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Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Dangers of Impatience in Lovely Farm

All the Farming Simulation Games on Facebook have some similarities where Experience or XP is concerned. Generally, the fastest-growing Crops are associated with the least amount of XP Gain while the slowest-growing Crops give more XP. In some games, like Farmville, there are only two values given to Crops: 1 XP or 2 XP. You therefore are not likely to choose a specific Crop simply for the XP value associated with it. Other considerations, such as the market value of the Crop, a desire to gain all three Mastery stars or the need to obtain Bushels as ingredients in a Recipe to Craft Goods will be more important considerations on the whole.

In Lovely Farm, on the other hand, Crops can have XP Gains that range from 1 to 5. As in other Farming Simulation Games, the number of hours a Crop takes to mature determines its XP value, but there are slight variations in the number of hours associated with each value.

I have written about this a little in another post. If you have easy and regular access to the internet and can pay attention on the game constantly, you would do well to plant the fastest-growing Crops in order to gain the maximum amount of XP.

For a player at low Levels, the fastest growing Crop is White Radish, available at Level 1. It matures in 4 Hours, giving 1 XP. If you water it before it matures, you gain +1 XP for that action as well. You cannot water a Crop once it reaches full maturity at 100% but can water it even at 99%. Crops cannot be watered more than once during their growth periods, which means that you gain as much XP from watering the fastest growing Crop as from one that takes days to mature.

At Level 6, you will unlock the Cabbage, which takes 8 hours to mature but gives 2 XP, the same amount given by a Crop that takes a full 12 hours to mature. You still can earn more Experience by growing White Radishes provided always that you water them mid-cycle. If you do not water them, you will earn equal XP by planting Cabbages every 8 hours.

At Level 13, you will unlock the Raspberry, the fastest growing Crop, maturing in only 2 Hours. Remember that a Crop that matures in 2 Hours will wither before another two hours has expired. You therefore need to maintain an almost constant watch on your Farm if you decide to grow Raspberries and reap the maximum XP and profit from your efforts. Water the Raspberries in order to gain +2 XP from each Crop even before you harvest it. Harvesting the Raspberries will give you another point of XP unless your Neighbours have fertilised the Crop, which will boost the XP Gain from the harvest to +2 XP.

Money probably will be an issue even when you have reached Level 13 so you run the risk of losing all of your hard-won Coins if you allow a field filled with ANY Crop to wither. Raspberry Seeds cost 27 Coins and each harvested Raspberry gives 39 Coins. White Radish Seeds cost only 15 Coins and yield 27 Coins, the price of a Raspberry Seed. Cabbages cost 19 Coins and yield 35 Coins, almost the same amount as a Raspberry at harvest.

Greed and impatience are your worst enemies in any Facebook Farming Simulation game. It is far better to plant a Crop that you KNOW you will be able to harvest safely before its term of grace expires than to attempt to earn XP quickly but risk losing all your money when your Crops wither on the field before you can harvest them!

There is an old adage to the effect that 'All things come to those who wait'. It certainly is true where Farming Simulation Games are concerned. It is when you cannot exercise patience that you will be tempted to spend REAL money on virtual expansions or items that can boost your XP rather than allowing your careful and regular farming labours to work for you. I am as guilty of impatience as any one when a game takes my fancy.

In Lovely Farm, I became impatient last night to reach the next Level and planted almost my entire field with Raspberries when I should have known better. Having had little sleep during the previous night, it was a mistake to plant a fast-growing Crop at night. Although I planned to stay awake to watch a programme on the telly, I fell asleep and missed the deadline for the harvest. I awakened a few hours later with grim foreboding that was realised when I reached my Farm and found it filled with withererd Crops. It costs 10 Coins to till any square in Lovely Farm. I therefore had to pay a tidy sum to remove the Withered Crops from my field without earning a single Coin for the harvest. I did not want any of my Neighbours to visit my farm to witness my shame, so I tried to remove the offensive evidence quickly. When I had done so, I did not have sufficient coins to replant! I should have taken a screenshot of the sorry picture of a farm choked with Withered Raspberries as a stark warning to other players.

The only positive note in this tale was that I did reach Level 15 but it would have been far better to have earned some money in the process. Climbing back from a financial disaster like can be difficult. Fortunately, the game awards you a small sum of Coins on a daily basis and you can earn more coins by visiting Neighbours to chase pests from their Farms. If they have been diligent in planting Crops, you can earn extra money by fertilising three Squares and watering three Crops on each Farm. If you have good Neighbours who visit you regularly, you can earn +2 XP when harvesting the Crops they have fertilised.

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