Our Aloft Ship Building Guide tells you how to unlock ship building, how to get new ship parts, and the best way to build your home island ship!
How to Unlock Ship Building
You can unlock Aloft ship building by exploring the starting area and unlocking the necessary Knowledge by investigating Knowledge Stones, Shipwrecks, and Frescos.
You can have more than one home island ship, but you can only have one active at a time. You can despawn your home island ship and spawn in a different one on the rightmost tab of the inventory menu.
How to Unlock New Ship Parts
You can unlock new ship parts in Aloft by exploring the map and unlocking new Knowledge, typically via Shipwrecks. Some items are restricted to certain biomes; if a Shipwreck doesn't give you a new part, it's time to move on to the next biome.
Best Way to Build Your Ship
The best way to build your Aloft ship is to place enough Sails, Floaters, and Rudders to max out your stats when you're using the Helm. Floaters and Rudders don't have any variants in the Early Access launch version of the game, but there are many different types of Sail.
Each type of Sail has different performance. At first, the Square Sail will give you average performance. As you discover more Knowledge, you'll unlock new types of Sails that perform in different ways.
Additionally, there are three different types of materials for Sails: Leaves, Wool (from tending sheep), and Linen (acquired via foraging and farming). These upgraded materials are required for exploring new areas; for example, you can't leave the first region of the map until you have Wool Sails that can survive harsh winds.
Here's a final tip: when you're at the Helm, you can change the camera to an external view with the "Change View" option, and you can see the performance of your Rudders, Floaters, and Sails while you're moving with "Detailed Mode." This gives you a good idea of how your ship parts are performing while you're moving.
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