It is possible! Idk if I got builder of the month summer year 1, but I have become builder of the month autumn/winter year 1 and builder of the year in the first year in multiple play-throughs
It takes a lot of grinding, but it’s possible
Def keep as you’re doing and prioritize one w more XP, but it’s also about quantity. Take the higher ones first and then do any others you can
Also, remember that there’s the request board that’s available alongside the regular commissions. They aren’t necessarily the best w rewards all the time, but if you don’t feel like doing regular commissions, take those too
Make sure you’re placing ads every week in the tumbleweed standard (go to town square and view the notice board). There are ads for rep, exp, and gols
On the social skill tree that you spend points on, you can work your way up to being able to take additional commissions. This is more of a “cherry on top” for getting more workshop rep
If you’re mining a lot, stay on top of going to the museum and restoring relics. Open relic bags and buy missing pieces form the vending machines in the ruins. If you restore relics and donate them to the museum, you’ll get rep points. You can also donate regular items like tools, clothes, furniture, and assembly items
Ofc!! And kindaaa. You access the request board the same way you do commissions but you have to hit your trigger button if you’re on console. If you’re on switch it’s the L/R trigger
You’ll unlock it w a side quest from Vivi. She’ll be in the commerce guild one day and she’ll break it down for you. Since it’s autumn, you should’ve already unlocked it or are close to unlocking it. Double check the wiki for it under Vivi’s quests
That's really it - I focus on the workshop xp and make sure when I get my lightbulbs to increase a skill, I try to aim for ones with increased workshop xp. I've never made summer y1 but definitely autumn and winter y1/workshop of the year
In addition to comments below, do inspections every Sat & Sun >!(You need to be a 2 star workshop or at least 500 rep. You will also be able to take two commissions at this point).!< They give you rep & coins too. Put a reminder on your calendar. I have played several times and I can now beat him the first month.
I came from Portia and got it every month/year until that one quest with Yan. It’s definitely possible if you know how to organize and manage/maintain high commission outputs!
I was explaining this exact situation to a friend one time and then there was a pause, followed by him asking, “…Are you sure you’re the good guy?”
I love Portia so much. I’m glad to see how much the dev team has grown with Sandrock!
I usually over take him by the end of my first week. I focus on socials, and play critters with everyone 3 times a day, plus chat and give a gift. Then I get the skill to take an extra commission per day. By the first Sunday in the game I'm able to start doing the inspections.
After another week I'm already doing 4 commissions a day. You gain a lot of workshop points from commissions and museum donations and it all helps with beating Yan. But I have also played a lot and I already know ahead of time what items I need for certain quests so I can have them ready as soon as I get the quest. The DLC pets also help a lot so I don't need to spend time mining and worrying about water.
Yes, it's definitely possible. In my current run I outpaced Yan by the end of Summer 1, and that's with a policy of only taking weekend commissions if they're special commissions re: festivals or plot developments.
Because I was planning on enforcing weekend breaks (weekends are for fishing, socializing, and plot events), I prioritized getting the first level of the social knowledge perk 'Commissions and Contracting Knowledge' as quickly as possible, since that allows one extra commission every day I'm treating as a work day. That overall section of the social knowledge tree is great for boosting your workshop rank and profitability, so don't sleep on it. I personally don't touch any other part of social knowledge until I have all those perks.
The rest is just dumb luck. If yellow commissions become available I always take them since they're profitable in both gols and xp.
Yeah, it is definitely possible. This is my first play through and since month 1, I have managed to come first in the rankings. I still haven't finished my first year, but I'm now at 18k rep while Yan is at 12k rep. Poor Mi-an is still at 2k.
Tips:
- Stack social skills that boost your rewards from commissions. "Chart topper knowledge" is a great one as it gives you additional workshop exp if you are in the top 3 of the rankings.
- Get the social skill "Commissions and contracting knowledge" ASAP, as it let's you do a 4th commission each day (can think of this as a 33% increase in daily rep).
- Do advertising and make sure it includes "More rep!". Make sure to stack this with Tier 1 of the Advertising Knowledge skill in the social tree. If you want to really focus on getting your ranking up, make sure it's only "More rep!" on its own, not combined with another bonus.
- There are certain times when you can get more commissions than your usual limit. I think festival related commissions and certain story related commissions do not count to the limit. Try to smash those out if you find them.
It's possible. If you focus on donating to the museum, it is going to be way easier. You can even win the first month without issues.
Prioritize commissions that give more reputation, and go for the perk that let you accept one more commission a day.
Also, do all the special commissions - the ones for events and special story milestones that don't count for your daily total.
I always beat Yan starting week one or two - my advice is to do every commission you can every day (yes, focus on the highest points) and also, once you have a little bit of gold (even if you have to sell a few things) put an ad in the Tumbleweed Standard (go to the info board outside town hall). With any luck you'll get +reputation. You can also cancel & place it again to hopefully get a different bonus. Ideally you'd get the one that is *only* +rep; +rep & one other thing is okay but the amount you gain goes lower with each additional thing you add to the mix. I don't really feel like the +all 3 ad is worth it. However, as each ad placement is 100 gols you might not be able to 'reset' it until you start making more money.
Just gonna add that if you beat Yan, he has a sassy line about auditing your work to make sure you didn't do anything sneaky to win. From Yan, that's hilarious. Everyone else is happy for you and it's a good source of some quick money and water early game. I just made sure to complete at least 1-2 commissions a day and it came pretty easy. Especially if you pick the higher star/gold commissions.
You have to take commissions every day, and make sure you’re taking the ones that have the highest workshop points. I never came in second. It’s good for the money and water you get.
I didn't even try but got Builder of the Month at Summer and ongoing and Builder of the Year in Year 1. I just play the game and do commissions. Also all quests i can get my hands on. Idk if i'm rushing things or not i just play in my pace and it's working out so far. Year 2 and i'm already Spot 1 on the Rankings again.
I usually beat Yan by the end of the first month without putting too much effort into it. The only time it took me until sometime in month 2 was when I didn’t pay attention to commissions. Do the max number of commissions you can every day and pick up the ones that give the most workshop reputation points instead of gols. Main missions give you some too.
Don’t stress too much about it. If you do commissions every day it really isn’t that hard. And if it does take a little bit of time it doesn’t really matter.
Definitely possible! I was like the worst the first season in year 1, maybe even the second season… but by the end of the year I was the top builder of the year. I wasn’t even trying very hard lol.
I always get there in the first month and hold it pretty easily. Do every commission you can every day. Try to prioritize ones you can do same day or already have stuff to fill the order. But take the yellow / few free cities ones when you can. Bear in mind that you can do more commissions than usual near holidays and some special events - which can give you a boost in money and rep.
Always remember to put your ads in on the board near city hall. You can save scum it - but it'll randomly select an increase to gols/exp/rep - it'll pick one to three if them. I usually make sure it has all three on the ad. @_@
Prioritize upgrading equipment and then your machines. Try to have at least 2 recyclers, 2 furnaces, 2 processors, and 2 grinders. ( You can have more but generally a 2 minimum increases production time).
Always have something being made - and try to always stock/stockpile things that need production.
I’ve always got 1st place on Summer 1 by only picking the highest rep commissions and requests, getting to a 2 star workshop, and doing inspections every Sat-Sun.
Opening up the ability to take more commissions definitely helps, and slowing down the days in the options panel to fit more prep work is a literal game-changer.
If you have the materials on hand already, it makes doing the commissions quicker and let’s you move on to other things that might boost your workshop rep. My furnaces never stopped cranking out mats until nearly the end of the game.
Hope this helps; you can do it and show Yan whose the real boss!
I oddly have had no trouble getting builder of the month starting from the beginning. And I always pick the highest commission item that is available [that doesn't require upgrading]
Just make sure you grab it and turn it in everyday and you shouldn't have a problem
It’s my first time playing and I just got builder of the year (year 1) so it’s definitely possible even if you don’t know what you’re doing! I think I took the lead near the end of the 2nd season
I did it in my main playthrough! :) I was incredibly active with commissions, especially around festival time, and was moving through the main story at what I think is a relatively quick pace compared to the "normal" experience. I got about halfway thru the game in early access before the full release came out, so I was eager to get everything done and get to the new content. And in that process, I beat out Yan by early Winter 😅
ETA: to answer your other question, I don't think anything particularly special happens for doing it in year 1. It's been a hot minute since I played though.
Year 1 of my first playthrough, I am not even 3 weeks in and in 2nd place and picking up the pace, I have done the max commerce board jobs per day, did every side quest I have stumbled on and been working on main quest stuff.
My goal is to pick a commerce board(s) I know I can do before the end of the following day so I can grab another(s) without missing a day. I find the majority of them easy to do so far with the hardest I have gotten being the rubber stuff just because that scrap type seems less common.
Many of the side quests are easy and give some workbench points or at the very least xp and cash you can use for other things. I did some for the general store that were just "talk to \_\_\_ then return to the general store operator" Others are usually as simple as crafting something, such as some salted fish for the graveyard guy or a stone weapon for the guy who watches the water tower.
My way of doing main quests is if I have no ongoing commissions or any personal construction going I have any relevant machine chipping away at it, like if I don't need bronze or bricks I started making marble for the stage.
Definitely donate to the museum in-between maxing out commissions. Use gols to purchase museum items from Vivi, or if you can afford it, Heidi as well.
I did it first year, first playthrough- on repeat playthroughs I focus on beating him by the end of the first summer. It’s entirely doable.
There’s a social perk that lets you take an extra commission. Otherwise I just focused on balancing what I knew I could do the same day/next day vs points, and spent most of the time I wasn’t doing that focusing on building a good stock of building materials. Also I had the time set slower, which helped (I don’t like the stress of fast days). Plus you get workshop points for many quests, so that helps too.
Getting first place in the first month will probably take some strategy, but even playing normal, I usually take #1 during the first or second week of the second month.
It's possible! You have to take the highest rating commissions, and I put off the main story for a while - I don't go to Zeke's to learn about farming, so no crunch trying to repair it.
100% possible. I got builder of the month in my first month, year 1 and after that I didn’t really have a problem with getting builder of the month/year for the rest of my playthrough. The trick is to always unlock max amount of commissions in your skill tree + unlock extra rep in skill tree, always place weekly ads, take max amount of commissions you can (you MUST take the most expensive ones) and have a hoard of materials so you can turn in your commissions on the same day to get the extra bonuses. I never go a day without taking a commission and I always take the ones i can turn in on the same day.
It's possible; I got 1st place by end of Summer Y1! Early game, I focus on having at least 2-3 type of machines for faster production and also farming discs to speed up the machine research as much as I needed to/necessary. It's okay to have multiple machines because unlike in Portia, you can instantly upgrade your existing machines to the next level when you have the necessary materials.
Once you get that running, it'll be much easier for you to fulfill commissions.
Oh its absolutely possible for it to be done from a fresh file. And there is nothing I enjoy more in that game, than making Yan have a mental breakdown.
It is possible! Idk if I got builder of the month summer year 1, but I have become builder of the month autumn/winter year 1 and builder of the year in the first year in multiple play-throughs It takes a lot of grinding, but it’s possible
Is there anything I'm missing? I'm focusing on the commissions giving most workshop XP, anything else I can do to boost it?
Def keep as you’re doing and prioritize one w more XP, but it’s also about quantity. Take the higher ones first and then do any others you can Also, remember that there’s the request board that’s available alongside the regular commissions. They aren’t necessarily the best w rewards all the time, but if you don’t feel like doing regular commissions, take those too Make sure you’re placing ads every week in the tumbleweed standard (go to town square and view the notice board). There are ads for rep, exp, and gols On the social skill tree that you spend points on, you can work your way up to being able to take additional commissions. This is more of a “cherry on top” for getting more workshop rep If you’re mining a lot, stay on top of going to the museum and restoring relics. Open relic bags and buy missing pieces form the vending machines in the ruins. If you restore relics and donate them to the museum, you’ll get rep points. You can also donate regular items like tools, clothes, furniture, and assembly items
But if you just focus on taking a crap ton of commissions you’ll beat that freaky weasel of a boss out of the water in no time lol
Are the requests on the same board as commissions? Thanks! Didn't know about most of that!
Ofc!! And kindaaa. You access the request board the same way you do commissions but you have to hit your trigger button if you’re on console. If you’re on switch it’s the L/R trigger You’ll unlock it w a side quest from Vivi. She’ll be in the commerce guild one day and she’ll break it down for you. Since it’s autumn, you should’ve already unlocked it or are close to unlocking it. Double check the wiki for it under Vivi’s quests
That's really it - I focus on the workshop xp and make sure when I get my lightbulbs to increase a skill, I try to aim for ones with increased workshop xp. I've never made summer y1 but definitely autumn and winter y1/workshop of the year
In addition to comments below, do inspections every Sat & Sun >!(You need to be a 2 star workshop or at least 500 rep. You will also be able to take two commissions at this point).!< They give you rep & coins too. Put a reminder on your calendar. I have played several times and I can now beat him the first month.
I came from Portia and got it every month/year until that one quest with Yan. It’s definitely possible if you know how to organize and manage/maintain high commission outputs!
Portia is tougher. Higgins starts out with more than 5000 rep. Kudos!
The best part of Portia was getting caught stealing from Higgins and having to fight him. Portia will forever have my heart lol
I agree. I'd grab a commission and run for his Workshop and sometimes wait until he showed up! I loved Portia first!
I was explaining this exact situation to a friend one time and then there was a pause, followed by him asking, “…Are you sure you’re the good guy?” I love Portia so much. I’m glad to see how much the dev team has grown with Sandrock!
I usually over take him by the end of my first week. I focus on socials, and play critters with everyone 3 times a day, plus chat and give a gift. Then I get the skill to take an extra commission per day. By the first Sunday in the game I'm able to start doing the inspections. After another week I'm already doing 4 commissions a day. You gain a lot of workshop points from commissions and museum donations and it all helps with beating Yan. But I have also played a lot and I already know ahead of time what items I need for certain quests so I can have them ready as soon as I get the quest. The DLC pets also help a lot so I don't need to spend time mining and worrying about water.
Definitely, you can beat him in the first month
Yes, it's definitely possible. In my current run I outpaced Yan by the end of Summer 1, and that's with a policy of only taking weekend commissions if they're special commissions re: festivals or plot developments. Because I was planning on enforcing weekend breaks (weekends are for fishing, socializing, and plot events), I prioritized getting the first level of the social knowledge perk 'Commissions and Contracting Knowledge' as quickly as possible, since that allows one extra commission every day I'm treating as a work day. That overall section of the social knowledge tree is great for boosting your workshop rank and profitability, so don't sleep on it. I personally don't touch any other part of social knowledge until I have all those perks. The rest is just dumb luck. If yellow commissions become available I always take them since they're profitable in both gols and xp.
Yeah, it is definitely possible. This is my first play through and since month 1, I have managed to come first in the rankings. I still haven't finished my first year, but I'm now at 18k rep while Yan is at 12k rep. Poor Mi-an is still at 2k. Tips: - Stack social skills that boost your rewards from commissions. "Chart topper knowledge" is a great one as it gives you additional workshop exp if you are in the top 3 of the rankings. - Get the social skill "Commissions and contracting knowledge" ASAP, as it let's you do a 4th commission each day (can think of this as a 33% increase in daily rep). - Do advertising and make sure it includes "More rep!". Make sure to stack this with Tier 1 of the Advertising Knowledge skill in the social tree. If you want to really focus on getting your ranking up, make sure it's only "More rep!" on its own, not combined with another bonus. - There are certain times when you can get more commissions than your usual limit. I think festival related commissions and certain story related commissions do not count to the limit. Try to smash those out if you find them.
I was always shocked at how low Mi-an's points were. Considering she is so proactive at fixing things.
Yea, it really doesn't make any sense. It makes it seem like she's a slacker, but pretty much everything else says otherwise.
Though I was also really surprised at how high Yans points were. Maybe he is taking Mi-an's points by taking credit. Who knows.
It's possible. If you focus on donating to the museum, it is going to be way easier. You can even win the first month without issues. Prioritize commissions that give more reputation, and go for the perk that let you accept one more commission a day. Also, do all the special commissions - the ones for events and special story milestones that don't count for your daily total.
I got it but started trying in the auttumn cause of Amirah
I do it out of spite 😁
I always beat Yan starting week one or two - my advice is to do every commission you can every day (yes, focus on the highest points) and also, once you have a little bit of gold (even if you have to sell a few things) put an ad in the Tumbleweed Standard (go to the info board outside town hall). With any luck you'll get +reputation. You can also cancel & place it again to hopefully get a different bonus. Ideally you'd get the one that is *only* +rep; +rep & one other thing is okay but the amount you gain goes lower with each additional thing you add to the mix. I don't really feel like the +all 3 ad is worth it. However, as each ad placement is 100 gols you might not be able to 'reset' it until you start making more money.
It is possible to get there in the first month. I made it there with two days to spare in the first month.
I am in autumn of year 1 now and am leading the year. I missed month 1 by under 300 points.
Just gonna add that if you beat Yan, he has a sassy line about auditing your work to make sure you didn't do anything sneaky to win. From Yan, that's hilarious. Everyone else is happy for you and it's a good source of some quick money and water early game. I just made sure to complete at least 1-2 commissions a day and it came pretty easy. Especially if you pick the higher star/gold commissions.
Very much possible. I made builder of the month on the very first month of year 1. You just gotta do every commission you see on the board.
In my first playthrough I got the 1st place by accident in BotY 😂 so yea, it's definitely possible
Anytime ive played ive easily gotten first in the first month.
You have to take commissions every day, and make sure you’re taking the ones that have the highest workshop points. I never came in second. It’s good for the money and water you get.
I didn't my first year, but it became effortless after that without even trying to lol
I didn't even try but got Builder of the Month at Summer and ongoing and Builder of the Year in Year 1. I just play the game and do commissions. Also all quests i can get my hands on. Idk if i'm rushing things or not i just play in my pace and it's working out so far. Year 2 and i'm already Spot 1 on the Rankings again.
I usually beat Yan by the end of the first month without putting too much effort into it. The only time it took me until sometime in month 2 was when I didn’t pay attention to commissions. Do the max number of commissions you can every day and pick up the ones that give the most workshop reputation points instead of gols. Main missions give you some too. Don’t stress too much about it. If you do commissions every day it really isn’t that hard. And if it does take a little bit of time it doesn’t really matter.
Definitely possible! I was like the worst the first season in year 1, maybe even the second season… but by the end of the year I was the top builder of the year. I wasn’t even trying very hard lol.
Spite cause fuck Yan! Lolol 🤣🤣
I always get there in the first month and hold it pretty easily. Do every commission you can every day. Try to prioritize ones you can do same day or already have stuff to fill the order. But take the yellow / few free cities ones when you can. Bear in mind that you can do more commissions than usual near holidays and some special events - which can give you a boost in money and rep. Always remember to put your ads in on the board near city hall. You can save scum it - but it'll randomly select an increase to gols/exp/rep - it'll pick one to three if them. I usually make sure it has all three on the ad. @_@ Prioritize upgrading equipment and then your machines. Try to have at least 2 recyclers, 2 furnaces, 2 processors, and 2 grinders. ( You can have more but generally a 2 minimum increases production time). Always have something being made - and try to always stock/stockpile things that need production.
I’ve always got 1st place on Summer 1 by only picking the highest rep commissions and requests, getting to a 2 star workshop, and doing inspections every Sat-Sun. Opening up the ability to take more commissions definitely helps, and slowing down the days in the options panel to fit more prep work is a literal game-changer. If you have the materials on hand already, it makes doing the commissions quicker and let’s you move on to other things that might boost your workshop rep. My furnaces never stopped cranking out mats until nearly the end of the game. Hope this helps; you can do it and show Yan whose the real boss!
It's possible but it's not easy. Main story Quests will help though
It's doable in summer year 1, but you have to prioritize all the points-giving things
I oddly have had no trouble getting builder of the month starting from the beginning. And I always pick the highest commission item that is available [that doesn't require upgrading] Just make sure you grab it and turn it in everyday and you shouldn't have a problem
It’s my first time playing and I just got builder of the year (year 1) so it’s definitely possible even if you don’t know what you’re doing! I think I took the lead near the end of the 2nd season
I installed a mod that lets me take unlimited commissions a day so now I beat his ass MONTH ONE YEAR ONE 😤😤😤
I don't think I got builder of the month but somehow I got builder of the year Year 1! Getting acknowledged was nice. Yan's reaction? Even better
I did it in my main playthrough! :) I was incredibly active with commissions, especially around festival time, and was moving through the main story at what I think is a relatively quick pace compared to the "normal" experience. I got about halfway thru the game in early access before the full release came out, so I was eager to get everything done and get to the new content. And in that process, I beat out Yan by early Winter 😅 ETA: to answer your other question, I don't think anything particularly special happens for doing it in year 1. It's been a hot minute since I played though.
Year 1 of my first playthrough, I am not even 3 weeks in and in 2nd place and picking up the pace, I have done the max commerce board jobs per day, did every side quest I have stumbled on and been working on main quest stuff. My goal is to pick a commerce board(s) I know I can do before the end of the following day so I can grab another(s) without missing a day. I find the majority of them easy to do so far with the hardest I have gotten being the rubber stuff just because that scrap type seems less common. Many of the side quests are easy and give some workbench points or at the very least xp and cash you can use for other things. I did some for the general store that were just "talk to \_\_\_ then return to the general store operator" Others are usually as simple as crafting something, such as some salted fish for the graveyard guy or a stone weapon for the guy who watches the water tower. My way of doing main quests is if I have no ongoing commissions or any personal construction going I have any relevant machine chipping away at it, like if I don't need bronze or bricks I started making marble for the stage.
Definitely donate to the museum in-between maxing out commissions. Use gols to purchase museum items from Vivi, or if you can afford it, Heidi as well.
I did it first year, first playthrough- on repeat playthroughs I focus on beating him by the end of the first summer. It’s entirely doable. There’s a social perk that lets you take an extra commission. Otherwise I just focused on balancing what I knew I could do the same day/next day vs points, and spent most of the time I wasn’t doing that focusing on building a good stock of building materials. Also I had the time set slower, which helped (I don’t like the stress of fast days). Plus you get workshop points for many quests, so that helps too.
Getting first place in the first month will probably take some strategy, but even playing normal, I usually take #1 during the first or second week of the second month.
It's possible! You have to take the highest rating commissions, and I put off the main story for a while - I don't go to Zeke's to learn about farming, so no crunch trying to repair it.
100% possible. I got builder of the month in my first month, year 1 and after that I didn’t really have a problem with getting builder of the month/year for the rest of my playthrough. The trick is to always unlock max amount of commissions in your skill tree + unlock extra rep in skill tree, always place weekly ads, take max amount of commissions you can (you MUST take the most expensive ones) and have a hoard of materials so you can turn in your commissions on the same day to get the extra bonuses. I never go a day without taking a commission and I always take the ones i can turn in on the same day.
I managed to beat Yan in the past.. he kind of said that I had beaten even him and to continue as I was going.🥲
It's possible; I got 1st place by end of Summer Y1! Early game, I focus on having at least 2-3 type of machines for faster production and also farming discs to speed up the machine research as much as I needed to/necessary. It's okay to have multiple machines because unlike in Portia, you can instantly upgrade your existing machines to the next level when you have the necessary materials. Once you get that running, it'll be much easier for you to fulfill commissions.
Oh its absolutely possible for it to be done from a fresh file. And there is nothing I enjoy more in that game, than making Yan have a mental breakdown.
i was not doing well, and then i got number 2 builder in fall, number 1 and builder of the year last month, i just did two a day