Supply Crate
| Supply Crate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Collection |
| Location | Beach Farm |
The tide leaves things behind on the Beach Farm, and now and then what it leaves is a wooden Supply Crate sitting on the sand. Breaking one open gives a parcel of useful goods rather than a prize: seeds, retaining soil, geodes, cooked food and explosives. What is inside depends on how far the farmhouse has been upgraded, so the crates grow up alongside the farm and a late-game save finds better things in them than a first-year one. Three different crates can wash up and they all hold the same range of goods, so the one on the sand this morning is as good as any other. For a farm that cannot use sprinklers on most of its ground, the retaining soil inside is often the most valuable part.
Overview
The crates are a feature of the Beach Farm alone, which is the map that trades the usual conveniences for ocean fishing, beach forage and a great deal of space. Its central drawback is that sprinklers refuse to work in sand, leaving only a few patches of proper soil in the middle and west where they function at all. Everything else has to be watered by hand or kept wet some other way, and the other way is retaining soil. Every tier of crate carries a stack of it, which is the game quietly handing the Beach Farm the one supply it needs most.
Before the farmhouse has been upgraded at all, the crates are modest. Mixed Seeds, Quality Retaining Soil, plain geodes, a Survival Burger, a cup of coffee and a handful of Cherry Bombs are the whole list, and the bombs come up more often than anything else. It is a fair haul for a first year, when geodes still feel like treasure and a Survival Burger is a real meal.
One upgrade to the farmhouse changes the quality across the board. Ordinary geodes become Omni Geodes, the food becomes Triple Shot Espresso and Super Meal, and a baking section appears with Wheat Flour, Oil and Sugar in useful quantities. Bombs replace Cherry Bombs, and Mixed Flower Seeds join the list, which is a cheap way to keep bees busy.
Two or three upgrades turn the crates into something worth hoping for. The soil becomes Deluxe Retaining Soil, which keeps ground watered permanently and is exactly what a sandy farm wants. Bombs become Mega Bombs, Artifact Troves appear in pairs, and the island desserts Banana Pudding and Mango Sticky Rice show up as the rarest items in the pile, alongside the same flour, oil and sugar.
The three crate designs are purely cosmetic. Each is as likely to appear as the others, and the contents are rolled from the same table regardless of which one is standing on the beach, so there is nothing to learn from the look of it.
Notes
Upgrading the farmhouse pays twice on this map. The usual reasons apply, with more room and a kitchen, and on top of that every crate from then on holds better goods. A Beach Farm that saves for Robin's extension early will be collecting Omni Geodes and baking supplies from the shoreline while a slower farm is still picking up Cherry Bombs.
Walking the shore is worth making a habit. Crates appear overnight and sit where the water left them, so a quick circuit of the beach before heading into the valley costs almost nothing and occasionally pays for the day.
All Collections
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
