The concept of collectibles has been present in several recent Facebook games, such as CityVille. And in FrontierVille, another great town-building game by Zynga, the same concept can be found as well. Despite this fact however, many people consider collections to be a non-essential component of the game, or at best, a slightly helpful part of it only. But since they can be traded for certain rewards upon completion, it is only right to point out their strategic importance. In short, they can be used to make your town prosper sooner. Therefore, we shall proceed to explore them and some of their uses in this Frontierville collections guide.
First, the mechanics. It should be noted that the number of collections is not fixed, but is increased from time to time, enabling the player to continue collecting, and trading. However, hoarding is not encouraged. At any given point, a player may only have a maximum of 99 untraded, individual items. To start the collection, harvesting is typically done, whether from trees, animals, or other sources. However, they can also be obtained from neighbors as a gift. Upon obtaining an item, it is assigned a color code, which indicates whether they are needed for certain goals or not. And upon completing a certain number of collections, badges are typically awarded (for every 10,20,50, and 100 sets).
Then we go to their utility. Each collection will have different rewards for trading them in upon completion. It is therefore wise to know which ones you should collect first. Depending on the circumstances however, the priorities could change. Nevertheless, it may be helpful to categorize them as being goal-dependent, and non goal-dependent. The goal-dependent sets include the Apple Collection (for the Apple Pie contest, and the Bess and Fanny goals), Apricot Collection (for the Sick Day goal), and the Barn Collection (for the Scout a Site goal), among many others. They should not be given away until the corresponding goal has been completed, for obvious reasons.
On the other hand, there are also the non-goal dependent sets, which also have their corresponding rewards. Examples include the Cotton (gives 5 cloth and 1 cotton), and Crafting (gives 3 tools) collections. Generally speaking, they are more numerous than the goal-dependent ones, and can be safely given away without fear that significant goals will be sacrificed. They are meant for trading, and are especially useful for gaining essential items faster. And when the player’s untraded items become too numerous, the non-goal dependent items can be given away to lower that number.
Given the sheer number of possible things to store, this FrontierVille collections guide suggests a comprehensive review of an authoritative collections table. Ideally, such a table should be illustrated, and should list all of the existing items, their rewards and any goals which depend on them. There should be quite a few of these online, though none can be said to be a definitive listing as of the moment. However, one or two listings should prove plenty for the beginning player. This is important, because it allows for a more strategic plan for playing FrontierVille, and will ensure that your budding frontier town will reach a sustainable status that much sooner.