Game Style/Philosophy?

[Diggity]

Not sure where this thread might go but with a few of the latest mods and maps I wanted to try and discover how you guys play the game. This topic has been touched on in many of the past threads but I'm not sure there is a direct focus on the topic? I'm hoping to learn what style or philosophy some of you follow so that I might adopt some of your techniques and get more out of the game. I will describe one or two of my thoughts and we can see where this goes. I play on PS4 so that will influence some of my decisions but I would expect most of the discussion to apply evenly on all platforms.

The new auto load bale trailers for console are really what made me decide to start this thread. I haven't tried them yet but I DO plan on it. I don't consider myself a full blown purist but I do try to play fairly realistic. I use the crop destruction mod and don't drive into a field after planting. I don't use the money cheat boxes. So, I wouldn't mind loading bales the old fashioned way except for how finicky they can behave sometimes. Jumping around and such. If I could see better when stabbing a bale and then set it on the wagon and back away each time I would love it, but that isn't usually the case. Too much down pressure and it boings off the trailer or not enough and it slides along and won't come off the forks. So the new auto load sounds great. I suspect for my current map the new trailer is going to be much too big. The visual aspect of loading bales is really my biggest complaint. I like to drive from the first person perspective and from the cab view it can be almost impossible to see how the bale spike is positioned, until you actually get a bale loaded on the spike. And worst of all is inside a barn, the third person view jumps around so much because of the barn walls and roof that it becomes a visual nightmare because the view changing uncontrollably.

I like to have cows and pigs, but sheep make me crazy for much the same reason when it comes time to load pallets.

I used to feed cows and NOT make bales period. I would make piles of straw and hay near the silage pit and then use the Goweil mixer, loading it with a small conveyor. I did it that way simply to avoid the headache of loading and storing bales. As soon as some operations become tedious and finicky it detracts from the game and I either don't do it of find another way. But, I also feel like trying to make use of as many parts of the game as possible helps to keep it from becoming repetitive and boring.

Before I ramble on any more I'll stop here and see what everyone has to contribute.

[Tuurboclaw]

Right now I am about 40 hours into a restart on westbridge. I don’t know why I like this map so much but I do. I play on hard with no money cheats. This time I planted a ton of trees to harvest right on the first day, and then just did crop farming and silage until my trees grew up. Then I got a high demand for wood chips and sold a bunch. Now my trees are full grown and I am selling logs in between harvests. I have a couple of bigger case combines now, and just bought a semi truck. I also bought field 10. I am saving up for bigger tractor and field 15. The grind on hard is real but everytime I start on normal I end up quiting and starting over on hard.

Thanks!

[Diggity]

"Grind" is a good word to describe how it feels sometimes, but I think like you indicate, starting out on hard seem like the most fun for me. Once I finally get most of the equipment I want or need and about 150,000.00 free and clear I start to hunt for some new "job" to keep my interest. My current map, Altenstein, I have been playing since it was introduced on console and I just now have about 150,000.00 cash.

[Mobias]

I play with a mixture of semi-realism and what I guess could be described as 'arcade' style game play. There are a few little things that make playing as realistically as possible quite frustrating, physics behaviour and that sort of thing. Also, I play on console and I do think that makes a difference. I really want to a get a PC and have the seasons mod, realistic vehicle physics and all the other stuff that simply makes the game on PC so much more of an engrossing experience. I think my point is because so much of the console version is unrealistic it just seems a bit pointless sometimes trying to play realistically.

I get that the repetitive slightly mundane aspect of FS is actually part of its charm but for me there are limits. I've never really been into the livestock side of things on FS but one thing I've realised recently is that you really have to diversify and start doing a bit of everything otherwise it does get boring quickly, even on a big beautiful new map like the West Coast.

[Greengamer64]

I play on console, Xbox one and PS4,. Take out a full loan, swap some equipment, buy some animals, usually cows and struggle to pay back loan. Only when the loan is paid off do I upgrade equipment. I only find the last gold nugget when I get a bit bored. I have plant growth set to slow, using a 4 day cycle to represent the 4 seasons. I often combine or create extra fields to increase farmable area and I enjoy customizing the map a bit to allow hired worker to function better.
Since I am typically using smaller equipment, I did a game save on Who dat der ranch, where I used the money cheat mod to start off with medium size equipment it was fun for a change.
And I often pick a brand theme. West Coast was Fendt, American outback was Case, Sosnovka Zetor, a second play through on the map with another brand feels different.

[AC7045]

I change time settings frequently. When I'm working with animals, I put it to real time. In the fields, X5. At night, X120. I also have growth off, and turn it on a real week after I've planted everything, and I put it on slow.

The reality is, I have know sense of seasons, and if I really wanted to be realistic, growth would be off almost all of the time.

financially I took the max loan, sold off anything I had in silos, sold equipment, bought new, and struggled to pay off the loan. Farm expansion happened very slowly.

Farmers without animals can find themselves with a lot of time on his/her hands. I don't do anything fast, because I believe this game is meant to be played slowly. To get the max out of this game, play easy, maybe even the money mod... find what works, get a routine. You'll find yourself liking equipment then hating others. Get into a groove. If you really love this game, take notes. I figured out high and low prices on commodities, streamlined my planting.etc...

Once that was done, I hit it on hard, with almost full realism. Now I own 5 fields, have four tractors, two combines, cows, pigs. And I'm at around 750.000.00.

This isn't a boast... I've seen many with more. This was just my philosophy and how I do things.

[fenixguy]

For every map: No nuggets, no cheat boxes. Everything else is fair game. To me there is no point in playing if I'm not earning my money.

For Animals (Currently TVTOF): After I do my "chores" (feeding and what not) I'll put the game on 120x until they need feeding again. I keep it on 1x while making hay/silage and other animal needs.

For Arable (Currently Estancia): I keep the time on 1x with plant growth off until I've finished the task I'm doing. I go 120x through the night with growth on fast. Then turn it off and back to 1x for the day.

For a mix (Currently Lawfolds): Keep time on 5x all the time. Tend to animals as needed. Only turn on growth when I want the crops to the next growth stage. 120x through the night.

As far as the magic trailers, I really enjoyed the last year of loading manually/using the in game auto stackers. I've really gotten good at loaders/skid steers/telehandlers. Now I'm so ready to use the autoloaders. Saves a lot of time and I still like to store hay under cover, so I'll still be getting plenty of stacking time.

[Case1370]

I run my virtual farm, basically just as I ran my farm in real life. I use Seasons mod, and I set the speed at 5x, and if things are slow, I will speed up time till I can skip the night. I keep things just as realistic as you can with FS17. I also running the MR mods, with seasons. I have been just using 15 day seasons, but when I do find a real good USA map, that closely resembles the midwest, I will probably go to the 24 days per season, as it will be the only map I play on , if I ever find a real good one that is. I use to even keep records, but do to my health issues, it just got too hard for me to write down everything, as my hands cramp up on me, when writing, so Iquit keeping records.