Most of the gameplay inStardew Valleyrevolves around the player doing a few different things, namely: planting and harvesting crops, taking care of various animals, and paying the local carpenter tobuild farm structures. Without the variety of buildings for the player to erect on their humble little farm, there’s no way to build an income from selling farm goods and progress through the seemingly bottomless game.
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That said, there are certain buildings that are more universally useful to players than others. SinceStardew Valleycan be played in a variety of ways with self-imposed challenges, different farm layouts, and more; sometimeswhat’s largely useful for someone playingon the standard farm is useless to another playing their game a different way. With so many strategies and methods of playingStardew Valley,whichfarm structures are the most useful for the average player?
7Slime Hutch
The slime hutch was a relatively new addition toStardew Valley,and one that had many players scratching their heads looking for a use in-game. This building can be used to raise up to twenty slimes, including being able to hatch slime eggs and breed the gooey creatures together to gather and sell valuable resources. Unfortunately, the slimes that hatch in the hutch will still be hostile unless the player is wearing the slime charmer ring. So,what’s the point?
Slime eggs sell for a pretty penny, with the rarest egg (the tiger slime) selling for 8k. The player has the chance to find slime eggs as a rare drop from killing a slime, but they can also farm the slimes in their hutch and use an item called the slime press to create slime eggs. For what it’s worth, this isn’t a bad method to have a passive source of income from the otherwise useless materials that slimes drop. But, if players are getting the majority of their income from places like crops and artisan goods, it may be best to save the resources that would’ve gone into building a slime hutch.
6Mill
The mill produces flour, sugar, and rice from wheat, beets, andUnmilled Rice. This structure isavailable for players to build very early on, but it doesn’t become useful until a bit later into the game. Milling and selling flour, sugar, and rice can be a passive source of income, especially if players have a surplus of those crops, but the mill becomes most useful once the player has unlocked the ability to cook.
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Flour, sugar, and rice are one of the more common ingredients in many of the recipes available inStardew Valley.Being able to make the ingredients rather than drop by the department store and spend precious, precious gold is extremely useful for players wandering into the culinary arts after they upgrade their farm house for the first time.
5Well
The well serves a simple and useful purpose at the beginning of the game: it allows players to refill their watering can at places other than the two ponds on their farm. Before unlocking the crafting recipes for the quality and iridium sprinklers, the well is extremely useful when it comes to efficiently being able to water crops without making long trips back and forth to refill the watering can.
That said, once the sprinklersareunlocked many players opt to automatically water their crops with those instead of manually. While the well can be a cosmetic addition to any farm, it’s safe to say that its use runs its course very quickly once players can craft sprinklers.
4Stable
Building a stable is one of the bigger milestones when it comes to erecting farm structures. It requires a hefty amount of hardwood (one hundred pieces, to be exact) which is a material that’s rather tough to come by until playersunlock the Secret Woodsand Ginger Island. The stable notably comes with an adorable brown horse that requires no upkeep to maintain (and how awesome is that?).
While owning a horse is undoubtedly useful for getting from place to place more quickly and efficiently than the player would on foot, that’s largely where the benefits end. Since they require no upkeep, the horses don’t produce any materials. And depending on where the player puts their stable, it’s likely they’ll start walking places without their horse just out of habit if the stable isn’t close by the farm house.
3Silo
The silo unlocks one of the most satisfying features inStardew Valley. Once a silo is built, players will be able to cut down grass with a scythe in order to automatically obtain and store hay in all their barns and coops. There is nothing that feels better than mowing down an entire field of grass and getting a hefty stack of hay, especially since the item is so crucial to feeding farm animals and keeping them happy. The happiness of the player’s farm animals effects the quality of their produce, so it’s important to keep them well-fed.
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That said, while thesilo unlocks the ability to store hay in each of the player’s barns and coops, that feature becomes less useful once the automatic feeding system is unlocked with the deluxe barn and coop upgrades. The silo is integral for the sole purpose of being able to harvest wild grass and store it as hay, but its other features become less useful the further into the game the player progresses.
2Coop/Big Coop/Deluxe Coop
The coop and all of its upgrades are useful to players, no matter which way they’re playingStardew Valley.The highest coop upgrade allows for players to keep up to twelve animals—including white, brown, blue, void, and golden chickens, ducks, rabbits, and dinosaurs—and installs an automatic feeding system. The different types of animals that can be kept in a coop holds a much wider variety than the barn, with there only being five types of barn animals compared to the seven (including chickens and their variants) that can be kept in coops.
What limits the coop’s usefulness is the underwhelming value of the coop animal’s produce. As it is, eggs and large eggs (including void chicken eggs) sell from anywhere between fifty and ninety-five gold. This is even less than standard cow milk sells for, andsignificantlypales in comparison to the hefty price of sheep’s wool, goat’s milk, and pig’s truffles.
1Barn/Big Barn/Deluxe Barn
The most consistently and universally useful farm buildings is undoubtedly thebarn and all of its upgrades. With the highest barn upgrade (the deluxe barn), players can raise up to twelve animals—including cows, sheep, pigs, goats, and ostriches—and unlock the automatic feeding system, which will automatically feed all the animals in the barn at the start of each day (provided that there’s enough hay in the silo).
As mentioned, the animals kept in a barn rake in much more income from their produce than coop animals. The lowest selling product from the barn is cow’s milk (not large milk), which sells for 125 gold. Owning multiple barns with a variety of animals will make for a steady and substance source of income for all players, especially if paired with the right professions.
Stardew Valleyis available now for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
