Farm expansions grow your land and unlock more farms
Farm expansions are the neighboring plots I buy to add to the main farm so I have more room for growing crops and keeping animals. The basic route is to reach the level and pay dollars, but anyone who doesn't want to wait can unlock an expansion earlier with gold. And there is always a thicket waiting on the new plot that has to be cleared first.
Expansions are worth buying with dollars as soon as my level reaches them, because apart from more space they also open up the Gourmet farm, the Flower farm and Decoration Valley. I'd save gold for the moments when I'm one expansion short of unlocking the next farm.
An expansion is a plot you buy next to your farm
An expansion is a plot directly next to the farm that you can buy to increase the farm's total area. The basic route is to reach the level and pay dollars - every expansion only opens up once you hit a specific level.
If you don't want to wait, the same expansion can be made available earlier with gold. In practice that means I don't spread the farm out all at once but bit by bit, as the levels and the building money come in, and I mainly use gold where I'm one expansion short of unlocking the next farm.
A new plot has to be cleared of thicket first
A freshly bought plot always has a thicket growing on it that needs to be cleared before the tile can be used at all. According to the game's own hint, an interesting surprise turns up in the thicket every now and then.
- I clear the thicket right after buying the expansion, not once I happen to have a free moment.
- There is no point putting the clearing off - the plot does nothing for you until then.
Farms unlock each other through the number of expansions bought
The number of expansions bought on a farm decides when the next farms in the game open up. In the expansion dialog I can see the current level for each farm as well as how many expansions I have bought so far, so my progress is easy to follow.
| Farm | Unlock requirement |
|---|---|
| Gourmet farm | A certain level, or 25 expansions on the main farm |
| Flower farm | A certain level, or 25 expansions on the gourmet farm |
| Decoration Valley | A certain level, or all expansions on the flower farm |
The level and the number of expansions work as two independent routes to the same goal - whichever condition is met first counts.
Decoration Valley can be unlocked more cheaply with permits from production
Decoration Valley also has a discount system of its own. Decoration Valley permits bring down the gold price of an expansion, with every permit spent cutting the cost by 1. Permits drop when you harvest production from the mills, the bakery, the shop and The Mermaid Bay.
The game shows the current ratio between permits and the gold an expansion needs at that moment right there at the purchase, so you can work out in advance whether it's better to wait for more permits or simply pay the gold.
