I have never bought a tractor

[TheHeadRemoved]

A year of farming has passed, all the silage bales are sold and the cows' productivity is slowly dropping from no more fresh grass in the trough.

The very Winter of snow that doesn't respect the integrity of any roof has befallen us.
I off course mean it's now a simulated winter in the seasons mod and the time for reflection and rest from the back breaking farm work is here. I can look back at a somewhat large amount of consecutive in-game years in my play trough, at least 5. Maybe a few more.

Has taken me 86 hours, starting almost a year ago on Kendle Farm (brilliant small map).

In this time i have sold totally three tractors, two of them at zero hours and one while at single digits, and kept the oldest and weakest engined of my starting tractors: the New Holland 8340. A very fine tractor with a strong sounding engine and adequate power to use the basic farm tools given at the start of the game. So far it has only struggled with my leased Väderstad 6 meter seeder meant for the large 300 hp but very uneccessary Massey Ferguson i started the game with, everything from running silage bales to get sold to taking care of the fields has been done with this fine machine.

In my opinion there is a great enjoyment in keeping things simple and just use Farming Simulator as a way to be relaxed in opposite to be the one falling over to have the greatest, latest and biggest of all equipment. Am i maybe the only one to see the greatness in doing alot with a little? Reading this forum i feel almost alienlike compared to the assumed average FS player.

"John Deere, Fendt, OMG MASSEY FERGUSON"
...i don't understand how any of that matters when you have the amazing slow paced game of Farming Simulator infront of you. Truthfully i have a hard time wrapping my head around how the make and brand of any equipment matters at all when you can just run a well ordered farm, see it grow and have everything at a manageable scale. 500 cows to be fed each day, ouch. Not having Animal Table Manners mod, huge ouch...

My own 7 fields, 44 cows, a tractor and my Kramer telescopic loader feels like a personal project more than just a disposable game. Something i think many more out there must have experienced as well. But where are those people? Here? To busy farming? Stuck somewhere far inside my own fantasies together with the tooth fairy i met at the bus shelter when i were 7?

Where ever they are i am sure they do exist and are ready to descend on us all at some opportune time while i wait for the snow to go away or a snow blower mod to be installed on my harddrive.

[redglasses]

Thats the best thing about this game though, you can use what ever strategy you want. Cant really bash others for wanting to use a certain brand, you do you man. Keep on the farming man, have fun getting to 100 hours

[Dusty1424]

Head removed,that's a very heartfelt post from someone like me who loves this game,the attachment that some of us have is really unexplainable, after all it's only a game, but once you get into it , it can feel very real especially if you are playing realistically, we all have our own style of play and favourite kit that we like to use. I personally prefer smaller maps and equipment but occasionally I have diverted my attention to a larger one . I think what happens on here is we have the people who post regularly, some who post occasionally and the majority who hardly post at all, they are like you lost in your own game and enjoying it to its fullest.

[cmdrbyron]

The irony is when someone comes up and assumes the mantle of "community champion" for a given cause, when in reality, I doubt anyone can claim to speak for the community when it comes to just about anything in this game, given the diversity and flexibility offered... That is the nature of this game - so many different play styles. This is the main reason I have a hard time leaving it to play anything else, I don't like the imposition of play styles - I want to explore and figure it out for myself, and then turn around and try to do it differently just because I can (and not be punished for sub-optimal approaches)!

[MechPilot85]

I've gotta say, it's nice seeing posts like this in today's internet community.

I personally love these games as well. I grew up on a farm, work a normal office IT job, but help out on the family farm in the spring and fall.

This style of game is incredibly relaxing and scratches a certain kind of itch.

As someone else said, one of the great things about this game is the flexibility it allows. It's great that you don't have to do anything one certain way like most games and aren't punished for playing sub-optimally.

I've been playing since FS2011 and my cousin started playing in FS2013. The two of us together try to play as semi-realistically as we can. We go so far as to try to run similar equipment to what our family uses in real life to actually making spreadsheets tracking crops each in game "season" and how the yields turn out. (Going so far as to convert everything to bushels and acres). But the best part is is that we have fun.

I'm glad others seem to be getting similar postive enjoyment out of the game and are able to each play in their own way.

[kahfs]

Keeping it small, a concept I also try to live by. However, I play with the mod MoreRealistic, which enforces a hard limit on the power requirements for tractors. I experienced this in full when Oakfield Farm came out. The steep slopes on fields required up to 100 % extra power just to manage climbing the slopes all depending on the weight of the implement. Spraying slurry required a really big tractor or a really small slurry tank, the latter not being much of an option on fields larger than 10 ha. Recently I wanted to use a tractor in the 50-70 HP range as a farm yard tractor. It didn't have enough power to operate the feed mixer. So, even if I intend to keep it small, I usually end up with three tractors of 140, 180 and 240 HP to work on 8 - 12 arable fields.

[Gimli54]

As people have said there are so many way to play this game that nearly anyone can play it how they want and it does scratch a certain it and for me personally I find it a good way of unwinding and relaxing instead of being uptight and serious like playing a fps game, don’t mean to sound judgemental or anything I simple prefer to use stuff 6m or wider to at least start my farm and work up, I grew up around a farm that had some large equipment so using that makes it feel at home to me personally, have fun guys

[NCFarmer3842]

I love the post. It makes me feel better to see others who farm like I do.im 90 hours into a 9 day season on my 4th in game year on TWC I am running a small herd of 54 sheep while working 7 small fields of corn and winter wheat. I run equipment between 50 and 100 with the exception of my 180 horse Fiat TurboDT 180-90 which I just use for row crop. I think owning the biggest most expensive equipment just takes the fun out of it but that’s just my play style

[BullFarmer]

I love building up slowly as well, earning my money the hard way rather than using a money cheat.
Feels satisfying when you finally manage to afford that new tractor or piece of equipment.
I have some saves where some of the equipment has 100+ hours on it but I haven’t changed it yet.

[Dusty1424]

Wot can I say guys, I agree with all of the above ,there is no right or wrong way to play this game and that is what makes it so unique, you can farm like the farmers around you or travel to other parts of the world and farm there . I know it's only a game but as someone said earlier it scratches an itch and is a great way to relax for a couple of hours . I personally like smaller maps with older well used equipment , hardly ever wash anything, so it looks even better to me .
When I need a change I will emigrate to the States mod in 50 million dollars buy the whole map and as much shiny new kit as I want . Best game ever , 19 will be even better

[Guitarman]

Really heartwarming reading this topic and seeing so much love for the game.

And it's really interesting hear the variety of different playstyles. Shows how much of a sandbox the game really is.

I play a little differently again. When I start a map I make sure I have as much money as I need and buy whatever I feel fits the map (on Oakfield it was a brand new challenger and axion 800, on shamrock its an older tw5 and 7530). After that nothing tends to change. That's the equipment I stick with. I dont really do it for earning money, but just to farm. Totally agree with everyone saying how relaxing it is! Best way to unwind.

[The Dude]

This is one the best posts I've read in a while. Refreshing to read all positive comments. And those of us that play in a more realistic way.

Add me into that group that doesn't use money cheats, starts from ground zero and works up, and has had many farms above the 100 hour mark.

To me the most important thing that anyone can do when you start is to establish your scenario for that map and stick to it. Having some type of "goal" helps to drive me personally, not so much to "win" but to "achieve". I think having a scenario or using limiting factors better allows me to reuse maps over and over again and achieve a different end. Scenarios or limiting factors I've created:

Own so many of the fields to end that farm
Own so many animals and types or have to have "X" amount of animals from day 01
Limit tractor HP
Can't hire workers
Only bales, no bales, no haylage bales, only round, only square
No auto loading anything tools
No bank loans or limit to a small amount and have pay off time limit
Limit to only 1 or 2 crop types available
Can own tractors only, everything else has to be leased

Just a wonderful game that I hesitantly thought I would play with my young nephew for a day or two, several years ago LOL

[ClassicTractors]

How many hours do you have on the 8340?