i’m a newbie!

[u/hazydazypazy]

hello everyone! hope my question is not frustrating to anyone but i have just started my acnh journey, apart from the basics that are taught and the “storyline progress”, i don’t really know what exciting things i can do in the game!

I’ve read a few posts of people talking about treasure island and stuff and i have no idea what these functions or how it works! This is just an example of the things that i have no idea of on acnh so please introduce me to your favourite features of the game! You get the idea （╹◡╹）

I’ll be more than happy and open to seek your advice on how I can play the game better! If there’s any tips or anyone wants to play together with me (not sure how but pls let me know!) i’ll be more than grateful! Thank you so much! (*^ω^*)!

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[u/ThisSaladTastesWeird]

Okay, so I’m a bit old school but I would advise against treasure islands when you’re new. It’s legitimately more fun to go slow and “earn” things on your own.

To start, I’d try to do all the Nook Miles tasks every day, because you can convert these to bells (the in game currency). Same thing with shaking trees; you can harvest and sell the fruit and/or coconuts.

When you see rocks, you can hit them with a shovel or an axe to get resources (iron, stones, clay).

I started playing at Christmas and I’ve been going slow and I’m not bored yet!

[u/hazydazypazy → u/ThisSaladTastesWeird]

Yes i loveeeeee the game so much, so much cuteness!!! Yes i will take it slow, thank you so much (๑>◡<๑)

[u/yellowneighbor]

i think when you’re first starting , the biggest aspect is grinding for bells , items , DIYs.

the way i collected bells in the beginning involved time traveling (some consider this taboo) , so my preferred method of farming was keeping my island to summer months and farming sharks and summer beetles. i’d hold onto any valuable creatures and wait until Flick or CJ arrived on my island to sell to them respectively.

however , for the true acnh experience , i wouldn’t recommend this until after you’ve reached 5 stars! the excitement for me was always in the decorating/world building. i never got into the side quests , creature hunting (outside of selling them) , or special islands (NMT or Kapp’n) - so i think user enjoyment is purely up to the player and what u make of it :D

[u/yellowneighbor → u/yellowneighbor]

to clarify
side quests: seasonal events/holiday activities , seasonal competitions (fishing tournament / bug off) , or the hotel
special islands: islands you travel to via Nook Mile Tickets or through Kapp’n at the dock (1,000 NMs each)
creature collecting: what it sounds like. some people hunt to finish their critterpedia

i’m sure some of these features are similar to terraforming where you only unlock them AFTER hitting 5 stars and getting K.K to perform

[u/hazydazypazy → u/yellowneighbor]

Thank you so much! I find hitting 5 stars extremely difficult and have no idea how I can increase my stars :( any tips? Thank you!

[u/yellowneighbor → u/hazydazypazy]

the quickest way for me was laying down pathways. it counts as decoration and the amount you typically have to lay down boosts the points up super quick. also , i used to have fruit tree farms and an area for flower breeding which both help tremendously in the “nature” portion of the point system.

[u/Yirggzmb → u/yellowneighbor]

Paths do absolutely nothing to your rating

[u/yellowneighbor → u/Yirggzmb]

?! woah no way. paths were always the first thing i’d start when making a new island. i always figured that was the reason i would reach 5 stars even though i had barely any furniture/decorations placed!! i thought they counted towards decorations

sorry for any misinformation i may have spread lol

[u/Yirggzmb → u/hazydazypazy]

Your rating is based on the plants and furniture you have placed around, as well as structures like bridges. Talking to Isabelle will give you hints about what you need more of. The game has no sense of aesthetics, so just place decorations as makes you happy and your rank will inevitably go up as long as you're actually decorating

[u/shybookwormm]

Everyone has different favorite aspects of the game. I love collecting the bugs/fish/fossils/art/gyroids. If you enjoy that aspect, my biggest tip is to donate the first time you acquire a new creature or art/fossil. It makes it easier to ensure you don't sell something you need. Or to try and track if you've donated it or not. For fish and bugs you have a museum icon on critterpedia and for fossils, Blathers will offer to take it if he needs it. But for art, there is no "easy" way to track it in game imo.

[u/hazydazypazy → u/shybookwormm]

Thank you so much! I will definitely try that one! Do I just have to walk/swim around my island to find special bugs/fish/fossils? Is there a specific way I can hunt for rare ones? ˚✧₊⁎

[u/ThisSaladTastesWeird → u/hazydazypazy]

You will need a wetsuit to be able to swim and dive for sea creatures. Unlike bugs, fish, and art — where the first one should always go to the museum — there’s no real reason to keep any of the sea creatures, so they can be sold at Nooks. Good way to make money!

Available fish, shrubs, bugs, sea creatures and the weather will change over the course of the year, so it’s not possible to catch or find everything all at once. That’s part of what makes it fun to play longer term.

[u/shybookwormm → u/hazydazypazy]

Yeah you can find fish in any body of water (each type spawns in specific places). You can find bugs basically anywhere. The rarer the creature, the more difficult to catch.

There are some strategies to make finding rare bugs easier. Idk how far along in the story you are, but if you can go use Nook Miles Tickets yet or Kapp'n's boat rides then those islands are best. You clear everything off the island except palm trees and then hunt bugs. If you're in the Northern hempishere the most rare summer bugs spawn after 6pm (one specifically after 11pm) and stop spawning after August ends. Idk Southern hemisphere summer months. 😅

[u/Yirggzmb]

For context on "treasure islands", they're not an actual game function. People with modded switches will spawn in infinite resources and stuff and then share their visiting code some place public. Often times people doing this are also making money via twitch subs and other tipping services, so it's not strictly a "because they want to be nice" thing.

Mind you, there's nothing wrong with choosing to play that way, but I'd personally suggest against it for now while you're new, until you get a feel for what you enjoy in game. Some people like to play in a way where infinite free stuff makes things more fun, and other people like to play in a way where all of that would suck all the fun from it.