Black Skylands is fresh into early access. It’s a game from Hungry Couch Games and publisher TinyBuild, of Graveyard Keeper renown. Black Skylands merges several different genres into one, with a large open world, sky pirates, and a little bit of farming simulation as well. Hot tip: cabbages are delicious.
While the game is currently in early access, and it received its first update just a couple of days after its release, it is subject to a lot of changes and balance updates. This list of tips is for any new player diving in for the first time.
7 How Do You Defend An Island?
One of the main gameplay mechanics is the conquering of various islands. Once you’ve saved the island, a new community will move in, one that you will eventually have to protect from raiders.
You’ll receive a notification that the island is under attack. Make your way there and clean out any of the raiders: it could be two soldiers, or it could be twenty.
However, if you don’t receive the message that the island has been cleared, it’s because there are ships flying around the island, or there are enemy soldiers located on some of the smaller outlying islands. You’ll need to search for them to complete the raid.
6 Use Luma To Get Back To Your Ship Quickly
Black Skylands is in early access. This means you might end up getting stuck in the terrain. Have no fear, Luma is here. This is the friendly pet moth that can carry you, and other items, back to your ship.
Press and hold the C key and Luma will carry you back to your ship, even if you were stuck behind a rock. Honestly, it happens, but the developers are addressing these no-clip issues via their Discord.
5 There Is A Fast Travel System In Black Skylands
There are two ways to fast travel in the game. You can travel between Fuel Stations once you’ve discovered them, or travel right back to the Fathership from anywhere on the map.
Open up your tablet and hover over the Fathership. You will be able to press and hold space and it will teleport you, and your ship, right back to your main base.
Likewise, once you’ve discovered multiple Fuel Stations (the floating ships with fuel tanks on) you can use these to travel between different islands. This is very useful, as you might find several islands being attacked over and over again.
4 Pick Up Every Resource When You See It
Pick up everything. Not the trees and rocks and stuff (although you can pick these up to decorate the Fathership), but the wood, stone, iron, copper, etc. These resources are very important: they’re used to build vital buildings back on the Fathership, and required to complete a couple of the early quests.
Whenever you see these resources you should collect them and store them in your ship’s hold. Back at the Fathership, you can quickly move the ship’s hold items into the warehouse. You should pick up resources when you see them because you don’t want to be traveling back and forward between islands. The resource grind is one of the slowest parts of the game.
3 Stock Up On Fuel, Ship Ammunition, And Repair Kits, But Not Too Much
At the start of the game, your ship’s hold is small, able to hold only 15 slots of resources, ammo, fuel, and repair kits. You only need one tank of fuel, 200 ship ammo, and 10-15 repair kits. The rest of the ship’s inventory should be saved for Mod Boxes and resources.
You can restock your ship whenever you get back to the Fathership. It will automatically repair the ship, and you can refuel it either at the Fuel Station just north of the Fathership, or at the shop right next to the main ship dock.
2 Build The Ship Workshop First
Upgrading your ship is what Black Skylands is all about. While the foot combat is still quite fun, it’s all the shop customization and the different ships you can buy that make the game what it is. You should prioritize the shipbuilder first, so you can begin upgrading your ship’s sails, engine, and everything else.
With an upgraded ship, you can get better cannons which makes it easier to wipe entire islands of soldiers without ever having to leave your ship.
1 Best Weapons and Mods
Honestly, many of the weapons and mods will just be the things you pick up first. The Shotgun is really, really good with the first mod you earn, the one that lets you reload whenever you roll. It’s a good idea to stick with the Shotgun for the first few island runs.
However, don’t underestimate the power of the backstab. You can melee either with your grappling hook or with a small knife. The grappling hook gives you a decent range to backstab enemies from miles away. While the stealth mechanics aren’t exactly groundbreaking, this can be helpful to get the jump on certain enemies. Boss enemies and elite enemies will not die instantly to a backstab attack.
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