Ultimate Aloft Beginner’s Guide

In the survival game called Aloft, you will need to battle against mushrooms and reclaim this abandoned land you have found. In order to do that, you will probably want a breakdown of some of the key components and important items to help you get started on your journey.

Aloft Tips and Tricks for Beginners

While this is a survival game, Aloft has a whole lot of things that will be different from a lot of the 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 is a list of some basic principles and items you should be aware of.

• Food is not essential to survive. Similar to how it works in Valhiem, you can get buffs from foods, but you won't need to eat to live.
• Water is also not required to survive. However, it gives a boost to your attack speed, so staying hydrated is a great idea.
• Collect charcoal and paper every time you see it. Charcoal is a material that is important for filtering water and drawing in your sketchbook, but you can't make it. Cut down burnt tree stumps and dig up old bonfires to find it. Paper can be made later in the game, but you will 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 out to read it with right click; the open pages will tell you what kind of plants, critters, or other help the island needs to get the balance of its environment back.
• Your Sketchbook allows you to draw almost any item you don't know how to build yet so you can learn it for yourself. You just need one piece of paper and one piece of charcoal to do it.
• Collect bugs as they're important for balancing ecosystems, and you can find a whole bunch on the starting island. They are usually clinging to the sides of tree stumps, and they look like blue or red ladybugs.
• Make sure to get combos. When you are using a tool, press left click when the moving line is in the yellow to make a combo; this will hit several items at once.
• Do you need to press F during cooking or crafting? No, the timer will continue to tick down; the F mini game while cooking or crafting is only to speed up the process.

Weapon and tool recipes

To get started, you will need to make some tools. You can make a Stone Hammer (Stone + Wood) without the Worktable, but most of the rest require it. All the items that start with "Stone," like the pickaxe and hammer, can also be made with bone much later in the game.

• Leaf Bucket: Used to water plants and to collect milk from female goats.
  Leaf Cloth + Leaf Cloth + Leaf Cloth + Rope + Wood.
• Shears: Used to shear sheep and llamas of their wool.
  Carved Wood + Hardstone + Hardstone.
• Spyglass: You can view islands too far away to see, mark locations, and see if an island is too heavy to make into a boat.
  Windstone Crystal + Windstone Crystal + Leaves + Wood + Rope.
• Stone Arrow: Used with the Stone or Bone Bow.
  Sharpened Stone + Wood + Feather.
• Stone Axe: Used to cut down trees.
  Stone + Wood + Sharp Stone.
• Stone Bow: A basic ranged weapon.
  Carved Wood + Carved Wood + Feather + Feather + Rope.
• Stone Dorkip: Used as a hoe.
  Wood + Wood + Rope + Sharp Stone.
• Stone Hammer: Used to build, repair, and breakdown constructions.
  Stone + Wood.
• Stone Pickaxe: Used to break rocks and piles.
  Wood + Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone.
• Stone Sickle: Used to cut plants.
  Rope + Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone + Wood.
• Stone Sword: A basic melee weapon.
  Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone + Sharp Stone + Rope + Wood.
• Torch: Used to light up the area.
  Charcoal + Wood.

How to fix an island's ecosystem

One of the most important parts of Aloft is fixing the ecosystems of the islands you come across. After you have landed, you may notice the colors dulled and that you are unable to pick plants. This means that the ecosystem is messed up, and you need to fix it. Equip your Guide Book and press the right mouse button to hold it.

• Tree Amount: 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.
• Flora Diversity: Use the Emerald Isle seeds for this one. If you right click while the seeds are equipped, you can change which kind of seed you are planting to add more diversity.
• Decomposer Amount: Using the Grindstone table, grind up Reishi Mushrooms you find at the base of trees to make Decomposers. You can plant these at the bottoms of medium-sized trees.
• Animal Amount: Bring a sheep, goat, or llama from another island to this one or build a birdhouse to raise this number.
• Insect Diversity: Using the red and blue ladybugs you have 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: Underneath Insect Diversity, you might see something like fixing a birdhouse, cutting down an infected tree, or killing a core. If you hold the book in your hand, these items will be highlighted red so they are easier to pick out. Cores can hide in caverns.

How to make an island ship in Aloft

Now that you are exploring out in the world, you will want a homebase on which to keep your animals, your building materials, and a bed. This island ship will also be your respawn point.

In order to sail an island, you need four things: a helm to steer, a sail to catch the wind, a floater, and a rudder. A map is also helpful, but not strictly necessary. Choose the section you want to be the front of the island ship, and place your helm facing in that direction.

Then, at the back of the island, place a rudder. Anywhere in the middle of the island, you should place a sail; you can place any of the four kinds of sails to get moving, based on what you want your craft to look like. Floaters should be placed like wings on either side of the island.

In order to line it up correctly, you want the front of the sail to face the front of the island. If you don't, you will get a message on the screen that your sail is poorly aligned with your island; this will be in relation to your helm's positioning.

The more sails you add, the higher your sail amount will be when moving. If you have trouble getting your island ship to move, it may be too heavy for the types of sails you are using, so look for a small island. However, don't choose one too small; your animals might stop producing milk and wool if they feel too crowded.

How to get wool cloth in Aloft

You'll get the recipe for a sewing table fairly early, but you won't be able to make it without the loom. The loom is found much later. This is the only way to get wool cloth and build the sewing table so you can upgrade your gear. There are only three outfits in Aloft currently. While the islands are procedurally generated, I found my looms in the third section of the map in both my playthroughs, two east of the starting section.

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