HMSI Marriage (Elliot) Beginner Route

# Harvest Moon Sunshine Islands - Marriage (Elliot) Beginner Route

## General tips
- understanding the weather system and how crops grow is essential
- see https://fogu.com/hm8/basics/weather.php and make sure you understand the turnip and yam growth examples
- exact sun and water point requirements for crops grown in this route can be found at https://fogu.com/hm8/farm/springcrops.php and https://fogu.com/hm8/farm/summercrops.php
- you can water multiple times on the same day to give more water points
- there is no limit on how many water points you can give your crops in a single day!
- the best strategy for watering your crops is to wait until they have enough sun points to grow to the next stage, and then give them all the water points they need at once
- this is because it might rain before they get all the sun points they need, which means you won't have to water them as much
- if there are typhoons in Summer, you can save the game on the day of the typhoon, then sleep and check the damage the next day
- if your crops got wrecked badly, you can reload and try again
- whenever you ship things, it's often a good idea to clear out branches/weeds/rocks to clear the space in your rucksack, especially if you're going foraging soon

## Spring
* Spring 1:
	- decline Taro's tutorial
	- make sure there are no boulders or stumps near the left edge of the field that would get in your way later (see the summer corn layout to know all the spaces you'll need)
	- in the bottom left corner of the field, till the ground in this pattern and plant turnips:
	T T T . . T T T
	. T T . . T T .
	T T T . . T T T
	T = Turnip
	- water your turnips as needed so they grow as soon as possible (see General Tips)
	- ship the green herbs Taro gave you, as well as branches/rocks/weeds to clear space
	- tell Taro you're done and sleep
* Spring 2:
	- go foraging on Sprout and Verdure Islands, collecting everything except for branches, rocks, weeds
	- make sure to collect seaweed from the boulder by Gannon's house
	- talk to Elliot
	- ship everything you foraged
* Spring 3:
	- sell your axe, hammer, and sickle to Chen
	- buy 3 turnip seeds and 1 potato seed
	- buy 5 chocolate
	- Go to Gannon and if he's selling a water can for 3000G, buy it
		- if not, check back every day until he is
	- collect seaweed
	- talk to Elliot
	- plant your potato seeds above your turnips so it looks like this:
	P P P . . . . .
	P P P . . . . .
	P P P . . . . .
	T T T . . T T T
	. T T . . T T .
	T T T . . T T T
	P = potato
	- water your potatoes as needed so they grow as soon as possible
* Continue to talk to Elliot and water crops as needed every day
* When your turnips are grown:
	- harvest them
	- plant your turnip seeds so your field is like this:
	P P P . . T T T
	P P P . . T T T
	P P P . . T T T
	T T T . . T T T
	T T T . . T T T
	T T T . . T T T
	- ship your turnips and seaweed
* Spring 6:
	- go foraging and ship foraged items
	- start giving Elliot chocolate every day
* Spring 7, if you've already shipped turnips. If not, the day after you ship turnips:
	- buy 3 turnip seeds and 3 potato seeds
	- sell your original watering can (not the one you bought from Gannon)
	- buy a Blue Wonderful and have Charlie equip it to your watering can
	- now, when you water crops that are in the sprout stage, you can't reach the center crops, so only water the left and right edges of your plots, like this:
	W x W
	W x W
	W x W
	W = water, x = don't water
* When your turnips and potatoes have grown:
	- harvest one turnip/potato on the edge, and now you will be able to water the center crops, like this:
	x W x
	x W H
	x W x
	H = harvest, x = don't harvest, W = water
* The next day:
	- harvest your crops
	- plant turnips and potatoes like this:
	P P P P . P P P P
	P P P P . P P P P
	P P P P . P P P P
	T T T T . T T T T
	T T T T . T T T T
	T T T T . T T T T
	- ship turnips
	- go foraging and ship foraged items
	- start giving Elliot potatoes every day
* The next day:
	- buy 6 turnip seeds
	- buy red wonderful and have Charlie equip to water can
	- now you can reach all your crops when you water from the left and right edges
* When your turnips are ready to harvest:
	- harvest and ship turnips
	- plant turnip seeds so your field is like this:
	T T T T . T T T T
	T T T T . T T T T
	T T T T . T T T T
	P P P P . P P P P
	P P P P . P P P P
	P P P P . P P P P
	T T T T . T T T T
	T T T T . T T T T
	T T T T . T T T T
* The next day:
	- check "Assets" and see if you have 4000G
	- if you don't, forage and ship a few items (you can estimate that herbs are worth 50G, bamboo shoots worth 100G)
* The next day:
	- buy Yellow Wonderful from Chen and have Charlie equip to your water can
	- now your water can gives 2 water points to each crop per use instead of 1
	- make sure that your crops are not ready to harvest until at least Spring 21 (delay watering them if needed)
* When your potatoes are ready to harvest:
	- only harvest 7 of them and leave the rest for now
* When your turnips are ready to harvest:
	- leave them all for now
* When you get Elliot's purple heart event:
	- help him clean
	- afterwards exit and re-enter the house to give him a potato as usual
* Spring 30:
	- harvest all your turnips and potatoes
	- save 10 turnips and ship the rest, and save all your potatoes

## Summer
* Summer 1:
	- buy 9 corn seeds
	- buy 1 chocolate
	- plant corn like this:
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	C C C C . C C C C
	- water as needed to grow as quickly as possible
* When corn is ready to harvest:
	- harvest all corn (use stylus to harvest corn in center columns)
	- save 10 corn and ship the rest
	- continue to water as needed so your corn regrows as quickly as possible
* When you run out of potatoes:
	- start giving Elliot corn every day
* When corn is ready to harvest again:
	- harvest and ship all corn (except for what you saved from first harvest)
	- water all your corn
	- collect up to 5 blueberries on Verdure Island
	- collect sunstone from bush between Chen and Mirabelle's houses
	- at 1pm, cross the bridge to Sprout Island to see Elliot's blue heart event
	- tell him you like it too
	- after the heart event give him corn as usual
	- collect sunstone from well by Gannon's house
	- buy 200 Lumber from Gannon, then ask him to Upgrade House, and choose to "use my lumber"
* When corn is ready to harvest again:
	- harvest and ship all corn (except for what you saved from first harvest)
* When you get Elliot's green heart event:
	- tell them "use my phone"
	- exit and re-enter the house to give Elliot corn as usual
* Summer 28: start giving Natalie blueberries or chocolate each day until she gives you a sunstone
* When corn is ready to harvest again:
	- harvest corn, save 42 + what you saved from first harvest, ship the rest

## Fall
* Fall 3: start talking to Taro every day
* Fall 9: start giving Taro and Felicia turnips every day until they give you sunstones
* When Elliot is at yellow heart, on a sunny or hot day that is not a Sunday:
	- collect sunstone from back wall on Lighthouse Island
	- collect sunstone from fence around field on Sprite Island
	- collect sunstone from windmill on Ranch Island
	- go to Meadow Island and raise Mystic Islands
	- Buy 400 lumber from Gannon, and Upgrade House, "use my lumber"
	- wait until 10am, then enter your house for yellow heart event
	- choose to go with Elliot

## Winter
* Winter 8:
	- buy Husband Bed, Blue Feather from Chen
	- go to Mystic Islands
	- throw anything into pond to meet Harvest Goddess
	- go into church to meet Nathan and Alisa
* Winter 14:
	- if you still have chocolate you can give it to Elliot instead of corn for a small extra FP boost (because it's Winter Harmony Day)
* When Elliot is at Red Heart:
	- give him Blue Feather
	- sleep until the wedding
	- done!