There is no doubt that Farmville is fun. However, many people find that it takes a long time to acquire enough money to buy the items they want, and especially to move up the Farmville experience (XP) levels. And what about that elusive ‘farm cash’?
Which Crops to Plant?
If the farmer wants to make money (farm coins), there are several methods including roulette methods. It is best to plant raspberries, which can be harvested every two hours. However, they do not offer XP points. For points, strawberries are best, as they only take four hours. For those without so much spare time who want XP, plant crops which can be harvested once a day, but which offer 2XP. There are quite a number of these.
Quick Way to Gain XP – Plant Soybeans!
For those who don’t want to wait the normal amount of time to harvest their crops, there is a quick way to gain XP, so long as the farmer has plenty of coins. Basically, use an area of the farm to plant a crop, then delete it, plough it, and start again. Each time the area is ploughed and seeded, the farmer will gain extra XP. The best crop to do this with is soybeans, as the farmer gains 2xp, but they only cost 15 coins.
Buy and Sell Farm Items
Buying farm decorations and buildings gives the farmer extra XP. Don’t want them? They can be sold again, or even bought and sold many times, so long as the farmer has plenty of coins, and particularly in the later levels of the game, it is far easier to acquire coins than to ‘level up’.
Help Your Neighbors
Farmers should use their neighbors. If the player gives gifts to neighbors and asks for gifts in return, these can either be used, or sold back for extra coins. Extra coins can be used to gain extra XP in the ways described above.
Farmers can also help on neighbors farms once a day, and also fertilize their crops. This gives extra XP…and fertilized crops also give XP, so it is worth getting neighbors to fertilize one’s own crops.
The trick of helping out many times on the same farm by clocking many times and continually uploading that farm no longer seems to be working; farmers can do this, but the points will not be added!
Save Time by Trapping Your Farmer!
It takes time for the ‘farmer’ to move around the farm to plant seeds etc. This time can be saved, by trapping the farmer within a circle of hay bales. The activity then happens anyway, without the player having to wait for so long.
Another way of saving time is to buy a seeder, tractor, and harvester. Using these for crops is extremely fast. However, the player will quickly run out of fuel, and so the most effective way to use these items is to plant different crops which will need harvesting at different times, so that the farm machinery can be used for each crop.
That Elusive ‘Farm Cash’
It’s no good – farm cash has to be bought. It can also be gained by filling in surveys etc, but the player needs to be careful; these may bring extra spam…and sometimes the farm cash isn’t even added on. Farm cash appearing arbitrarily? One FV seems to be added as the player reaches each level. So if there is something the player wants, it is worth saving up and getting it with that free farm cash.
How to Make Money
Players starting to play Farmville often look enviously at the animals, buildings and decorations which other players have, or which they can see are available, and wonder how they can get enough money to buy them. Actually it is easy to make Farmville ‘coins’, but here are some hints on how to do so more quickly.
Planting and Harvesting Crops
In the beginning, the player should plough and seed as much of his farm as he can. It is mainly through growing crops and harvesting them that money is made. What should be grown? There are many theories as to what makes the most money, but to a large extent it depends on how much spare time the player has.
If he is free during much of the day, strawberries are good, as they can be harvested every four hours. Raspberries are even better, as they can be harvested every two hours, but if the player also wants to gain experience points, he should stay away from raspberries, as they do not give XP points. If the player can only log on to Farmville once or twice a day, crops such as soybeans are better.
Help on Friends’ Farms
Helping out on friends farms gives the player 20 coins per time, and can be done once every 24 hours. However, a ‘blip’ in the system at the time of writing means it is possible to click a second time on a friend’s icon while their farm is loading, and then do so again and again if desired. Therefore quite a lot of coins can be made in this way.
Give and Receive Gifts
It is possible to give gifts to friends once a day and get some in return. The player can acquire trees, animals, and other items this way. However, in the beginning it is better to use most space on the farm for crops, as they give the best return. Therefore the player should only keep a few animals and trees, selling the rest to gain more money. But gifts are free, so it is worthwhile inviting friends to join Farmville and swapping gifts.
Log on Once a Day
The player will be given coins once a day – raffle wins or similar – if he logs on to Farmville. So it is worth doing this even if he is busy and doesn’t have time to do anything else on the farm.
Farm Coin v Farm Cash
Farm coins are acquired free, but farm cash (FV) has to be bought with real money (apart from a very small amount which is given free as one progresses through the levels. For many players, paying to play Farmville is simply not on! However, the player can acquire farm cash by doing surveys and in similar ways. However, it is best to use a new email address purely for this purpose, or the player is likely to find himself inundated with spam emails.
As the player continues the game, he will find that his money gradually increases. Then is the time to start acquiring farm buildings, decorations, and other items. Happy Farmville playing!
