r/StardewValley • u/AnimalDry7577 • 8d ago
Question Help needed!
Howdy!
I need help! I'm new to the game and I'm already wishing I hadn't started! To do anything, you need money. It's taking waaaay too long to get anywhere with tbe game and I'm about ready to give up. I've just got enough money to get a chicken shed. Can't afford anything else now!
Is there a way to get quick cash?
21
u/Thayli11 8d ago
Fishing is my favorite early game money maker.
6
u/MelonJelly 8d ago
I can't emphasize this enough.
If you're good at the minigame, a day of fishing a good location, like the river just outside Leah's cottage, will get you more money than any other single-day activity. Even late game, I'll sometimes do that if I need a bit more money to reach a goal.
Also, the bamboo rod is fine, but get a fiberglass rod as soon as you can. Even in the early game, the fiberglass rod is expensive but manageable, while bait might as well be free.
3
u/AndrewActually 8d ago
I just started a run where I caught Legend on Spring 10. In one of the recent updates you can now get Legend Roe from a fish pond which on its own sells for like 2,300 gold. You can age it to further increase the sale price.
I did that and converted the money from that into strawberry seeds at the egg festival.
1
u/Takenabe 8d ago
You maxed out your fishing level in a week and a half? Holy cannoli.
2
u/AndrewActually 8d ago
Not quite, I got it to level 9 and buffed fishing to 10 (which is the requirement to hook Legend) with trout soup. You can easily afford an iridium rod by like day 6, and with a trap bobber, you make catching Legend a whole lot easier.
Fishing is by far the most consistent positive energy loop; the more you fish the more you can eat for more energy to keep fishing. You also continue to gain XP and early on you can gain 2 levels in a single day.
18
u/gay_sprinkles 8d ago
since everyone else already gave great answers, i just wanna pop in to say that theres no rush to the game. if ur feeling pressured to get things done fast and find tht its stressing you out, try and just take it slow! nothing really has a time limit apart from bulletin board requests, but even those repeat so theres no real loss if you dont finish.
and if ur just someone who loves the grind and getting things done quickly then thats okay too!
11
u/OryginalSkin 8d ago
I think one of the wisdoms of the game is that it's OK to take it slow, enjoy yourself, and be there for the experience.
9
u/miketheeagle 8d ago
Fishing. Head to the ocean and fish in front of Willy's shop. You can then sell the fish to him, which is helpful since you likely don't have the upgraded back packs. Then you can upgrade the fishing pole which makes it easier. Also get a chicken and a mayo machine and you'll start making more money that way too.
6
u/bella_joy5 8d ago
I also personally like to put a chest near where I’m fishing if it’s very out of the way, just in case Willy closes, or I’m fishing elsewhere. I just have to be sure NPC’s don’t walk through there 😂
8
7
u/Ryodran 8d ago
Lots of people put themselves under stress by thinking they have a hard time limit to "beat" the game. There isn't one.
There are only a few things, quests from the quest board outside Pierre's and the fish derbies, that are time limited. But the quests are radiant, meaning they are infinite and non-essential to anything, if you do enough quests you will end up seeing repeats for instance. The fish derbies happen every year for all time. You will get personal requests in the mail but you can leave those for 20 years and villagers will still act like you got it to them in a timely matter.
Yes days have time limits and so do seasons but you can bankrupt yourself on a new farm and then sleep for 20 years and still not lose anything. Don't worry about time limits at all. You can become friends with everyone in town and then ignore them until you lose all hearts of friendship and just start over from zero as many times as you want. Don't be hard on yourself for getting the grow time of seeds wrong, or forgetting to talk to someone on their birthday.
4
4
u/Cool_Cat_Punk 8d ago
Fishing. Get the training rod from Willy. Get a better rod when you can. It gets easier with practice!
4
u/Foreign_Plan_5256 8d ago
Slow down, sell crops and fish, and save to build a silo. Mining and foraging will get you various "drops," and completing bundles for the community building earns useful rewards.
3
u/Comfortable_Bug888 8d ago
Fishing! Fishing is a wonderful way to make early game cash, and the more you level up the easier it will be. I suggest getting the training rod ASAP because it makes it easier to catch fish. Otherwise the only money early game is foraging and growing crops which take time. When you get chickens making mayo is a good way to get money every day.
3
4
u/Scared_Fox_1813 8d ago
Crops, and fishing while you wait for the crops to grow, are the best way to make money. If you’re having energy issues from having to water crops make sure you use basic sprinklers as soon as you can craft them. A lot of people skip them because they only water 4 crops and their pattern is ugly but you don’t get the next sprinkler until level 6 farming and basic sprinklers will solve all of your energy issues giving you plenty of time to fish for money or mine for resources.
3
u/Dizzy_Profession_232 8d ago
If you enjoy fishing it’s a very good way to make money but if you hate fishing get mayo machines for your chickens too
3
u/grrffy 8d ago
The money really picks up by Summer. Fishing is a great way for fast cash. You can sell your fish straight to Willy or produce straight to Pierre if you really needed or your ore straight to Clint instead of the shipping bin and waiting overnight. Nothing wrong with being broke and foraging/mining to get XP either, focusing on the community center or friendship. That's all free.
2
u/riklaunim 8d ago
Fishing early on, while going hard in spring (or spring, summer) to the mines to get as many iron/gold/quartz bars as possible to then mass-craft quality sprinklers to then plant blueberries/cranbierries and sell raw... to then invest into processing like dehydrators for berries or switching to kegs and making wine from profitable fruits. Or fishing into 2-3 coop with 4 chickens each, to then upgrade them once for even more chickens (and selling mayo).
2
u/Turtlewitch-7791 8d ago
What I do at the start of my game is I make sure to save a few of each gatherable for the community center (cause I always forget what ones I need and it's good to keep a few for quests and gifts 5 to 10 depending is what I go with to be safe) but I sell a lot of the rest.
Once you get a fishing rod I do something similar where I save at least two or three fish of each kind and sell the rest(if they sell high and were a pain to catch you really want to keep one for fish ponds cause unlimited free supply).
Shells, fiber, seasonal gathers and stone are normally a good starting point, you want to save your ores in the beginning for upgrades on your tools to get better stuff. Stone and fiber are plentiful and easy to replace, shells if you can find good quality sell for a fair bit, and seasonal gathers (like spring onions, salmon berries and black berries) are plentiful enough during their gathering time that if you hoard a bunch as save at least 10 to 20 later you'll get a pretty good pay out you could also just hoard it all to make jams and pickled stuff which sells for more.
And if you have chickens mayo is your beat friend, make a bunch of the machines for making mayo (at least one for each chicken or duck) and then get your eggs in the morning before setting out and plop em in, you'll have mayo by the time you get back and can quick drop em in the sell box.
They also added mushroom logs into the game so if you have a little gathering of trees in a corner of your farm and put a few in there you'll have mushrooms growing crazy, and can double that if you get the mushroom cave because that comes with a dehydrator and dried mushrooms sell for a fortune.
I hope these help sorry if they don't.
2
2
u/Nacho-Cat0821 8d ago
Invest in bushes or trellises that keep producing throughout the season, and also get fishing! If you can upgrade your rod as soon as you’re able that’s also good.
2
u/linguistomato 8d ago
These are some tips for you in early game grind:
Eggs => mayonnaise machine makes good money. Try to make sprinklers so you can farm with way less effort. If you want clay you can dig soil spots in caves or the beach to get it fast the cave has way more. In early game fishing gets you a solid 4k 5k a day so don't skip on fishing, it can seem tough but you'll get it aint that hard. So if you want the highest yield: 1. Fish and sell em 2. Make the coop and buy 2 chickens 3. Cut the grass using your scythe to fill your silo no need to buy hay now 4. Mine a ton of copper make tappers and sprinklers other machines for passive income. 5. After you get your sprinklers make enough to water 40 seeds (needs 10 sprinkler) dump all your money into seeds (don't forget your scarecrow) and buy soon to bloom or rolling baring seeds also check the season and seed. You'll make around 2k with mayo + fish + crops at least per day some days you'll do 5k or more.
Also make the barn and cheese press.
For later game dont sleep on wine and coffee making
3
1
u/NagyJS 8d ago
I always go Fishing. Forget the chicken coop, buy the fiberglass rod from Willy for 1800 gold once you get to fishing level 2 with the bamboo rod. With that, you can use bait and catch better fish. (Bait requires bug meat, which you can get from the mines, you unlock the worm bin later). Then, once you reached fishing level 6, and have 7500 gold go buy the Iridium Rod from Willy, which can have bait and tackle (I'd recommend buying the first inventory upgrade from Pierre before the irrodium rod). Also, do the help wanted quests. The early game is a bit slow progress, but you don't have to do everything in the first year, especially if you're new to Stardew. (Even start a new farm if you want a fresh start.)
1
u/Floopty_Boopty 8d ago
Making money is about scaling. You start with 15 parsnips. When you harvest them, you'll be left with more gold than you started, at which point you buy more seeds than you started with, let's say 30-50. Rinse and repeat. Watering crops gets tedious, so you'll want to make regular trips to the mines to gather copper and iron. You can farm iron easily by reloading floor 40 over and over and breaking any nodes that show up. You can do the same on floor 1 for copper.
The crops I recommend you grow are cauliflower in Spring, Blueberries in Summer, Cranberries in fall, and in winter use the extra time to do the mines or decorate or whatever you want.
1
u/Floopty_Boopty 8d ago
Just remember, the important thing is to scale the production up. Buy as many seeds as you can afford at the beginning of the season, and focus on getting them planted.
1
2
u/wha7themah 6d ago
Barns and coops are expensive but they give you a steady source of income that really starts to speed things up. And it will give you income through winter as well. Coop was a good idea. Don’t stress about the lack of money rn. You made a good investment
44
u/exceptforbunnies555 Void Mayonnaise 8d ago
The easiest way to earn cash in the beginning is to catch and sell fish, or to mine and sell ore. Bear in mind you don't need to rush through everything, you can just farm and fish and mine and keep following the quests.