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Stardew Valley Mushrooms vs. Bats
While exploring the map, at some point, there is a chance that you have already seen the small empty cave near your farm. As you progress in the game, this cave will be available for your occupancy after you reach a specific requirement. From here, you’ll be asked to choose between mushroom or fruit bats. I know this is another decision that you must think through, so we made this guide to help you decide on which choice is more suited for you.
The Farm Cave
In playing Stardew Valley, it is expected that you will earn gold as you continue foraging, mining, and doing several types of tasks, and sell some of your resources. Sure, there are lots of things that you can buy using these golds for upgrades of your tools and buildings, and for improvements to your quality of life for the ease of gaming. But aside from that, accumulating a specific amount of gold activates a small event.
After you garner a total of 25,000 gold, Demetrius will come to your farm in the morning and offer you the farm cave which he wants to use in setting up research specimens. After this, Demetrius will ask you which one between mushrooms and bats will you choose. Take note that upon picking a choice, you can no longer change it in the long run of the game.
The farm cave is an underground location. You can reach it by passing through the passage near the northern edge of the farm. If you visit this, it will just appear as a small empty space unless you have already picked your decision – whether turn it into a haven of bats or mushrooms. The decision is all yours.
The Mushrooms
Picking the mushroom between the choices allows you to grow different kinds of mushrooms in this small cave. If you visit the farm cave after picking, you will see six bins arranged inside – these are where your mushrooms will randomly grow every other day.
Five different mushrooms will grow inside the farm cave namely the common mushroom, red mushroom, purple mushroom, chanterelle, and morel. All these types of mushrooms, except the common mushroom, are used in creating the life elixir which can immediately restore your health to full upon consumption.
As I have mentioned, the mushrooms will ideally grow in a span of two days. But here’s a pro tip: if you want your mushrooms to grow quickly, go to bed late. Mushrooms’ growth depends on your bedtime. If you wish to speed up the growth rate of mushrooms, you can actually explore and tend your farm to maximize the time. It is also the perfect time for you to do the things you couldn’t do on those days. Despite these, it is important for you to know that all mushrooms that spawn will only be of their normal quality even if you chose the botanist profession.
Choosing the mushroom is actually a good stunt for those who love going to the mines and looking for mushrooms, especially since mushrooms are hard to find even the common types. Picking this choice saves your time in collecting mushrooms even though common mushrooms, morels, and chanterelles are the only ones that commonly appear. Having your own designated mushroom breeding place still gives you an advantage in saving up for life elixir. Even though monsters also have a possibility of dropping an elixir, this way is still more convenient.
Uses of Mushrooms
Aside from being the important ingredients of life elixir, all mushrooms, except the chanterelle, are used in a bundle for the Community Center located in Pelican Town. Plus, each mushroom also has its own attributes which are restoring a certain amount of the player’s energy and health.
The Bats
On the contrary, choosing bats over mushrooms gives you a variety of fruits in the farm cave every day. A wide variety of fruits can be found inside the farm regardless of its spawn season namely cherry, pomegranate, peach, apple, orange, spice berry, apricot, wild plum, blackberry, and salmonberry.
Picking the bats is an advantage in making and reproducing artisan goods as you have a supply of fruit. Despite being slow, the supply of fruit is steady. The reason for this is that the spawn rate of these fruits are depending on the number of fruits at that specific time. For example, if your farm cave is empty, there is a 48% chance of new fruits spawning. While the spawn rate is reduced by 25% if there is one fruit inside. The chances are dropping if there are fruits inside the cave. Leaving you collecting the fruits every day as the best choice to maximize the fruit spawns in your farm cave.
Another good thing about having bats is that the quality of fruits can range from normal to gold. If you picked the botanist profession, then you are on the right track as all the fruits will be of iridium quality.
Mushroom or Bats: Which is Better?
Generally speaking, the mushroom has the highest pick rate among the players, and I can say that they picked it for a reason.
There are lots of reasons why mushroom is better than bats. First and foremost, fruit trees can be found everywhere, if not, in specific areas. Having a fruit tree seed allows you to have a consistent supply of these fruits. Unlike mushrooms which are very uncommon and hard to find. If you want to collect a huge amount of mushrooms, you must explore the higher levels of the mines.
Another thing is that fruits as the best gifts for some villagers are far less significant than the elixir of life.
The last thing is depending on your need and play style. If you think you are in need of fruits and you find it exciting to go to higher levels of the mines, then probably the bat is the best pick for you. On the other hand, if you find it too difficult searching and collecting mushrooms, then choose otherwise.
