When your level reaches the mid teens, you're going to get hit hard with a set of all-new game mechanics. Eagle Eye Eddie will land at your Country Escape farm, and he'll bring a list of demands. Fulfilling Eddie's requests will grant you Stamps, which you can trade for Prized Animals, which you can tend for Ribbons, which you can trade for Stamps and... Goodness gracious this is a complicated little mess, isn't it? Let's sort it out in our mega-guide to Farmville 2: Country Escape - Eddie, Stamps, and Prized Animals!
Farmville 2 Country Escape: Eagle Eye Eddie
Eagle Eye Eddie is like the Farm Requests board on steroids. He'll swoop in and request two identical stacks of three different goods. That is, he might ask you for butter, tin buttons, and peach yogurt. He'll ask for two groups of butter, with, say, 12 sticks of butter in each group.
You have less than a day to fill this order. Usually more like 16 hours. It's usually a tall order, too. You're going to need to devote significant resources to collecting all the things Eddie wants. Often he wants you to make something rare, or a lot of something common, or both at the same time.
Note that you must sell the items to Eddie. Once you have enough of one of the things he wants, tap the icon to sell that stack to him. If you want rewards, you must sell all 6 stacks in order to get a stamp.
Pro Tip For some of the more common things, like Goat Cheese, it might make sense to shop the Market. Don't forget to ask your friends and your Co-Op if they have anything they're willing to sell you!
Pro Tip Do you play Farmville 2 on Facebook? Did you know you can transfer stuff from your Facebook farm to your Country Escape farm? If this is news to you, check out my guide for connecting your Facebook farm to your Country Escape farm! You can only do this once per day, but if Eddie is asking for a crop (or something derived from a crop) that has a long grow time, you can import it from your Farmville 2 farm instead of growing it yourself! For instance, Peach trees can be planted in huge droves in your Facebook farm, and then you can ship a boatload of Peaches to your Country Escape farm (well, 9, but that's still a lot!) to save time and effort.
The good news is, Eddie pays very well. He easily eclipses the Farm Requests board in terms of experience and coin payouts.
Once the timer is up or you've filled the order, Eddie leaves for four hours.
Pro Tip While Eddie's out and about, you can tap the hangar to see what he will request when he lands. You won't know quantities, but you will at least know what to be on stockpiling. If he's going to want something you can only get rarely from Farm Scenes, it pays to know this so you can max out the number of forages you can do while the order is live.
Pro Tip If Eddie is out, he will not land until you return to the game. That means if he's scheduled to come back while you're asleep, he won't actually do so until you check into the game the next day. This means his timer doesn't start until AFTER you play! If he's going to land just before you go to sleep/school/work, it might make sense to skip checking the game, so that your downtime doesn't count against you.
If you manage to complete the entire order, you'll earn a Stamp.
Farmville 2: Country Escape: Stamps
Eddie's Stamps come in three types. There are Bronze, Silver, and Gold stamps.
When you complete all 6 items in an order for him, Eddie will give you a stamp at random from one of these types. As you might imagine, Bronze are the most common, and Gold are the most rare.
There's nothing you can do to ensure a Silver or Gold - they're rare, and you've just got to keep filling orders if you want another chance at one. I've filled super challenging orders fast and gotten Bronze, I've filled easy orders slowly and gotten Gold.
Once you have enough Stamps, you can use them to purchase Prized Animals.
Farmville 2: Country Escape: Prized Animals
There is a whole set of Prized Animals in Farmville 2: Country Escape. You can trade a set of stamps for a Prized Animal if you have enough of them and your level is high enough.
Prized Animals work more like Farm Scenes than normal animals. You'll have to task your Farm Hands with caring for the animal, and you need special "Prized Animal Feed" for each Prized Animal. These feeds can be crafted at the Windmill, and require significant resources to create.
When caring for these animals, you can earn two special types of rewards. One is Mastery, which is measured in a system of stars. Every time you tend to your animal, you will increase this Mastery. Reaching a Mastery milestone will grant you a new star. Every time you gain a star, you unlock new rewards and make the old rewards more likely.
If you're trying to "upgrade" an animal for a quest, this means you need to gain a Mastery star. Just send your farm hands to tend it repeatedly.
Pro Tip Dr. Vivian gives bonus Mastery if she tends to an animal!
The other special reward you can get is a Ribbon.
Farmville 2: Country Escape: Ribbons
Ribbons come in three colors. Yellow ribbons are the most common, then Red, and finally Blue ribbons are the rarest.
Once you have Ribbons, you can take them to the Prize Tent and cash them in for rewards. Some of these rewards are more Stamps, so if Eddie isn't giving you that one last Stamp you need for a new animal, your old animals can help you get them!
Ribbons are also one of the very few ways you can get free keys in Farmville 2: Country Escape. You have to be at least level 35 and have a ton of Ribbons, but it is a reward you can unlock.