Raft has just come out of Early Access, and as with most open world survival games, it can be daunting to get started. To help you on your journey, we’ve compiled a few tips we wish we knew when starting our little plank raft. Our beginner’s guide to Raft lists tips and tricks that players new and old may not know about.
Take your time building your raft and getting materials
There is no need to rush through the story. Take your time to make the materials you need, expand your raft and turn it into a home. You’ll need to navigate around to find basic building materials (planks, plastic, and palm fronds), so don’t worry if you need to explore further before reaching any of the story islands.
Remember to give items to your Research Table
You must feed one of each material to the Research Table to learn new recipes using said material. It can be easy to forget to do this, so be sure to use the table as you explore new environments.
Search underwater materials on the islands
Materials such as algae and junk can be found underwater on reefs around random islands. You’ll want to swim down to collect these must-have materials, so you’ll want to explore underwater just as much as you explore land.
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Image: Redbeet Interactive/Axolot Games
Take Advantage of Shark Bait
With that said, the shark lurking in your raft will attack you when it sees you underwater. You can kick the shark with a spear, but you can also use Shark Bait to take it down easily. The shark will take the bait, allowing you to give it a free hit before it swims away. It will come back until the bait is eaten, so you should be able to defeat the shark before the bait runs out.
Once the shark is dead, you can harvest it for meat and swim freely…until the shark respawns.
Don’t stay on random islands for too long
At first it might be tempting to linger on a random island for a while, but you’ll need more planks and plastic to hold your tools and fuel. If you run out of clean water or cooked food you will eventually starve or dehydrate, so you need to browse for more materials long before that happens.
Take food and drinks with you as you explore
When exploring the larger history islands, be sure to bring food and drink with you. Some later islands have cooked food hidden inside to help you get by, but there is no reliable source of food and water. You don’t want to end your trip early only to return to the ship for food, so save it.
Fishing is the key to having tons of food
Build a fishing rod as soon as possible, as fishing is a free source of tons of food. Hit any fish on the grill and you’ll be ready for a long time. You will also need specific fish to make Shark Bait.
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Image: Redbeet Interactive/Axolot Games
Put your pots indoors to avoid seagulls.
Evil seagulls will eat your crops unless they are planted indoors or you have a scarecrow nearby. Scarecrows do not keep birds away and only attract them for a short time before they break. If your raft ends up being too big or not good at controlling those sea rats, simply place your pots inside to avoid them altogether.
Use the scroll wheel to select specific amounts of items from the stacks
While this is less of a gaming tip and more of a quality of life tip, if you like proper organization, know that you don’t have to pull things out of storage one by one or in their entirety. Using the scroll wheel, you can select the exact amount of materials to take out.
Source: www.polygon.com