Main farm
The main farm is where the game begins and where you spend most of your time even after unlocking the other areas. You will find fields, orchards, animal buildings, storage and special buildings here - the game lists 123 types of them, producing 251 different resources and products. Here I go through which buildings I put up in what order, what unlocks at which level and where it is worth reaching for Gold instead of Dollars.
The main farm is the core of the whole game and everything else depends on the resources it supplies, so investing in it always pays off. I would give the most attention to storage, fertilizer production and the animal buildings - those are the ones you simply cannot move forward without, no matter how long you have been playing.
The main farm is where the game starts and the heart of your whole economy
The main farm is where the game starts and it stays its core even once you reach the other areas - you keep coming back here for resources, storage and the special buildings you will not find anywhere else. The game lists 123 different buildings and 251 products and resources for it, which makes it by far the most varied part of your economy.
The buildings fall into a few clear groups - fields, the farmhouse, houses, storage, production buildings, orchards, animal buildings, the shop and a whole range of special or purely decorative buildings. Each one unlocks from a certain farm level (plenty of them right from the start) and can then be upgraded up to its own maximum level, so even a building you put up in your first minutes of playing stays with you for the rest of the game.
An overview of the key buildings shows how prices and level caps grow
For this overview I picked the buildings I deal with most often on the main farm - with the level they unlock at, the price of the first stage and the upgrade cap. Later stages cost more, the table only shows the entry price.
| Building | From level | Price of stage 1 | Max. level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field | 0 | 250 Dollars | 10 |
| Fertile field | 0 | 350 Gold | 11 |
| Barn | 0 | 1000 Dollars | 12 |
| Spacious barn | 0 | 450 Gold | 12 |
| Windmill | 0 | 50 Dollars | 10 |
| Silo | 4 | 1000 Dollars | 8 |
| Composter | 6 | 700 Dollars | 8 |
| Chicken coop | 0 | 1500 Dollars | 10 |
| Pigsty | 7 | 2000 Dollars | 10 |
| Cowshed | 13 | 8000 Dollars | 10 |
| Apple orchard | 5 | 3500 Dollars | 9 |
| Cherry orchard | 15 | 9000 Dollars | 9 |
| Water tower | 14 | 1300 Gold | 5 |
| Farm laboratory | 11 | 100,000 Dollars | 100 |
Fields and orchards supply the farm with crops and fruit
On your fields you grow basic crops such as Wheat, Corn, Rice, Rapeseed or Sunflowers, and later on Yellow hibiscus, Meadow flowers, Roses and Magic beans. Each of them has its own seed - Rapeseed seeds, Yellow hibiscus seeds, Sunflower seeds, Rice seeds, Magic bean seeds or Rose seeds - so buying and sowing is something to plan ahead, not to sort out once you have run dry.
The Fertile field is a Gold-paid alternative to the ordinary field - handy when you want more out of the farm without waiting to unlock another field for Dollars.
Orchards unlock later and bear fruit:
- Apple orchard from level 5 - Apples
- Cherry orchard from level 15 - Cherries
As you progress more fruit comes along - Peaches, Almonds, Limes, Grapefruits, Pineapples, Sugar melons and the rarer Gooseberries, Rosehips, Blackberries or Cloudberries, each again with its own seed and, for the more exotic kinds, special seed too. From level 34 the Greenhouse joins in, and the game data lists no fixed price for it in either Dollars or Gold.
Animal buildings and production keep your supply running
Animal buildings gradually widen your range with livestock products - the Chicken coop from level 0 gives Eggs, the Pigsty from level 7 gives Pigs and the Cowshed from level 13 gives Milk. Each of them has three feed quality levels - ordinary, premium and super feed for chickens, pigs and cows alike - which you unlock on the farm step by step as it grows.
The Cowshed also has pricier alternatives - the Copious cowshed and the Capacious cowshed, both unlocked at the same level 13, but costing 280,000 Dollars, considerably more than the basic version.
Production and storage buildings process and hold your goods - the Barn (or the paid Spacious barn) is your basic storage, the Windmill and the Silo handle production, and the Composter makes Fertilizer, which you cannot do without on higher-level fields and orchards.
Houses and special buildings are your long-term upgrade project
Houses can be built practically from the word go (level 1) and you gradually replace them with pricier versions - the Simple house, the Fancy house for Gold, the Grand house and the Country manor, each one going up to a maximum level of 10.
Two buildings have a far higher cap than anything else on the farm - Matilda's farm academy can be upgraded all the way to level 101 and the Farm laboratory (unlocked at level 11 for 100,000 Dollars) to level 100. Both are more of a project for your whole playing career than something you wrap up in a few days.
The rest of the special buildings serve mostly as extras - the Doghouse (from level 6, 500 Dollars, max. 10), the Cat tree (from level 15, 25,000 Dollars, just 1 level), the Water tower (from level 14, 1300 Gold, max. 5), the Workshop (from level 19, 1600 Gold, max. 5), the Nursery (from level 19, 19,000 Dollars, max. 8) and Lester's secret stash (max. 81). A few buildings cannot be bought for Dollars or Gold at all according to the game - the Small farmhouse, the Library, the Garage, the Welcome center, the Harbor, the Cruise ship and the Market hall - those you get some other way than through a regular purchase.
