"It Was Too Late": Stardew Valley Fan Realizes A Reckless Crow Has Ruined Their Crop Order

screenrant.com:

A player had days of hard work ruined after random chance destroyed their long-term crop order. Beginning in the fall of Year 2, players unlock the Special Orders board, which is effectively the next evolution of the Bulletin Board. Where the Bulletin Board offers simple, one-off quests (e.g., turn in one item within three days), Special Orders are extended and concentrated, taking anywhere from a week to a month to complete, and often requiring players to ship up to 100 of a particular crop.

Suffice it to say that Special Orders can take a lot of effort, and Reddit user Dear_Following_9065 was devastated when all that effort was ruined by a lone crow. Crows eat crops in, which normally isn't a big deal. They're easy enough to repel with adequate Rarecrow placement in , and even if a crop or two does get eaten, it's usually just a little bit of money lost.

But in this particular case, the player planted exactly enough Artichoke to meet the needs of a Special Order — 100 plants on the dot. But shortly before the deadline, a crow swooped in and ate a single artichoke plant, taking them down to 99. With just four days left to complete the Special Order, it was too late to recover (Artichokes take eight to grow, five with all growth speed bonuses applied), they inevitably failed the order.

Unfortunately, having crows steal your crops and ruin your Special Orders is all too common a experience. One player, Edrill, explained that something similar has happened to them before, and suggests regularly planting 10% more crops than the Special Order requires to compensate for any risk of loss. And there are many ways that loss can occur: besides crows, crops could be destroyed by stray bolts of lightning or, more rarely, meteors, or their growth slowed by insufficient watering.

Others, like foxy436, had more creative ideas. It's long been known that players can use Chickens to cheat in the PC version of. Naming a chicken with the in-game item ID of a particular item can cause