Riverland Farm
| Riverland Farm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Farm Type |
| Location | The Farm |
| Skill | Fishing |
| Tillable Tiles | 1578 |
| Buildable Tiles | 516 |
The Riverland Farm is the layout built around a rod. Rivers cut the land into a string of small islands joined by bridges, so a farmer here walks a great deal and ploughs very little. The water pays that back: most casts bring up the fish of the Pelican Town river and the rest bring up the Cindersap Forest pond list, so two whole catch lists sit inside the farm gate. Splash spots, the patches of bubbles that make fish bite far faster, appear in this farm's water and in no other farm's, and the map also hands over a Fish Smoker on the first morning, a machine that normally costs a fortune in gold and three rare jellies. The layout cannot be swapped once the save begins, so it suits a farmer who already knows that fishing is the plan and crops are the hobby.
Layout
Water does all the dividing. The usable ground comes as islands and peninsulas with bridges between them, and the shape of each piece decides what can stand on it. A large share of the land refuses a hoe while still accepting a building, which is the reverse of the open layouts: the dead strips along the banks are free foundations, and the few patches of real soil have to be defended for crops.
Six bushes sit on the land and need a copper Axe at least before they will budge. Clearing them turns six blocked corners into usable ground. Trees, weeds and stones go with the starting tools in the normal way.
Getting about is the hidden cost of the map. A Coop on the far side of a river means a morning spent on bridges, so the sensible habit is to gather the animal buildings on one island and put the gates at the bridge mouths. A bridge with a gate across it fences the whole island at once, which saves a long run of fence posts.
Farming
Crops on this map are a sideline, and treating them as one is the difference between a comfortable run and a frustrating one. The islands are too small to carry the wide sprinkler grids that suit the open maps, so a Quality Sprinkler and its three by three square is the tool that actually fits here, with one or two blocks to an island rather than one grid across the farm.
Because the soil is scarce, the places that grow crops without soil matter more than usual. The Greenhouse becomes the main field rather than a seasonal extra, and the farm on Ginger Island later takes the bulk planting that the islands cannot. Fruit trees are a good use of a cramped bank, since a tree needs a clear square around it but only one tile of ground.
Fish Ponds are the honest answer to all that water-adjacent land. Each one breeds a single species and gives up produce without any daily attention, which fits a farm whose owner is out on the bank anyway, and a row of them turns the shoreline from wasted space into income.
Fishing
This is the only farm where the water is worth a rod on its own terms. Most casts draw on the town river list, and the remainder on the forest pond list, so the farm covers both running water and still water without a step off the property.
Splash spots are the standout. Bubbles make fish bite far faster and shift which species are on offer, and the effect spills onto the water just outside the bubbles, so a bobber dropped on the outer rim keeps the quick bites while landing further from the bank. No other layout grows them at home.
Crab Pots work here as freshwater pots, and there is a great deal of bank to line with them. A pot in the river beside the farmhouse is the shortest trip to the shipping bin in the game.
Strategy
The first year runs on fish rather than parsnips. A plain Bamboo Rod from Willy is enough to work the farm's own water from the opening weeks, and selling the catch covers seeds, tools and the first buildings while the crop patches are still small. The fishing bundles in the Community Center also come along quickly, because two catch lists are reachable without travelling.
The Fish Smoker is the multiplier. A fish loaded in with a piece of Coal comes out as Smoked Fish worth twice as much, and the star quality survives the process, so a gold star catch doubles from a gold star price. The trap is Coal: each fish burns a piece, and Coal is also wanted for smelting bars. Smoking a cheap river fish adds very little, while smoking an expensive one adds hundreds, so the machine should be kept for the good catches.
The other trap is the layout itself. Covering every island in buildings leaves a farm with income and no soil at all, and planting across four separate islands wastes half a day in walking and watering. Deciding early which island is for animals, which is for crops and which is for machines keeps the bridges quiet.
Notes
The Fish Smoker that comes with this map is otherwise a long project: the recipe is bought from Willy at the Fish Shop for a large sum, and each machine then takes Hardwood plus three uncommon jellies, one hooked in the ocean, one in fresh running water and one from the pools down in The Mines.
Bubbles change how quickly a fish bites and which fish appears, and nothing else. The size and the star quality of the catch are decided the usual way.
The farmhouse arrives furnished in a style of its own on this map, while the building looks the same from the lane as every other farmhouse in the valley.
All Farm Types
The table lists every layout with the skill it favours and how much of it can be farmed or built on.
| Name | Skill | Tillable | Buildable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Farm | Farming | 3427 | 235 |
| Riverland Farm | Fishing | 1578 | 516 |
| Forest Farm | Foraging | 1413 | 1490 |
| Hill-top Farm | Mining | 1648 | 930 |
| Wilderness Farm | Combat | 2131 | 444 |
| Four Corners Farm | Multiplayer | 2952 | 562 |
| Beach Farm | Foraging and Fishing | 2700 | 1928 |
| Meadowlands Farm | Farming | 2066 | 2141 |