Virtual Farm

My Review :
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Very cute time management game.
Great variety of crops, production units are available.
Market has a dynamic trend, though faster than reality.
Walkthrough is a must if you cannot plan your move well in advance.
Very challenging.
Fair graphics.
Good game play.

Game can be easily modded (leave your email id in post for mod techniques).

Information :
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Big Fish Games

Yee-haw. Slip into the tractor seat and turn a small farm into a booming business. Choose your Virtual Farm crops, then till your ground and water your fields. Harvest your produce and take your goods to market. Once there, set the prices and keep a close eye on demand. With tons of upgrades to earn, you`ve got plenty of customers to satisfy in this hillbilly Time Management game. Virtual Farm will have your entire family squealing like, well, pig.


  • Hillbilly Time Management game
  • Build a booming farm business
  • Eight kinds of crops to grow
  • 15 plants to build
  • 11 products to produce
  • Three field upgrades (farm up to 60 fields)
  • Dynamic market (demand changes every two minutes)






System Requirements :
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OS:
Windows XP/Vista
CPU:
1.0 GHz
RAM:
256 MB
DirectX:
7.0
Hard Drive:
29 MB

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Hints, Strategies :
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Selling Hint :


When selling to the market, instead of putting a big bulk of a finished product (which you might need for an order) in, put in 1-by-1. And every time the product is bought and the market number goes back to 0, put in another 1. That way, when market demand takes a plunge, you wouldn't have 20 of that product cooped up waiting for another big boost in demand when it could have been used to help you complete an order.

General Tips:

Be careful not to expand or buy upgrades too quickly. You will run out of money and miss out on contracts. Contracts or tasks are the envelope that pops up along the bottom.

You need to be able to pay the contract fee on the first 40 tasks. If you complete them all, you not only get the award for completing 20 tasks in a row without missing one, but also the award for completing 40 tasks in a row.

I've started and restarted several times to complete this guide and I do hope it helps someone who is stuck.

Keep in mind that your storage shed is only so big, so with careful planning and strategy, and a little speed and luck, you can make it. It took me about 10 attempts to get the 40 tasks completed in time so don't be discouraged if you miss it the first time through. It is quite a challenge.

Also keep in mind that you can only have 3 contracts at a time. If you can have the order ready ahead of time, it will be instantly filled as soon as you've accepted it, leaving room to accept the next contract(s).

This guide will help you be better prepared.

This is best used with a new profile to start a new game. I've tried and tried too many times to complete the tasks that come later in time without missing any and have found it next to impossible as you can't build what you need and process what you need fast enough and still take care of your crops.

You start with a level one storage shed (holds 15 produce). A level 1 produce collector (holds 3 of the same produce), a watering can, and a level 1 shovel. Your first field is 6 plots of grass.

There's a tutorial at the beginning of the game to help you get started. It does help some, but sometimes it has you do things while you are in the middle of something else. At the beginning when you go to the market as guided by the tutorial, only transfer 1 grass.

It is important to make your trips to the storage shed count, so fill up your mower even though the tutorial wants you to go right after you've collected one grass. If you have 3 plots check marked and then check the shed, it will take all 3 to the shed, giving you a headstart on your first contract.

The best strategy that I've found is to harvest 6-9 plots, water all 20 fields, and then repeat. By the time you've harvested, your water level should be down 2-3 dots. If this is the case, your watering can will water 9-10 fields, thus saving you a lot of steps and time.


Walkthrough

Complete your first 2 tasks. They are 4 grass in 2 minutes. Your second is 6 grass in 2:00.

You should now have enough coin to get the field upgrade for 70 coin. Go ahead and get it now. Your watering can holds enough water to cover 4 plots that have water drops. If there are no drops, it will cover a bit more. Water your plots on left or right depending on your preference. While you are watering, a contract will come up for 8 grass in 2:00.

During this contract, tomato seeds come up for sale and the tutorial walks you through. However, when you pick up your shovel as guided by the tutorial, dig 4 plots instead of just one and when you pick up your seeds, plant all 4 instead of one.

While you are doing this, another contract will come up for 10 grass to be completed in 2:00. If you've followed the steps above (harvest 3, take to storage shed, harvest 3, take to storage shed, water, and so forth, you will have no problem completing it in time as you should have a bit of a head start on it.

This is a good time to get another award. Remember our mower has room for 3 produce. Check 3 plants to harvest, check the storage shed, check 3 plants, check the storage shed, check your water well, check 10 fields, check water well, check 10 fields. If your mower has moved back, check it and repeat the above. If you did it far enough in advance, you should get the award for executing 30 successful turns.

An award for cultivating (harvesting) 100 plants will come automatically when you've collected 100 produce from the field.

About this time, it will pop up that a mower and tiller upgrades are available. DO NOT buy them just yet. We'll do that after we've raised some more cash. If we do it now, we won't be able to buy the contracts.

Your next contract is for 4 Tomatoes. You can do one of 2 things, you can keep the first 4 you harvest and sell the extra or you can sell the 4 when the next 4 are ready. Keep harvesting everything and sell it at market as this storage shed is very small. Once the 10 grass is completed, you won't need grass until you build your cow shed.

Something I should mention before I forget is to keep an eye on your journal. It will start flashing when there's been an entry. There's useful information there, and some just part of the story.

Your journal will let you know when the cucumber seeds and roses are available for planting. It doesn't always say this specifically. For example, to know that your roses are available, it will say something along the lines of you've been invited to participate in a floral expidition. Shortly after this, cucumbers become available and plant 4 as soon as you can. A few minutes later, roses will become available. Plant 4 of them as soon as possible.

During or after the cucumber contract (need 4), cows become available. The tutorial will walk you through how to do it. The sad thing is they don't let you keep them. You should have enough cash to build it. Build a level 1 cow shed for now, and start processing your grass into milk. Process as much as you can, as shortly we're going to be digging up all the grass to plant something else. And we'll need lots of milk toward the end, so the more that's made in advance, the better.

For your next 3 contracts, you'll need 6 Tomatoes, 4 Roses, and 6 Cucumbers. AFTER the contract for 2 Tomatoes and 2 cucumber, it will be time to upgrade your storage shed to level 2. This will cost 150. Your storage shed can now hold 50 produce, so if you don't have to sell, then don't.

Make sure you have at least 180 coin so you can also buy your next contract for 4 Tomatoes.

When your "4 Roses" contract comes up, your roses may not be fully grown. Wait until the contract has just a couple of dots left before you accept it, as roses don't grow real fast. This will allow you the full amount of time to get them harvested and to the storage shed in time. After completion, upgrade your tiller to level 2.

Around the time that another request for 4 cucumbers comes up, watermelons and honeydew melons become available. Harvest the 8 plots of grass and then plant 4 of each. They don't grow real fast, so get them planted as soon as possible, so they are ready when your contract comes up.

Shortly after melons, pigs and sheep become available. Don't build them just yet. If you do, you won't have the money to accept the milk contracts. After the second request for 6 milk, then go ahead and build your pig pen. Also about this time, your tomatoes may be low on fertilizer and need to be replanted. To check this, hover your mouse over a plot with tomatoes in it, and it will show a line of blue dots (water level) and a tan line (fertilizer). If it is at 2 or less, go ahead and dig them up, buy a bag of tomato seeds and plant them.

Hopefully, you haven't been selling everything at the market, and you have a few tomatoes in stock. Our next 2 contracts involve 11 tomatoes. One for 6 tomatoes and the next for 5 pork. Pigs process tomatoes into pork. It was really close for me, but I did manage to get it done.

By this time, your melons should be ready for harvest. After the 5 pork contract, there will be one for 4 honeymelon and 4 watermelon.

After this contract, it may be time to replant your cucumbers. It's going to get busy, so this is the best time to replant.

Keep processing milk until you run out of grass and processing pork.

Next you will need 10 milk and 8 pork.

Right after filling the contract for 10 milk, upgrade your field for 500 and start watering.

Expand your tomatoes and cucumbers to 6 plants each.

Harvest some grass if you need to as the next contract is for 16 milk. After you fulfill this contract, upgrade your sprinkler for 250.

The next contract is for 4 roses and 4 honeymelon. And then 4 roses and 4 Watermelon.

If you were able to complete all of the above, then you should get the "complete 20 tasks without missing any" award.

Expand your honeymelon and watermelon to 6 plants each.

You should have about 12 cucumbers in your storage at this time. This will take care of a couple of contracts coming up shortly. One is for 7 cucumbers and one for 5 cucumbers. In between these contracts is a request for 8 watermelon and 8 honeymelon. If you've expanded them to 6 plants, this won't be a problem. Just harvest 2 of each and when the contract comes up, collect the other 6.

Right after the contract for 7 cucumbers, upgrade your mower for 200 (now holds 4 produce) and upgrade your cows to level 2.

After the contract for 5 cucumbers is a request for 6 honeymelon and 6 watermelon.

Next is a request for 8 cucumbers and 8 tomatoes.

This isn't too difficult if you've expanded, and haven't processed all the tomatoes into pork. It's ok if you have, as there's a request for 16 pork coming up and you'd be really close to that, if not more.

The next contract is for 16 milk and this should already be in stock. If not, harvest just enough grass to get there. After completing this, upgrade field to the max for 1000. You now have 60 beds. You should also upgrade your pig pen and make sure you have 16 pork ready. After you have the 16 pork ready, save 8 tomatoes, and continue processing the rest into pork.

Now, harvest grass as fast as you can, and keep up on your watering. The next contract is for 30 grass.

After completing this, build your sheep stall and start processing cucumbers into wool.

Harvest 8 roses to be ready for the next contract. If you have the 4 plots of roses, your contract will show up about the time you are waiting for the next 4 grow. You can wait a bit before accepting to make sure you have time to get them collected.

After this, harvest the next 4. Dig them up and expand your cucumbers to 12 plants. There's several requests for wool coming up, so process as quickly as possible. You don't have to upgrade them, if you start processing now.

Your next contract is for 8 tomatoes, so if you saved them, this should be instantly filled.

Next we need 8 wool and 10 milk. Upgrade cows to level 3 so we can process 6 milk at a time.

Next is another request for 10 milk.

Next is a request for 10 wool. These requests show up close together and I may have them out of order. If both are ready, it isn't an issue.

Next is 4 roses (that we saved before digging up to plant cucumbers), and 4 tomatoes. As long as you've expanded, this won't be a problem.

The next request is for 18 milk.

I should say now that as you transfer produce to processing, it does come out of your stock, but is replaced with the processed product. So if you are running out of room, transfer some product, and as soon as a contract is filled, there will be more room. This is where it is important to be choosey on what you sell at market, what you keep in stock, and what you process. You also don't have to wait for the processing to finish before you add more product. For example, if you can process 6 milk, you don't have to wait until all six are processed before transfering more grass. Check your processing bar. On the left, it tells you what produce that processing building uses. For example, there will be a picture of grass for cows. The number next to the picture tells you how many are in stock. If you slide the bar as far as it will go to the right, the number on the right tells you how many processed products you will have when it is finished. If the number says 4 or 5, and you know it can process 6, just transfer more if it is available.

Next request is for 12 pork.

Next request is for 12 wool.

Next request is for 8 Honeymelon.

Upgrade your cows to level 4 (makes 12 milk at a time) and collect grass and transfer for processing as quickly as possible.

The next request is for 20 milk.

The next 2 envelopes that pop up are for 26 milk and 15 milk. As best as I can tell, the 26 milk comes first. So I've always accepted this one as the 40th task. I've not tried accepting the 15 milk instead to see if it still gives me the award for completing 40 tasks in a row without missing any.

As for the water award (no bed shows a drop in 20 minutes), I've not been able to get that award until I fully upgraded to all 60 fields. After your 40th task is complete, you can continue playing. There are still more awards to get.

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