Social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace are great for meeting other people, but that’s not all they’re for anymore. Both have their share of applications that can be quite a bit of fun. Facebook has an exceptional game that doesn’t feel like a game at all. It’s called Farm Town.
Everyone is Equal on Farm Town
Everyone starts out at the same level with a certain amount of coins, a patch of land and a few plowed fields. Once the tricks have been figured out, increasing through the levels isn’t only fast but surprisingly fun. Farm Town is also very good at forcing its members (farmers) to remain social. If a particular player wants to be anti-social and stay on their own farm, only to venture out to sell their harvest, they won’t progress very far.
The Employer Becomes the Employee and Vice Versa
In order to earn a lot of coins and increase to the next level, experience with plowing and seeding is mandatory. There is only so much that can be done on one farm, so being hired by other farmers is necessary for quick advancement. How is this achieved? There is a meeting area called the Market Place. Everyone wanders around and announces they would like a job. The key is being there when a farmer shows up that needs help.
The question that probably comes to mind is why would farmers hire someone else to harvest and/or plow their farm? Farm Town is quite clever with their game. In order to maximize profits on what is sold, someone else must harvest the crops.
The going rate is to give the employee 25% of what is harvested, though the remaining 75% is still higher than if the employer harvested and sold his/her own crops. Though this does work well on the game, one can’t help but wonder what this says for real life businesses. Are the developers saying that it’s always better to work from someone else than yourself? It might be nothing more than a way to force interaction among the members. Either way, it is fun to work on someone else’s farm and to have other farmers tend to yours.
How to Advance Levels
The only way to move from one level to the next is by plowing and seeding, and the only way to earn coins is by harvesting other farms and selling harvested crops. The main part of the game is the Store, where anything from seeds to windmills can be purchased. The seeds are the integral part of the store. Each new level opens access to new seeds (and other products for sale). Many farmers see the selling price of the crop and immediately pick those that have the highest payoff, but this isn’t the best way to go. Following is a quick guide of what should be bought and what should be avoided (all the stated proceeds have been averaged per day less plowing and purchase costs):
- Grapes: $96 -- Best deal if visiting farm every 4 hours
- Tomatoes: $35 Worst deal of all seeds
- Rice: $45 – Should only be planted if visiting 3 – 4 times a week
- Corn: $45 – Acceptable if visiting only a few times a week
- Potato: $39 -- Third worst deal of all seeds
- Strawberry: $35 – Worst deal of all seeds
- Wheat: $40 – No reason to use this, since other seeds earn more
- Sunflower: $47.3 – Good deal if visiting only a few times a week
- Coffee: $40 -- Ties for fourth worst deal of all seeds
- Raspberry: $144 – Best deal if visiting farm every 2 hours
- Watermelon: $37 -- Second worst deal of all seeds
- Cabbage: $42 -- Best deal if visiting every day
- Cotton $40 -- Ties for fourth worst deal of all seeds
- Peas $46 -- Acceptable if only visiting 3-4 times a week
- Onions $49.3 Acceptable if visiting a few times a week
- Pumpkin $44 No reason to use - takes 4 days to mature (cute though)
- Carrots $49 -- Acceptable if visiting 3-4 times a week
- Peppers $54 -- Best deal if visiting every other day
- Blueberries $59 -- Good deal if visiting only a few times a week
- Pineapples $64 -- Best deal of all seeds
Plowing has Never Been This Easy
The seeds listed through cabbage are up to level 16, so they should be enough to get any new farmer started and established. The rest are unlocked one at at time as levels increase. Going by the averages given, avoid all seeds with proceeds of less than $42 a day. The best route for brand new farmers who need experience points in plowing and seeding would be to visit often and plant grape seeds.
That way the land would need to be harvested, plowed and seeded every 4 hours. If new farmers have at least 10 neighbors, they should try to hire their neighbors to plow their farms (it costs less to have a neighbor plow than a stranger). Experience points earned are the same whether or not the farmer plows or hires someone else to do it. Everyone can hire a farmer to harvest their land at any time, as long as there are some crops that are ready to be harvested. All crops state the progress by hovering the mouse over them.
This article is by no means an instruction guide on how to play the game, merely to give a few tips on how best to figure it out. There is a detailed help guide to answer any questions or concerns.
Free Games are the Best
The best part about Farm Town is that it is free. There is the option to buy more coins, but with patience and perseverance that isn’t necessary. It’s a great way to spend a few hours or more tending a virtual farm and can be quite addictive. So when twitter has become boring, head on over to Facebook and give Farm Town a try.
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