baker and in the Cake Maker. In fact, Eggs and Wheat Flour both are required ingredients for any Cake. The Baker can produce Breads with Flours other than Wheat.
Like the Clover and the Lavender, therefore, both Corn and Wheat always are planted in my field. I plant at least one row of each, irrespective of any Quest requirements.
The Honey that the Bees produce from Clover can be used to make Jam. There are quite a few different types of Jam and the Jam Machine is an invaluable resource for the Farmer who has Trees, as many of the Fruits from Trees can be used to make Jam. Some of the same fruits can be used to make Juice as well, but Jam tends to have a higher value, even though the Honey costs nothing as production of Honey leaves the Clover in the field. At higher levels, one can make Candy of various types with Fruits from Trees.
Trees can be annoying as they require considerable space. Empty space is required between every Tree. Nonetheless, it is a good idea for the Farmer to purchase every Tree in the Market if possible as all have specific uses. Some, like the Almond Tree, are required ingredients for a Product that is needed for a Farm Expansion. Trees require only the initial purchase price and then will yield harvests, however slowly, forever.
When choosing the other Crops to plant in the field, a Farmer can rely upon Profit values, the amount of time he/she has to play the game on any given day, aesthetics and personal preference or current Quest requirements. Although I personally have preferences, I do try to vary the Crops that are grown in my field. One of the reasons is that I like to keep my Machines in production. When one exhausts one ingredient (as one will frequently), one can switch to a different product using another ingredient. This can be particularly useful where Fruits are concerned, as some of the Fruits used in the Jam, Juice and Candy Machine are harvested from Trees but others are grown as Crops.
Fishing Strategies
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Fishing is an option that is fairly new but it has become increasingly important in terms of Quests/Missions. There are different types of Quests/Missions in Seaside. One sort is based upon the player's level of experience and has no time restrictions. The other is time-restricted and usually must be completed in 11 days. Both types of Quests now include Fishing and items caught when fishing.
Where Missions or Quests are concerned, Fishing can be incorporated in different ways. A task can require that you catch a specific number of specific seafood Items. In this situation, having the item in the Barn will not avail you. You can skip the task by paying a ransom in the form of RC. Otherwise, you must use your fishing skills to catch the required Items.
Note that fishing ALWAYS is random, apart from the list that is associated with each type of hook. When fishing first was introduced, the medium accuracy Rod worked wonderfully and there really was no need to invest in the 'high accuracy' Rod that required RC to purchase. Recently, however, the developers evidently took note of this fact and made fishing more difficult. Now, if you do not invest in the 'high accuracy' Rod, you will find fishing rather frustrating as many of your attempts will be 'misses'. Even when you tap correctly, the fish or item may swim away blithely. With the high accuracy Rod, however, you should make EVERY catch, provided you pay attention.
Returning to the topic of Quest requirements, another task in Missions or Quests may require that the player make a specific number of Cooked Dishes. Quite a few of the Recipes in the Kitchen now include Seafood ingredients and when such a Recipe appears in a Quest, the Player will benefit from having a good stock of the Seafood item in the Barn.
It is here that things can be a little tricky as there are raw Ingredients and 'processed' Ingredients where Seafood is concerned. Oddly enough, it often is the raw, unprocessed Item that usually is required in the Recipe. For example, Recipes that include Octopus as an ingredient usually require the raw Octopus rather than the Octopus that has been processed in the Seafood House. Both Octopus Ball and Seafood Platter require raw Octopus. Note, however, that Seafood Chili requires Octopus Meat made in the Seafood House. The same holds true for Seaweed in terms of the Egg Soup Recipe. Having processed 'Brined Seaweed' will do you no good in this case. Egg Crayfish similarly requires raw Crayfish as opposed to processed Crayfish.
Although most Fish are required in their raw form in Recipes, there are situations where you need the Smoked Fish or processed Seafood item to make the Dish. Wasabi Fried Mackerel requires raw Mackerel. Spicy Fish, however, requires Smoked Mackerel. Wakame Salad similarly requires Dried Wakame and Cooked Sea Lettuce, both of which are produced in the Seafood House. Recipes that use Crab usually require processed varieties such as the Steamed Blue Swimmer Crab used to make Crab Meat Yi Mein or the Crab Sticks used to make Fried Crab Stick.
As the number of 'catches' you can make at any given point in time is limited unless you wish to splash out with RC, it is important to fish on a regular basis even if no current Quest/Mission requires it. The Seafood House and the Smoke House are the two buildings that process Seafood items. Processing Seafood can be a slow process. I therefore would recommend that a Player process about half of each Seafood Item for use in future Quests/Missions, Recipes or Daily Tasks. Do not sell ANY of it unless a Quest or Daily Order requires the sale. It is not worth it. Better to store as much Seafood, both processed and unprocessed, as possible.
Note that there is a way to circumvent the limit of catches without paying RC if you do not mind spending bait. Simply allow the Item that is on the hook to swim away if it is not the right type of item. In other words, if you need Crayfish and you see that the Item on your Hook is an ordinary Fish or a type of Seaweed, allow a 'Miss' to occur and bait the Hook again.
As you can see, Cooking has become far more challenging and the addition of Cooked Dish requirements to Quests/Missions has made these more challenging as well.
Fishing Strategies
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Fishing is an option that is fairly new but it has become increasingly important in terms of Quests/Missions. There are different types of Quests/Missions in Seaside. One sort is based upon the player's level of experience and has no time restrictions. The other is time-restricted and usually must be completed in 11 days. Both types of Quests now include Fishing and items caught when fishing.
Where Missions or Quests are concerned, Fishing can be incorporated in different ways. A task can require that you catch a specific number of specific seafood Items. In this situation, having the item in the Barn will not avail you. You can skip the task by paying a ransom in the form of RC. Otherwise, you must use your fishing skills to catch the required Items.
Note that fishing ALWAYS is random, apart from the list that is associated with each type of hook. When fishing first was introduced, the medium accuracy Rod worked wonderfully and there really was no need to invest in the 'high accuracy' Rod that required RC to purchase. Recently, however, the developers evidently took note of this fact and made fishing more difficult. Now, if you do not invest in the 'high accuracy' Rod, you will find fishing rather frustrating as many of your attempts will be 'misses'. Even when you tap correctly, the fish or item may swim away blithely. With the high accuracy Rod, however, you should make EVERY catch, provided you pay attention.
Returning to the topic of Quest requirements, another task in Missions or Quests may require that the player make a specific number of Cooked Dishes. Quite a few of the Recipes in the Kitchen now include Seafood ingredients and when such a Recipe appears in a Quest, the Player will benefit from having a good stock of the Seafood item in the Barn.
It is here that things can be a little tricky as there are raw Ingredients and 'processed' Ingredients where Seafood is concerned. Oddly enough, it often is the raw, unprocessed Item that usually is required in the Recipe. For example, Recipes that include Octopus as an ingredient usually require the raw Octopus rather than the Octopus that has been processed in the Seafood House. Both Octopus Ball and Seafood Platter require raw Octopus. Note, however, that Seafood Chili requires Octopus Meat made in the Seafood House. The same holds true for Seaweed in terms of the Egg Soup Recipe. Having processed 'Brined Seaweed' will do you no good in this case. Egg Crayfish similarly requires raw Crayfish as opposed to processed Crayfish.
Although most Fish are required in their raw form in Recipes, there are situations where you need the Smoked Fish or processed Seafood item to make the Dish. Wasabi Fried Mackerel requires raw Mackerel. Spicy Fish, however, requires Smoked Mackerel. Wakame Salad similarly requires Dried Wakame and Cooked Sea Lettuce, both of which are produced in the Seafood House. Recipes that use Crab usually require processed varieties such as the Steamed Blue Swimmer Crab used to make Crab Meat Yi Mein or the Crab Sticks used to make Fried Crab Stick.
As the number of 'catches' you can make at any given point in time is limited unless you wish to splash out with RC, it is important to fish on a regular basis even if no current Quest/Mission requires it. The Seafood House and the Smoke House are the two buildings that process Seafood items. Processing Seafood can be a slow process. I therefore would recommend that a Player process about half of each Seafood Item for use in future Quests/Missions, Recipes or Daily Tasks. Do not sell ANY of it unless a Quest or Daily Order requires the sale. It is not worth it. Better to store as much Seafood, both processed and unprocessed, as possible.
Note that there is a way to circumvent the limit of catches without paying RC if you do not mind spending bait. Simply allow the Item that is on the hook to swim away if it is not the right type of item. In other words, if you need Crayfish and you see that the Item on your Hook is an ordinary Fish or a type of Seaweed, allow a 'Miss' to occur and bait the Hook again.
As you can see, Cooking has become far more challenging and the addition of Cooked Dish requirements to Quests/Missions has made these more challenging as well.
Each to his/her Own
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Every Farmer has a different method of playing any game, even if there are Quests and specific Goals that can be achieved. In Family Farm, there are Quests as well as requirements for Ranch Expansions but a Farmer can ignore these and simply play for fun. It is in the player's benefit, however, to complete Quests as XP is given as one of the Rewards for completion.
Achievements are another resource for XP as well as the occasional Reward of OP (Operation Points). You will find a Page devoted to Quests/Missions and Achievements on this site. Another Page has been allocated to special Time-Limited Quests.
There are two separate sequences of Quests/Missions in Seaside. Quests often are tutorials that serve to introduce Farmers to Crops, Machines, Animals and other aspects of the game. When you complete any Quest, the next Quest in the sequence will be unlocked and will appear on the left side of the screen. You can hide or display Quest icons by clicking on the exclamation point in the top left corner of the screen.
You will notice that you have the option to buy your way out of each of the Requirements in any given Quest for a specific amount of premium Cash or RC. Here it is useful to note that if one is willing to spend Premium Cash to complete Quests, there are better ways of doing it. For example, you can purchase Organice Fertiliser or Super Fertiliser in order to speed the growth process of required Crops.
For example, in the Beef it Up IV Quest, you must Harvest 12 Tomatoes. Tomatoes are a slow-growing Crop that take Hours to mature. Instead of spending 6 RC to skip the step, you could spend 3 RC for 25 portions of Super Fertiliser. A single application of Super Fertiliser will bring a Crop that has been planted a moment earlier to full growth. If you use 12 applications of Super Fertiliser to complete the first step of the Quest, you still will have 13 more applications for use later.
For 1 RC, you could purchase 25 applications of Organic Fertiliser. It requires 4 applications of Organic Fertiliser to bring a Crop that was planted a moment earlier to maturity. Organic Fertiliser is best used to bring a Crop that is almost mature to full maturity in order to complete a requirement or to clear the field for another Crop.
In the same way that Fertiliser speeds the growth of Crops, Watering Cans speed the growth of Fruit on Trees. For 6 RC, you can purchase a Super Watering Can containing 25 applications of Water. 2 RC purchases a Watering Can with 25 applications of Water. The Super Watering Can will bring Fruit on a Tree that has been harvested a moment earlier to full maturity. Like Organic Fertiliser, the regular Watering Can would require 4 applications in the same situation.
Cherry Trees take 12 hours to mature. If the Tree has been harvested recently, the Player probably should use Super Watering Can for a single application. If, however, the Tree needs 8 hours more to mature, three applications of the regular Watering Can rather than the full four applications will ripen the fruit fully.
In practical terms, therefore, instead of spending 6 RC to skip the first step of the Quest and 4 RC to skip the third for a total cost of 10 RC, you can spend 9 RC for a Super Watering Can and Super Fertiliser, use both and still have sufficient applications for another Quest.
Cheddar Cheese is produced in a Cheese Maker from Cow Milk. Cows are fed Clover, a Crop that grows in half an hour. You therefore probably should plant the Clover and simply wait for it to mature naturally in order to complete the second part of the Quest in this example.
From the start, there were two separate Quest sequences, each of which was represented by an icon on the left side of the screen. Later, a third icon representing a new series of Quests was added. All quests with their Rewards are listed in the Quests and Missions page on this site. You will find links to all Pages represented by 'Tabs' above any Post or Page.
Fishing
Fishing is a fairly new option that is unlocked at Level 20. A Page on this site is devoted to Fishing. It has become a necessary activity for those Players who wish to complete all Quests and who complete Daily Orders as many Quests involve Fishing and some of the Daily Orders are for Items produced in the Smoke House from Fish. Basically, in order to enjoy Fishing, you need to upgrade your original Fishing Pole to the Fishing Pole that costs 12,000 Coins. With this Rod, you can catch ALL the Items in the Fishing Book. There is no need to spend RC on a Rod.
If, however, you wish to complete the Fishing List or Book, you must spend RC for Bait in order to catch a few of the Items that are included in the List.
Fishing is time-governed to some extent. When you travel to the Fishing Pier, you will have the ability to catch up to seven Items. Once those are caught, you must wait a specific amount of time before you can fish again, unless you are willing to spend RC to replenish your Fishing chances. As with the Kitchen, it is better to wait than to spend RC unnecessarily.
The Island
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I wrote this guide long before the Island, a second farm, appeared on the horizon. Now there is a second Farm for players of Family Farm Seaside. It is not a place for Items from the original Farm for which no space remains on the Seaside Farm. Instead, it is a separate entity with its own unique Items.
The Island must be unlocked by completing a series of six Missions/Quests. You then will find two separate threads of Missions/Quests to complete. A few options in terms of Crops, Animals, Trees, Machines and Buildings will be available at the outset, but the general principles upon which the Island operates are Dev Points and Mastery.
I have written separate Guides for the Island. You can find my Island Site, with details of all Quests, Items and gameplay strategies at:
General Guide for Island in Family Farm Seaside
Buddies and other options
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The following was written in early October 2017 and deals with many of the newer options in the game.
New Introduction
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I have written a number of posts like this over the years but the game has changed and expanded so radically that perhaps another is needed.
Family Farm Seaside began as a simple farming game for mobile devices. Although it was based on the original Family Farm for laptops/computers, it originally had few complications. A farmer planted and harvested crops, harvested trees, bought and produced various items using Animals and Machines and added neighbours in order to receive free gifts and visits. Visits to and from neighbours gave rewards that included Coins and XP. XP allows you to advance in the game by raising your game level. Initially, however, farmers only unlocked new Crops, Trees, Animals and Machines when levels increased.
Fishing then was added to the game but you had to be at Level 22 to unlock the Pier. The next new option was an entirely new farm in the form of the Island, unlocked at Level 28. Farm Beauty Contests initially had no level requirements but now are unlocked only at Level 30. As your level increases, new permanent Missions appear on the left side of your screen, both on the original Seaside Farm and on the Island. These permanent Missions are designed as tutorials for the game.
At some point fairly early in the history of the game, they added the Cooking Stand and the Order Board. The Order Board gives daily Orders that, when filled, give the player rewards that include Blue Mystrons. The Mystrons were another addition to the game. Now you have Mystrons in five different colours, each associated with a specific Mystery Mystron Shop.
The Cooking Stand is a time-restricted option that lasts about five weeks. There are four separate rounds, each of which requires four different Dishes. You need to place and sell a total of 200 Dishes to complete any Round. The next Round begins at a set time. Neighbours who 'eat' at your Cooking Stand receive Rewards in the form of Cooking Bags. These Bags contain Farm Aids ordinarily. Once in awhile, the game offers a special type of Cooking Bag that contains a material that must be used to complete a time-limited Base or Factory item.
There are time-restricted Missions as well. They now have a total of 16 parts. The second half usually requires a higher level than the first. If you have not unlocked the Mission yet, you may be able to access it later from the Lighthouse.
The concept of cleaning a Neighbour's Decorations was not part of the original game but has been in effect for a few years now. Visiting a neighbour's farm to fertilise, harvest Crops, eat at the Cooking Stand and clean Decorations is one of the best ways to raise your Level as well as a method by which you obtain Gift Boxes that contain useful farm aids. Recently, the concept of 'Batch Cleaning' was introduced using Green Tickets. Using Green Tickets, a Pet can visit up to 20 Neighbours at a time to perform the ordinary Neighbours actions. You can visit your Buddies as well but there are a few special Buddy actions your Pet cannot perform including the tending of a Buddy Tree and feeding or borrowing a Buddy's Pet.
The simple farming game of the past is almost unrecognisable. Among other things, players now have Pets who live in a Pet House and service Guests who arrive in groups when invited according to two Maps, each of which has 4 separate regions and 3 levels of Guests. By completing the Guest orders, you earn Pet Cards that can be exchanged ultimately for new Pets. At this point in time, there are 11 Pet Slots that you can unlock and use either for Pets that you earn or premium Pets that are sold occasionally in special offers. The premium Pets have better stats than the ones you earn but are quite costly,
Another Pet function is that of opening the Chests that now appear randomly on your Paths. Chests contain Farm Aids as well as the Green Tickets that are used for Batch Visits.
The Cooking Stand was the first building for Neighbour interactions with Dishes you prepared on your Farm but now there is a Flea Market/E-Mart where players can buy and sell almost every item in the game. This has revolutionised the game to some extent. In the past, the only way to obtain premium items was through purchase of the Tree, Animal, Machine or 'Collectable' that produced it. Now you can request specific items from your Neighbours or find them in the global Flea Market.
With the introduction of the Pet House and Guest Centre, the function of the various Paths, including Water, changed. They became linked to 'Landscape Points' and the way to maximise these is by placing Decorations with charm value within the sphere of influence of any Path. Different Paths have different degrees of influence in terms of Landscape Points. The best are the Macaron Path and the time-restricted Snow Path, each worth 50 Points. Placing a Base with stackable Decorations on it is the best way to maximise your Landscape Points.
Daily Tasks:
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Tasks that should be performed daily if possible to earn Coins, XP and Farm Aids:
Order Board
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Order Board: Complete Orders for Rewards of Coins and Blue Mystrons and special Sheep Decorations
Daily Quests
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Daily Quests: Complete as many of the Daily Quests as possible to be able to claim and open the reward Chests
Cooking Stand
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Cooking Stand: If there is a current Contest, fill the Cooking Stand so that you can obtain Rewards
Guest Centre
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Guest Centre: Invite one or more groups of Guests in the various Star Levels to earn Pet Cards, Coins and other Rewards
Neighbour/Buddy Visits
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Visit your Buddies and Neighbours: Use Green Tickets for Batch Visits as well as visiting Neighbours individually if you have time
Use your Pets to open Chests on your Paths. The number of Chests that appear will depend on the number of active Pets you have outside the Pet House and you need to claim an open Chest to generate another. The maximum number of Chests that can appear on any given day is 40.
Flea Market/E Mart
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Flea Market/E Mart: Fill all slots in your Flea Market and sell a specific number to obtain a Market Bag containing Farm Aids each day. This is where new players often become confused. If you are selling the items in order to obtain the Market Bag, you need to sell to DIFFERENT farmers. If you do not limit purchases by indicating a restriction in the box in the top right of the market Stand, one farmer can take everything... Players become irate often with a farmer who buys everything that is on offer so try to limit your purchase to one item even if you could buy more.
There are two very different functions here. One is earning Coins by selling items to others. If that is what you wish to do, you should stock your stand with as many items as possible but still limit purchases to one per farmer unless some one sends a specific request to you for an item. There is
Island Tasks
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The Island is very different from the original Seaside Farm. I have written posts about the Island that are fairly comprehensive. The main point in dealing with the Island is to obtain all possible Crops, Trees, Animals and Machines when they are unlocked and use the Machines to obtain Mastery. It is Mastery rather than game level that unlocks new products with respect to any Island Machine. You can use Batch Production on the Island now but it is far more costly than Batch Production on the original Seaside Farm.
Development Points or Dev Points and Island expansions are the other keys to unlocking new options on the Island.
Options that are unlocked through farm Expansions include the Helicopter Pad, the Botanic Garden and the Mine. Expansions are made in a specific order until you reach the last three plots when you will be able to choose which one to unlock first.
The Boat Pier is another. It is here that you can send our your Boats with Orders and fetch Neighbour and Buddy Boats to fill Orders.
Being a Good Neighbour
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The first point I would like to make here for ALL farmers is that this is a game. It is not a job and should not be burdensome. People play games now for all sorts of different reasons. Mobile games are becoming more and more popular but your access to the game may depend partly on your life and other real obligations as well as the device on which you play. A farmer who plays on Kindle may have less access than one who plays on a mobile phone. Be understanding and patient with your neighbours.
Neighbours once were simply other farmers who played and who could respond to a request for free gifts once each day as well as visiting your farm to perform a limited number of actions. Now, Neighbours are vital to success and the reason I formed my Facebook group initially (Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk) was to give players access to a good Neighbour list.
The concept of the Buddy as a sort of Super-Neighbour was added to the game a couple of years ago. You can have a maximum of 15 Buddies. They perform all the usual Neighbour functions as well as having added options, such as the ability to tend special Buddy Trees and to feed and borrow a Pet from you. The latter can be quite important if you pursue the Pet option to any extent as Guest Lists often include a Guest who will not emerge from the water. If you do not have a Turtle or Hippo of your own to bargain with such a Guest, you can borrow one from a Buddy, provided your Buddy Level is sufficient to do so.
Buddies have access to the Share Box as well once you reach Level 2 with any Buddy. This is a menu where you can place items you have won in the Lucky Wheel. The Decorations offered each month usually are Theme Decorations for the current Farm Beauty Contest. You can buy them from your own Lucky Wheel if the arrow lands on one but often it is easier to find them in Buddy Share Boxes.
This is a post in progress... will expand upon these options as time permits.
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Although the term, 'Casual Gamer' was coined to describe players of Facebook Games and now, Games on Mobile Platforms, many Farmers take their Farms very seriously. If you are an individual who plays Games on Consoles, your Computer and handheld systems like the old Game Boy, now the 3DS, you may have a mindset that thinks in terms of 'beating the game'. Know in advance that games like Family Farm and Family Farm Seaside CANNOT BE BEAT! They are open-ended adventures wherein the Player and the developers work together in a sense to improve the game constantly, adding new options and expanding the horizons of the game indefinitely.
There are Quests that are time-restricted and those must be completed within the given time period, although one can ignore them with impunity. The benefit of Quests always is the acquisition of XP and special Items. Often items that ordinarily would require an investment in real money are given as Rewards for completion of Quests. Moreover, XP is given for completion of each Task. Although it is easy to raise Experience Levels early in the game, as one proceeds, each new Level requires an ever-increasing number of XP points. There is no 'end' to the game, however and no reason not to proceed at a pace that suits the individual player.
There tend to be two different types of players of Farming Simulation Game: the Aesthetic Landscaping Farmer and the Power Farmer. Sometimes these intersect. One can be both to some extent but the real Power Farmer will use every available space to grow Crops or place a Machine or Animal that produces a Product. The Aesthetic Landscaper, on the other hand, will view Crops, Trees, Animals and Machines as part of an aesthetic whole and, should they destract from the beauty and harmony of the Farm, he/she will attempt to keep them at a minimum. The Aesthetic Landscaper, needless to say, will not make as much of a Profit as the Power Farmer and progress will be slower but the satisfaction of having a Farm in a virtual World that is a pleasure to visit and where labour is almost a Zen Meditation exercise is impossible to describe to a non-gamer. Of course, the Power Farmer has the satisfaction of seeing concrete success in the form of Profit and a quick increase in Levels. One path is not superior to the other. It is all a matter of taste and personality. These Games should work for you, not the other way round. If they become a burden, walk away!
The beauty of a game like Family Farm and Family Farm Seaside is that there is limitless energy for the Farmer to complete however many tasks he/she desires. Many of the new games limit energy. I refuse to play those games. Another wonderful aspect of Family Farm and Seaside is the fact that Crops NEVER wither. There is no deadline in terms of harvesting them.
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