Stardew Valley Tips and Tricks Collection (Community Built!)

[Lawless_Llama]

With the recent summer sale allowing for even more farmers to come into the Stardew Valley community, I thought it would be an interesting idea to see if we could create a forum where we share tips and tricks for new players (or for returning/experienced players to learn something new as-well). I myself have just bought the game in its physical edition after having some experience with it on a PC through Steam, and hope to stream it on Twitch soon where I can relieve good memories with my viewers. So lets get some tips going!

 

As of 08/10/17, I have updated the topic to include an organization for the tips that are posted by fellow farmers in this topic. Ease of access to helpful tips and tricks for everyone is the ultimate goal. Any tips posted below in the comments will be added to this master list, so keep the good tips coming farmers!

 

General Tips

- When not using your tools, it is best to switch to another item in your inventory to hold, as accidentally using your tool (such as a pickaxe) will eat up energy even if it doesn't directly affect anything in your environment. Energy is key in this game to getting lots of tasks done, so you better save it while you can!

 

- When the in-game clock hits 2 am, your character is going to pass out no matter what you are doing. You will be brought back to your home, but it will cost you as you will be charged a fee and possibly robbed of items as well. You should be out of the mines by at least 12 am, but this could also be cutting it close.

 

- When you gain access to/start completing the Community Bundles, you'll constantly be traveling to the Community Center all the time to find out what items you need for each bundle, eating up precious time each day. Instead, it is possible to access Community Bundles from your inventory without having to go to the Community Center! All you have to do is press '' and move the pointer across to the 'Organize' button and then go up to the 'Community Bundles' button! You can now view the Bundles without having to go to the Center! (Credit to RizzleAbbey12)

 

- You can use the L1/R1 buttons to shift through more inventory space after upgrading your backpack. (Credit to Xillia)

 

Farming Tips

 

Fishing Tips

 

Foraging Tips

 

Mining Tips

- I actually learned this from a youtube video while looking for tips for mining a while back. When you eat any given food item, such as a pizza or ice-cream, you are given an invincibility frame which can be crucial when in the mines and utilizing bombs to clear out each floor faster. Because of this, chow down on an item right before the bomb explodes and you should take no damage while reaping the benefits of whatever is dropped from the bombs explosion.

 

- Rainy days are the best days to spend time mining if you do not have any other goals in mind! The rainwater will take care of watering your farm and free up some of your morning time, which means you can spend more time digging up rare ores and filling your backpack with materials for later usage. (Credit to g-bake_1986)

 

Social/Relationship Tips

- Befriending the local wizard in town will allow you access to a special room where you can change your character's appearance for only $500. You can change your character to look normal after making him like the Hulk...what a save!

 

Town/Exploration Tips

- You can search the trash cans of other villagers in order to find items, who knew? Just make sure that you search them when none of the other NPCs are around, or you will be openly judged for your disgusting action.

 

- While exploring or just going about your daily routine, you may cross paths with the traveling cart. Be sure to take a look at what the cart is offering, as it can offer an easier method of obtaining some materials for community center bundles when you don't have the time (or patience) to find them through another method. (Credit to ShakeNBake663)

 

I hope that this topic can get a whole lot of attention, and that the Stardew Valley Community can become more close-knit and connected because of it. I am looking forward to the future of the game and new additions such as co-op that will add to already great adventure that it provides. Who knows, with enough attention to this forum I might create an more organized guide full of tips and tricks for each section of the game (let me know if this would be a good idea!).

 

Cheers and keep on farming, Lawless!

Edited August 13, 2017 by Lawless_Llama
Update

[Abbey97]

This is a great idea for a thread for Stardew Valley!  

I'm currently playing Stardew Valley at the minute and I can't put it down! Here's a tip that I think would be helpful as it certainly helped me out and I haven't found it online so this is for players who perhaps haven't discovered it yet, or haven't been able to figure it out yet: 

 

- When you gain access to/start completing the Community Bundles, you'll find that you have to travel to the Community Center all the time to find out what items you need for each bundle, which takes time out of the short and busy days that you have as a farmer. I found out that you can view the Community Bundles from your inventory without having to go to the Community Center! All you have to do is press '' and move the pointer across to the 'Organize' button and then go up to the 'Community Bundles' button! You can now view the Bundles without having to go to the Center!

I must say though, that this only works when you go through the way I've described above. This is because if you go through to it by pressing any other button to get to any of the other pages, for example, map page, social page etc, then you won't be able to click on the Community Bundles button. 

 

Hope this helps someone!  

 

[Xillia]

L1/R1 to quickly shift through the rest of your bag if you had it upgraded. It took me way too long to figure that one out. >_>

[Abbey97]

11 hours ago, Xillia said:

L1/R1 to quickly shift through the rest of your bag if you had it upgraded. It took me way too long to figure that one out. >_>

Haha me too! At the beginning, I was pressing the buttons and thinking why aren't they working so when I upgraded my bag, it was a nice surprise to see it wasn't broken haha 

[Xillia]

37 minutes ago, RizzleAbbey12 said:

Haha me too! At the beginning, I was pressing the buttons and thinking why aren't they working so when I upgraded my bag, it was a nice surprise to see it wasn't broken haha 

Dude, I played through Spring 1 and Summer 1 accepting the fact that if I wanted to use something, I had to go to the pause screen and move it manually to the top tab. I only figured it out a few days ago when I was watching my bf play.  I felt so dumb haha.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Xillia

[Abbey97]

7 minutes ago, Xillia said:

Dude, I played through Spring 1 and Summer 1 accepting the fact that if I wanted to use something, I had to go to the pause screen and move it manually to the top tab. I only figured it out a few days ago when I was watching my bf play.  I felt so dumb haha.

 

Yeah that sounds about the same for me as well? It could do with telling you what the new features are when you upgrade something. But I suppose it's kind of funny when you figure it out after a long time  

[Lawless_Llama]

17 hours ago, Xillia said:

L1/R1 to quickly shift through the rest of your bag if you had it upgraded. It took me way too long to figure that one out. >_>

 

Good tip! Imagine all the space that has never been used by people that don't know about this...a single tear has been shed.

 

5 hours ago, RizzleAbbey12 said:

 

Yeah that sounds about the same for me as well It could do with telling you what the new features are when you upgrade something. But I suppose it's kind of funny when you figure it out after a long time  

 

The developer just wants us to suffer as we try to wrap our head around what is going on and what is new in each update! ?

[Abbey97]

3 hours ago, Lawless_Llama said:

The developer just wants us to suffer as we try to wrap our head around what is going on and what is new in each update! 

 

That sounds about right ? I can't wait for the future updates to be released as I find myself checking their website most days in anticipation and excitement of something new   

Edited July 26, 2017 by RizzleAbbey12

[lronHulk]

I'm almost at the end of year 2 with most of the trophies completed and never knew about the l1 r1 thing .... lol

 

I'm really worried about the artifact one tho. You could never find them all, Id you are unlucky enough

Edited July 26, 2017 by lronHulk

[Lawless_Llama]

6 hours ago, RizzleAbbey12 said:

 

That sounds about right  I can't wait for the future updates to be released as I find myself checking their website most days in anticipation and excitement of something new   

 

Same here! Part of the reason I started this thread in order to have an archive for older tips and tricks before new updates bring along new ones.

[g-bake_1986]

My tip would be to go mining when it rains. Rain obviously saves you watering plants and you can spend this time working the mine. I neglected the mine at the start of my game because I struggled to fit it in, and as a result, I fell behind with the quality of my tools. Devoting a full rain day to the mine can allow you to build a big stash of ores without worrying about crops.

[MissShake]

Mine isn't much, but don't forget about the Traveling Cart. I've found many items for the community center in there, making it so that I didn't have to find them in other ways

 

Also, get good at fishing. Fast.

Edited August 3, 2017 by ShakeNBake663

[Lawless_Llama]

10 hours ago, ShakeNBake663 said:

Mine isn't much, but don't forget about the Traveling Cart. I've found many items for the community center in there, making it so that I didn't have to find them in other ways

 

Also, get good at fishing. Fast.

 

Nice tip! I forgot about how crucial the Traveling Cart could be in a pinch if you couldn't find the necessary supplies for a bundle.

[Cannibal_Sister]

Couple of things I've found useful: 

- time the upgrades of your tools appropriately (pickaxe in the Spring when there's less rain, hoe right after planting  all your crops, watering can in the Winter when there are no or very minimal crops to water)

- mining when it rains has already been mentioned, but I've pretty much devoted the entire Winter every year to mining

- bait your finishing rod and bring it everywhere. Those few extra moments of fishing can grab you some valuable things or needed items for bundles

- plant trees as early as you can and in their off season (a tree that is harvestable in the spring should be planted at the start of Winter/end of Fall). All villagers love fresh fruit. Regardless of who they are. The amount of fruit you'll gain to hand out when you stumble across an NPC is extremely useful for those friendship levels.

- if you're still in early enough to pick out the cave (fruit or mushrooms), pick mushrooms. You'll get more things for your bundles and some of the mushrooms are much harder to come by.

[Abbey97]

I have a good tip for the Foraging Tip section:

 

I found this on another forum so I take no credit for it but I thought players on here should also know about it so here you go.

In Winter, you may find that your struggling for money or just want to make some extra money. Go down to the beach and till the whole of the beach and you will find you'll be collecting Winter Roots and Snow Yams. After you've done the beach, travel up to Robin's Carpentry Shop and continue tilling and then go behind and continue tilling. You'll find that you'll have about 30 Winter Roots and 30 Snow Yams but that varies from day to day as you can get more and when you sell them, you should get around 5,000g-7,000g each day from Foraging. To make it even more efficient, upgrade your Hoe to the Silver Hoe and you can then till 5 spaces at once.

 

This is will help you to upgrade your tools or buy some animals in Winter and help you save some money for Spring.  

 

[Lawless_Llama]

7 hours ago, RizzleAbbey12 said:

I have a good tip for the Foraging Tip section:

 

I found this on another forum so I take no credit for it but I thought players on here should also know about it so here you go.

In Winter, you may find that your struggling for money or just want to make some extra money. Go down to the beach and till the whole of the beach and you will find you'll be collecting Winter Roots and Snow Yams. After you've done the beach, travel up to Robin's Carpentry Shop and continue tilling and then go behind and continue tilling. You'll find that you'll have about 30 Winter Roots and 30 Snow Yams but that varies from day to day as you can get more and when you sell them, you should get around 5,000g-7,000g each day from Foraging. To make it even more efficient, upgrade your Hoe to the Silver Hoe and you can then till 5 spaces at once.

 

This is will help you to upgrade your tools or buy some animals in Winter and help you save some money for Spring.  

 

 

Wow! I havent even seen that in many of the sites that I have checked for tips and tricks! Nice one!