10 Things to Know Before Starting Stardew Valley

Fans of farming simulators have a lot to look forward to with the beloved indie game Stardew Valley. Whether you’re new to the game or looking to improve your farming skills, this charming and addictive farming RPG offers endless opportunities for adventure and creativity. With over 100 hours spent in Stardew Valley, I’m here to help you get started on the right foot. Below, you’ll find my top 10 things to know before starting Stardew Valley.

1. Turn On Always Show Tool Hit Location in the Settings

Stardew Valley is a game filled with farming, fishing, foraging, and fighting, all of which require precise tool usage. Early on, I struggled with tilling the wrong soil or missing my target while chopping trees.

Fortunately, there’s a handy feature that can help: the ‘Always Show Tool Hit Location’ setting. Enabling this option provides a visual indicator of where your tool will hit, improving your accuracy and efficiency.

To activate it, open the game settings, navigate to the ‘Controls’ section, and check the box for ‘Always Show Tool Hit Location’. This simple adjustment can make a big difference in how effectively you manage your farm and complete tasks in Stardew Valley.

2. Learn How the Day and Sleep Systems Works

In Stardew Valley, the day cycle lasts for 18 in-game hours (equivalent to about 13.5 minutes in real life), running from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM. Similar to games like Harvest Moon, you cannot work through the night in Stardew Valley. By 2:00 AM, if you’re not in bed, your character will pass out.

Passing out means your character will be carried or dragged back home by various townsfolk, which not only disrupts your gameplay but also costs you money and decreases you total starting stamina for the next day. To avoid this, make sure to head to bed before 2:00 AM.

Sleeping in Stardew Valley offers several benefits:

1. Saving Progress: The game only saves after you’ve gone to bed and completed the profit breakdown. Therefore, getting some sleep is essential to save your progress.
2. Replenishing Stamina and Health: Resting fully restores your stamina and health. If you go to sleep before 12:00 AM, you’ll receive a complete restoration, excluding any exhaustion.
3. Diminishing Returns: The longer you stay awake past midnight, the less benefit you get from sleeping. By 2:00 AM, the restoration is reduced to 50%.

In summary, when in doubt, get some rest. It’s a key part of managing your time and resources effectively in Stardew Valley.

3. The Right Unlocks Early Can Grow Your Farm Fast

At first glance, Stardew Valley might seem like a straightforward farming simulator, but it actually offers a surprisingly deep decision-making system. Your choices on how to develop and manage your farm play a crucial role in your success.

Initially, you’ll start with limited funds but plenty of time. As your farm expands and you earn more money, your available time decreases. Navigating these trade-offs is a significant part of the game’s appeal.

Here are a few early unlocks that can have a major impact on success:

• Unlock the Greenhouse Early: This allows for year-round crop growing, which is essential for maximizing your farm’s productivity.
• Unlock the Minecart Fast Travel: It provides quick travel options, saving you valuable time and allowing for more efficient resource gathering.
• Invest in Automatic Watering with Sprinklers: Automating watering tasks is a huge time saver, freeing you up to focus on other aspects of farm management.
• Upgrade Your Backpack Early: Increasing your inventory space means you can carry more items, which translates to more efficient farming and higher profits.

These strategic investments can significantly enhance your farming experience and help you grow your farm more efficiently. Keep in mind that every decision can impact your overall progress and success in Stardew Valley’s depth.

4. Dig Up Worms for Special Items

As you explore Stardew Valley, you might notice small worms wriggling on the ground. These worms are more than just environmental details—they can lead to valuable rewards. If you spot them, approach and use your hoe to dig them up.

The rewards from these worms can vary, including:

• Materials: Useful for crafting and farm upgrades.
• Artifacts: These can be donated to the museum for valuable rewards and collections.
• Lost Books: These are automatically sent to Gunther at the library. Lost Books provide gameplay hints and tips, which can be particularly helpful for activities like fishing and other aspects of the game.

Keep an eye out for these worms as you traverse Stardew Valley; they can offer beneficial items and enhance your gameplay experience.

5. Build a Silo BEFORE Getting Animals

Animals are a great way to earn easy money, as they produce valuable byproducts like milk and eggs. However, to keep your animals happy and productive, you’ll need to provide them with hay. Hay can be purchased from Marnie’s Ranch or harvested from grass around your farm using a scythe.

To efficiently collect and store hay, you’ll need a silo. A silo allows you to store the hay you harvest from grass, turning what might otherwise be a waste into a valuable resource. Without a silo, grass cannot be stored as hay, making it less useful and leading to additional costs if you need to purchase hay.

Building a silo requires taking the following materials to Robin’s Carpentry Shop:

• 100 Stone
• 10 Clay
• 5 Copper Bars
• 1000G

To obtain these materials:

• Stone can be mined from rocks around your farm or in the mine.
• Clay can be found by digging up dirt patches on your farm.
• Copper Bars are smelted from Copper Ore, which can be mined from copper nodes in the mines.

While the early quest to build a chicken coop might seem tempting, it’s wise to prioritize building a silo first. This strategy not only saves you money but also ensures that you have a reliable source of hay for your animals, especially during the winter months when grass does not grow. In contrast, having a silo is less critical during the spring, summer, and fall, when you can freely harvest grass.

By setting up a silo early, you’ll enhance your farm’s efficiency and ensure your animals remain well-fed and productive throughout the year.

6. Learn What the Townspeople of Stardew Valley Love & Hate

In Stardew Valley, players step away from a soul-crushing corporate job to take over their grandfather’s farm. This shift from city life to rural farming is refreshing and offers a change of pace. However, one aspect of city life that persists is the materialistic nature of the townsfolk in Stardew Valley. Simply put, they love receiving gifts.

To build relationships with the NPCs in Stardew Valley, it’s crucial to understand their likes and dislikes. Each character has specific preferences, and giving them gifts they appreciate is the key to forming friendships. This social system has several benefits:

1. Marriage: Befriending NPCs can lead to romantic relationships and eventually marriage, allowing you to start a family within the game.
2. Reciprocal Benefits: As your friendship with NPCs grows, they often return the favor by giving you gifts, recipes, and other valuable items.
3. Friendship Events: Higher friendship levels trigger special events, including unique cutscenes that provide deeper insights into the characters’ lives and personalities.

By engaging with the NPCs and understanding their preferences, you can enhance your Stardew Valley experience, build meaningful relationships, and enjoy the full range of social interactions the game offers.

7. Visit the Mines for Ore

As you progress in Stardew Valley, you’ll soon find yourself in need of ore, which is essential for crafting and upgrading your tools. While ore is not commonly found on the surface, it is plentiful in the mine.

To reach the mine, head to the northeast mountains part of Stardew Valley. From Robin’s Carpenter Shop (located north of the town), head right until you see a pathway alongside the river. Cross the small bridge, and you’ll find the entrance to the mine. The mine becomes accessible starting on Day 5 of Spring, after the “Exploring the Mines” quest is introduced.

What’s in the Mines:

• Combat and Enemies: The mine is where Stardew Valley’s combat elements come into play. You’ll encounter various enemies and have the opportunity to collect useful gear.
• Ore Veins: The mine features a total of 120 floors, each with progressively better ore veins as you dig deeper. This makes it an excellent place to gather valuable resources.
• Exploration Tips: Be prepared for battles and ensure you bring adequate supplies. The deeper you go, the more rewards you can expect, including rare ores.

There is also a secondary mine located in the Calico Desert, which becomes accessible after clearing out the entire Stardew Valley mine and obtaining the Skull Key. This secondary mine is home to some of the toughest monsters in the game but offers the highest quantity of Iridium Ore.

By exploring the mines, you’ll gain essential materials and experience, enhancing your gameplay in Stardew Valley.

8. There’s a Third-Party Farm Planner For Those Who Want to Pre-Plan

For players who aim to create a perfectly organized farm in Stardew Valley, using a farm planner can be a game-changer. Instead of manually placing, moving, and tweaking objects in the game, the Stardew Valley Planner allows you to design your ideal farm layout in advance.

This online tool simplifies the planning process by enabling you to visualize and arrange your farm’s layout before you make any changes in the game. It’s an essential resource for anyone who wants to achieve a well-organized and aesthetically pleasing farm.

With the Stardew Valley Planner, you can:

• Plan your farm’s layout: Design your farm’s structure and placement of buildings and crops.
• Optimize space: Make the most of your farm’s space by arranging items efficiently.
• Visualize changes: See how different layouts look before implementing them in the game.

The Stardew Valley Planner is a must-have for players who prioritize creating a visually appealing and functional farm. You can access this helpful tool here.

9. Level Up to Improve Your Overall Efficiency

In Stardew Valley, players can level up various skills through dedicated activities. The game features a leveling system divided into five key categories: Fishing, Mining, Foraging, Farming, and Combat. Each skill has a maximum level of 10, with special rewards and benefits unlocked at levels 5 and 10.

• Fishing: This skill is primarily focused on catching fish and using fish-related tools like Crab Pots. The more fish you catch, the higher your Fishing level will rise, improving your chances of catching rarer and more valuable fish.

• Foraging: To level up Foraging, collect wild items scattered throughout the map or gather wood from trees. Increased Foraging skill enhances your ability to find rare items and gather resources more efficiently.

• Farming: This skill grows as you harvest crops and care for animals. As you level up Farming, you’ll improve your crop yields and animal products, which can significantly boost your income.

• Mining: Level up Mining by breaking rocks and collecting ores with your pickaxe. Higher Mining levels increase your efficiency and unlock access to valuable minerals and gems.

• Combat: Combat leveling involves defeating monsters in caves and other dangerous areas. As your Combat skill improves, you’ll gain better gear and become more effective in battle.

Beyond level 10, the Mastery system allows you to further level up each skill, providing unique benefits and enhancing your efficiency in the game. These additional mastery levels offer specialized bonuses that can greatly improve your gameplay experience and effectiveness.

10. Spend Winter Mining/Foraging and Fishing

Stardew Valley features a seasonal cycle familiar to fans of farming sims: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Spring through Fall is the prime time for farming, offering a wide variety of crops to grow and harvest. However, Winter poses a unique challenge, as the cold weather makes it difficult to grow most crops. During this season, shift your focus to other profitable activities like mining, foraging, and fishing to keep your income steady.

Follow these 10 essential tips to jumpstart your journey and become a top-tier farmer in Stardew Valley. With these tips, you’ll quickly build your wealth and establish yourself as the King of Stardew Valley, admired by all. Will this fortune make your grandfather proud? Maybe not—but it will certainly make your farm the envy of the valley.

For more tips and strategies, check out our other Stardew Valley guides to help you dominate the game.

What are your essential Stardew Valley tips? Let me hear them in the comments section below.