The Wilderness Farm is not for the faint of heart. Are you interested in trying it out, but are unsure what to expect? Let us lend you a hand!
How To Select The Wilderness Farm
There are seven farm maps to choose from, and all are available on your New Game screen.
If you’ve already started a game, unfortunately, there’s no way to switch your farm map mid-game. However, you can select the Wilderness Farm by starting up a new game!
An Overview of the Layout
If you want to see what the Wilderness Farm looks like in its full size, check out our screenshot and breakdown of the layout below:
As you can see, the Wilderness Farm’s layout is extremely similar to the Standard Farm. The three key differences are the two large bodies of water and the cliff on the right side of the map.
Both these two additions overall decrease the farming area available on this land. The total number of tillable tiles of the Wilderness Map is 2131, and on the Standard Map, it is a whopping 3427.
The remainder of the map is fairly open. You may want to relocate the Greenhouse after it’s complete to open up the top part of the map further. Crops can be planted in front of your house, or in the southern parts of your farm. The middle portions of the map are sadly not very conducive to planting crops due to the large lake and cliffside.
The Advantages of the Wilderness Farm
1. Challenging!
The Wilderness Farm spawns monsters at night. At the start of the game, these will be easy-to-handle creatures such as the Wilderness Golem and Bats. However, before day 4, you won’t even have a weapon to defend yourself!
The monsters spawn at 7 pm, and after that, you have to expect danger if you want to keep working outside on your farm. This means planning your day in such a way that you are able to handle them. If you’ve spent a long day at the mine and are coming home with low Health, you may be in trouble!
As you level up in combat, the monsters you face on your land will level up as well. Soon, you’ll be fighting Skeletons, Ghosts, Shadow Brutes, and Iridium Bats. This ensures that the level of the challenge remains more or less the same from the start of the game to the end. It also ensures that the loot you gain from killing these creatures is worthwhile!
2. Visually Interesting
The one major drawback of the Standard Farm is that is quite plain looking. The Wilderness Farm improves on this by including the two lakes and adding a lush hillside on the left side of the map. The asymmetrical layout of the farm is a lot more pleasing than the square Standard Farm.
3. Can Catch Mountain Fish
There are two bodies of water on this map that can be used for fishing or for Crab Pots. Fish caught on the Wilderness Farm are the same type of fish you can catch in the Mountain. This cuts down on time quite a bit as the mountain lake is very far from the farm. However, keep in mind that fishing here isn’t as likely to be successful as in the Riverland or Beach Farms.
The Disadvantages of the Wilderness Farm
1. Fishing is Unlucky
As we’ve just mentioned, fishing on this farm tends to be unsuccessful. 65% of the time, you will catch Trash. That sounds like a very high percentage, and it is, but keep in mind that trash can also be useful! For one, Driftwood is a Liked Gift of Leah’s, and Joja Cola is a Liked Gift of Sam’s. The other pieces of trash can be recycled to give you items of higher value, such as Refined Quartz, Cloth, and Ore.
2. The Monsters are Dangerous
The most unique part about this farm map is the fact that monsters spawn here. However, these monsters can be quite dangerous. If you aren’t careful, they can knock you unconscious right on your doorstep.
Players can pass out if they stay up after 2 am or by losing all of their Health. When youas a consequence of losing your Health to a monster, you will be taken to the hospital and lose up to 1000 gold. Additionally, passing out will result in you losing some inventory items.
How to earn money on the Wilderness Farm
1. Brave the Mines
The Wilderness Farm puts emphasis on combat. By leveling up Combat, you make your trips into the Mines a lot easier. With this farm map, you’ll likely be fighting a few errant monsters every day. The monsters scale with your combat level, so you’ll be fighting stronger and stronger enemies, and gaining more and more experience each day.
A Higher Combat level directly translates to more safety in the mine. By focusing on combat, you can potentially increase the profits you earn from the mine due to the fact that you can stay in the mine safely longer. There are three ways to earn money from the mine:
Sell Metal Bars
First, choose whether you want to focus on ores or gems. If you’re choosing to focus on ore, selling Metal Bars can earn you a good amount of cash.
If you spent a lot of time in the mine, you will eventually come to possess a great deal of ore. Smelt the ore with some Coal in the Furnace to craft metal Bars. There are five types of Bars in the game: Copper, Iron, Gold, Iridium, and Radioactive. Each is worth more money than the previous!
To maximize profits with this method, choose the Miner profession once you reach level five in Mining. This nets you more ore per vein in total. Then, at level ten, choose the Blacksmith profession. This profession increases the value of metal bars by 50%! A single Gold Bar is worth 375g with this profession selected.
The best part about this method is the fact that it’s viable long-term. The mines are refreshed every single day, so you’ll never run out of ore to mine and bars to sell!
Replicate and Sell Gems
If you’re choosing to focus on gems instead, this is how to do it.
It’s not a given that you’ll find gems every time you go to the mine. Sometimes you’ll find many, sometimes you’ll find just one. However, to compensate, gems are worth a lot more than bars are.
When you reach level five in Mining, grab the Geologist profession. Now, every time you mine a gem node, there’s a chance you’ll get two gems instead of one. Next, at level ten, choose the Gemologist profession. This increases the value of Gems by 30%. With this profession, a single Diamond is worth 975g!
To take this method to the next level, invest in Crystalariums. These machines are crafted by combining Stone, Gold Bars, Iridium Bars, and a Battery Pack. Quite an expensive recipe, but it’s worth it. Using this machine, you can replicate any gem so that by the end of the process you have two gems.
Sell Monster Loot
Finally, you can earn quite a pretty penny by just being in the mines and slaying monsters. Monster Loot in and of itself is not very lucrative, but the other items Monsters can drop are. The Shadow Brute, for example, has a chance to drop various Bars, Prismatic Shards, and Diamonds.
The Skull Cavern in the Calico Desert and the Volcano Dungeon from Ginger Island have more ferocious enemies that drop even better loot. The Iridium Bat, for example, drops Battery Packs, Iridium Ore and Bars, and Life Elixirs.
2. Fish, But Somewhere else
If you’re a big fan of fishing and want to use it for early game profits, get off your farm. Although it’s convenient to be able to catch Mountain fish right on your doorstep, the success rate of fishing on the Wilderness farm is very low. Moreover, the monsters that spawn at night may interrupt you while you’re waiting for the fish to bite.
3. Focus on High-Profit Crops
While this is true for any farm, it is doubly important for farm maps that don’t have as much arable land as the Standard Farm. You don’t want to waste time and space cultivating crops that won’t be as profitable as another option could be.
Can I get Rid of the Monsters?
Do you love the look of the Wilderness Farm but don’t want to deal with the monsters? Or, have you been dealing with them for so long that you are simply bored of doing it? Luckily, there is a way to prevent monsters from spawning on your farm.
To do this, you must first have access to the Witch’s Swamp. This will become available to you after completing the Dark Talisman Quest.
When you arrive in the swamp, travel northwards until you reach the Witch’s Hut. Here there are three shrines to which you can give offerings. Offer a Strange Bun to the Dark Shrine of Night Terrors to stop monsters from spawning on your farm.
You can find Strange Buns in the mines by killing Shadow Brutes, purchase them from Krobus or in the Stardrop Saloon, or just cook them yourself. Shane will send you a recipe for Strange Bun after their 7+ Heart Event. You need Wheat Flour, Periwinkle, and Void Mayonnaise to make it. To acquire Void Mayonnaise, you first need a Void Egg, purchasable from Krobus for 5,000g.
This action is reversible! You can offer another Strange Bun to break the magi-seal, and allow monsters back on your farm.
Is the Wilderness Farm worth it?
The fact that monsters spawn on this farm is interesting, but ultimately not unique. You can turn on monster spawn in the New Game screen under Advanced Game Options for any one of the maps. So, if you’re looking for a challenge, you need not look for it here. But, if you like the look of this map, by all means, go for it!
