In this blog post, I am going to introduce the Tractor mod, which is among the most popular mods in the forum and is related by players as one of the Top 10 greatest mods for Stardew Valley.
To be honest, the way that tractor mod works is very straightforward: just like its game, it provides you with a tractor inside the game that could help you travel faster around the map and, most importantly, significantly increase your efficiency of farming.
Below is the official introduction of what tractor mod can do:
Buy the tractor garage (with included tractor) from Robin and wait until she’s done building it. Then just get on the tractor, choose a tool or seeds or fertilizer, and drive. You can also press backspace (configurable) to summon the tractor to your current position.
These tool features are enabled by default:
- Axe clears twigs / weeds / dead crops.
- Fertilizer fertilizes crops and trees.
- Grass starters plant grass.
- Hoe tills dirt, digs artifact spots, and clears weeds.
- Melee weapons clear dead crops and break mine containers.
- Milk pail collects milk from farm animals.
- Pickaxe breaks rocks and clears weeds / dead crops / tilled dirt.
- Scythe harvests crops / bushes / flowers / forage / fruit trees / long grass and clears weeds / dead crops.
- Seeds plant seeds in dirt.
- Watering can water crops.
These features are disabled by default:
- Axe can chop bushes and trees, and clear live crops.
- Melee weapons can attack monsters. This is overpowered and not recommended if you want a balanced playthrough.
- Pickaxe can break flooring/paths, and break placed objects.
- Scythe can collect machine output.
- Slingshots fire one projectile/tile/second in the aimed direction (that’s nine projectiles per second by default). This is hugely overpowered but will consume ammo at a voracious rate.
You can optionally change how the mod works:
change the tractor textures (including seasonal textures).
edit the mod settings to change controller/keyboard/mouse mapping, the area of effect, tractor speed, custom tools, how much the tractor costs, etc;
with Generic Mod Config Menu installed, you can also configure it through the ⚙ button on the title screen (see example screenshot).
In real-world scenarios, I found the tractor extremely useful in both aspects. In terms of moving speed, this mod essentially gives you a means of transportation that significantly increases your speed while you are touring around different places. In terms of helping with farming, this is more than useful because it enables you to plow, harvest, or water a large amount of land in seconds without having to click so many times for each row of plants.
However, in this blog post, I am going to argue that this mod should be regarded not as a cheating mod because it merges into the whole game setting seamlessly both in game logic and in game aesthetics. In fact, as many comments under this mod page and Youtube videos say, this mod should be incorporated into the original version of the game in order to create a better experience.
First, from the perspective of game aesthetics, the tractor image and the tractor garage all share the same pixel-like artform as the original version. So, incorporating these new features into the game would not make you feel obtrusive or odd while driving it around. In fact, a tractor is a very common figure for a farming town. To be honest, it is a strange thing that the whole town does not have any means of transportation and totally relies on walking, especially when the story context is set to be contemporary.
Second, from the perspective of game logic and game mechanics, tractor mod could also fit into, or even improve them perfectly. The key reason that I think the tractor mod should not be considered as a cheating mod is because it can only be purchased and produced in the mid-game where you have accumulated a significant amount of money. In order to get the tractor, you have to follow the same process of getting any other farming product in the Stardew Valley: you have to first construct the tractor garage at the shop for 150,000 gold. Once the garage is completed, you can see your tractor parking inside the tractor garage. Totally makes sense! The tractor does not hinder the original game logic and mechanics because instead of getting a tractor falling over from the sky, you have to construct the tractor garage like you get other buildings on the farm. Also, the fact that the tractor garage requires 150,000 gold means that you cannot get it easily in the early stages of the game. You can only get it when you have a good pact of land and have done some hard grinding. Therefore, I think the tractor is a very natural next step toward the upgrade of your farmland.
In conclusion, tractor mod is a very successful mod of Stardew Valley that fits in with the original game logic, game mechanics, and game aesthetics. I definitely recommend downloading it and playing around!
