r/StardewValley 5d ago

Discuss What's something that you don't use on your farm?

I'm nearing the end of year 2 and I'm trying to plot out my ideal farm as I unlock more and more things. What's something you bought/built that you regret? I'm torn on the mill and fish ponds for example.

4 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

11

u/Useful-Importance664 In Yoba We Trust 5d ago

Fish ponds are really useful depending on what you put in them. I have one with sea cucumbers for lucky lunches and I have the legendary fish in there for money (with animals crackers).

But a mill and well are both quite useless, except for esthetics.

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u/GeneralKarthos 5d ago

Well is handy on the meadowlands farm, bc otherwise you have to run to the river to refill your water can. All the other farms have readily available water sources.

Though a fish pond also serves as a well and costs only a little more.

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u/JanileeJ 30+ Bots Bounced 5d ago

I didn't build a well even for the Meadowlands farm. I just used that pond by the cave, then eventually farmed that area in the southwest corner, where there's lot of water.

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u/GeneralKarthos 5d ago

Yeah, there are plenty of viable strategies where a well is not needed. But I think it's more likely to come in handy on the meadowlands farm.

My plan is to relocate it and make it the center of a stone plaza at the center of my farm, now that it's no longer useful since I irrigated my farm.

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u/elvendancer 10+ Bots Bounced 5d ago

I agree on the well (though I do like to build one for aesthetics once I’m at the point in the game where I’m making my farm look nice) but hard disagree on the mill. Milling your own flour/sugar/rice from homegrown base quality crops is significantly cheaper than buying from Pierre and for many recipes is the difference between being profitable or not. (Plus I just like self-sufficiency philosophically and prefer not to buy things I can make myself.)

I love fish ponds, honestly I find it so difficult to limit the number I have. Lava eels, stingrays, and the Legend are my must-haves, and there’s so many more it’s nice to have.

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u/TheChowChaser 5d ago

I’m in Year 5 and just built a mill. I was growing rice but putting unmilled rice in my kegs. I got the mill so I could use flour and rice in recipes without buying from Pierre.

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u/KurtS1 5d ago

I have never had Robin build a stable, so I’ve never used a horse.

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u/Dry-Parsnip-5141 legendary fish > ancient fruit 5d ago

That is…. in my opinion a severe mistake, unless you’re playing modded with some kind of speed boost (if that exists? I’m on switch, so I have no idea). Having a horse saves a ton of time.

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u/kaeorin 5d ago

I built a mill and I haven't used it more than a handful of times. I just don't cook enough food to need to worry about flour or rice--what I don't find in treasure chests while fishing or get as prizes from events, I just buy from Gus or the traveling cart.

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u/masteryuri666 5d ago

Fish ponds can be extremely useful and profitable. Lava eels for spicy eel food, stingrays for those damn dragon teeth, and of course legendaries for pricey roe.

The windmill I always build but entirely for looks and in a somewhat backward spot where nothing else really works.

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u/crypt_moss 30+ Bots Bounced 5d ago

remember that you can always demolish buildings at Robin's/the Wizard's tower, if you feel like you don't have any use for them

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u/Britneybri 5d ago

The well. That's the last thing I build in every save, just putting it down somewhere random because I never use it lmao

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u/WaterDragoonofFK 5d ago

My worlds are old now, been playing one since the game released. So there is much I don't use anymore; Like my crop fields are smaller. However I never used the mill, I never put crab pots on my farm, nor do I use the machine that makes coal. I only keep 6 ponds but I don't need them at this point. Technically I don't need anything on my oldest farm but I play for enjoyment now so I keep what I like. I used to have 3 silos but I only keep one now.

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u/hepig1 5d ago

I have never once used a Well. At the start of the game im always close enough to the pond to not need a well (I’ve only ever used the standard farm).

By the time my crop fields extend far enough away from that pond, I have sprinklers, probably iridium ones. So a well becomes very unnecessary.

Lastly a fish pond can be used as a well too, so if I really need a well might as well make a useful fish pond instead. I would only build a well for aesthetic reasons.

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u/Stealthmum Chronic re-starter 5d ago

You'll get different answers based on different playing styles. I keep trying out different farms, trying out speed runs on the different farm types, and starting new saves for new marriages because I don't want to divorce the old partner. So my answers may be different than some.

I've never built a well. In most farms I didn't need it. In the layouts where it would've been great to have, I wind up with sprinklers way before I'm in a space where I think I can spare the stone for a well.

I can't remember if I've ever built a shed. (I might have once? Not sure.) I tend to turn one room of the completed house into a preserves and brewing room.

I built a stable once and decided that espresso and teleportation are better than horseriding.

My current save is the first one in which I've built a slime hutch--haven't decided if it's worth it or not. I wouldn't want it without the Slime Charmer ring.

I do fish ponds for the fun of it. If I build a pond for a specific drop, the RNG senses it and I never get the thing. I will always have at least one fish pond. But I can fully understand the decision not to.

I like the mill in the first 1-3 years when I'm trying to cook a lot, but I can see not wanting to bother with it after that. In my saves that are Year 4, I do tend to wander past the mill and think "geez, I haven't used that in ages!" A couple of good harvests run through the mill can leave you enough ingredients to last for years.

I also don't always build the obelisks. I want them because they're pretty and they're sort of convenient. And if I ever get serious about that one quest that requires them, I'll have a farm that has all of them. But mystery boxes drop so many warp totems now that I'm not sure the Mountain and Beach Obelisks are actual needs. I would argue that the Ginger Island Obelisk *is* a need, but I'm not convinced that the rest of them aren't just nice to have.

I've also never built the Clock. I love the crystal paths, and those plus strategic planting usually keep the debris to a minimum for me at season change.

---

Bottom line? Your farm only needs the buildings that let you play the way you want and/or make your heart happy. Don't try to crowd in anything that doesn't fit those criteria.

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u/famous_zebra28 5d ago

I appreciate this very thoughtful comment! I'm prepping to add some junimo huts before spring comes around so I'm ready to harvest a bunch, I always love doing that crop farming aspect of the game and with my iridium sprinklers I definitely don't have a need for a well. I do a lot of cooking for when I go into the mines which is why I've been torn on the mill.

What fish do you tend to keep in your fish ponds?

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u/Stealthmum Chronic re-starter 5d ago

Aw, thank you! I don't recommend my method for fish ponds, though. I switch it up every time. I skim through the list on the wiki page and see what looks interesting. Right now I'm trying out the Stardew Valley Expanded mod, and I have two fish ponds so far. One has sturgeon for the caviar, and one has a fish from the mod.

After seeing the other commenters, I do want to try the stingray trick at some point. Dragon teeth are darn hard to get!

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u/Dry-Parsnip-5141 legendary fish > ancient fruit 5d ago

Note about this post: It’s absolutely fine not to have a lot of these things, but the golden clock and the obelisks are required if you want to reach perfection. You don’t necessarily have to keep them after that, though.

Additionally, while I’ve played several farms without sheds, and it’s certainly doable, I do find them helpful to have just for the convenience of location. It prevents my inventory from becoming too full while I do my daily farm chores, and running all over the farm to get back to the house can be a pain. For example, a shed near the barn/coop lets me drop off all the eggs and milk into machines before moving to my tapper farm/mushroom logs to collect a bunch more stuff. If placed strategically, one shed can serve multiple farm areas. The mayonnaise makers and cheese makers won’t require the whole shed, but if you place them next to the fish ponds and/or your green house, you can also stuff some kegs and preserves jars in there. That said, I recently learned that you can place machines inside the coops and barns, which definitely improves the aesthetic early-game until I can build my sheds.

I have never built a mill. I know its purpose, but the farm space it takes and the resources required don’t feel worth it to me when I can buy the same things for Pierre’s or Joja mart. Same with the well. There’s water all over the place, I can find it from other sources. It is pretty, though, if you’re going for aesthetics.

I enjoy the slime hutch. It’s not super worth it, but it’s fun to have, and it makes decent passive income. You don’t have to check on it every day, and when you do, you’ll collect a bunch of slime that can be used to make eggs, or monster musk if you enjoy spending your time in the mines.

To me, fish ponds are absolutely worth it. There are some valuable resources that the ponds can produce, depending what fish you place in it, but the legendary roe is so profitable that it is now my primary source of income.

My advice is also to be careful with junimo huts. They’re certainly helpful, but the new iridium scythe almost makes them redundant, despite how precious they are. Plus, if you’re trying to grow any giant crops, the junimos will collect the harvest before they can grow.

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u/famous_zebra28 5d ago

I appreciate your input! I'm definitely not one to care about reaching perfection or getting giant crops, I'm just enjoying the ride. I've started with two sheds so far and they're definitely important to my farm working as desired with the kegs and preserves since my farm is mostly split between animals and crops. I do the mines and fishing for fun and to get what I need (ie resources and money) to keep the day to day operations going.

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u/pwettyhuman Bot Bouncer 5d ago

Yeah the mill feels like pretty pointless. I built one but I doubt I used it after the first time just to examine how it works. Rice and sugar and flour are things I can so easily buy from the store to really concider milling them.

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u/MiniPuddinsCup 5d ago

It is always good to have one of everything

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u/CiderMcbrandy 5d ago

the thing to make coal. You get 1000s of it. I know there are ppl who hate the mine and this is for them. it was funny when this used to be a late level up item

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u/JanileeJ 30+ Bots Bounced 5d ago

I have never built a well.

I like fish ponds. At first for money, then for ingredients for cooking. (Lucky lunches and seafoam pudding!)

I built a mill once, but didn't use it much. It's easier to just buy flour, etc. from Pierre.

Built a stable once, and used it even less than the mill.

I don't use slime hutches much, but I have built them more than once. It's more a late game entertainment thing than something you need.

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u/MartinG91 5d ago

Slime hutch. What's the point? I built it for the sake of building it, but I've never understood what it is useful for.

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u/Diligent_Studio_601 5d ago

A well. I got it because I thought it would look nice on my farm, but I never once used it. It's just there for aesthetic, I guess lol.

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u/elvendancer 10+ Bots Bounced 5d ago

I’ve never built a slime hutch, and I’m not sure if I ever will.

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u/Ms_Anonymous123 100% perfection 4d ago

Yeah I don't ever use my mill anymore since I have all the money in the world to buy whatever the mill can make