Goldfish rescue
The Goldfish Festival is a seasonal event in Goodgame Big Farm where I rescue goldfish from a flooded pet shop, look after them by feeding them and collect rescue points for it. Those points turn into both a personal decorative aquarium and a shared happiness bonus for the whole cooperative through the village pond. The key is to get hold of fleas, turn them into bait for fishing and then, above all, make sure the fish never run out of food.
The Goldfish Festival is worth playing flat out mainly as part of an active cooperative - the personal aquarium is a nice happiness bonus, but the really big gain is the long-term bonus from the village pond, and that only holds together in a cooperative that keeps the pellet food coming without a break.
A tank burst in the pet shop and the fish ended up in the river
The Goldfish Festival kicks off with a story from Lana - there has been an accident at the pet shop, water flooded the place and all the goldfish are now swimming around in the rivers nearby. She has already rescued a few of them herself and puts them in my care, the rest I have to find and rescue myself.
For every fish I rescue I get rescue points, and once it lands in my aquarium it starts earning further points on its own over time. The more fish I manage to collect and keep alive, the faster the rescue points pile up.
Fleas from the animal buildings turn into bait for fishing
The basic ingredient is fleas, which I collect as a by-product when harvesting from the animal buildings on the main farm and the gourmet farm - I just farm as usual and the fleas pile up by themselves.
- I take the fleas I have collected to the windmill or the water mill and turn them into goldfish bait.
- Then I use the bait while fishing to lure the goldfish in.
- Oleg can do part of the fishing for me with his fishing gear, if I arrange it with him.
In practice it works for me to keep the mill running at full tilt right from the start of the event, because both the bait and the food go through the same building and the production queue gets long fast.
Rescued fish disappear without regular feeding
Rescued fish live on flakes, which I make in the windmill and which are topped up into the aquarium automatically. If the food runs out, I gradually lose the fish and with them the flow of further rescue points.
The game also keeps an eye on how many fish are still worth adding to the aquarium - once the aquarium is overcrowded, one more fish is no longer enough to raise the rescue points per second, it takes several at once. So there is no point in cramming fish in blindly, it matters more to keep the flake production running smoothly.
The personal reward is a decorative aquarium sized by the points collected
For the rescue points I build up I keep getting hard work rewards along the way, and at the end of the event the main personal reward - a decorative aquarium. The more points I manage to collect during the event, the more happiness, or village happiness, this decoration will end up providing.
On top of that my place in the leaderboard counts too, with a separate ranking reward waiting for it - so it pays to collect points steadily instead of leaving everything to the last minute.
The cooperative can boost the village pond for good
Besides the personal reward, rescue points are also added up across the whole cooperative. If the cooperative collects enough points, the village pond supplies the village with extra happiness once the event is over.
The condition is to keep feeding pellet food into the pond without a break - I send it straight from the barn with a slider. Once the pellet food runs out, the happiness bonus is not cancelled straight away, but it starts dropping off bit by bit, so the cooperative's supplies need just as much care as feeding my own fish. If the cooperative manages to keep the bonus going until the event comes back around, it can work on raising it further next time.
The last chance offer sells better rewards for gold
Shortly before the event ends a last chance offer shows up - I can buy better rewards for gold than the points I have collected entitle me to, and at a reduced price. Once the event is over, no more fish can be rescued and making bait or food no longer makes any sense.
Any bait and food I don't use won't just sit around going to waste after the event - according to Lana, Oleg will take them for Silvia, so there is no need to worry about leftovers.
