[wccrawford]

I started playing Farm Simulator 2025 recently because a friend wanted me to. Even now, I really long for a proper game with progression, etc. But it's really just a way to drive machines.

And I find myself wanting to do that, even without the progression I crave from a game. But then I also feel like I'm massively wasting my time, and I could be playing other games, getting stuff done around the house, or just reading a book. Instead of driving a tractor for no freaking reason. But I still want to do it.

[ColdStream]

Maybe that is the lesson. No matter how much we wish to progress, we just have to accept the stasis of the world. There will always be more to do.

[matthewfcarlson]

What would progression look like in a farming simulator? I tried it a few times but have had a similar feeling.

[fragmede]

Going from a little tractor on a small family farm, to a huge corporate megafarm with all the toys.

[wccrawford]

I've been trying to figure that out myself, and I think it involves things being locked away at the start, and unlocking them as you meet certain criteria.

Currently, the only criteria is money. You can literally just buy anything at any time, if you have the cash. Tractors, land, buildings... Anything. Almost all of it is instant. The few things that aren't instant are just annoying and not worth the effort.

There is a mod that unlocks tractors according to the year, matching them up with when they were released. That's at least a kind of progression, but still not what I'd enjoy.

In short, I think I want it more gamified and less of a straight simulation. Unlocking better tractors would mean reaching certain goals while using lesser tractors, etc. Motor Town has this. You need to do a certain amount of work with lesser machines to unlock the later ones. You also need the money.

But it would also go beyond what the game has. For some reason, you can be hired as a contractor for things, and rent the necessary equipment for fairly cheap. But as a landowner, you have to micromanage that situation. It's up to you to have the equipment and actually be ready to do the work before you can hand it off to an AI worker. And they're often terrible at it, especially with the lesser-used machines, like (according to a bug report I saw) carrot harvesters.

The game absolutely nails simulating driving a tractor. But as a "game", it fails.

[mrguyorama]

In Farm Simulator 2025, progress for me was felling and processing every single tree on the map. They were "in the way"

I have problems.