Mentor Strategy Guide and Advice

I miss CJAT too. She was one of the first players to make me feel comfortable in the forum and she wasn't an official mentor but certainly did help me along with her friendliness, suggestions, support, and level up gifts (which were usually CAC)

 

Hi farmers and mentors. This is a new farm for a vintage player, I've been around on and off for 5+ years, almost since the beginning. On my main farm I became a mentor about 3 months ago but am struggling to get into the mindset of a new player. It's almost impossible, like a different universe! As a mentor I've had mixed experiences from blinking red chicks to those who know their pathway and whistle through like lightening. No real mentoring needed for the latter but a fun experience all the same. My current chicks are active and slowly working up. They communicate a little in a kind of txt sk. I tnk de mst b yng ppl.
I've started this farm to try discover what it's really like to be a newbie and pick up tips and tricks to help them along the way. I've messed up one new farm already by getting carried away with the drive for speed. I did the Picky Pirate quest far too soon without thinking of the consequences and shot my new farm into the stratosphere.
This farm will not make the same mistake. I've found a lovely mentor, elimino, (lucky me) and together we will work it through.
I am looking for neighbors so if any of you would like to join me please do. Come as you are or start a brand new farm to share the experience. G

 

I also had one leave the minute I sent the welcome letter.

I put it down to the fact that when I got the message introducing the chick it was in Hungarian. So when it got my message in English. I got dumped.

Oh well.

 

Has anybody else noticed that the gifts available for mentor points have changed

 

I dont have a daily prize for level 2 in my shop even thou I havent bought it today or yesterday or before that.

 

I am missing the breeding animal for a level 1 weekly prize. Now, it looks like they will only come after level 2. That was basically the only prize I wanted. I never got more than a second level animal (first breeding level, that is), but it was at least something!

 

Gatsby’s tips for mentors and their chicks Part I – a few observations from my travels as a mentor and chick

1. When you get a new chick send a positive welcome message. Say you’re an experienced player or they will think you’re a computer generated igm (new chicks can get a mentor without requesting one so you may be a surprise).

2. Give a link/directions to the forum. Game FAQ … entries that start ‘Beginner …’ there are several. Can be used for other specific threads depending on questions asked.

3. Buy 100 crop seeds in the shop every day from end of tutorial. Check market prices before buying seeds over about 4000 CC.

4. Tutorial will leave chicks thinking they need to water/manure every plot, it is optional and price of manure can be eye watering. Also explain ‘lightning’ seeding/watering.

5. Save SG, SSG, PF etc, and use selectively.

6. Save BBs, don’t need to buy BB animals/trees for sale in market unless they want to. They appear on level 3 and more appear at every level. These can be won over time on wheel, in events, T/G, Trees/Stables mini events etc.

7. Level I & II animals + XL/XXL trees won on wheel /as rewards/gifted need to be placed on a basic unit.

8. The mill – chicken feed is at the start followed by many special animal feeds with unavailable ingredients, rabbit feed is at the end. Hard to find, may need directions!

9. Gifts – mentors can send 2 gifts daily, one from roost/one from farm. Hi-bear nation is good, gives 200 EP x 10hrs x 5 discharges. Chicks win Orla the owl from tutorial – 150 EP x 10 mins x 5 discharges. Chicks don’t know to place them on field. Otherwise toolboxes are useful but chicks need to know what they’re for. Small buffs are occasionally useful too but that’s another story …

 

That is good gatsby. There are some old threads that got into similar ideas, but they are now archived. A lot of what was in them is now out of date now, so updates are worthwhile.

It would be nice to have one place where we can have threads just specifically for newbies, but that is part of why a mentor forum would b e nice. Ah well...

 

Anyway...venting...i had a great men-tee in Gatsby---hated to see her go. I just had to get rid of all 4 tonight...they stayed at level 3 the whole week...that light never changes...odd?

last week i had a men-tee leave me...bc i the language barrier...he said he spoke some language I never heard...but i did offer to on google translate...

Hey Gatsby...how ya been>??? I posted somewhere else...the mod shut me down because of this blog...i couldnt find it....wish he moved my post....when he closed it down

WOODY...can u IGM me...i tried to send u an email but it says u dont exist...do u have a different player name?

GATSBY...how are u!!! miss ya as a men-tee,,,really!!!!

 

farmer_broke....if u started a new farm...would that be like your 200th...LOL. I think I am a good men-tee. I did offer to use google translate... does anyone know where these languages are from: Euskera. Calalá or Gallegos
Almost sound Mediterranean. I speak Spanish but not those

When farming with Gatsby, I was reminded of a lot of little things u forget...I try really hard to be helpful...but like someone posted...I notice most leave by level 3...for ex: when I 1st started one of the FSQ asked for a 1000 vegetables and than kept increasing...me knowing nothing about tree fruit...was planting hours upon hours of lettuce...would've been nice to know that wasn't necessary.

 

I remember being unclear on several points after the tutorial. One was that seeds and plants are the same thing. That supposedly obvious issue kept me from getting new items for some time at first. To some extent, this might be partially a translation type issue.

Another was that deleting a pen, etc doesn't actually delete it. Since some of the EP givers we get as gifst ARE deletable, its easy to think they all are... and that perhaps other things are as well.

I think there needs to be some learning left. The tutorial should cover the basics of how to play, but that's it.. not strategy or major explanations. That said, it does not hurt to update it periodically, and I think this might be such a time.

To encourage chicks working with their mentors, perhaps a gift could be given to them (the chick) if they do so. We get luv points if we sent emails, etc. maybe chicks should get something of the same in a more limited capacity.
Maybe a pen, tree or CC giver. Perhaps, to keep things from getting too out of hand a chick should have a response that says "yes my mentor contacted me" or "my mentor tried to contact me, but language or other issues made it unproductive", etc., rather than just points for messages. Also, if a chick leaves a mentor, I think it would be helpful to a. have a double check (are you sure?) query and it would not hurt to also ask "could you tell us why?" with A. not interested in farmerama. B. Mentor did not speak my language C. Mentor was rude or very unhelpful. D. other.

In addition, I think having a separate mentor forum, where we could place a few short chick-oriented guides. These would differ from the FAQs in that they would be player generated (the FAQs basically have to stay away from hints and strategies). I am thinking of a basic guide, an intermediate one, and perhaps an "I graduated.. what now" (maybe.. by that time, if they are communicating well, they should not need it).

The first could address some common points of confusion or just basic ideas, such as "you can sell manure", "save your BB, PF and SG".

 

Well said Woody, you've raised some excellent points here. I've worked up several 'gatsby' farms now looking at detail and trying out different ways of farming. I've met some fabulous mentors along the way including elimeno & Grim.

A key discovery for me is that newbies get allocated a mentor automatically. We mentors assume chicks have found their way to the roost and chosen to join the mentoring system but that is not the case. A mentor can arrive uninvited within 10 minutes of completing the tutorial. It's not surprising that many chicks don't reply, they don't know who we are or why we've arrived on their farm!

The tutorial itself is quite misleading and needs revising, as others have said. The basics of buying seeds/animals/trees and placing plots, planting, adding water/manure are there. Also how to mill feed, collect daily gifts from Fuzzles/farmwheel and filling customer orders (as if that's the only way to proceed!). That's all there is in the tutorial. No direction on next steps, no mention of the forum or the market access at level 3 although there might be a random pop up on that. No hint towards getting a mentor to help you!

A welcome message for chicks is important as a first step. Some mentors send a gift but no message, I never stayed with silent ones. A perfect message goes something like this....
A warm greeting ... offering assistance ... this is a fun game that builds over time ... have you found the forum yet ... do you already know the game ... you will receive daily gifts ...
So good receiving a welcome message like that. One mentor sent me a daily list of available gifts asking me to choose. Great, a gift to suit my farm needs.

First steps: At the end of the tutorial the chick will have 3 chicken pens + feed, 4 apple trees + 1 XXL, 99 manure, 9 chickens, 10 apples, Orla the Owl EP giver, about 4,300 ccs and be at level 2.
First task is to make money. I tell my chicks to ignore customer orders and place Orla as it gives 200 EP every 10 minutes x 5 discharges. This gets them to level 3 within minutes + access to the market. Also to buy 100 lettuce, carrot and wheat seeds in the shop (every day!) and plant up the field with 4x4s. With access to market they can assess the prices and start selling.

Depending on farm conditions selling manure in small batches can make a big profit within seconds. Other produce won in tutorial can be sold quickly if priced at a small reduction. Those initial 4,000 ccs do not go far, it's easy to completely run out of money in the early stages. Selling a few rounds of lettuce, carrots and wheat will get profits growing. Milling and selling feed helps out too.

If my chicks can dedicate time to getting started I send them PJam or CAC, it's not easy at the beginning with small yields.
Concurrently I direct them to the FS Restaurant quest and take it up to level 4 to get 48 hr harvest. This is easily achieved with one field and low level crops. Once there, change field to 1x1s, activate buff, buy seeder for 15 BBs and off they go. I know it's better to save precious BBs but there are around 140 BBs available in those early quests so 48 hr seeder to match with the harvester is worth it for the easy farming it brings!

There is also the animal route as an alternative to growing rounds of crops but feed will need to be grown and milled first. 44 chickens and/or rabbits on the field will consume mountains of feed. Personally, I've found that growing/selling oats/sorghum make the biggest profits quickly but there is a huge variation in market prices. Long established markets have a different price structure and rapid turnover compared to the newer ones. It's the luck of draw which type you get. As a comparison, oats can vary between 70-90 cc on an older market but on a new one will hover around 40-60 ccs. When advising chicks it's worth considering that their market may be completely different to your own.

Ahh .. yes Woody, a dedicated mentor forum would be a dream. This thread is now so long it's easy to get lost.
There is a section in the forum index entitled 'Newbies' for questions to be asked but there's not much in it. Perhaps we could hijack it when no one's looking ...

Absolutely not serious about hijacking, oh no! Only a wayward thought born of frustration that chicks need a dedicated thread to help their farms get off the ground. Maybe they'd stay after all ....

 

let me know how the hijack goes...man those mods just look for me to bleep up...i forget all the forums and open a new one by mistake. OR I post something in a thread that doesnt go there...but if we are reading it, and its the players corner...dont get it...
Gatsby & Farmer_Broke; u guys can start your own thread,,,cant u?


Farmer_Broke & Gatsby; u make a great leader>>>>I think you will need to hand hold some of us thru this event...

 

No, a hijack won't work. Among other issues, its the difference between the General and strategy/chitchat sections.

Also, there needs to be a place where new people can go for official answers... and one where we can access all our threads/organize some different threads. For now, we can create them in strategy.

I had planned to so something like that, but its spring clean-up/garden time here, so I won't have time for a while.

 

its a great idea. Mentors need somewhere to share ideas...but also a place were newbs can get answers from the players...sometimes its hard to decipher the faq guide

 

I find it so frustrating being a mentor.
The chicks never answer, most of them don't play.
They never ever send lil box of love.
I always gift and try to communicate but just..nothing.
I can't even get my daily gift and forget moving up a social level.
I'm not sure mentoring is for me...but then I think, maybe the next one will be better.....

 

It is frustrating, I think I have had about 3 out of 30. The 4 i have now I plan on dumping as soon as the heartline is filled...but yea its no fun

 

I just keep giving and giving.....for me, lately, sending the little chicks daily gifts is just another step in the game...I don't bother sending tips or anything anymore as I don't usually get a response.
Have one chick that is currently at level 25....yayDoesn't send those Lil Box of Love Points though...once in a blue moon sends me pheromones.

 

007 keep sending the messages, even if it's just to say what gift you sent them as it helps fill your love points bar.
Good chicks are few and far between, ones that have already quit seem to turn up like the proverbial bad penny
I've started and quit mentoring so many times I've lost count now, might do it again some time as I liked the rent a hopper prize

 

I need a new mentor!
I just left one who did not respond to my messages even though I was such a nice little mouse and sent love points. I did not even receive a welcome letter
Can you believe that? I am so glad to see it was none of you.
I really hope to get a nice mentor this time and I would not mind at all if I got one of you!
I promise I will be a good chick and read all your tips of the day or week or whatever will come in my mailbox and I will send you love points each day....each day! How do you like that?

pst this is me - Meba