In the survival game called Aloft, you will have to fight against mushrooms and reclaim this abandoned land that you found. To do this, you’ll probably want a breakdown of some of the main components and important items to help you get started on your journey.
Aloft Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Although this is a survival game, Aloft has many things that are different from many other titles in this genre. It has a lot more in common with Windbound and Valhiem than it does with Sons of the Forest, so here’s a list of some basic principles and items you should be aware of.
- Food is not essential for survival. Similar to how it works in Valhiem, you can get goodies from food, but you won’t need to eat to live.
- Water is also not required to survive. It boosts your attack speed though, so staying hydrated is a great idea.
- Collect coal and paper every time you see it. Charcoal is an important material for filtering water and drawing in your sketchbook, but you can’t do it. Chop down burnt tree stumps and dig up old bonfires to find it. Paper can be made later in the game, but you’ll still want to get as much as you can. Paper is important in Aloft for sketching.
- Always keep your Field Guide with you when exploring. If you equip the Field Guide, you can hold it to read it with a right click; the open pages will tell you what plants, animals or other help the island needs to regain the balance of its environment.
- Your Sketchbook lets you design almost any object you don’t yet know how to build so you can learn it yourself. You only need one piece of paper and one piece of charcoal to make it.
- Collect bugs because they are important for balancing ecosystems, and you can find a whole bunch on the starting island. They usually cling to the sides of tree stumps, and they look like blue or red ladybugs.
- Make sure to get combos. When using a tool, press left click when the moving line is in the yellow to do a combo; this will hit multiple items at once.
- Need to press F while cooking or crafting? No, the timer will keep ticking; the F minigame while cooking or crafting is just to speed up the process.
To get started, you’ll need to make some tools. You can make a Stone Hammer (Stone + Wood) without the Workbench, but most of the rest require it. All items that start with “Stone”, such as the pickaxe and hammer, can also be made with bone much later in the game.
- Leaf Bucket: Used to water plants and collect milk from goats.
Leaf Cloth + Leaf Cloth + Leaf Cloth + Rope + Wood. - Scissors: Used to shear sheep and llamas from their wool.
Carved Wood + Hardstone + Hardstone. - Spyglass: You can see islands too far to see, mark locations, and see if an island is too heavy to make a boat.
Windstone Crystal + Windstone Crystal + Leaves + Wood + Rope. - Stone Arrow: Used with the Stone or Bone Bow.
Sharpened Stone + Wood + Feather. - Stone Ax: Used to chop down trees.
Stone + Wood + Sharp Stone. - Stone Bow: Basic ranged weapon.
Carved Wood + Carved Wood + Feather + Feather + String. - Stone Dorkip: Used as a hoe.
Wood + Wood + Rope + Sharp Stone. - Stone Hammer: Used to build, repair and break down buildings.
Stone + Wood. - Stone pickaxe: Used to break rocks and piles.
Wood + Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone. - Stone Harvest: Used to cut plants.
Rope + Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone + Wood. - Stone Sword: Basic melee weapon.
Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone + Rope + Wood. - Torch: Used to illuminate the area.
Charcoal + Wood.
How to repair the ecosystem of an island
One of the most important parts of Aloft is fixing the ecosystems of the islands you encounter. Once you’ve landed, you may notice that the colors darken and you can’t pick plants. This means the ecosystem is messed up, and you need to fix it. Equip your Guidebook and press the right mouse button to hold it.
- Tree Quantity: Plant trees until the first number is equal to or greater than the second number. Trees can be found in the fourth menu with other seeds.
- Floral Diversity: Use the Emerald Isle seeds for this one. If you right click while the seeds are equipped, you can change what seed you plant to add more variety.
- Decomposer Quantity: Using the Grindstone table, grind Reishi Mushrooms you find at the base of trees to make Decomposers. You can plant these at the base of medium sized trees.
- Animal Amount: Bring a sheep, goat or llama from another island to this one or build a birdhouse to increase this number.
- Diversity of Insects: Using the red and blue ladybugs you caught on other islands, you can fix this one. Open your inventory, highlight a bug, then Press F to release the onto the island.
- Other Items: Under Insect Diversity, you might see something like fixing an aviary, cutting down an infected tree, or killing a core. If you hold the book in your hand, these things will be highlighted in red so they are easier to choose. Cores can hide in caves.
How to make an island ship in Aloft
Now that you’re exploring the world, you’ll want a home base on which to store your animals, your building materials, and bedding. This island ship will also be your respawn point.
To sail an island, you need four things: a rudder to steer, a sail to catch the wind, a float and a rudder. A map is also helpful, but not strictly necessary. Select the section you want to be the front of the island ship and point your rudder to that direction.
Then, at the back of the island, place a rudder. Anywhere in the middle of the island, you should set sail; you can set any of the four types of sails to move, depending on how you want your craft to look. Floats should be placed like wings on both sides of the island.
To line it up correctly, you want the before the sail to face the front of the island. If you don’t, you’ll get a message on the screen that your sail is misaligned with your island; this will be relative to the position of your steering wheel.
The more sails you add, the higher your sail rate will be while moving. If you have trouble moving your island ship, it may be too heavy for the types of sails you use, so look for a small island. However, do not choose too small; your animals may stop producing milk and wool if they feel too full.
How to get wool fabric in Aloft
You will receive the prescription for a sewing table early enough, but you won’t be able to do it without the loom. The loom is found much later. This is the only way to get wool fabric and build the sewing table so you can upgrade your gear. There are only three suits in Aloft at the moment. While the islands are procedurally generated, I found my looms in the third section of the map in both of my playthroughs, two east of the starting section.
For more indie games, check out Top 10 Indie Games in Pro Game Guides.
