New Game Update with Pinkleby, Meerkat and new Community Options

(Above, screenshot of the Pinkleby, a giant creature who must be fed regularly with rare items)

Post last updated on 20 December with specific Chapter Demands by Pinkleby.  If your Community intends to activate any Chapter, you should be able to prepare in advance as demands are chapter-specific.

A new update has been released in Family Farm Seaside that opens the final area of the Wilderrness known as the Cave, a new Pet in the form of the Meerkat, a new 35 x 35 Expansion, a Level 5 upgrade to Community and more.  Will discuss all aspects of update below.  Meanwhile, however, this is a work in progress.  My posts always are based on my own game experience as well as that of my administrators.

Note on Thursday, 29 November:  This actually has been a series of updates, now including two new Pet Slots and 4 new Lighthouse Missions that give Bedrolls as rewards.  Pet Slot requirements are given at the end of this post.

The Lighthouse Missions that give Bedrolls as rewards have been logged and are available in another post.

Note from Freyashawk:  Unfortunately, I have been forced to archive both of my old Facebook Family Farm Seaside Groups because of some unpleasantness from past members... many know that I have serious health issues at the moment and am fighting cancer which was not completely removed by a surgical procedure.  I therefore must make every effort to avoid stress of any kind.  The best way of resolving the issue was to cut the Gordian Knot as it were by making the groups inactive.  You are welcome always to contact me on Facebook at familyfarmseaside.blogspot.com if you have any game questions.

I want to thank every farmer who has supported HM. Freyashawk, both with votes in the Farm Beauty Contest and in sending messages of hope and their prayers.  Bless you all.  It inspires me, not only to try to continue to log updates and quests but to fight this disease with some courage.  Rated in 10 ten again because of all of you!!!  Heartfelt, true gratitude... it makes me feel that you still have confidence in my work, despite my health issues.

I wish to thank my wonderful administrators, who have stayed with me through the years and continued to help with the game and my groups.  For this particular post, both Kaye and Anne gave their results to compare with mine.  The moral support of ALL my administrators, including Vostie and Debbie, and their kindness throughout, is much appreciated!

I shall make every effort, however, as I am doing now, to continue to help farmers in the game by updating my site with all new developments and Quests.

I want to thank all the farmers who wrote to Support when use of my Cropinator by error harvested every precious Iris and the one Pink Primrose I owned.  Much to my surprise and delight, Support deposited some Iris Seeds and 1 Pink Primrose Seed in my Gift Box to restore some of the beauty to my farm.  My heart overflows... We may be frustrated at times by Support, but this is clear and compelling proof that they can act in an humanitarian manner!  I am truly grateful, dear Felicia and grateful to every farmer who made the effort upon my behalf.  I still hope that our pleas to add the Iris, Primrose, Carnation and other rare seeds to the market permanently will result in this action being taken.

Water Town Activities Tip:  There now is a fourth tab in the Menu that has the 'Exclamation Point' icon directly below your Avatar.  Tap on the Community Icon to see active Challenges.  Not certain if it would display current Achievement task or not, as we have completed all Achievements to date.  When you open the Menu, it will display all the current Challenges, totals and the number that has been completed for each task.  (Thanks, Cindy!)

You will receive a message from Felicia with update gifts, including6 Super Watering Cans, 1 Research Topic Switch Ticket, 150 OP, 100 TC

New Cave Area in Wilderness
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The final area of the Wilderness Map in the form of the Cave has been unlocked.  Requirements to unlock area are as follows:

FOURTH QUARTER OF WILDERNESS: CAVE
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Cave 1 Star Guests:
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1 Star guest group consists of the following:

Claude:
Difficulty: Easy
Likes: Snacks
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Rohn:
Difficulty: Easy
Likes: Seafood
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Alice:
Dififculty: Easy
Likes: Sweet Foods
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Nathan:
Difficulty: Easy
Likes: Seafood
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Actual Orders:

Claude: 1 Pink Heart Smoothie, 2 Candied Walnut, 1 Pink Heart Smoothie
Reward: 1 TC

Rohn: 1 Gingerbread, 1 Sea Snail Shell, 1 Pearl
 Reward: 1 TC

Alice: 2 Fruit Salads, 3 Jasmine Nectar, 2 Fruit Salads
  Reward: 1 Pink Paint, 1 Meerkat Card, 1 TC

Nathan: 1 Beef Hot Dog, 1 Sliced Sausages, 3 Juniper Sausage
  Reward: 1 Meerkat Card, 1 TC

11579 Earned

125 Stamina for each Order

Another set of 1 Star Orders:

Nathan: 3 Juniper Sausages, 1 Sliced Sausage, 3 Juniper Sausages
Claude: 2 Shaved Ice, 1Pink Heart Fruit Smoothie, 1 Beef Hot Dog
Rohn: 3 Jasmine Nectar, 1 Sea Snail Shell, 3 Coconut Ice Cream
Alice: 2 Gourmet Apples, 1 Gingerbread, 2 Gourmet Apples


2 Star Cave Guests
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To actually invite 2 Star Guest Group, you need the following on your farm:

35 Paths, 15 Water Paths

2 Star Guest Group
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Terry
Bargaining Cost: 325

Eddie:
Difficulty: Medium
Likes: Featured Dishes
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card


Flynn:
Bargaining Cost: 325
Likes: Fur
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Sally:
Bargaining Cost: 325
Likes: Knitting Products and Dolls
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Martin
Bargaining Cost: 325
Likes: Meats
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Actual 2 Star Guest Orders
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Terry:
3 Smoked Mackerel Pate
1 Custard Crab
2 Tilapia with Chutney Sauce

2 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 2 Meerkat Card

Eddie:
1 Pierogi
1 Japanese Pizza
1 Pierogi

2 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 2 Meerkat Cards

Flynn:
9 Red Teddy Bear
11 Natural Silk
8 Toy Alpaca

2 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 1 Meerkat Card

Sally:
14 Mohair Yarn
14 Wool Yarn
18 Cotton Cloth

1 Meerkat Card, 2 Pink Paint

Martin:
1 Sausage Sauce
4 Sliced Sausages
4 Steak Burgers

1 Meerkat Card, 2 Pink Paint

Final Reward: 35 Essence, 500 Coins

3 Star Cave Guest Groups
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To unlock the 3 Star Guest Groups, you need the following:

60 Telescopes
4000 Dev Points
Resort Level 6
50 Water Canteens (1 RC each)

As you can see, the requirements are quite demanding.  Is it vital to unlock the 3 Star Guests?  I very much doubt it at this point although I will do so for the guide.  There appears to be NO alternative to the expenditure of 50 RC.

To actually invite the 3 Star Guest Group, you need the following on your farm:

50 Paths, 15 Water Paths

3 Star Guest Group:
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All 3 Star Guests, apart from Barrett, give 4 Orders. Barrett gives 6.

Charlotte:
Difficulty Level: HARD
Likes: House Decorations
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Barrett:
Difficulty Level: HARD
Bargaining Cost: 850
Gives 6 Orders, 3 Rewards
Likes: Precious Gifts
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Ricky:
Difficulty Level: HARD
Likes: Seafood
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Johnson:
Difficulty Level: HARD
Likes: Dairy Products
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat CArd

Jimmy:
Difficulty Level: HARD
Likes: Botanic Products
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Rich:
Difficulty Level: HARD
Bargaining Cost: 325
Gives 4 Orders, 2 Rewards
Likes: Big Dinner Meal
Chance to give: Pink Paint, TC, Meerkat Card

Actual 3 Star Guest Orders
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From Freyashawk:

Charlotte:
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7 Oil Painting Frames
2 Wooden Chairs

1 Meerkat Card, 1 Pink Paint

7 Oil Painting Frames
7 Wooden Aroma Bottles

1 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 2 Meerkat Cards


Barrett:
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2 Champagne Punch
3 French Fries (Bronze)

1 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 2 Meerkat Cards

2 Champagne Punch
3 French Fries (Bronze)

3 Meerkat Cards, 1 Pink Paint

Ricky:
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9 Mulled Wine
31 Pink Rose Bouquets

2 Meerkat Cards, 1 Pink Paint

1 Flower Table
9 Mulled Wine

1 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 2 Meerkat Cards

Johnson:
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6 Sour Cream
17 Goat Cheese

2 Meerkat Cards, 1 Pink Paint

10 Blueberry Yogurt
6 Sour Cream

1 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 2 Meerkat Cards

Jimmy:
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100 Lotus Flowers
53 Rice

2 Meerkat Cards, 1 Pink Paint

100 Lotus Flowers
53 Rice

1 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 3 Meerkat Cards

Rich:

10 Smoked Ray Finned Fish
10 Smoked Tuna

1 Pink Paint, 1 TC, 1 Meerkat Card

10 Smoked Sardine
10 Smoked Mackerel

2 Meerkat Cards, 1 Pink Paint

Final: 70 Essence, 1500 Coins


From Kaye:

Barrett Orders:

2 Champagne Punch
1 Amethyst Glass

1 TC, 1 Meerkat Card, 1 Pink Paint

2 Champagne Punch
3 French Fries (Bronze)

2 Meerkat Cards, 1 Pink Paint

2 Champagne Punch
3 French Fries (Bronze)

1 TC, 4 Meerkat Cards, 2 Pink Paint

Note from Freyashawk:  For the Bronze French Fries, I placed Potatoes, setting timer for 24 minutes.  Added Sugar and tapped 'Finish' almost instantly.  Certainly with 5 minutes, 50 seconds still remaining to the 30 minute maximum, the Bronze Star was activated.  I think you could place potatoes, set timer for 22 minutes, add sugar, set timer for 2 minutes and tap 'Finish' as soon as Bronze Star activates.

Community Options
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Helper
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You have a choice between a male or a female 'Helper'.  Evidently, once chosen, you cannot change to another Helper.  There is a changing room and shopping mall where you can outfit this 'Helper.'  Some of the options require RC expenditure.

Pinkleby
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This is a large rabbit-like purple creature who sits in the centre of your Water Town area and sleeps.  The character needs to be fed and must be fed with rare items from the Research Lab Storehouse.  All items have different values in terms of rewards earned.  For example, 1 Glass Gem Corn gives only 7 Medals.  Donut Peach and Surinam Cherry give 30 Medals.

Introduction to Pinkleby:
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FEEDING PINKLEBY: For members of Communities who have not participated yet, a quick explanation.  Every Chapter has the same basic system in place.  First, the Pinkleby will ask to be fed 'anything'.  Only Research Lab items or their Water Town derivatives are accepted, however.  Each member can feed 5 items in this way per day.  Reset with another chance to feed 5 items of your choice will occur at reset.  When the Pinkleby reaches 100% in this stage, it then will demand x number of a specific item.  Again, it will be a Research Lab item or its Water Town derivative.  When that phase is completed, 'feed anything' again.  The items and quantities depend on the Chapter you activate.  The first time you complete a Chapter, you receive a Deco that can be placed on a pedestal in Water Town by a leader or sub-leader and will have a Beauty point value.  Whenever you replay a Chapter, you will not receive a new Decoration, but if you have a better score than before, it will boost the value of the existing Decoration that you have.  Each replay, however, will give both Community Gems and Reputation Medals.

IMPORTANT TIP:  All of the items demanded by the Pinkleby are Research Lab items that require Essence to grow or make.  Essences are given by any Guest Groups.  You can invite them and simply send them away without filling ANY Orders to obtain the Essence if you are too busy or lack resources to fill their orders.  Obviously, you will not obtain any Pink Paint or Pet Cards when you follow this strategy but if you need Essences, it is the fastest and easiest way to obtain them.

Buddies who visit your Farm can donate Essence, but in very small quantities.  The number a Buddy can donate is based on Buddy Level.  For any Crop or Tree, the Buddy taps on the actual Crop or Tree that needs the Essence but for Zoology or Mechology, you tap on the Rare Material Bank, formerly the Seed Bank, but now outfitted with refrigeration for the Animal and Machine materials!

Note that EACH Member of a Community should be able to feed the Pinkleby 5 times in one time period until it reaches 100% in any phase.  In other words, every member has 5 chances to feed, but if the Pinkleby's hunger is satisfied, members who did not feed must wait until the next request for any item to use their chances.

The phases of Pinkleby Chapter feedings alternate between 'feed any item' and demands for a specific quantity of a specific item.

Beginning with Chapter 1, we discovered that 'feed any item 5 times' actually is restricted to the basic items one can obtain with any of the four Topics in Seaside as well as the Water Town 'baking station' dishes that are produced using those Seaside items.  Moreover, the 'feed any item' phase operates on a percentage of hunger bar and once it reaches 100%, the Pinkleby will demand a specific total of a specific item 'for winter'.  In other words, the bar may reach 100% without allowing every Member to feed the giant creature.  There will be other chances within the Chapter path, however, as the demands alternate between 'feed anything' and the specific demands.  The last phase will be 'feed anything'.  With 100% completion of the last phase, it began to build the decoration, giving a timer of 19 hours.

This Pinkleby is linked to a path where feeding takes you further to a Chapter reward in the form of a 'Beauty Decoration'.  Currently, there are two separate Maps and 8 Chapters to follow.  Only a Leader or Sub-Leader can choose a specific chapter to follow.  You can choose the same path more than once but you will earn the Beauty Decoration reward only the first time you complete a chapter.

The Decorations you obtain in this fashion will raise your Water Town Landscape Points.  Indeed for the first Chapter, we received a Beauty Decoration that I was able to place on any pedestal in Water Town that raised our Landscape Points there by 72 points.  Note here that other Communities received higher scores than this for the 1st Chapter.  If we replay the Chapter, we can raise our score.

When the second Chapter was activated.  The Pinkleby in this Chapter demanded items that must be prepared in the recipe Stations in Water Town. Specifically, Smoked Drumsticks.  To be able to make the Smoked Drumsticks, your current Topic has to be Zoology and you need to be at Level 1 for the Recipe in Water Town.

As the Pinkleby continued to demand items for the second Chapter, they included Clover Pudding which is the first Recipe in the Cropology Building.  Note that you can activate the same chapters again and again to earn rewards, but you will not receive more than one decoration for any Chapter.

The quality of the decoration or at any rate point total given to it evidently is based on the rapidity with which you completed the Chapter and the actual items given to the Pinkleby.  When you restart and complete any old Chapter again, you can boost your total Beauty Point reward if you perform it faster or better.  The real reason to do these again is to gain Community Gems and Reputation Medals.

In later Chapters, the items demanded required higher levels of upgrade both in Seaside and in the Water Town Techs.

Ideally, your Community should be organised so that you have at least one or two Members for each of the four Research Topics.  Anne and I have logged almost every Chapter demand now, so find the section below that gives the specifics for each Chapter BEFORE you activate the Chapter and try to prepare the items needed in advance.  That way, you will be able to respond to its demands instantly without spending any TC to speed the baking process or without being forced to purchase items in the E-Mart.

Strategy Tip:
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Sadly, the game encourages speed and value in these gifts to Pinkleby above all.  The difference in the point value of the decoration for a Community that makes haste and one that allows contributions by as many members as possible remains to be seen, but our Community received 72 Points for the first Decoration when placed on a Pedestal and I know two other Communities who received 74 and 76 Points respectively.  So I do not think the difference that significant.  Our Community is trying to stockpile the Water Town Dishes for future use, but instead of one player switching active Techs, we feel it might be better for us to organise our contributions by keeping all four Techs active among Community Members and working out Pinkleby requests accordingly.

Pinkleby Item Values:

Here is a list of some of the item values.  It appears that the Crystal Olive Juice may be highest.

Item Values:

Cropology, Seaside:

Four-Leaf Clover: 3
Glass Gem Corn: 7
Pumpkin Tomato: 4
Hainan Pepper: 8
Fire Bean: 7
Morchella Mushroom: 7
Heart Watermelon: 8

Cropology: Water Town

Four-Leaf Porridge: 8
Glass Gem Corn Porridge: 13
Pumpkin Tomato Porridge: 11
Hainan Pepper Porridge: 16
Fire Bean Porridge: 16
Morchella Mushroom Porridge: 17
Heart Watermelon Porridge: 19

Treeology, Seaside:

Cubic Apple: 22
Rambutan: 23
Surinam Cherry: 30
Diamond Lemon: 34 Reputation Medals
Donut Peach:
Sand Pear: 31
Crystal Olive: 34


Treeology, Water Town:

Cubic Apple juice: 27
Surinam Cherry juice: 36
Rambutan juice: 30
Diamond Lemon Juice: 42
Donut Peach juice: 39
Sand Pear juice: 41
Crystal Olive juice: 42 or 45?

Mechology, Seaside:

Gluten: 8
Whey: 15
Toast: 15
Grape Seed Oil: 15
Dark Brown Sugar: 18
Beef Jerkey: 18
Dried Rose Petal: 18

Mechology, Water Town:


Baked Gluten: 13
Baked Whey Biscuits: 21
Baked Flavour Toast: 22
Baked Grape Seed Oil Biscuits: 23
Baked Dark Brown Sugar: 27
Baked Beef Jerky Biscuits: 28
Baked Rose Cake: 29

Zoology, Seaside:

Tenderloin: 15
Drumstick: 8
Lamb: 15
Duck: 15
Turkey Egg: 18
Golden Egg: 18
Ostrich Egg: 18


Zoology, Water Town:

Smoked Drumstick: 13
Smoked Lamb Rack: 21
Smoked Duck: 23
Smoked Tenderloin: 22
Smoked Turkey Egg: 27
Smoked Golden Egg: 28
Smoked Ostrich Egg:  29


Chapter 5:  When you open the second Map, only one destination or Chapter will be displayed.  When you complete it, the next will be displayed.  At this point, there are a total of 8 Chapters for Pinkleby, but when you look at Water Town, you will see there are pedestals for more Decorations (for the future...)

Pinkleby Beauty Point Totals
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Once you have unlocked a Chapter and completed it, you can restart and complete as many times as you wish.  You will not receive a new Decoration when any Chapter is replayed, but if you obtain a better point total at the end of it, it will replace the old total, thus boosting your Beauty Points.

The primary reason to replay Chapters is to earn more Community Gems and Reputation Medals.

Pinkleby's Demands
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We have discovered that although every Chapter may have different demands, the Chapter itself always will demand the SAME items.  You therefore can prepare for any Chapter before you start again,  Thanks to Anne for helping me log these Chapters and confirm items and Rewards.

Note that 'Feed 5 times any item' is the ability of each Member of the Community to donate up to 5 items of any kind from the Lab or Baking Station until the Pinkleby reaches 100% on a 'fullness' graph.  In other words, if you come to this late in  a 'feed anything' phase, one donation may push the total to 100%.  You then have to wait until the next 'feed' anything phase to use your other 4 chances to donate.  This 5 item ability will be given again at reset, so if your Community does not complete the Chapter BEFORE reset, each member will have the ability to donate up to 5 items again.

Furthermore, there is a limit to the number of specified items that each Community member can donate in a day.  The limit appears to be change with the item requested.   With a replay of Chapter 2, for example, HM. Freyashawk had the total number of Baked Gluten required, but after donating 6 was unable to donate the last two needed.  Another member, however, was able to feed 8 of the 10 Smoked Drumstick, which is odd.

N.B.  Dishes cooked in the Kitchen using the rare Research Lab Topic items cannot be given to Pinkleby.  You must give him either the basic rare Topic item (Crop, Fruit, Meat Tech Item, Machine Tech Item or the items made in the Water Town Baking Stations with those original basic items.

For example, you can give Rambutan or Rambutan Juice but NOT Fruity Layer Cake, which is the Kitchen Recipe unlocked in the Lab when you upgrade Molecular Gastronomy for Treeology at Seaside.

In other words, the Pinkleby gastronomic menu is a little different from the Seaside Topic upgrades.  The kitchen dishes that are unlocked in Molecular Gastronomy are used often in response to Guest demands on Seaside, to Coffee House Orders and for specific Lab Upgrades on Seaside.  The basic raw items associated with any Topic can be used both in Seaside and to feed Pinkleby, but the Baking Station Dishes so far are used solely to feed Pinkleby... or at least that is my own experience.  Note that you can purchase ALL of these in the Rare section of the E-Mart.  Materials are the only 'products' that cannot be bought or sold.  You must process them into the actual Item before they can be used in any Recipe or placed in the E-Mart or fed to Pinkleby.  (I refer here to the items in Mechology and Zoology known as Materials.)

A helpful tip with respect to Materials:  We all feel the pinch of lack of sufficient Essence.  If you are not obsessively trying to obtain cards for Pets, invite a 1 Star Guest Group daily and simply send them away to obtain Essence for processing.  A 2 Star Guest Group gives more Cards in any case.  If you have time to fill 2 Star Guest Orders, by all means invite them and fill the orders, but if not, you can follow the same strategy: invite and send away to obtain more Essence.  It is far better than not using your Passports at all!

Chapter 1 Demands:
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2 Cubic Apples
10 Four-Leaf Clovers
6 Drumsticks
10 Gluten

Chapter 2 Demands:
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Feed 5 of any item (per member until reaches 100%)
10 Smoked Drumsticks
Feed 5 of any item
3 Cubic Apple Juice
Feed 5 of any item
5 Four-Leaf Clover Porridge
Feed 5 of any Item
8 Baked Gluten
Feed 5 of any item

Chapter 3 Demands:
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4 Glass Gem Corn
10 Baked Whey Biscuits
8 Smoked Lamb Rack
4 Rambutan

Chapter 4 Demands:
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Feed 5 times any item
7 Toast
Feed 5 times any item
4 Diamond Lemon Juice
Feed 5 times any item
18 Pumpkin Tomatoes
Feed 5 times any item
6 Smoked Lamb Rack
Feed 5 times any item

Reward: 3750 Community Gems

Chapter 5 Demands:
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Chapter 2-1
Feed any item 5 times
15 Glass Gem Corn Porridge
Feed any item 4 times
5 Surinam Cherry Juice
Feed any item 5 times
10 Smoked Lamb Rack
Feed any item 5 times
11 Baked Whey Biscuits
Feed any item 5 times

Reward: 3900 Community Gems

Chapter 6 Demands:
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16 Gluten
5 Rambutan
16 Crystal Olives
19 Pumpkin Tomatoes

Chapter 7 Demands:
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Feed 5 times any item
10 Smoked Tenderloin
Feed 5 times any item
20 Pumpkin Tomato Porridge
Feed 5 times any item
5 Rambutan Juice
Feed 5 times any item
11 Baked Flavour Toast

Reward: 4200 Gems

Chapter 8 Demands:
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17 Duck
20 Grape Seed Oil
25 Hainan Peppers
8 Diamond Lemons

Decoration List Beauty Point Bar
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When you visit Water Town, you now will see a bar on the top left of the screen with the icon of a pink musical note giving your current Beauty Point total.   There is an icon of a bag at the end of it.  Tap on that bag and you will receive a Reward daily... a bag that contains Coins and Tokens for the most part.

New Level 5
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Maximum Level in Community no longer is Level 4.  To reach Level 5, you need to use 135000 Community Gems.  When Level 5 is reached, you unlock a new Slot in the Exotic Shop where you can purchase Chocolate Corgi Cards for 50 Medals each.

(Thanks, Anne, for alerting me to new level... There are so many different aspects to this update...)

(Above, a screenshot of the Chocolate Corgi option in the Pet House.  You can see that a total of 50 Chocolate Corgi Cards are needed.  These are available from the Exotic Shop in Water Town for 50 Medals each only when you reach Level 5.)

New Community Techs
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There is a second tab now in the Town Office with the following:

Baking Chef (Passive Tech)
  Requires 8000 Gems to unlock
  Only Team Leader can unlock

VERY IMPORTANT:  UPGRADING THIS TECH IS TOPIC-SPECIFIC.  In other words, when you switch topics, you have to upgrade the Tech again for the new Topic and of course, unlock the ability to make all the Recipes for the NEW tech.

You need to upgrade this Tech once unlocked using Reputation Medals.  50 Medals required to upgrade to Level 1.  Upgrading this Tech is what unlocks the ability to cook another Dish in the Recipe Station.  As mentioned above, upgrading the Baking Chef for one Topic will not upgrade for any other Topics.  Each must be performed separately and you ONLY CAN UPGRADE YOUR ACTIVE TOPIC and use THAT Baking Station.  If you wish to upgrade all four Topics, you must switch Topics on your Seaside Farm first.

To upgrade to Level 2: 80 Reputation Medals

To upgrade to Level 3: 80 Reputation Medals

To upgrade to Level 4: 80 Reputation Medals

To upgrade to Level 5: 80 or 150 Reputation Medals

To upgrade to Level 6: 150 Reputation Medals

To upgrade to Level 7: 150 Reputation Medals

Level 7 is the highest level, unlocking all Recipe Stations for Mechology.

After a Recipe Station is unlocked, it MUST be upgraded from Level 0 to Level 1 before it can be used.

There are four Stations, each of which is connected to one of the Topics.  Will log all as time permits.

In Mechology, Level 1 allows you access to Baked Gluten at Recipe Station.
  Note that you can upgrade Recipe Stations as well, which reduces production time.  It is only by upgrading the actual Baking Chef Tech, however, that you gain access to more of the Recipe Stations.  You will have access only to the Baking Station for your current active Topic.

For Mechology, the Recipes you can unlock and upgrade are:

Baked Gluten
Baked Whey Biscuits
Baked Flavour Toast
Baked Grape Seed Oil Biscuits
Baked Dark Brown Sugar
Baked Beef Jerky Biscuits
Baked Rose Cake

Baked Gluten: to raise to Level 1: 20 Medals

(Above, a screenshot of the Baking Station that will appear if Mechology is your active Topic.)

Zoology Baking
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The Chef Tech for Zoology is called Smoked Animal Chef.  You need to upgrade to Level 7 to have all the Recipes.

Smoked Drumstick
Smoked Lamb Rack
Smoked Tenderloin
Smoked Duck
Smoked Turkey Egg
Smoked Golden Egg
Smoked Ostrich Egg

Treeology:

Cubic Apple juice
Surinam Cherry juice
Rambutan juice
Diamond Lemon juice
Donut Peach juice
Sand Pear juice
Crystal Olive juice

Cropology:

Four-leaf Porridge
Glass Gem Corn Porridge
Pumpkin Tomato Porridge
Hainan Pepper Porridge
Fire Bean Porridge
Morchella Mushroom Porridge
Heart Watermelon Porridge

Production Time Reduction
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Upgrade to Level 1 for 20 Medals, Level 2 for 50 Medals, to Level 3 for 80 Medals, to Level 4 for 80 Medals.  Each upgrade reduces production time, but you cannot even make the Recipe until you upgrade from Level 0 to Level 1.

At Level 1, production time reduced by 10%.
At Level 2, production time reduced by 15%.
At Level 3, the reduction in production time is 20%. At Maximum Level 4, the reduction in production time is only 25%.

When you choose a Recipe you have unlocked in the Baking Station, there is an option to request help from another member of your Community.  If you do, production time is further reduced AND the member received a little reward bag.  You can see the option to enlist help in the screenshot of the Recipe Station Menu above.

Treeology Recipes:
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Cubic Apple Juice
Surinam Cherry Juice
Rambutan Juice
Diamond Lemon Juice
Donut Peach Juice
Sand Pear Juice
Crystal Olive Juice


Lab Storehouse Expansion
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New expansion requirements:

Level 13 expansion, Storage increased to 260

200 Lab Storehouse Windows (1 RC each or Ask Buddy)
24 Large Lab Storehouse Shelf (1 RC) each
20 Drumsticks
12 Gluten

(Thanks, Kaye!)

Level 14 expansion, storehouse increased to 280

200 Lab Storehouse Windows (1 RC each or Ask Buddy)
24 Large Lab Storehouse Shelf (1 RC each)
22 Lamb Rack
13 Whey

THIS IS THE FINAL EXPANSION AS OF JANUARY 2019

In June 2019:

Level 15
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Increases Lab Storehouse Slots to 300


200 Lab Storehouse Windows (Ask Buddy or pay 1 RC each)
24 Large Lab Storehouse Shelves (1 RC each)
24 Tenderloin
14 Toast


Pumpkin Ladder Collection Mission
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There is an old-style Collection Mission now that involves a decoration you collect from Felicia's Message, then upgrade to obtain better chances of receiving the items you need to exchange for the four regular Rewards and the one special Reward. Collect Candles from Crops, Trees,Machines and Animals randomly. Trade for Pink Maple Leaf (upgrade material), 12 Watering Can, Dandelion Pumpkin Basket (cleanable decoration), Thunderstorm. You need to redeem one of each to unlock the ultimate Reward: a Maple Candle Decoration.

Two New Pet Slots
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The requirements for both are the same as follows:

300 Pink Paint
800000 Coins
80 Pink Rose Lamps
20 Bedrolls

Remember that you can purchase Bedroll Packages that may contain up to 4 Bedrolls each in the Daily Deals in the Market or you can complete Lighthouse Missions for them if you do not wish to pay RC.

Seaside Community and Water Town, new Sugar and Sauce Upgraders

(Otter in Sea Resort, unlocked at Level 9)

Incidentally, because there has been some erroneous information on this topic, the Otter consumes Abalone but then 'produces' Tridacnidae, a fancy name for Cockle Shells or Giant Clam shells.  I believe he must consume the Abalone and then go out to forage for Giant Clam Shells for the Souvenir Shop at the Resort, to 'pay for his supper' as it were.  

Post last updated on 4 November

(Above, screenshots of the Gachapon option in the Community)

(Above, screenshot of one of the two types of Puzzle Piece that is unlocked in the Exotic Shop when your Community reaches Level 3.  The other is the Golden Monkey.  You need five of these to forge the Animal in question in the Factory.)

On 22 September, our Community found its fifth Elephant Puzzle Piece in the Exotic Shop and members who had collected daily were able to merge an Elephant in the Factory.

(Three screenshots showing process, ending with Elephant on farm, eatting Cattails and producing Clay.  Clay is sold in the player's Flea Market.  Lowest price is 50 Coins.)

NOTE THAT ORIGINALLY YOU COULD FORGE ONLY 1 ELEPHANT OR MONKEY.  It appears that the limit has been lifted and you now can have multiples of these if you so desire for whatever reason, even if only because you purchased extra puzzle pieces in error!

Note on 30 December:  Another update raised maximum Level to 5 and gave us the ability to purchase Chocolate Corgi Cards in the Exotic Shop as well as Community Techs that allow one to use Baking Stations to make special dishes for the Pinkleby in Water Town.

Pinkleby, Baking Stations and other new Community options

Note on 4 November:  Our own Community, like many now, has reached Level 4.  The Puzzle Pieces for the two Machines now are being sold on a daily basis and like the Animal Puzzle Pieces, are chosen randomly by the game.  You need 10 to complete a Machine.

Note on 20 September: My game guides always are based on my own experiences in any game.  In this case, the initial guide was based on the creation of my own Community and my record of that.  As we progress and other Communities progress, I am able to compare our records with those of some of my administrators who are members of other Communities.  I therefore modify and update this post as more information becomes available for all of us.

Players of the original Family Farm may be familiar with the new Community option in Seaside but I avoided it like the plague myself so am doing my best now to obtain as much information as possible from my own Freyashawk Community in Seaside.  For the record, I now have an amazing Community and feel honoured that farmers chose my Community over others.

Other aspects of the latest update are two new Machine Upgraders with Gadgets in the form of the Sugar Machine Upgrader and the Sauce Machine Upgrader, and new expansions to the Stove House and Lab Storehouse.   Crops now have little numbers next to them when you plant, allowing you an easier way to count how many you are planting.  Darryl's House should be easier to organise.  Finally, there is a new Animal in the Sea Resort in the form of an Otter, unlocked at Level 9.

When time permits, I intend to move all the Upgrader information to a single post.

(This is a work in progress.  I have some medical issues so it may take some time to complete this post, but please refresh page frequently.  Furthermore, will add more details as our Community Level increases.)

HM. Freyashawk
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As always, I am grateful for any Votes you can send to HM. Freyashawk in the Farm Beauty Contest if you use this site and find it helpful.  I do not claim to be the greatest farmer in Seaside, but I do work hard to publish information about new options.  I spend more money than I can afford sometimes to be able to speed tasks but do not allow advertising of any kind on my site.

Explaining the Community Option
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This option is not for every one.  A Community may act as a social group AS WELL AS a group that performs an endless stream of tasks that use enormous amounts of Power and OP and time, but farmers need to be aware that for most Communities, participation in these tasks is mandatory.  Mind you, I would hope that, in time, as farmers understand the system better, Communities that are relaxed and do not care one way or another about completion of ALL activities will form and farmers will have a choice then as to whether or not to join a serious high-powered Community or one that requires very little from them.

Be aware, however, that you are not being rejected as a human being if a Community does not choose to accept your request or if indeed you are removed from one after days of non-participation.  You are BETTER OFF not being in a Community that requires more from its members than you are prepared to give.

Community work is busywork at its most intense.  I have listed some of the initial Challenges and Activities below so that farmers who have not experienced this option yet will be more able to decide upon a course of action.

Water Town and Community
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First of all, this is part of a recent update and when you have the update, you will see a little gondola with Felicia approaching and then docking at your farm.  You then will be taken to the new Water Town.  It is here that you will be prompted to join a Community or create one for yourself.  Joining a Community costs nothing but if you join one and then decide it is not to your liking, moving to another Community will put you out of commission for 24 hours.  That may or may not matter to you!  Unlike the various Stage Activities, the Community and Water Town features are permanent although the various targets and demands there are time-limited.

Note that you must reach Level 26 in the game to be able to participate in this option.

Every Community has a limit of 30 members.  If you start your own Community, you will have to pay 10 RC for the privilege.  Communities are found by name and you are not restricted to neighbours.  Indeed, if you do not restrict the membership of a Community, you may find that every member is a stranger to you and many will be low level players who may not be interested in the business at all, but were simply pushed towards this by the game itself.

Ultimately, it may be best to adjust the settings of your Community (if it is yours) by stipulating a Level Requirement and, if you are ethnocentric, language.  You can make membership by invitation only as well to make certain that your members are your Buddies or at least your Neighbours.

Joining and Leaving Community
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In the initial tutorial event, the game will try to force you to join a community where space is available.  Many players joined communities randomly.  I think you should not feel guilty if you wish to leave that default choice and move to a community where you actually have friends and neighbours.  So here is how to do that:

Go to the Menu icon in the lower right corner.  Tap on Community, then tap on the third tab (looks like four squares or four windows in a square).  Tap on:  Leave Community.

Now you will be available to choose a Community or to be invited.  When you are a member of any Community, you will not be able to receive Invitations.  For Community owners or creators, you will not be able to SEND an invitation to any player who currently is a member of another Community.  It will take some time before players find the Community where they feel at home, I expect.

Leaving a Community
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When you leave a Community, you keep all of the Reputation Medals you earned.  Those ALWAYS belong to the farmer individually.  It is the Community Gems that belong to the Community.  They are used for the Community to pay for the guy who brings goods for the Exotic Shop daily and to increase Community Level and so on.

You may earn Community Gems as well as Reputation Medals when you participate in the Community Challenges, but it is only the Reputation Medals that ever belong to you.

Other Menu Options
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From the same Menu, from the very first setting tab, you will have the following options:

Visit
Chat
Add as Neighbour

If you are a leader, you will have two more options:

Promote
Kick Out

Thus, as you can see, even if your Community members are not your Neigbours initially, you can chat to them privately or send them Neighbour Requests.

Advertising Flea Market Items
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You can post an advertisement for any item you place on your Flea Market now in your Community Chat.

Whenever you choose an item to place in your Market Share Box, you now will see a new Menu that allows you to 'Share' which publishes this in the Community Chat.  This option exists for the regular items in first tab as well as the special rare items in third tab.

Note that 'Share to Community' only advertises the goods in the Community.  Any neighbour still can purchase them!

New Coffee House Item Request Option
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The last update added some new options for the Coffee House.  One is the ability to refresh orders individually.  In the past, one did not have that option.  A much needed addition!

Another option is, in the case of rare items such as Research Lab Topic Products or the Stove House Recipes linked to them, is the ability to request the item in Community Chat.  Any Member who has the item then can donate it.  I am not certain precisely how this option is activated or what the limits are, as it does NOT appear every time the Coffee House requires a Tech item or Tech Stove House Dish, but it still can be very helpful!

Game Tutorial about Community
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From the game tutorial, the following (as few players ever bother to read this stuff in the game):

Joining the Community
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You can enter the Community by tapping on the gondola by the pink dock next to the Achievement House.

Freyashawk:  You can go to the Community as well from the main Menu by tapping on Community, then tapping on the little pink building at the far right of the top of the window that opens.

Benefits of Community
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Include unique Crops, Machines and Animals that can be purchased in the Community Exotic Shop; chances to use the Gachapon Machine to obtain TC rewards; chance to participate in more busy work with other Community members; chance to obtain Community Gems and Reputation Medals

By completing Community Orders, Achievements and Activities, you will earn Community Gems and Reputation Medals.

Freyashawk:  The number of slots that are available as well as the choice of items that appear in those slots are determined by your Community Level.  Initially there will be two slots.  One offers a bag containing random Pet Food.  The other offers a bag containing random Mystrons.  I suggest you do not use your valuable Reputation Medals for either.  When your Community reaches Level 2, the third slot will be unlocked.  This alternately will offer bags containing Cattail Seeds (planted on Seaside Farm) and Cherry Tomato Seeds (planted on Island Farm).  The actual item that appears on any given day is, however, random!

The use for these two Crops at this Level is to fill the Orders that appear randomly in the Order Corner.  You will notice that Orders have different values and that you can refresh Orders if you do not wish to fill them.  It is a good strategy to fill the most valuable Orders... among them, the Orders for Cattails and Cherry Tomatoes.  Sometimes these are worth 30 Community Gems and 30 Reputation Medals.

At Level 3, the Puzzle Pieces for the new Animals will be unlocked and at Level 4, the Puzzle Pieces for the Machines.

At Level 3, once you have merged an Elephant, you will be able to feed it Cattails to prosduce Clay.  Once you have merged the Golden Monkey, you will be able to feed it the Cherry Tomatoes to produce Young Coconut.

At Level 4, you will be able to collect Puzzle Pieces for the Coconut Jelly Machine and the Pottery Wheel.  You will need a total of 10 to be able to merge the Machine in the Factory.  Clay is used in the Pottery Wheel and Young Coconut is used in the Coconut Jelly Machine.

N.B.  Although there are no time limits on feeding the new Animals or using the new Machines, it does take significant time to amass the Cattails and the Young Coconut.  Many players request that farmers keep mature Cattails on Seaside and Cherry Tomatoes on their Island Farms.  This may benefit farmers who do not keep many premium decorations on their farms as well as it is an inducement to visit!

Leader, Sub-Leaders and Members
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The Leader of any Community usually is listed first in the Community Menu where all Members are listed.  The player icon for the Leader will be Gold.

Any sub-Leaders will have a Green player icon in the same menu.  All other Members will have a Blue Player icon.

Community Gems
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These belong to the Community and are used to upgrade the Community Level, making better rewards possible.  They can be used as well to refresh the Community Exotic Shop to list new items.  This option is given only to Community Leaders and Vice Leaders, so be careful who you assign to these posts.

200 Gems are taken for Level 1 to refresh daily.  280 Gems are taken daily to refresh the Exotic Shop at Level 2.  I see no option NOT to allow that, frankly.  At Level 3, the merchant requires more 340 Gems each day.  At Level 4, 390 Gems are taken daily.

Reputation Medals
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These are personal Rewards and can be used to purchase items in the Community Exotic Shop.  At Level 1, all you can purchase are random Mystrons and random Pet Food, so it is important to increase your Community Level for better purchases.  At Level 2, the third slot unlocks to offer Cattail Seeds and Cherry Tomato Seeds.  At Level 3, the Elephant and Golden Monkey Puzzle Pieces are unlocked.  At Level 4, the Pottery Wheel and Coconut Jelly Machine pieces are unlocked.

Note here that I originally believed that the items in the slot for the Seeds and that for the Puzzle Pieces alternated because that was our own experience.   From comparison with the experiences of other Communities, however, we have discovered it is in fact random.  We had Cattails one day and Cherry Tomatoes the next again and again but other Communities may have had Cherry Tomatoes only once in the Exotic Shop.  Similarly, we have had the Elephant Puzzle Piece two days in a row while other Communities at Level 3 may have had alternate Puzzle Pieces.  At Level 4, the Machine Puzzle Pieces are random as well.

Maximum Community Level:
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Currently, the maximum Level for any Community is Level 4.  The maximum level by which Community techs, once unlocked, can be increased appears to be Level 3.

Community Buildings
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There originally were five buildings in Water Town as follows:

Town Hall
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This allows you to access the Member List and information.

Prestige Fountain
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This is the building for Community Achievements.  All Members can contribute to these activities to complete the time-restricted Achievement and in working to do so, will obtain Reputation Medals while the Community will obtain Community Gems.  Once the Achievement has been completed, the Community will obtain Community Gems as well.   Community Gems are important as they can be used to raise the Level of your Community.  Level determines the type of items that appear in the Shop, inter alia.

The Achievements are the same for every Community evidently and are in a specific order.  There is no time limit.  When one is completed, the next one becomes active.

The initial Achievement this week for any Community is as follows:

Prepare 1500 Soft Dough

As soon as that was completed, the next activated:

To open 1500 Pet Chests.

Next:

Invite 1000 Guest Groups

N.B.  Many farmers have been confused about this task, which is simply to invite Guest groups from the Guest Centre using the regular Passports you receive every day.  You can invite one 1 Star Guest Group and one 2 Star Guest Group on a daily basis.  You can invite one 3 Star Guest Group once each week.  The timer for 3 Star Passport resets with Thursday's reset.  For this tasks, you need not complete ANY orders.  You can delete orders, fill them or send away the group after the invitation has been made.  What counts for this task is the Invitation alone.

Next:

Use Dolphin Hook 1600 times
Process 1800 Abalone in Seafood House
1800 Clay Facial Masks
2300 Helicopter Orders
2400 Wooden Cylinders
Fill 2400 Boat Orders
Produce 1500 Sago Pudding
Tend Flowers in Botanic Garden 2400 times
Process 1800 Snow Crabs
Produce 1800 Red Cord Necklaces
Produce 2400 Wooden Planks

As of 4 November, I believe the Wooden Plank task is the last currently available in the game.

These 'Achievements', unlike the Activities, allow the Community to move forward at its own pace.  The Activities, on the other hand, are on timers... complete the Activities early and you wait until the timer resets.

Note that you will NOT receive a Gachapon when you complete any of these.

THESE TASKS ARE NOT TIME-LIMITED.  They continue to be active evidently until you complete them.

You receive only 1 Gem and 1 Reputation Medal for each action performed for your Community's current Achievement.

Activity Hall
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Each week, the old man here will issue a Challenge.  Members can produce three specific items every week to complete the Challenge, but only the first of these is available initially.

In my Community initially only one of the three is unlocked now.  The Challenge was:

Produce 2700 Wine

We did that... and I was able to use Community Gems to upgrade our Community to Level 2.  I changed the setting of this Challenge Difficulty Level to 3.

Now we were given three different Activities at once:

Produce 2700 White Wine
Produce 825 Apple Tarts
Harvest 250 Walnuts

When all current Activities are completed, a Gachapon will appear in your Community Chat.

The next three were:

2700 Goose Feathers, Level 1 Difficulty  (Reward: 2 Community Gems, 2 Reputation Medals for each one that is produced)

825 Pasta Salad, Level 2 Difficulty (Reward: 4 Community Gems, 4 Reputation Medals for each one that is produced)

250 Wild Rose Fruit, Level 3 Difficulty (Reward, 6 Community Gems, 6 Reputation Medals for each one that is produced)

(Adding the Difficulty Level for new players.  In other words, if a player creates a Community now, that Community will be at Level 1 Difficulty (This is different from the general Level of the Community, but that will be at Level 1 as well!).  The Community by default therefore will have the task of making the Goose Feathers.

THESE ARE TIME-LIMITED.  A new Community will have the first of the three that are current in every Community.

NOTE ABOUT COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION:  Initially, I thought that a member who did more was doing something positive but in fact, as you can see, the Members who do more earn more Reputation Medals than every one else.  Every Member should have the opportunity to participate and earn Medals.  If you have a Community, it is best to plan ahead and see what participation Members wish to give before one person forges ahead to do everything.

It appears as well that there are farmers who join Communities simply to perform ALL the tasks as quickly as possible to take all of the Rewards and then these farmers leave to migrate to another Community.  We had one such farmer initially.  Again, Community should be a team effort.  Please try to communicate with your members and give them all a chance.

Change in Level 3 Difficulty Challenges:
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Originally, Difficulty Level 3 added a Challenge that required a specific number of Harvests from a premium Tree.  Recently that changed.  Now, at Difficulty Level 3, there are TWO Challenges added, both of which are the preparation of Stove House Dishes linked to the Research Topics.

You must have upgraded your Lab Storehouse to Level 3 to be able to unlock ANY Recipe for any of the four Research Topics.  This upgrade requires a Shelf that can be obtained only by completing Coffee House Orders.  Players who never interacted much with the Coffee House therefore must do so now if they wish to be able to participate in the Difficulty Level 3 Challenges.

So far, the Dishes required have been Level 1 Dishes from two of the four Research Topics.  One week, we are required to make Fried Drumsticks and Cubic Apple Tart.  The next week, we were required to make Meat Analogue and Lucky Jello.  They appear to be alternating between these two options.

In other words, one week, you will need the Level 1 Recipes from Treeology (Cubic Apple Tart) and from Zoology (Fried Drumstick).  The next week, you will need the Level 1 Recipes from Cropology (Lucky Jello) and from Mechology (Meat Analogue).

Unfortunately, this no longer is the case as of 5 November.  They still give us two different Recipes from two different topics but now they are Level 2 Recipes.  This means not only that you must have advanced in the Topic but unlocked the next Level of Molecular Gastronomy in the topic in question.
Most of these upgrades require a specific number of coins, a specific number of Grandpa's Pens, Grandpa's Ink and Grandpa's Notepad.  It the level of upgrade that determines how many of each are needed but prices are as follows:

Grandpa's Ink: 600 Green Mystrons
Grandpa's Pen: 80 Blue Mystrons
Grandpa's Notepad: 200 Red Mystrons

The total required for each is 75.  Thus, a combined total of 150 dishes.  Each gives 10 Gems and 10 Reputation Medals.

Our Community created a new Facebook page strictly for the Research Topics, listing ALL the Recipes and requesting that members place their names below those they have unlocked in all four of the Topics.

As previously indiciated, initially only the very first Recipe for any of the four Topics was required, but now the Recipes are both Level 2 and one never knows what the future holds.

In our Community, we endeavoured always to divide all tasks equally between our members.  Now, at Level 4, which is the highest level currently, it may be less important for every member to participate in every task but we still try to give that option to each player, allocating a 'grace period' where no one is allowed to make more than his/her share before we open the task to members who can or wish to make more.

Order Corner
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This is where you have access to two Orders that give personal Rewards.  The Orders will be different for every farm.  At Level 1, the only Rewards you can purchase in the Exotic Shop for 14 Reputation Medals each are a bag containing random Mystrons and a bag containing random types of Pet Food.

At Level 2, you will unlock the third slot that contains Cattail Seeds and Cherry Tomato Seeds.  Grow and harvest them as needed to fill Orders for Cattails and Cherry Tomatoes.

Tip:  If you wish to earn more Gems for your Community and more Reputation Medals for yourself, make certain that you fill the difficult orders, like the ones for Cherry Tomatoes.  If the Orders are worth very little, do refresh!  It is a gamble, but I was able to refresh until I had an Order that was worth 30 Gems and 30 Medals.

LATER:  The actual cost paid for these Orders appears to be somewhat random.  Last night, the very same Order for 2 Cherry Tomatoes only gave 20 Community Gems and 20 Reputation Medals, which seems rather unjust.  Furthermore, on another occasion, the game asked for 33 Cattails for 30 Community Gems.  When I refreshed, the game asked for 1 Cattail for 30 Community Gems!  Do not be too quick to sell off all of your rare Crops!  The Elephant eats Cattails and the Golden Monkey eats the Cherry Tomatoes.

Exotic Shop
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This is where you can use your Reputation Medals to purchase items.  At Level 1, the only items available for 14 Reputation Medals each are bags containing either random Mystrons or random Pet Food.  At higher levels, you will have access to special Animals and Machines.  I suggest you save your Medals for THOSE.

Level 1: Lucky Mystron Package and Pet Food Package
Level 2: Cattail Seed Bag or Cherry Tomato Seed Bag
Level 3: Golden Monkey or Elephant Puzzle Piece
Level 4: Pottery Wheel or Coconut Jelly Machine Pieces
Level 5: Chocolate Corgi Pieces (50 Reputation Medals each)

By upgrading our Community to Level 2, another item will be available when the Shop refreshes in a few hours.   280 Community Gems are taken every day to refresh it.  I no longer have any option to speed that process, nor do I have an option to cancel the transaction.  So be aware that 280 Community Gems are taken from your Community daily for this.

Note that the special Seeds, such as Cattail Seed Bag or Cherry Tomato Seed Bags go into your Gift Box.  You then must open them and when you wish to plant them, do so from the Gift Box from the tab with the Tree Icon!

The Cattail Seed Bag I purchased contained 10 Cattail Seeds.

The next day, we had a Cherry Tomato Bag containing 10 Cherry Tomato Seeds.

The Seed bag that is loaded into the slot on any given day is random!

Note that the Cattails must be planted on Seaside and the Cherry Tomatoes on the Island.

Puzzle Pieces
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These are available at higher levels in the Exotic Shop and this is the reason why your Community needs to earn enough Community Gems to raise its level.

The following puzzle pieces can be used to merge item in the Factory at this point in time:

Elephant Puzzle Piece:
  Need 5 to merge an Elephant
  Unlocked at Level 3
  Cost is 36 Reputation Medals

Golden Monkey Piece:
  Need 5 to merge a Golden Monkey
  Unlocked at Level 3
  Cost is 36 Medals

Pottery Wheel Puzzle Piece
  Need 10 to merge a Pottery  Wheel
  Unlocked at Level 4 in Exotic Shop
  Cost is 43 Medals

Coconut Jelly Machine Puzzle Piece:
  Need 10 to merge a Coconut Jelly Machine
  Unlocked at Level 4 in Exotic Shop
  Cost is 43 Medals

At Level 3, we have unlocked the fourth slot in the Exotic Shop where the Golden Monkey and Elephant Puzzle Pieces now will appear.  The actual Puzzle Piece that appears on any given day is RANDOM... so you may receive Elephant Puzzle Pieces even after you have forged an Elephant, and only one of each Animal can be forged in the Factory at this point.

N.B.  The Elephant produces Clay and the Golden Monkey produces Young Coconut.  The Clay probably is used in the Pottery Wheel and the Young Coconut would be used in the Coconut Jelly Machine.  Finally, the Elephant eats Cattails and the Golden Monkey eats Cherry Tomatoes.

At Level 4, the fifth slot in the Exotic Shop was unlocked and now the Pottery Wheel and Coconut Jelly Machine Puzzle Pieces appear randomly.

Factory Merge Animals and Machines
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Elephant
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Requires Level 3 Community before the Puzzle Pieces needed to merge the Animal will appear in the Exotic Shop.  Once merged, it can be placed on the Seaside Farm.  Feed it Cattails to produce Clay.  Clay is required to make products in the Pottery Wheel, (Level 4 Community required for this)

Golden Monkey
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Requires Level 3 Community before the Puzzle Pieces needed to merge the Animal will appear in the Exotic Shop.  Once merged, it can be placed on the Island Farm.  Feed it Cherry Tomatoes to produce Young Coconut.  Young Coconut is needed to make products in the Coconut Jelly Machine (Level 4 Community required for this)

Coconut Jelly Machine
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Requires Level 4 Community before the Puzzple Pieces needed to merge this Machine will appear in the Exotic Shop for 43 Medals each.  You will need a total of 10.  Once merged, it can be placed on the Island Farm and it will be subject to the same rules of Mastery as any Island Machine.

The products it makes are as follows:

Milk Coconut Jelly:
  Ingredients: Young Coconut, Milk
  Level 1 (no Mastery required)

Strawberry Coconut Jelly
  Ingredients:  Young Coconut, Strawberry
  Level 1 (no Mastery required)

Peanut Coconut Jelly
  Ingredients:  Young Coconut, Peanut
  Level 1 Mastery

Pineberry Coconut Jelly
  Ingredients:  Young Coconut, Pineberry
  Level 1 Mastery

Adzuki Coconut Jelly
  Ingredients:  Young Coconut, Adzuki
  Level 2 Mastery

Matcha Coconut Jelly
  Ingredients:  Young Coconut, Matcha
  Level 3 Mastery

Thanks to Kaye, a valued administrator of our Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group for product list!  There are three stars of Mastery.  1 Star Mastery requires that one make 80 products. 2 Star requires 600 Products.  3 Star requires 1800 Products.

Pottery Wheel Products
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Lavender Pot
  Requires Clay and Lavender

Red Rose Pot
  Requires Clay and Red Rose

Daffodil Pot
  Requires Clay and Daffodil

Sakura Flower Pot
  Requires Sakura and Clay

Linden Flower Pot
  Requires Linden Flower and Clay

Tulip Pot
  Requires Clay and Tulip

(Thanks to Kaye again and to Anne)

Gallery Registration: 13 hours, 20 minutes

Level 5:  At Level 5, you must scroll to the right in the Exotic Shop to find Chocolate Corgi Cards.  Each card costs 50 Reputation Medals and you need a total of 50 to obtain a Chocolate Corgi in your Pet House on Seaside.

Gachapon
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The Gachapon looks like a lottery machine.  It is activated when a Community completed all of its current Challenges.  Ours appeared as soon as we completed the Challenge to make 2700 Wine.  None appeared when we completed our Soft Dough Achievement so Achievements do not trigger this reward.   It may be chance that determines the amount of TC that a member will receive.  As the first person to tap on it when it appeared, I received 24 TC. In other cases, however, members who tapped first received less than those who tapped later.   The Gachapons that are activated by completion of all current Challenges are active for a 24 hour period and every Member should be able to draw from these.

Note: When a Community completes any Achievement, one does NOT activate a Gachapon.  It is only the Challenges that activate the Gachapon from the game itself.

Any purchase of RC (one of the currency purchases, not special offers) will give you a Gachapon as well.  I purchased the smallest bundle of RC yesterday to see how that worked.  The game announced that I had activated a Gachapon.  When I claimed it, it went to my Gift Box.  I therefore can opt to 'Use' it when I feel the time is good for that.

I wondered if there were a limit to the number you could receive.  I bought the smallest currency bundle again and received another.  So you can claim this Reward more than once.

Later:  Another Member purchased a large bundle of RC (the one that gives the farmer 75 RC) and received two Gachapons.  So evidently there is a point where you receive 2 for a larger purchase.

Note that these Gachapons evidently do have a limit as to the number of Members who can draw from them.  The limit appears to be 15.

Community Menu Access
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You can access the Community Menu through the Menu bar now,  There is an icon for Community.  The contents of this Menu will depend on whether you created a group or simply joined one.  As a Leader, tap on it to see:

Primary page: This is the Settings Tab for a Leader.  Primary gives List of all members but when you tap on the Applications Tab, you will see:

The option to accept any requests for membership from players as well as the options to send invitations either through Farm I.D. or, if you tap on the Neighbour icon, directly to your Neighbours.

Second tab: Community History

Third Tab: Community History in the form of Community Name and I.D., total number of Community Gems and beneath that, your Reputation Medal total.

As a member, tap on it to see:

Primary Page:  Gives a list of all Members

Second Tab: Community History

Third Tab: Community History:
  This page simply gives Community Name and I.D. and total number of Community Gems.  Beneath, your own Reputation Medal total.

The fourth tab is a link that will take you to the Water Town.

Level Requirements for Community Upgrades
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You begin with 3000 Gems at Level 1.  If you create a Community, the Leader who does (and pays 10 RC for the privilege) receives 1 Gachapon in his/her Gift Box.

To upgrade to Level 2, you will need: 8000 Gems

To upgrade to Level 3, you will need: 34000 Gems

To upgrade to Level 4, you will need: 95000 Gems

Community Etiquette
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Every Community has the power to choose its own rules or system but in our Community, having come to the conclusion that each Member ought to have a chance to participate in every Challenge activity, we decided to divide the totals by 30 and for each member to limit his/her production for 24 hours at least to that fraction of the total.

A fair system but sadly, if a member fails to pay attention to our messages, it only takes one person to upset the apple cart as it were.  A few hours later, a couple of members had completed two of the three Challenges, and our members on different time zones had no chance to perform the tasks they should have been able to complete.

This is a game but one wishes to be fair.  A 24 hour limit, a good system of communication... these prevent injustice, but only if every one is aware of the rules.  After 24 hours, we would have asked those members who had not performed the tasks if they needed help...

A Note of Caution:  It would be wrong to impute 'greed' or any negative motive to the actions of members who do 'more than their share'... at this point, the whole Community option is fairly new still.  Players may do as many tasks as they can in the mistaken belief they are 'helping' the Community.

It is really important to communicate with your Community members.  Sadly, Community Chat can be flawed and incomplete.  Messages do not always appear.  That is why we started a Messenger Chat Group for our Community.

Our system now: we have posted announcements both in game Community Chat and in our Messenger Group to the effect that Challenge totals will be divided equally into 30.... we require some sort of response from every member to the effect that he/she has read this announcement and will not do more than his/her share unless requested to do so by the Community Leader.

The Challenges give both Community Gems and Reputation Medals.  The values of each task depend on the Difficulty Level.  We simply wish to give every member an equal chance to earn rewards.

In early October, there was a new game update that affected the Community by adding new options including the following:

Town Office:
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This is a new Building with a persona who deals with the new 'Community' Techs.

Important:  Any Gems used to unlock Techs will be deducted from the total needed to raise your Community Level.  In other words, I set my own Community back significantly by using Community Gems to unlock the Techs so I could complete this guide.

Some of the Techs are better than others.  For example, the Explorer Tech actually increases the amount of Power that you will be able to harvest from the Island Volcano.  At Level 3 upgrade, you should receive an additional 3 Power each time you harvest from the Volcano.

The Fisherman Tech, on the other hand, is a little more flawed in my opinion.  It only slightly increases the chances of obtaining a rare bonus product from SOME of the items processed in the Seafood House.  I will compile a full list but as an example, you have no increased chance of receiving anything when you process Gulfweed.

Furthermore, the usefulness of any Tech may depend on the progress and levels of your own Community Members.  With maximum Dev Points, the Pilot Tech, it appears to me, is without use.  The Businessman Tech that increases the amount of Sea Resort Points from any Order is at present rather pointless if you have reached the Maximum Level 11 in the Sea Resort!  It may be more useful when they release new areas and increase the Maximum Level... so talk about it with your Members before you use all the Community Gems on these Techs!

It appears that the highest level of upgrade is Level 3.  Until our Community reached Level 4, I could not confirm this.  There is no Level 4 upgrade at this point in time to Community Techs.

It is in the Town Office that the new Community generated Techs can be unlocked by a Leader or Vice Leader as follows:

Fisherman Passive Tech
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On the Seaside Farm, the Fisherman Passive Tech costs 6200 Community Gems to unlock.  At Level 1,  some of the 'rare' items in the Seafood House will have their drop rates increased by 2%.  Each upgrade costs 85 Reputation Medals.  At Level 2, the chance improves to 4%.  At Level 3, it becomes 6%.  When you access any item in the Seafood House, you should see a little green addition to the wheel percentage that indicates the Tech's effect.

Explorer Passive Tech
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On the Island Farm, the Explorer Passive Tech costs 9400 Community Gems to unlock.  At Level 1, it increases the Volcano's Power production by 1 Power.  Each upgrade to this tech costs 125 Reputation Medals and increases the Volcano's Power Production by 1.  Thus, if you have a Level 3 Community and upgrade the Tech to Level 3, you should receive 9 Power each time you harvest from this Volcano.

Pilot Passive Tech
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On the Island Farm, the Pilot Passive Tech costs 9400 Community Gems to unlock.  At Level 1, it gives double the amount of Dev Points from a Helicopter Order 1 time per day.

Designer Passive Tech
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On the Island Farm, the Designer Passive Tech costs 9400 Community Gems to unlock.  At Level 1, you have a 5% chance of obtaining double items from the Hardware Store and Sawmill.  Each upgrade to this tech costs 125 Reputation Medals,  At Level 2, your chances increase to 10%.  At Level 3, to 15%.

Businessman Passive Tech
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At the Sea Resort, the Businessman Passive Tech costs 14000 Community Gems to unlock.  At Level 1, this increases the Amount of Resort Points you can earn from Resort Orders by 5%.  To unlock from zero to Level 1 costs 190 Reputation Medals.  Each upgrade to the tech costs 190 Reputation Medals.  At Level 2, you will gain a 10% boost on every Resort Order. At maximum Level 3, the boost is 15%.

Each upgrade of the Fisherman Tech costs 85 Medals.

Here are two screenshots showing products respectively that are and are not affected by the Tech.

The Tech is at Level 3.  As you can see, Gulfweed does not get any improvement in the rare bonus product, but Seaweed does.

Once the Tech is unlocked, the Community Member must pay Reputation Medals to upgrade Level of said tech.

Each upgrade of the Explorer Tech costs 125 Reputation Medals.  Our Community is at Level 4 now , and the highest upgrade I could manage remains Level 3 for any Tech.

This is a Sea Resort Tech and is the most costly.  The price to unlock it is 14000 Community Medals.

More About Community
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My cousin kindly created his own Community today to pass information to me.  It cost 10 RC but when created, he had an announcement:  You have 3000 Gems.  He received a Gachapon in his Gift Box as well to use as he saw fit.

This is why I wanted him to do this... I now am able to gather data about a late start...

The task to make 1500 Soft Dough is active in his new group and the Soft Dough he made for my Community before he left (voluntarily) do not count towards this goal, which kind of makes sense.

The other active tasks in Challenge area is the current one to produce 2700 Goose Feathers.

The daily fee to restock Exotic Shop at Level 1 is 200 Gems.

Update from Aloysius:  As of the middle of November, we finally have reached Level 3.  We still are working on the Achievement to invite guest groups.  The Challenges change weekly and are the same as those other Communities have but we seldom complete all of them.  I placed the Community at the highest Difficulty Level for Challenges to give high level members the chance to earn more Medals.  We do not really earn the Gachapons nor do we receive the Bonus points but our members are at liberty to do whatever they wish, as much or as little as they choose.

As one of my members pointed out, even without completing the Challenges, we do earn Community Gems and Medals...

Sugar Upgrader
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In the Upgrader section of the Market for 4000 Coins. Black Wheels cost 1 RC or can be purchased at the rate of one per day for 5 Blue Mystrons each.

To upgrade to Level 2

100 Products
20000 Coins
3 Black Wheels

To upgrade to Level 3:

250 Products
32000 Coins
10 Black Wheel
15 Pink Bricks

To upgrade to Level 4:

500 Products
72000 Coins
20 Black Wheels
35 Pink Bricks

To upgrade to Level 5:

1000 Products
128000 Coins
50 Black Wheels
75 Pink Bricks

Gadgets
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Super Sugar Container: 35 RC
  Level 2

Extra Sugar Gadget: 25 RC
  Level 5

Maltose Gadget: 800 Red Mystrons
  Level 3 Gadget

Sugar Container: 500 Red Mystrons
  Level 2 Gadget

Lemon Sugar: 300 Blue Mystrons
  Level  3
  Requires Diamond Lemon

Molasses Gadget: 300 Blue Mystrons
  Level 5
  Product by chance

Sauce Upgrader
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In the Upgrader section of the Market for 4000 Coins.  Sauce Machine Chains cost 1 RC each or can be purchased at the rate of one per day for 5 Blue Mystrons each.

To upgrade to Level 2:

100 Products
20000 Coins
3 Sauce Machine Chains

To upgrade to Level 3:

250 Products
32000 Coins
10 Sauce Machine Chains
15 Steel

To upgrade to Level 4:

500 Products
72000 Coins
20 Sauce Machine Chain
35 Steel

To upgrade to Level 5:

1000 Products
128000 Coins
50 Sauce Machine Chains
75 Steel

Gadgets
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Super Sauce Container: 35 RC
  Level 2

Extra Sauce Gadget: 25 RC
  Level 5

Sauce Container: 500 Red Mystrons
  Level 2 Gadget

Bean Sauce Gadget: 800 Red Mystrons
  Level 3 Gadget

Onion Sauce Gadget: 100 Blue Mystrons
  Level 3 Gadget

Hainan Pepper Sauce Gadget: 300 Blue Mystrons
  Level 3 Gadget

Mixed Sauce Gadget: 300 Blue Mystrons
  Level 5
  Product by chance

The following are the new Lab Storehouse Expansions.  There is a post dedicated to the Research Laboratory and all of its aspects that gives ALL upgrade lists:

All about the Research Laboratory, Topics, Upgrade, Storage

Lab Storehouse Expansions
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To increase to Level 9, you will need:

150 Lab Storehouse Windows
12 Large Lab Storehouse Shelf (Shelves)
30 Pumpkin Tomatoes
6 Rambutan

There is no option to pay instead of obtaining the required Pumpkin Tomatoes and Rambutan

This increases your storage to 180 slots

To increase to Level 10, you will need:

200 Lab Storehouse Windows
30 Hainan Pepper
6 Diamond Lemons
16 Large Lab Storehouse Shelf (Shelves)  (1 RC each)

This increases storage to 200 slots.

To increase to Level 11, you will need:

250 Lab Storehouse Window (1 RC each or Ask Buddy)
30 Fire Bean
6 Donut Peach
20 Large Lab Storehouse Shelf  (1 RC each)

This increases storage to 220 Slots.

Level 12
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300 Lab Storehouse Windows
24 Large Lab Storehouse Shelf
30 Morchella Mushrooms
6 Sand Pear

This increases to 240 slots

Sea Resort Update
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There is a new Animal in the Sea Resort in the form of the Otter, costing 12 RC.  The Otter eats Abalone and produces Tridacnidae.  The Otter is unlocked when you reach Level 9, finally giving farmers a compelling reason to increase the Sea Resort Level after they have reached Level 8.

Darryl's House
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Will discuss this in more detail later, but essentially it simply is a more sophisticated menu that allows you to see how your items count towards House Level.

Stove House Upgrades
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These unlock more chambers, allowing the dedicated player to cook a multitude of dishes at once.  Oh joy!

To unlock the second Chamber:

10 Churros
20 Chili Sauce (Produce or pay 21 TC for each)
1 Stove Table (5 RC)

To unlock the third Chamber:

5 Codfish (42 TC each if you do not fish for them or buy in Fish Market)
10 Peach Candy (Produce or pay 1 RC for each)
10 Sago Pudding
2 Stove Tables (5 RC each)

To unlock the fourth Chamber:

10 Meatballs (Craft)
5 Smoked Tuna (Produce or pay 113 TC for each)
10 Coconut Cake (Produce)
3 Stove House Table (5 RC each)

To unlock the fifth Chamber:

10 Young Coconut (or pay 100 TC for each)
10 Fried and Stewed Saury (Craft)
10 Clay (100 TC each)
4 Stove Table (5 RC each)

(I believe the Young Coconut may be sold at the Exotic Shop at a higher level.  Cattails and Cherry Tomato Seeds are available at Level 2.)