Christmas Base for December

'Bases' are a fairly new option in Family Farm Seaside.  They are time-restricted items that are purchased incomplete in the Market. Often they are associated with specific holidays, like the current Christmas Base.  You cannot complete them immediately, unlike the various incomplete Machines that one purchases.  Instead, they are linked to specific activities that only become available as the month continues.

The idea of the Base is to be able to stack a total of four different Decorations on it once it is complete.  Each Base has different Decorations associated with it.  You will not be able to use it until it is complete.

Decorations that can be placed on Bases have a special jigsaw puzzle piece logo next to them in the Market.  Those that cannot be purchased in the Market will display the logo either when stored in the Warehouse or when you move the item and allow it to hover above the Base on which you hope it can be placed.

Unfortunately, when you store a Base loaded with four Decorations, they all fly apart in the Warehouse and occupy as many slots as when unattached to a Base.

As of 2 December, you can purchase the new Christmas Base in the Market for 3000 Coins.  Like all the Bases, it has four materials, each obtained from a different activity as the month progresses.

The Snow Base now can be completed if you collected sufficient materials from all four activities.

Items for Base
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The following should be able to go on the Christmas Base:  Tree Reindeer, ALL Snowmen including Snowman, Snow Man, Snow Magician, Bunny Snow Girl, ALL Snow Globes including Snow Globe and Christmas Crystal Ball, Small Snowflake Fence, the Snow Tree Arch . Other arches that initially could not be placed now can, including Tree Arch, Autumn Arch, Welcome Arch and Welcome Sign.  Not that the default position for the Tree Arch will not allow it to be placed on the base.  You must turn it first and then the jigsaw icon will be available to allow placement.  The Balloon Door cannot be placed on this base.

Initially, the Christmas Wreath Fence, the Decoration Reward from the Beauty Contest, could not be placed on the Base but that has been corrected.  Another item that now can be placed on the Base is the Calendar Reward for December in the form of the Candle Stand.

Activities for the Snow Base Materials
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The first material is a Snow Ball.  You will obtain this when you complete the highlighted Order on the Daily Order Board each day.  There are a total of 8 Snow Balls.  This activity has expired.  You now receive Festival Mystrons instead from the highlighted order.

Snow Time
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Felicia:  Oh wow, it's snowing!  Let's call Darryl and go out and play in the snow!  I love making snow angels and we'll need all the help we can get!  Oh no!  Darryl used all the good snow to make snowballs!

Complete the Orders on the Order Board
  Skip for 6 RC

Prepare 10 Taai Thaai
  skip for 10 RC

Place a Snow Base on your Farm

Reward: 1000 Coins, 100 XP

Felicia: Oh no, the snow is all messed up now!  Let's see if we can still find a nice snowy place for making snow angels.

1st Material
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The first material for the Base is the Snowball, obtained by completing the highlighted Order on the Daily Order Board each day.  You need a total of 8.

2nd Material
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The 2nd Material is associated with the Magic Bunny.  Find the Weekly Activity and complete it for a Brick.  You need a total of 6.

The first Activity will depend on your level.  For high level players, you will need to produce 40 Angora Yarn.  This requires access to the Island and transport of 40 Angora Hair to the Island to spin into Yarn.  Lower level players are required to produce 60 Reindeer Hair.  This requires both a Reindeer and a Mistletoe Tree or Santa's Legs Decoration as the Reindeer eats Mistletoe.  I personally think the Activity is excessively difficult for low level players.

Note however that both the Reindeer and the Mistletoe Tree qualify as Theme-related Decorations for the upcoming Farm Beauty Contest that begins in less than a week.  If, therefore you intend to participate in the Contest, you will find that the Reindeer and Mistletoe are worth a few Votes from the three Characters who value Theme.

Warning:  In the past, if you did not tap on 'Join' for the Activity, any items produced would not be counted.  I do not know if this still is the case, but better to be safe than sorry!

This activity will run until 12 December and you should receive 2 Bricks each time you complete an Activity.

For the high level players, the second Activity will be to produce 20 Fried Crab Sticks.  You will need to have processed at least 20 Mud Crabs for the ingredient, although the item needed is actually a bonus item.

For the lower levels, you need to make 30 Condensed Milk Grapefruit.  This requires a Grapefruit Tree and you can make 30 Condensed Milk in advance for the other ingredient.

For the very lowest level players, the first activity is to make 40 Goose Feathers.

3rd Material
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The 3rd Material in the form of a Snow Gift is obtained by completing the first 8 parts of the time-restricted Quest, 'Labours of Darryl'.

4th Material:
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The 4th Activity is linked to the Cooking Stand Contest and you will find the Snow Lollipop randomly in the special Snow Cooking Bags.

Pay RC to complete Snow Base
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Now that all activities for materials have expired, you can pay 1 RC for any Material for the Snow Base that you have missed.

Decorations for Bases
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A member of my Family Farm Seaside Freyashawk Group on Facebook asked for a list of items that can be placed on the various bases so I am adding a section here for that information.

So far, the only Bases that are available on a permanent basis in the Market are the Bird Bases.  The Bird Bases are linked to the Time Machine in the Gallery wherein the completion of two-part Missions will give a Decoration as a Reward.  These Decorations can be placed on the Bird Base.  So far, there are only 4 Missions and thus 4 Decorations.  You can place them on one or two Bird Bases, however.  A Base has a limit of four Decorations.

The Bird Base Decorations are not cleanable, but the Bird Base itself will give a Blue Box when cleaned.  All other Bases so far have been seasonal in nature.

Halloween Base
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The Halloween Base was the first of the seasonal Bases.  It no longer can be purchased in the Market and all activities that gave Materials have expired.  You can complete the Base if you have it by purchasing the materials you lack using RC.

The following can be placed on the Halloween Stage (Base):  Skeleton Rockstar Frontman, Skeleton Rockstar Diva, Stereo Coffin, Pumpkin Tower and the Ghost Broom.  As always, there is a limit of four items that can be placed.  The Pumpkin Tower and the Ghost Broom occupy the same position on the Stage, so you have to choose between them.

Thanksgiving Base
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The Thanksgiving Base incorporated more choices from Decorations available in the Market.  These included the Woodpile and the Mushrooms.  Other items that could be placed on the Base were the Thanksgiving Turkey, the Colourful Tent, the Indian Hat, the Harvest Hat and the Hedgehog.  The Woodpile occupied the same position as the Indian Hat and Harvest Hat and the Mushrooms occupied the same position as the Hedgehog.

Once again, although one no longer can purchase the Thanksgiving Base in the Market, farmers who were unable to complete the activities associated with the materials can purchase any remaining materials needed for RC.

Christmas Base
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The following should be able to go on the Christmas Base:  Tree Reindeer, ALL Snowmen including Snowman, Snow Man, Snow Magician, Bunny Snow Girl, ALL Snow Globes including Snow Globe and Christmas Crystal Ball, Small Snowflake Fence,  the Snow Tree Arch . Other arches that initially could not be placed now can, including Tree Arch, Autumn Arch, Welcome Arch and Welcome Sign, Christmas Wreath Fence and Candle Stand.  Note that the default position for the Tree Arch will not allow it to be placed on the base.  You must turn it first and then the jigsaw icon will be available to allow placement.  The Balloon Door cannot be placed on this base.

Obtaining Farm Aids in Family Farm Seaside

Once upon a time, in the early days of Seaside, it was difficult to obtain Farm Aids such as Fertiliser, Watering Cans and OP.  Later, with the advent of Cooking and Crafting and all sorts of other options, including the Mystery Shop, one needed far more, including Yellow Mystrons, Green Mystrons, Power, as well as Island items including Electric Saws.  One can purchase everything but Mystrons in the Market but there are other ways to obtain these valuable items.

First, there is the Dedicated Farm Bonus, accessed through a small treasure chest at the top of your screen.  Tap on this whenever it is full to obtain Coins and a Gift Bag.

There are the Daily Quests as well, with three different treasure Chests.  Each contains Farm Aids but the third, Gold Treasure Chest, obtained only when you complete every task but one, contains a Yellow Mystron.  A single Yellow Mystron may not have much purchasing power, but they do add up through time.

Visiting Neighbours is a very good way to earn Farm Aids.  Whenever you clean a Decoration, you will earn a Gift Box.    The Blue and Gold Gift Boxes usually contain the best items, but they all are worth the effort.  By visiting your Neighbours, you earn Coins and XP as well and the task of visiting 12 Neighbours in any given day is one of your Daily Tasks.

Keeping Cleanable Decorations on your own Farm is another way to earn Items.  Again, the Decorations that give the Blue and Gold Gift Boxes tend to be the most valuable, but any Gift Box will contain some Rewards.  Note that the actual contents of any of these Boxes or Bags is random, apart from the Special Mission Gift Box that always contains a set group of items.

One more way to earn Farm Aids is through the Cooking Stand Contest.  This is not always current, as there is a little hiatus between the end of one Contest and the beginning of the next, but you usually find a Contest in progress.  Whenever you visit a Neighbour, look for his/her Cooking Stand.  If there is the icon of a Roast Turkey above it, tap on it to obtain a special Gift Bag that will contain a random assortment of Farm Aids.  This benefits your Neighbour as well, as completion of any Contest depends on your Neighbours' participation in 'eating' at your Stand.  The final Reward of any Cooking Stand Contest is a Cleanable Decoration that yields the coveted Blue Gift Box.

Sometimes you can obtain a special item when you fish.  These are associated with specific catches.  They are not terribly significant but should be mentioned.

Farm Aids can be earned by completing Achievements.   Final Achievements give 1 or 2 RC even.

If you have access to the Island and have unlocked the Mine, you can obtain Farm Aids randomly when you ask a Neighbour to help with an explosion.  There is a special pink bomb that appears randomly and gives Farm Aids instead of the usual Ores and other Mine items when the Explosion occurs.

In this context, one should mention the Mystery Shop or Store.  You will find an icon on the top left when you access the Market that will take you to the Mystery Shop.  It now has been expanded to include four different screens.  They are: Coins, Green Mystrons, Blue Mystrons and Yellow Mystrons.

The Coin Shop can be refreshed to allow you to purchase more items once you have purchased as many as you want from the current screen.  Note that the items that appear will be different depending on the Farm you currently are visiting.  It is only when you are on your Island Farm that you will see any of the Flowers for the Flower Garden, for example,   i find it helpful to access the Coin Shop only when I am on the Island because Seaside items and Island Items then will appear in the Coin Shop.

The actual Items that appear in the Green, Blue and Yellow Mystrons screens change on a daily basis.  New players may find it most helpful to purchase Cleanable Decorations when they appear in the Yellow Mystrons Shop, although I like some of the non-cleanable Decorations so much that I purchase them instead.  Earning 100 Yellow Mystrons, the price for any item, can be a slow process.  From time to time, special Sales are offered that include a Decoration that will yield Yellow Mystrons when cleaned for a scecific number of days, after which it will yield an ordinary Cleaning Gift Box.

Completing the Weekly Activity, accessed through the Magic Bunny, will give you 10 Yellow Mystrons.  Yellow Mystrons allow you to obtain Decorations that were given as Rewards for time-restricted Quests, although Final Rewards are not included.

Another method by which to obtain Yellow Mystrons, albeit slowly, is to complete ALL of your Daily Quests but one.  There are three different treasure chests, all containing Farm Aids that can be opened when you obtain specific point totals by completing specific tasks, such as using your Machines, Fishing, completing Helicopter Orders and so on.  When you have obtained a total of 300 Points in any given day, you will be able to open the final Gold Treasure Chest.  I have noticed that it always appears to contain 1 Yellow Mystron.  As I wrote previously, it is a SLOW way to earn these, but one still does increase the total as well as obtaining other valuable aids.

It is the Blue Mystron Shop that allows one to purchase Final Reward Decorations that you missed, but you will not be able to earn these until you have obtained ALL the Rewards from your Daily Order Board.  There is a specific chain of Rewards that includes all the special Sheep... once you have completed all of these, you will begin to earn Blue Mystrons.

Green Mystrons often are the Rewards for registering a specific item in your Gallery.  Gallery Registration gives other Farm Aids, including Organic Fertiliser, Super Fertiliser, Watering Cans, Super Watering Cans, Power and OP.

Finally, if you play on certain systems, there is a floating Balloon that travels across your screen, inciting you to watch an advertisement.  if you do so, you will receive 15 Green Mystrons.

I have written other posts on being a good Neighbour.  Here, however, I will mention the value of having Neighbours visit your farm to clean your Decorations.  Three factors are important here:  you really need to visit your own farm as soon as possible after the daily Rewards from Neighbours' cleaning activities appear.  That may be a different time for every time zone.  On the East Coast of the States, for example, it occurs near 8.00 p.m. I believe.  Another factor is that you really should take advantage of the fertilising activities of your Neighbours by harvesting all ripe Crops and Trees as often as possible.  It is discouraging for a Neighbour to visit a Farm where there is NOTHING to do!    I fear that there are Irises on my own farm that I never harvest, because they were a temporary Crop that I cannot replant and they are my favourite of all the Crops, but I do try to harvest everything else as often as possible.  I also keep a number of Decorations that yield the Blue Gift Boxes always on my farm even though it reduces planting space.

As discussed in another post, there are different ways to access your Neighbour List.  One is by Recent Helpers, which probably is the most fair of all.  Another, however, is by 'Fertilisable' which shows Farms that have plots and trees that still can be fertilised.  Another one, for those who want Island Gift Boxes, is to visit only the Island on every Neighbour's Farm.  You can change the option whenever you like to reflect your current mood or needs.  Timing can be important here as well.  If you visit your Neighbours who live in the same time zone too soon after the daily cut off point, you may find that there are icons of megaphones instead of cleaning brushes on top of all their Cleanable Decorations because they have not had time to collect any of them yet!  If you visit popular Neighbours too late in the current day, you may find that there are no good Cleanable Decorations left to clean.  In any event, Neighbour Visits, whether they are yours or your Neighbours', offer a multitude of Rewards, as well as allowing armchair travel to see how other people organise their farms.  There are some gorgeous farms out there!

Island Hopping
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Recently, I became aware of a problem with the game in terms of the Cooking Stand Contests and Island visits.  It is unfortunate that, whenever you choose 'Island First' when visiting Neighbours, you will not have access to the Cooking Stand, as this is located either on the main farm or the Building Plots outside the main farm.

There are advantages to choosing 'Island First' because the Purple Island Gift Boxes appear to contain the most Farm Aids, including Fertilisers, Super Fertilisers, Watering Cans, Super Watering Cans and the tools used to cut trees on the Island.  In their own fashion, they are equal therefore to the Blue Gift Boxes on the main Farm.  They do appear to grant a fair amount of OP as well randomly.

Cooking Gift Bags, however, are very useful and your Neighbours need visits to the Cooking Stand during a Contest in order to fill their quotas.  What this means, therefore is that a Neighbour who wants both an Island Gift Box and a Cooking Gift Bag essentially has to make TWO visits to the Neighbour's land... one being to the Island Farm and the other being to the Seaside Farm.  Perhaps this will be remedied by the developers soon and they will allow a link to the Building Plots area at least from the Island.

Note that there is a limit to the number of Cleanings of Decorations as well as the number of Cooking Gift Bags that any Farmer can collect in a day.  The limit to the Gift Boxes is very high at 300 and I do not think this varies at all.  Originally, I thought that the number of Cooking Gift Bags depended on the Farmer's Experience Level but I discovered this was not the case at all.  It is your Club Membership that determines many options now in the game.  I discovered this when I purchased a sale item for my second farm and my Club Membership Level increased to Level 9.  An announcement appeared to the effect that I now would have +9 more Power, 10 additional Cooking Bags from Neighbour Visits, 14 more opportunities to use OP instantly to complete Zeppelin Transport (something I have not used much at all), 800 additional Bait and the ability to refresh Daily Orders 6 times if I wished.  Note here that you are not GIVEN 800 Bait, but simply can HAVE 800 more than previously.  This allows easier use of the Boost with the more expensive Fishing Hooks.

A final note:  The Purple Island Gift Boxes tend to be obtained from time-limited Quest Rewards.  Cleanable Island Decorations purchased in the Market or constructed do not give these valuable Gift Boxes.