Full Island Rating Guide

[0orchid]

I feel sad they won't let me have a bunch of trees and 5 stars. Not sure exactly how many trees I had but I just finally unlocked 5 stars today after being at a 4 star plateau for about a week. The only thing I did was chop down a ton of trees while terraforming. I planted a few more a while after that and hopefully won't go back down to 4 stars!

 

[tajikey]

Really not a fan of the island rating system this time around. I tend to like a minimalist approach, and it's hard to find items that still look "natural" in the environment without cluttering things up. It honestly feels like a 5 star rating caters towards people who like stuff everywhere. I was cool with past games where you needed flowers and trees, and to have no weeds. But, I think the requirements this time around leave a lot to be desired.

I've got a 5-star rating, and I wouldn't describe my island as having stuff everywhere. I was very strategic in what I placed where. For example, I've got fruit orchards on both sides of my island, 20 trees each. I placed 10 leaf piles along the length of each orchard. That counts as crafted items, and makes complete sense where they're placed.

I've also got a carnival area flanked on one side of the town center, and a cart racetrack on the other. You just have to be strategic in your placement of items. Once I got to 4, I would follow the suggestion Isabelle provided, then go back and check again until I got to 5. Now I'm waiting for my first Jacob's Ladder as I continue to adjust my island to be exactly what I want. I don't TT, so it's a day by day thing.

 

[mystery]

I feel sad they won't let me have a bunch of trees and 5 stars. Not sure exactly how many trees I had but I just finally unlocked 5 stars today after being at a 4 star plateau for about a week. The only thing I did was chop down a ton of trees while terraforming. I planted a few more a while after that and hopefully won't go back down to 4 stars!

How many pieces of furniture do you have outside?

 

[CrankyPirate]

I had a whole bunch of DIY recipes in my town, on tables, and nothing else on the ground, and Isabelle kept telling me that people were complaining about the litter. As soon as I moved them to my house she stopped complaining.

I also have a lot of small items placed on things like stalls/tables, and a couple of small items that are straight on the ground--I hope the ones on the ground don't count against me because I think they look cute there. The ones on the stalls haven't been triggering the littering complaint.

Then probably it’s the same for me. I have material on tables near my workshop so I have all the woods and minerals, but I guess that’s littering then.

 

[Hedgehugs]

Does anyone know if having too many fencing counts against you? Sorry if I missed it in the OP somehow.

 

[Katie97]

Does anyone know if having too many fencing counts against you? Sorry if I missed it in the OP somehow.

Generally, the book says fencing is a positive thing and you get 0.2 added points per fence. However, there are a total of 64 spaces available in every 8x8 block and if 45 or more tiles are covered in that block, it’s considered ‘cluttered’ and fencing is included in items that can cause ‘clutter’ whereas buildings, bridges, burned items, rocks, cliffs, rivers and inclines are not.

 

[stiney]

Then probably it’s the same for me. I have material on tables near my workshop so I have all the woods and minerals, but I guess that’s littering then.

It's so frustrating! I wanted to keep them near my airport as freebies for anyone who visited, but that will have to late. I dumped a few off in a friend's town--she's leaving her town open every morning while she works so that her friends' kids who play can come and run around and visit in a guaranteed safe town, so I left her some fruit and DIY recipes to contribute to the cause, but I still have a ton of extras. Might just sell the extra Bunny Day ones at this point.

 

[0orchid]

How many pieces of furniture do you have outside?

Dang I have no idea, I don't even think it's that many but I can go back and try to count then post.

EDIT: I think I have 169 but I may have missed something, I have hundreds of flowers (at least 300+ but not sure how many), 3 bridges, 3 inclines, and no idea how many fences but probably the bare minimum amount needed for 5 stars

 

[brockbrock]

How many points total do we need to attain a 5 star rating?

EDIT: IGNORE THAT. I AM CLEARLY BLIND.

 

[mystery]

I wonder if I don’t have enough nature or something. I’ve easily got a good 200 pieces of furniture and fences outside and I thought I had at least 200 flowers and over a hundred trees if not more thanks to all the hybrid growing but I can’t get over 4 stars

 

[JKDOS]

I checked my Amazon and it still says the delivery date isnt determined. Does it say that for you too?

No. Mine is worse. It says "Release date: Thursday, April 30, 2020 ". If I track it, there is nothing there. Just a note about "We will email you when we have an estimated delivery date."

 

[Cutiekuma]

The official companion guide arrived on time for me so I thought I'd share one of the most sought after parts for people who can't access the guide.

Star Rating Values
The star rating values are split into two separate categories: Development and Scenery. In order to increase your star rating, you must meet certain thresholds in both of these categories

Development	Scenery	Rating
Less than 80	Less than 200	1 Star
80 to 159	200 to 269	2 Stars
160 to 399	270 to 349	3 Stars
400 to 664	350 to 449	4 Stars
665+	450+	5 Stars

Island Scenery

Plantlife	Added Points
Trees (including bamboo)	+1 point for each fully grown tree up to 190 points
Flower Sprout	+0.5 Points
Flower Stem	+0.7 Points
Flower Bud	+0.7 Points
Adult Flower	+1 Point

Furniture placed is graded on an 8x8 tile basis known as a block.

DIY Furniture within a block	Added Points
For each unique piece of DIY furniture that is 3x1, 3x2 or 3x3 tile size	+1 point
4 or less different types of furniture	The number of furniture placed x 0.25 points
5-10 different types of furniture	The number of furniture placed x 0.25 points
10 or more different types of furniture	The number of furniture placed x 0.25 and the number of types x 0.75

Island Development

Condition	Added Points
Museum built	+15
Nook's Cranny has been upgraded	+15
Able Sisters is built	+15
Bridge	+ (Number of Bridges) x 15
Incline	+ (Number of Inclines) x 15

Non-DIY Furniture is still graded on the 8x8 tile basis

Furniture within a block	Added Points
Less than 5 unique types of furniture	Number of placed furniture x 1
5 to 10 unique types of furniture placed	Number of placed furniture x 0.5 + The number of types x 0.5
10+ unique types of furniture	Number of placed furniture x 0.5 + The number of types x 0.75

Furniture Type and Bonuses

Bonus	Added Points
The placed furniture is recommended for the outdoors	Number of outdoor furniture x 0.5 additional points
The placed furniture costs 2000-20,000 bells	Number of applicable furniture x 1
The placed furniture costs over 20,000 bells	Number of applicable furniture x 2
Placed fences	Number of fences x 0.2

Negative Conditions
Clutter

• Clutter is gauged in the same 8x8 tile divisions as furniture
• If 45/64 or more tiles are covered in the block, the block is considered cluttered
• Buildings, bridges, buried items, rocks, cliffs, rivers and inclines will not count towards this

Littering

• If there are more than 15 small items dropped on the ground, your island will be deemed messy
• Naturally occurring items such as tree branches, stones and star fragments do not count

If either of these conditions are met, your town can not achieve five stars.

PS: Sorry for the awful editing

WOW, this is so helpful
I had no idea

 

[Corrie]

Beautiful, thank you! I'm at 2 stars and was wondering what to do next to get 3!

 

[Bioness]

In this game, what are the "types" of furniture? I know in storage it shows housewares, miscellaneous, and wall mounted.

 

[mystery]

Finally got 5 stars every tree basically has a personal leaf pile and I’m a tad concerned it will drop back to four when my money tree grows but all in all a fairly successful objective

 

[ermis]

There is a hard limit of 220 trees also, that if you exceed decreases your star rating by one. I found this out the hard way and counted/tested it. Verified by Ninji as well also

Post automatically merged: Apr 17, 2020

Does the guide say anything about if and when trees start affecting your island rating negatively?

 

[RandomSanity]

Thanks for posting this.. I can't seem to make the transition from 4 to 5 stars, it's come to the point where I had my island decorated nicely and now I'm forced to just dump extra stuff around because I still apparently need more decoration.

I have tons of trees and flowers so I'm assuming I've maxed those bonuses. I cut this down a bit, but I've not exceeded the 220 limit.

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Xara]

thank you for sharing!!

 

[Insulaire]

Thanks for this. I’ve been not too impressed with a lot of the cluttered and busy (to me) islands I’ve seen labeled five stars on YT, so I’ve been doing it my own way and was pleased to learn I’d reached four stars today. Looks like I’ll be able to get to five using this guide without compromising the simplicity I’d like for my layout!

I guess we don’t know since this was written pre-Leif update, but presumably shrubs count like flowers?

 

[fallenchaoskitten]

I already have a 5star, but thank you for posting this to help the community who don't have access!