Spring into Spring

I've done pretty well with crop squares during the day. My fields are all in 1x1s (except for pets and 1 tree that never get removed) and I'm getting +/- 30 drops per field pretty consistently. With refinements, miracle tincture, happiness serum, and water, they're ready to be harvested in around 6 hours. I do 2 rounds of those per day, and then a longer overnight crop.
I finished the left side this morning, got the cloud row, and my very first pink cat pen That's all I really wanted, but I'll continue on the right side as much as I can. I'm currently stuck on level 47 and, as always, just waiting on those drops.
Good luck everyone! With nearly 3 days left, there's still plenty of time left to collect prizes.

 

Hi Decree I would love to know what your trick is to getting so many drops. I have been playing since 12/2012 I thought I knew what to do to increase my drop rate. No getting any thing close to what you are getting.
happycallie.

 

Have finished the left side and have 4 givers ...which means i will have to do all of the right side to get the cloud row with the amount of drops i am getting ...I might be finished next year

I got so fed up with waiting for them ...I bought 9 drops to finish the left side

 

Me neither happycallie - I've barely gotten enough potions to make 20 pots and none left over. I need to come up with a game plan!

 

YA first morning harvest with 4 magic tree's 177. last night 2 fields spelt all 1/1's 57 drops. MooBoy what's the deal with the roses?

 

WOW well done oldman49 ...will give that a try over night ...before i give up on the cloud row and fourth giver
Was just about to throw my hat in for this event
Don't think i could stand seeing another field with the pittance of drops i have been getting
Ok young man thank you for telling me

 

nellie dont plant the spelt its not giving the drops it did. i dont know what to plant thats why i was asking mooboy about the roses
they never payed out before

 

Finished the left side yesterday and am @ level 48 of the right....and NO drops left!! My drop rate is awful, sometimes less than 20 for an all-fields harvest. I have a mix of a few stalls around the grow space(mostly pink/neon), production pens, trees - which works really well for my parent farm - but somehow I seem to be in a blank spot where drops fall (or not). Thousands of crops waiting in the wings(1-3 more harvests and done w/event plants)...and NO drops.
Edit: Did the unthinkable and had to buy Basket to get Pink cat. Will buy No More Baskets!

A game 'Challenge' for all you wise farmers!!
"Do I have a chance to finish??"
​

I appreciate all the strategies in this thread so much, and always find many useful things to do/use!! Are you game?! Let's see if we can pull this farm from -0- drops, to Finish!

Summary:

I have 7 plant pots to go, plus 50 potions. 7X20=140; plus 50= 190 drops needed.​

I will try some of your suggestions now....just opened the Alchemist shop and am milling Mandrake powder (thanks for the buff specs, Mooboy!)

1) Crops.
As a newer farm (3 months+ 1 week old today!), I only have minimal refinements on roses, and may not have enough roses or time left to refine and grow-for-drops. I do not have carnations yet. My highest level crop is rye.

2. Animals
I also have a regular Menagerie w/3 Orange bears (25.20 hrs) and 1 Orange Fox (also 25.20 hrs.)which gives 1,083.6 ep, and an upgraded Menagerie w/5 orange cats (13.20 hrs) and 1 owl park (11 hrs.) which gives 864.5 ep. Should I leave them(is the Time long enough, for drops and frequency of harvests?) or put something else in??

3. Trees Most trees left out are for feed, as I mill most of my feed; and a few miscellaneous around the edges.
I have no Magic trees.

4. Buffs CAC and CB always, with other changing ones. I have no Howies, and no CR's with Buffs. LL is @20%.
B. 2; C. 2; S. 2; F. 1; A. 1

5. Miscellaneous

Please number your suggestions (or not, as you will! This is for fun!!)

Thanks, all you 'Fantastic Farmers!', (better heads than mine!) for any and all suggestions offered in this Challenge!!

Oh, yes....Did I mention there will be prizes?!
For each suggestion - such as Mooboy's Buff suggestions - your choice from a nice list of base pens and base trees - to be listed as soon as I figure out which ones! (Requests will be considered! Unless specifically offered, must be able to buy in the Market as a tree or pen.)
Lol!
(This is all impromptu fun, you know!!)

Challenge Chart:
(Number of drops still needed.)
*Begin: March 25, 2017; 2:00p.m. USA Eastern Standard Time(EST)*
Start Point: 190 drops needed.
Harvest/all fields: 28*
Balance: 162
Late Afternoon Harvest/all fields: 14*
Balance: 148
Evening/night harvest/all fields: 33*
Balance: 115
Extra 1:45 a.m. harvest/all fields: 29*
Balance: 86
Amended Daily Total: 104 (4 harvests)
Morning Harvest/all fields: 36*
Balance: 50
Afternoon Harvest/all fields: 23*
Balance: 27
Last Harvest/all fields: 43*
Daily Total: 102 (3 harvests)


*FINISHED!!*
Midnight, March 27,2017


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Well, I see that's not a good daily total (75)! Guess I'll have to do a fourth/fifth harvest per day! (Edit: It's looking better, with the extra harvest!) (Where's the coffee?!! she says, bleary eyed!!)

Edit: The increase in drops for the Last Harvest was due to planting/harvesting roses on 2 fields, which gave better drops.

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Afternoon, March 26th.....41 hr. to go....and I am g-o-i-n-g to make it!! Just 20 more drops and I will be able to finish, as I already have made the last 3 pots!!
I'm getting excited!! This was such a struggle, until yesterday - when you all started giving such good Event planning advice and encouragement!!
Thank youThankyouThankyou!!!!

*FINISHED!!*


​

List of Contributors:

Mooboy (who will get a special prize for inspiring this Challenge, in addition to a regular prize for strategy contribution.)
Poppyseed
SuzeeRabbit
Brookeham
Decree
PuppiesN'Ponies
dafodily

PRIZES

I am having a hard time trying to pick which base tree or pen you might each like, so we will need to do it this way:
Each of you choose one prize you would like from all the base trees or base pens that we can buy from the red shopping basket for CC's (not BB's) - then let me know what it is by igm: Lily_pink ...so I will have a record of it for the next G&T!

HAVE FUN SHOPPING!!
(This farm is also very r-i-c-h, so...^^^)​

​

*>>>(If I miss anybody, please let me know by igm!!)<<<*

 

Wow, Lilypink! Congrats! If you've done all of the left, and through 48 on the right, that means you've gotten 784 drops already and need less than 300 drops to finish the whole event. And you're only 3 months old- you should be giving us tips
Just keep doing what you've been doing, and you should finish with ease.

 

For anyone having trouble with drops check out my thread:
https://board-en.farmerama.com/index.php?threads/general-event-strategies.10970/

I wrote it a couple of years ago after a few years of research. I've been wanting to update it but been too busy with RL for the past three years. Post there if you have any questions. I don't answer farming questions via IGM only in forum because I believe more than one person will have the same question and the information should be for everyone not hidden behind the scenes. If I don't reply in forum then I'm probably not reading the forum. Send me an IGM asking me to look at whatever thread.

My numbers...

	Howies	Magic Trees	Initial Harvest	Carnation1	Carnation2	Carnation3	Current Total
Farm 1	3	2	96	83	87	86	618
Farm 2	0	8	100	102	99	101	628
Farm 3	0	6	136	100	100	93	677

Now that I'm looking at those numbers in the table I'm tempted to pull my Howies. LOL! But it's probably the Magic Trees making the difference. I'm on pace to finish the event so I'm not going to make any changes.

I had critters on the 3 main fields the day before the event because of the Mega EP day which only gave me time for Red Roses the night before the event. As usual I NUKED the first round of starter seeds w/ Hedgehog CR & WI & FC, water, manure, SG & SSG on 2x2s. I did the same with the 90 seeds I got from that. Then I switched to small plots. I grew 7h event crops the first 2 nights. I would have been done with event crops but I don't like being a slave to the game and let the lilies sit overnight for 7h unharvested. Something you can not afford to do if you are worried about drops. At that point I had most of the event crops done so I switched to making drops rain. Third night I activated flower CR and watered "refined" carnations, 11:44h instead of almost 19h. I did 3 rounds of carnations on a 24h coupon. I did supplement one round w/ EOL & SOL so they would fit my schedule. I have not used manure since the first two rounds of starter seeds. I do NOT buy baskets. I no longer waste RM on games. Been making coins there since I have Koalas in the RF, I hope they like rain. Also about 10 pens and 70 Eucalyptus on the Island. Today I will finish with the event crop. Tonight the flower CR will be recharged but I will probably wait until morning to use it again. Then I will grow more carnations because I can fit 3 harvests in one 24h use of the flower CR by only using water. And 3 harvests is more than enough busy work for me. IF things look dire on the last day I will grow "instant roses". But I rarely need to do that. Depends on how much RL interference I get.

EDIT:
I agree with Poppy, if you are more than half way done with event before the event is half elapsed... nothing to worry about. If you accumulate 1/3 of requirements before the event is 1/3 elapsed, good going.

For this event we need 1047 /6days = 174.5 drops/day. Round up to 200 average/day and you're in great shape.

I forgot to mention that I have about 25 apples on one field and 25 cherries on another. I keep forget to delete them. Otherwise I have only small plots on the three main fields.

 

Have got all the givers ...now only need the cloud row

 

Hi SuzeeRabbit! It's great to see you posting.....and that you are still playing!! Thanks for the great refresher course!

Newer players or those having difficulty getting enough drops - Please read Suzee's link!!! It's the best, easily understandable advice for events, preparation and boosting drops!

 

I finished 63 on onside and 46 on other side Seems good.

I was blindly doing the events. After reading your post, I went to see if I got the items. Then only I saw the task bar and I still have to do only 11 tasks.

So I might not be straining myself for drops. Will go slow.

Hi SuzeeRabbit !

 

Thank you for such generous thoughts, Poppyseed, and SuzeeRabbit!!

But I'm afraid they are too generous - I bought a Basket to get the Pink Cat. I'm not getting nearly the amount of drops specified as necessary to finish - thus the basket (which this farm was never going to do! But I just looove the Pink cats!!).

I'm still a new farm and do not have all the many buffs and refinements talked about above. I have been harvesting frequently, which has helped, but doesn't do much for sleeping!

My 24 hr. drops I think may be less than 100, far from the 174.5 specified by SuzeeRabbit.. I will keep track on the Challenge Post in order to know for sure....and I sure hope I'm wrong!

I may be doing well as a farm - but these Events really are stressfull and difficult for newer farms!

Thank you for posting all the detailed information, SuzeeRabbit! It is very interesting - and will be repeatedly referred to!

EDIT: I just noticed that there were 64 hrs, left....and I've been thinking 48! Whew! May be light at the end of the tunnel after all.

 

Lily-pink, you're welcome! It's OK to buy baskets if that's how you want to spend your money. It takes time and effort to build a farm up to complete events. But you're in really good shape for this one. Since you don't have the flower CR you can buy EOL, SOL (or does that require spa being open?). Then use water and manure. Or use SG on large plots with WI & FC. That will speed things along. My refinery has Carnation w/ green love and early bloomer AND red roses w/ early bloomer and water love. If I want to try for "instant roses" I'll have to delete one of the carnations tomorrow, to use on day 6, or buy one of the other slots. Keep in mind... stress of completing events is self-imposed. But yeah! most of us have been there. lol...

I haven't donated anything yet. Waiting until I get 800 drops first.

HI guys! Hope y'all are doing well.

For years now I mostly just check the preview calendar, then the FAQ the day before event. If the event requires a lot of stuff I just check the thread for requirement numbers, too lazy to add them up myself. If life is slow... I read the event thread. Not very often... Otherwise, I just login once a day.

Right now I'm sitting here waiting for my event lilies to mature then going outside to try doing some yardening. I wish I could rent a harvester to pull weeds for me. LOL! It's been three years since I've had time/energy to garden. But I already have my tomato and sunflower seeds... I don't have a really good sheltered area to start them right now. Waiting for weather to clear... then full steam ahead...................................

Thanks for kind words Brookee!

Take care, y'all!

 

Awww...Suzee, you are 1 of the main reasons I finally got brave enough to start posting on this forum, years ago. I love yo ur siggy quotes! I'm glad you still have your great senseof humor! In RL gardening, I've been using those seed starter pods for my sunflowers. You can buy them at the big box hardware/gardening stores. I really like the 2 row kind. They fit on my window sills...they already have dirt....I just add water then the seed. Being in CA, I have sprouts within a few days. Then I transplant in outdoor pots and voila....sunflowers. I repeat through the summer, so I can have blooming sunflowers all the time.

Back to strategy. I finished late last night! I kept in Buffalo and peacocks throughout. I also kept my arboretums in. I believe these helped with drops. The most important strategy(from Suzee's link) is not to let fields or animals sit idle.
I have a theory of BP's desire for us to donate as we progress through an event. Not to wait until we have all the necessary items and then donate. I've been testing this theory with the last few events. I believe I'm receiving more drops by donating right from the get go. Who knows if I'm right? But it's worth a try.

Good luck to all still working on this event!!!

p.s. Thanks to all my loyal neighbors (and broke) for the fab gifts each day!!!

 

I'm in "really good shape for this one"?? Whew!! Sure hope you are right!!
I did not want to spend RL money - but it was a PINK Cat, and this farm is dedicated to acquiring PINKS! LOL!

I still think we should have fun with the Challenge...and you have qualified in spades!What is your favorite tree(s) or pen?

BTW, what are EOL & SOL?

Love your gardening conversation with Brooke...nothing can beat the beauty and freshness of flowers! (....And you guys are giving me the Gardening Bug again, even though the ground is still buried in snow and it's coooold out - brrrr!) Great idea about the seed starters, Brooke!

Spoiler

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Wow, this thread exploded since my last post. I really want to say, AWESOME! The discussion here is exactly why we have forums and a strategy thread. Due to the amount of discussion and different topics covered, this post will be long, but hopefully very useful in helping someone who really wants to succeed at events.

There seems to be some confusion surrounding the use of Crops vs. Stables/Worshops vs. Trees for obtaining drops.
Q: Which is better and why?
A: Crops are better for drops because farmers have more options to modify them with buffs.

Explanation:
The 4 factors which determine your chance for an event drop are:
Time = Base Time to Maturity (How long it takes before you can harvest not counting any buffs which may shorten the time)
Base Event Drop % = Percentage set by developers (Unknown)
Player Modified Drop % = FSQ Trophies, Old Premium, Howie Donuts
Quantity of Triggers = The amount of items you harvest which produces a check for randomly generated drops

Farmers have the most control over Time, and Quantity. We also have a small amount of control over Player Modified Drop %.

At their base level, Workshops and Stables with the longest time to mature (48-20 hours) have the best chance to provide one event drop. Next, would be base level trees with a time of 20 hours to mature. Finally, long growing crops. Time is the simplest to understand, the longer it takes (base), the better chance you'll receive an event drop.

The difference between the three, as mentioned above, is the ability to modify. To start, we can eliminate Player Modified Drop % from this discussion because for the most part, this information is directed at newer players who are struggling to complete events. These newer players have no reliable access to Howie Donuts or Old Premium. Thus, we assume the only available form we can modify is by using the FSQ Trophies which can give a maximum of 30%. Of which, it has been written that anything less than 25% won't have much impact. So new players should aim for 25% minimum trophy level, and continue to try increasing this until maxed. I do feel the need to point out that maxing the trophy levels are NOT critical, but will help improve drops. I feel obligated to admit that at the time of this posting my own trophy level is 29%, and I have not had any issues obtaining enough drops for any event since my farm reached the 25% mark.

The reason why I've been able to complete every event which required an event drop is my ability to manipulate the "Time" and "Quantity of Triggers".

I control time by using specific crops for which I have refined Early Bloomer and Water Love. Other refinements which can control time are SG Love and Fertilizer Love (I never use these, but they can be very helpful in a pinch so I have them refined as well just in case.) In addition to these refinements I use alchemy buffs and Cloud Rows which decrease the total time spent growing. The key to remember about time is that the only time which is factored when determining a buff is the base time, any time you reduce from that base time only benefits you. I control quantity of triggers by using 1x1 fields, and using ALL available fields.

So let's compare the three options which could be used for this event. I'll use Koi Pond, Maple Tree, and Raspberries as examples. I will use all fields which drops can appear, and I'm also going to restrict what buffs are used for crops as there are a number of them which aren't readily available to newer players (CR's). As such, I'm also going to exclude buffs which are primarily obtained in quantity through BB purchase (SG, PF, etc).

Koi Pond - 48:00h Base Time
Buffs used: Church Bouquet (10% Reduction), Ginger Bread/Guava Jam (5% Reduction), Water (20%).
Total time after reduction: 32:40h.
Total space used/per: 2x2 Plot
Quantity of Triggers: 1
Maximum quantity of triggers : 148

Maple Tree - 20:00h Base Time
No Buffs Available.
Total time after reduction: 20:00h.
Total space used/per: 1x1 Plot
Quantity of Triggers: 588

Raspberries - 17:48h Base Time
Buffs used: Early Bloom (9%), Early Bloom (20%), Water Love (7.2%), Water (20%), Aroma of Love (6%), Mandrake Powder (4%).
Total time after reduction: 08:41h
Total space used/per: 1x1
Quantity of Triggers: 588

This shows me that I can double the triggers using Raspberries than I can if I used Maple Trees. It shows that I can triple using Raspberries over Koi Ponds. Considering the base times, I'm able to produce far more triggers because I've reduced the amount of time to grow, while not impacting the base time. Increasing the amount of triggers I produce increases the amount of event drops I collect.

By using all three fields, I am able to control the "Quantity of Triggers" to the maximum amount possible.

Whew...that was a lot. There are some other things I wanted to comment on as well, but I'll wait for someone else to respond before adding that commentary.

 

I Agree!!!!

 

This really isn't very good, and I wonder if you'd be willing to help me understand why? I ask, because the number of questions required to come up with a diagnosis could feel a bit overwhelming.

Crop Squares are a solid choice when chasing drops or refinements. I don't personally recommend them though because other options provide better BV and market utility. Crop Squares don't sell well, so when in a pinch, it's hard to turn them into CC. This means their best use is to trade in during events, of which Roses and Raspberries trade for better values and are comparable in grow time/drops.

The post above this explains the theory I use for obtaining so many drops. There are plenty of crops which can be used for this strategy, and given the amount of time we have for events (usually more than enough time to complete drops) I rotate a variety of crops. Roses, Carnations, Blueberries, Raspberries, Iris, Spelt, Garlic, Spinach, Barley, Rye...really any crop above the 15 hour range. It's really important to use all of your fields, with 1x1 plots, and any buffs which decrease the time it takes to grow. Using a Carrot-apple Chutney tends to make doing this very profitable to either your barn, or your CC. My trophies are also at 29% which increases the rate at which they drop.

Everyone should read this, there's always something we can learn, or re-learn. Plus, it's really nice to see @SuzeeRabbit back in the forums.

EoL and SoL are Elixir of Life and Source of Life, both are alchemist recipes which can be found on the market under the trade goods tab.

I do also want to comment on your purchasing a basket. There are many farmers here who do not pay, that is their right and their choice. You should never feel ashamed or bad if you decide to purchase something from this game, for any reason. Buying a basket, or PF, or a CR, or whatever, only enhances your experience in this game. It's no different than spending money on going to a theater, buying cable tv, etc. This game is a form of entertainment just like everything else. Plus, purchases have the added benefit of keeping the makers of this game in business, and without them we wouldn't have this lovely game which allows us to socialize and interact with people from all over the world. Think of it as a tip for a job well done.