Thoughts on Farm Design - Redesigning My Home Farm Part 1

My favorite thing about FarmVille is designing and decorating. I love to visit my neighbor's farms and see what they've come up with. There is no limit to what each farmer can do with the items they choose to purchase from the market, even if they only purchase coin items.

Hay bale art is very popular and I've been amazed at what farmers can come up with, and they often win FarmVille's Farm of the Week contest. But as amazing as they are, I'd rather not waste the coins on the hay bales, particularly because there's usually not much room left over for farming. It's a lot of creativity and hard work and there is no payoff for me in doing that.

FarmVille is my own personal Fantasy Land. I grew up in an area lush with trees and flowers, and now live in the desert. FarmVille is my escape from the drab wasteland that stretches as far as they eye can see in every direction when I step outside of my house. I keep a lot of trees on my farm, and have an alarming number of small hills (available as free gifts), small mushrooms, almost every kind of water body that's been available in the last year, assorted other little decorations, and of course buildings. The buildings in my town all look the same so I buy up lots of buildings in FarmVille and create villages all over my farm. Many of the buildings I have and that you'll see in the next few posts are Limited Edition (LE) items that cost FarmVille Cash (FV$), but it is possible to design a beautiful and intricate farm without spending FV$. The variety of buildings may not be as great, but there are still plenty you can purchase for coins or find in mystery eggs.

Since the introduction of the English Countryside (EC) to FarmVille, my home farm has gotten a little messy. Actually, it was headed that way before and just kept getting worse and worse as I filled it with things I didn't have room to store and didn't have time or the ability to properly integrate into the existing design.

This redesign will probably take several days and I'm going to share each step with you and show you how I achieve some of the effects I've been asked about. I should warn you that most of these effects are at a cost to plot space; the more intricate the designs and the more numerous themed areas I have, the less room I have for farm plots. On the largest size home farm, I expect to have about 200 active* farm plots at the end of this redesign.

Home Farm

NOTE: All images are linked to larger versions. To better see the details, right-click the image and select the option to open the link in a new window or tab to save yourself from having to page forward and backward as I reference the pictures through the post. 

The above image is a close representation to what my farm looked like when I began redesigning it. I later filled up my stable with as many horses as I could fit (40) to give myself that extra bit of working room and to make it easier to move them when the time comes. I have since cluttered my farm further with LE items that were about to go out of the market. I didn't have room to store them, but knew I wanted them as part of the redesign, so I have fences and other decorations just set down wherever I could find room. The smaller area of farm plots is the result of me beginning to take down one themed area and not having the time to build a new one. Since I knew it was going to take a week or two before I could begin the redesign, I just fit in some plots to boost my coin intake in the interim.


One reason this redesign will take so long is because I have a tendency to hide things on my farm, particularly amongst the trees. The following images are just a small portion of the hidden items; I will share pictures of the animals hidden amongst the trees as my redesign progresses.

Composite image showing some of the hidden items on my farm

More hidden items

Here you can see my Chrome Monoplane used to apply Instant Grow. Can't you see it?

Now that I've moved some trees out of the way, you can see the head of the pig pilot peeking out of the trees

To begin, I first deleted all of my farm plots (after harvesting the grown crops, of course. No sense wasting coins on crops I don't let grow!). I didn't have many, but I chose to select the "Don't warn me about selling or deleting plots again until I switch tools" option available in the pop-up when I clicked the delete tool over the first plot I wanted to delete.

Then I started going through my storage and taking out the larger items I thought I would want on my farm. Because I'd reached my storage capacity of 500 items and there is no option to sort stored items, this took a long time. Items may move around between trips into the barn/cellar, so patience is a must with this process.

Items out of storage

Obviously I don't plan to leave my farm looking like this for long, but bringing everything out at once is the best way for me to see what exactly I plan to work with, determine the scale of items (which helps me determine where on the farm I will put them and how I will place them in relation to each other), and decide which items I will incorporate into the redesign and which will go back into storage to be used at some other time.


I have long wanted to create as many European villages as possible and it's pained me to keep the Eiffel Tower in storage for so long, but I probably won't incorporate it into my latest design. I just can't think of a good way of doing it without creating some sort of French village nearby (I won't hold my breath on ever being able to design a FarmVille Paris, so I'm just hoping for the opportunity to create a French village).


I returned to FarmVille after a year and a half-long break the day after the Swiss themed LE items went out of the market. That meant snapping up the German theme items was easy, but I've always regretted missing out on the Swiss theme. They had a variety of mountains I would love to have, and several buildings. I'm lucky that the Swiss Chalet was offered in a Mystery Game around Christmas, and the Matterhorn is available for 90 zCoins in RewardVille to players level 30 and above. I played several games each day to level up in order to buy the Matterhorn mountains, and now that I have them, I stopped playing the other games because I didn't enjoy them.


The Matterhorn mountains cannot be rotated, which creates a design obstacle for me. In reality, there is only one Matterhorn mountain (located in Zermat, Switzerland), but I want to use all four to create a mountain range. I will have to place them carefully in relation to each other and I want to weave my evergreen trees through and around them. On a hill. With the German town below on the broad side. And the Swiss Chalet below on the short side.


When I was taking things out of storage, I discovered that the garden waterfall from the EC theme LE items is the perfect size to plant at the base of one of the Matterhorn mountains and make it look much bigger. I've travelled to Zermat and know that the surrounding area has a great many waterfalls, so placing it there isn't entirely out of context. Thanks to an avalanche, I never actually got to go up the Matterhorn, so I don't know if there are any waterfalls quite so close, but I'm OK with stretching reality in a game.


The biggest problem I'm facing with this redesign is the German castle, or more precisely, the fences I have stacked around it to give the illusion of height. I can't recall the exact number of fences, but there are around 200 and I don't have room to store them, nor am I willing to sell them because I love them and they're irreplaceable. So I will have to move them, but I'm not sure just yet where to move them and don't want to put them in an interim place because there are so many and it will take a long time.


For now, the work I have to do is purely mental. I need to make some decisions before I do anything else. The next step after that is experimenting: moving things a bit to see how they fit in relation to this or that, can I fit farm plots here if I have that there, do I want to sell off some trees or animals, where are they going to go if I keep them, what am I to do with my mastery signs since I refuse to sell them, etc. Some items will go back into storage only to be taken right back out again, and others will go in to stay until a future redesign.

I will share more when I reach the experimenting stage. It is in that step that I can best show you how to create a rolling hills effect with your farm plots and create a stacked hill effect like that I used to hide my plane. For now, you can find me on my EC farm planting and plowing and growing trees.


*I have several plots of fully grown crops that I never harvest and they do not wither because I have an Unwither Ring on my farm that I keep active at all times. Most of these plots are Limited Edition crops that I cannot replace, so I try to keep them away from my active plots so I don't accidentally run them over with my Combine vehicle.

FarmVille Neighbor Etiquette

It's just a fact of FarmVille life that some neighbors are better than others. Here is a small sampling of the ways you can be a better neighbor. Just remember that no one is perfect and you can still be a great neighbor even if you do some of the things others wish you wouldn't or don't do some of the things your neighbors wish you would.

Try to:
Buy crafting goods: The higher the level, the better the payout for your neighbor and you can help them towards that next mastery star. In exchange for paying more, you will be able to trade the good in for more fuel than a low level crafting good.

Send gifts: FarmVille has three options when sending gifts from the gift-giving tab; Suggested, FarmVille Friends, and Facebook Friends. The Suggested list is neighbors who have recently played, so the gift is more likely to be recieved and you're more likely to have the gift returned to you. This has been a welcome addition to the gift-giving tab and it's the option I personally prefer. Just remember that you can only send 40 gifts every 4 hours and your less active neighbors would like to find something waiting for them every now and then, too!

Visit their farm: You perform 5 actions on each neighbor's farm every 23 hours (the length of a FarmVille day). You can fertilize 5 plots, harvest 5 animals, harvest 5 trees, or perform a combination of those things. Additionally, you can feed the chickens in their chicken coop (and maybe find a mystery egg for yourself and another to share with your friends!), send pig slop if they have a pig sty, harvest 5 seeds from their greenhouse, and sometimes harvest a special token from a holiday event such as valentines from their Cupid's Castle or gold from their Leprechaun's Cottage. When you're done, you can click on the Mystery Gift icon in the top left of your screen and FarmVille will give you a pop-up that allows you to post an item they need directly to their Facebook wall. This might be a nail, wooden board, brick, watering can, or special delivery box. This gift does not count against the 40 gifts you're permitted to send every 4 hours, so it's an especially good way to give to less active players or even active players who you just weren't able to fit on your gift-giving list.

Share what you find: FarmVille can get a little crazy with the sharing pop-ups, and if you're in a hurry, no one will blame you for clicking "cancel" or hitting the red "x" in the corner. Try to farm when you have the time that will allow you to share things. Building an orchard? Every 5 parts you add of 30 will let you post to your wall with a link for your friends to get a building material for their own farm. When you add the last board, brick, or nail, you can share those, too. If you're over level 25, you probably already have your beehive built and producing coins for you every day. But you might have a neighbor who still needs a Queen Bee, so go ahead and share it when you find it hiding in the flowers you're harvesting.

Regifting: Admit it; you've gotten some useless stuff from your neighbors before. You could sell it from your gift box, but that doesn't really help anyone. You might be able to get a few coins from it, but it's usually so few that it isn't worth the effort. Some gift items in FarmVille are re-giftable. You'll see a purple bar above the "Use" and "Sell" buttons that reads "Re-Gift"; click it and use the arrows to choose how many to share if you have more than one. Most (if not all) re-giftable items sell for no more than 16 coins but often they are items that are either very expensive to purchase (puppy kibble, dog treats, vehicle parts, nursery blankets, baby bottles, harness, and horseshoe), or are only available as gifts. It's a great help to your friends if you share what you don't need that they're hoping to find.

Quest help: With the introduction of English Countryside (EC), quests are more common than ever in FarmVille. If you have a lot of active players for friends, their request for help might get buried on your news feed. Just because you didn't see it right away doesn't mean that they don't still need a pint glass or a mouse trap. Occasionally scroll down your feed and click the button to send what they're looking for. You'll get one too, even if you don't need it, but it does not count against your daily 125 click limit. If you don't need it, just sell it from your giftbox.
You can also help your friends on ECquests from the map on your EC farm. You can help anyone who has not progressed as far as you by clicking their name in the chart that pops up when you click the number for that quest portion on the map.

Say thank you: Don't you like to know who got that Disco Tree you just grew or who's clamoring for baby bottles to grow lambs? Don't you hate clicking the link on your news feed to claim something only to find it's gone? Clicking the "like" button tells people that someone has already gotten something or helped with a barn raising. Leaving a comment to simply say "Thank you" every now and then, especially for the most coveted items, is a wonderful way to give back to your neighbor who's just shared something spectacular with you.



Try not to:
Fertilize all: Fertilize all is a fantastic little helper! I personally use one for every harvest, but I wait until just before I harvest to apply it. If you apply it immediately after planting, your visiting neighbors might not have anything to do, especially if you're a very active player who harvests their trees and animals right away. If they run into that, they won't bother to visit. Because there are two ribbon categories that depend on visiting neighbors, you could be hurting their ability to earn them. There is a ribbon for visiting and another for fertilizing crops. If you wait to apply your fertilize all, they can get credit for both the visit and fertilizing your crops. If they can't perform any actions on your farm at all, they won't get any credit for either ribbon category.

Take everything: Whether you use a snag bar or not, you can really hog the goods on your feed. FarmVille is implementing ever-restrictive controls to mitigate snag bars and feed-watchers, and it's hurt the game. But it's still possible to claim your more than your share of things. If your friend is growing their seedlings and you grab every watering can and every grown tree, they might block you from future posts. If you have mutual friends who see that you're getting everything and leaving nothing for others, they might block you, too. Don't think you can't claim things from your friends' posts because you can! That's why they're there. Just be aware of their other friends and give them a chance to get things, too.

Jump to conclusions: A lot has been said in various forums and on websites about players using snag bars. Zynga, the company that owns and maintains FarmVille, was initially silent about these tools, then later said they had no problem with them. Since then, they've declared them illegal and players who were outraged at their invention are on the hunt to get users banned. It is possible to go a snag bar's Facebook application page and see which of your neighbors uses an application by that company, but be aware this does not mean they are using an illegal tool. For instance, you can look me up and see that I have given permission to "Gamers Unite", the creators of the most popular snag bar. But I don't have a snag bar installed on my browser; I use the forums on the Gamers Unite website and I love their feature that allows me to earn what are called GU Credits. My favorite shopping site (Think Geek) is one of many that allows Gamers Unite members to earn GU points when shopping and those points can then be traded in for FV Cash. If you have strong feelings against players using a snag bar and you see their name as a user for a company that makes one, you can ask them why they've given that company permission. Most snag bar users will not conceal the fact that they use one, and by that method you won't defriend a player that isn't doing anything wrong.



If you're one of my FarmVille neighbors, no doubt you'll notice that there are things listed here I don't do. I almost never buy craft samples, and I usually only visit the lowest level neighboring farms, which probably isn't yours. I have my reasons for that, as does everyone who doesn't do something others wish they would or does things others wish they wouldn't. I personally try to make up for it in my own ways (horse and tree breeding), and I know most of my neighbors do, too, whether it's gifting or leaving thank you comments or something else.

Most of my Facebook friends are people I have never met and that I friended through the FarmVille forum in the "Add me" thread. Many of them are mostly friended to people they don't know, either. I have been happily surprised to see that such a complicated network of people who do not know each other can be so kind, accepting, and generous with each other. It's made the game an enjoyable pastime for me and I've developed some real friendships through it.

FarmVille Horse Breeding

FarmVille White Stallion

Breeding horses in FarmVille is a fun and easy thing to do. If you were once intimidated by this complicated process, now is the time to rethink it. As of November 2010, FarmVille has changed the process to make it easier and more fruitful.

You will need a stallion (mini-stallions work, too!) to breed foals, but they're not always available so keep your eye on the Mystery Game and marketplace. When sold in the marketplace, they cost 40 FV Cash. Mystery Games that include stallions are usually 26 FV Cash to play and there is no guarantee you'll get a stallion before the last balloon on the board is popped. There are 25 balloons in the Mystery Game, so if you end up having to pop every single balloon to find the one stallion hidden in there, it will cost you 650 FVC (unless FarmVille lowers the cost of each dart)!

When harvested with a stallion inside, the horse stable will give either a foal, arborists, farmhands, 100 XP, or a coin bonus (on top of the coins you earn from harvesting the horses in the stable). The coin bonus doesn't appear to be the same for everyone and may increase as you breed more often. When I first started, my coin bonus was a little over 7,000 coins. It steadily increased over the next couple months and topped off at 10,100 coins. You cannot share your coin bonus with your friends.

You can share the foal, arborists, farmhands, and 100 XP. Additionally, you will have one put into your gift box except the foal. The foal is only for your friends and you do not get one.

To breed your horses:

1. Remove all horses except your stallion from your stable (first time breeding only).
2. Add the rare horse you would like a foal from.
3. Add a regular (stock) horse that is 34% ready (or higher %). Regular horses refers to Horse (brown horse), Grey Horse, and Black Horse.
4. The stable is now ready, so harvest it!
5. Look inside your stable and remove your regular horse.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you've run out of horses (or time to breed *g*).

If you plan to breed your horses regularly, it is best to leave all horses out of your stable except your stallion and one of your rare horses.

Tips:
Don't have more than three total horses in your stable
Don't breed two rare horses; always breed one rare and one regular
Once you've harvested your stable, you can leave the regular horse inside and remove the horse, replacing it with a 34% (or higher %) rare horse to try and get a different foal
Sometimes your stable will produce a regular foal every time or it won't produce any foals; don't get discouraged!
Horse breeding is a labor of love; if you're not breeding for the joy of helping your friends, look for other things to do

At the time of this writing, the marketplace has a Clydesdale Stallion available for 40 FV Cash. This is a Limited Edition item and is only offered through April 21, 2011.

FarmVille Tree Breeding

My English Countryside Farm (all trees and orchards grown)

To get a particular seedling from an orchard, that orchard must have only trees that produce those seedlings. So if I want Pink Dogwoods, I harvest orchards that only have Dogwood or Pink Dogwood trees in them.

Orchards take two days to grow, but sometimes I want to harvest one or two orchards over and over, so I use FV Cash to run my bi-plane. The trick to keeping the cost down is to NOT harvest anything but those few orchards when all of my trees are fully grown. Then it only costs 1 or 2 FV Cash (depending on how many trees there are between the two orchards) to re-grow those orchards instantly. I think 13 trees (total) is the cut-off for the change from 1 FVC to 2 FVC. 12 trees and under is 1 FVC, 13 starts the cost of 2 FVC. This might vary by type of tree, though, so don't swear by that.

I usually set a limit for how much FVC I'm willing to spend each session I devote to orchard harvesting, but if they're mostly giving watering cans instead of seedlings, I stop and wait until the next day to do it. I just don't harvest any other orchards or the trees placed on the farm and let them sit grown.

If you want to use my method without paying FV Cash, you can. You just have to wait two days between harvests of each orchard, and you might not get any special seedlings for long stretches of time. The key to increasing your seedling production with this method is to have lots and lots of orchards with those seedlings in them. An orchard will grow with just one seedling (but will not grow empty), so you ideally should have two or three orchards with one or two of each of the types of trees you want to get seedlings for.