Hidden Stardew Valley 1.6 Update Makes Traveling Much Faster

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Following 's 1.6 patch, which has made several major additions to the game, players have begun to discover hidden features and interactions that weren't specified in the update's patch notes. Among the major additions introduced by the patch, which included several new crops, seasonal outfits for NPCs, expanded multiplayer, and a number of visual improvements, players have begun to discover some less obvious additions — including one trick that could significantly speed up in-game travel times.

As was discovered by some players shortly after the release of the patch, including Reddit user Hansekins, using the new carrot crop while riding a horse will now feed the carrot to the horse, giving the horse aday-long buff that increases its movement speed by around 40%.

As of the current patch, the newly added carrots, which can only be planted in Spring, are the only crop to have this interaction, making them uniquely valuable as a way for players to get around their farm faster and get more work done in a day.

Other items, like coffee, can also buff a player's general movement speed, which does stack with the increased speed from riding a horse, but have relatively short durations and can't be fed directly to the horse like carrots can.

While the ability for players to feed their horses and get some extra movement speed is a fairly minor addition compared to everything else included in 's 1.6 update, it's a nice touch for players who are more attached to their farm's animals, and provides a good mechanical incentive as well, giving carrots a unique value aside from how much money they're worth. It also pairs nicely with 1.6's new farm type, the Meadowlands Farm, which starts players out with two chickens and plentiful grazing land to help players focus on ranching.

For players who commonly use their horses to get around, stockpiling carrots during the Spring season can be a good decision, even if other crops might technically make more money. It's something of an