Cozy Caravan is a wonderful, cosy game about wandering through tiny villages, setting up a market of goods, and making friends at a slow, idyllic pace. But there is also another layer to the game, as you can choose to min-max your daily life, and grind for Friendship Points to earn handy upgrades for your caravan.
At first, you’ll be required to grab certain upgrades to progress in Cozy Caravan – the Knife (1 Guild Token) and the Mortar & Pestle (2 Guild Tokens) are essential to advance the story – but once you’ve cleared major story events, you’re free to upgrade your caravan as you like. And if you’re aiming for the best result, and to level up your caravan quickly, there is a way to boost your speed and advance in rapid fashion.
The first thing you should be aware of is that Friendship is the primary form of currency in the game. You’ll earn Friendship Points that convert to Guild Tokens for nearly every action you perform – including waving to folks, completing mini-quests, and taking part in activities. Rather than cash, you’ll also earn Friendship Points for selling goods when you open your market.
Cozy Caravan: How to earn more Guild Tokens
To start gathering Friendship Points at speed, you’ll want to open your day by waving to every creature in your sight. Every time you wave, you’ll get a significant amount of Friendship Points, adding to your progress bar. One full progress bar = one Guild Token, so keep waving until you hit your goals.
The next step for earning Friendship Points is to take part in activities – but only the ones that are worth your time. In your travels, you’ll come across a range of folks who want to play with you, or ask you to take part in some mini-game. If you come across a tiny friend who wants to play hopscotch – know you’ll be there for a while, perfecting your button inputs. You can spend time with them to earn Friendship Points, but it’s not the most productive activity.
That honour goes to bee-wrangling. In many towns, you’ll find a frog friend who has lost their bees, and you’ll need to round them up by running behind them, and guiding them back to their owner. This is a cosy, fun activity, and as you look for each bee, you can also spend time waving at folks to maximise your friendship points.
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Beyond these activities, you also get a significant amount of Friendship Points for returning books to the local bookseller near the top of the map, and for returning any wayward frogs you find to their father in Croakers’ Gully.
Cozy Caravan: How to improve your market
The next step for earning more Guild Tokens is to improve your market. Once you’ve obtained essential tools like the Knife and Mortar & Pestle (by speaking to the Guild Rep at Basslebrook), you’ll be able to pick and choose what to spend your Guild Tokens on.
Follow the above steps to earn at least two Guild Tokens, and then grab the +1 Market Table upgrade. This allows you to place more goods at your market, and increases the likelihood that your fellow citizens will purchase goods from you. Make sure to keep both tables stocked as you tend your market, and you should earn a significant amount of Friendship Points every time you open your shop. Once you’ve earned this upgrade, consider purchase another table, or upgrades for the Oven or Cooking Bench to ensure you can keep producing high-quality goods.
Notably, the kinds of goods you stock in your market all have their own Friendship Points assigned, so the more “complex” items you sell, the more Friendship Points you’ll earn. Maximising the amount of goods you can sell, and the types of goods, is important for rapidly earning Guild Tokens, and improving your caravan.
Another way you can influence the outcome of your market is finding the fortune-telling owl in your travels. Occasionally, you will stumble across a marquee tent (that looks a lot like Katrina’s tent from Animal Crossing) and when you talk to the mysterious owl behind the counter, they’ll improve the odds of selling one particular item in your next market.
Pay attention to what the owl says, and ensure to stock up on this good for the next time you open your shop. That way, you’ll be able to earn ample Friendship Points, earn new Guild Tokens, and eventually maximise your caravan’s level.
All these activities and improvements together will ensure you can easily level up in Cozy Caravan, and take your market to the next level.