Harvest Moon ParadiseDevelopment rate is one of the statistics presented at the end of the game. It measures the percent of your ranch that is covered or "developed," and the score ranges from 0-100%. Development rate only takes into account free squares that you can interact with. Squares occupied by buildings, immovable structures, or any other permanent object do not count. A square is considered "developed" if it is free and you cover it with crops, grass, or a piece of fence. The table below summarizes which objects affect the ranch development score. o-------------------------------------------------------------------------o | Counts Towards Score | Does NOT Count Towards Score | |------------------------------------+------------------------------------| | - Crops | - Buildings or natural structures | | - Grass | - House upgrades | | - Fence | - Large or small rocks | | | - Stumps | | | - Weeds | | | - Broken fence pieces | | | - Money Tree | o-------------------------------------------------------------------------o
=================== COMPUTING THE SCORE =================== Overall, the ranch measures 60 squares horizontally by 57 squares vertically. Within that space, 2968 squares can be covered or developed by you. The formula for calculating the Development Rate is the following: Development Rate = ROUNDDOWN("Developed Squares" / 29.5) * 100 o----------------------------------------------------------------------------o | EXAMPLE | | Let's say your farm has 60 fence pieces to start, and you plant 3 patches | | of crops in a "C" formation and 2 patches of grass in the 3x3 formation. | | The number of squares of crops planted is 3*8 or 24. The number of squares| | of grass is 3*9 or 27. The total number of developed squares is | | 60+24+27=111. To calculate the Development Rate, we divide the 111 by 29.5| | to get 3.763. This is rounded down to 3. After multiplying by 100, we | | have a Development Rate of 3%... still a long way to go. | o----------------------------------------------------------------------------o You reach a 100% development rate with 2950 squares covered. This means you can have 18 free squares (or two 3x3 blocks) and still receive a perfect score.
======== STRATEGY ======== Covering the entire farm is an extremely daunting task. The cheapest way to do this is with fence pieces, but it is completely unmanageable in the event that one piece breaks. And you have no way of accessing it for repairs. You COULD wait until Day 29 of summer in year 3 to cover the farm with fence pieces, as this would assure none are broken. However, covering the farm with fence takes many hours of time, both in chopping lumber and in positioning the pieces. It is a very undesirable choice if you have an alternative. Crops are an equally unmanageable choice, and they're expensive in addition. The best, although most expensive, method is to cover the farm with grass. You can keep certain squares occupied by crops and fence pieces, but fill in all the others, including those around your house and between crops, with grass seed. This actually looks quite nice when the grass blooms, but it costs a small fortune – roughly 165,000 G. That's right, you need about 330 bags of grass in total, and this doesn't factor in overlap or screw ups. It is certainly possible to save up enough money for this, and you may wish to make grass planting a dedicated project in the spring of year 3. Regardless of your tactic, reaching a 100% development rate is a very time-consuming task.
