Navigating the new Isles of Abyss in Once Human will require a well-equipped boat to take you around the watery landscape. You can now live out your pirate dreams and tackle all the new monstrosities that spawn deep in the unknown. Before you get going however, you need to understand the basics of owning a boat, converting it into a ship, and how to efficiently build your base on it.
Besides turning your ship into a movable base, you can also use your new ship in combat. With the right equipment, build, and weapons, you can venture out safely on your ship and discover a whole new world out there. This guide will offer a quick breakdown of how to build a ship, the best equipment, how to unlock new ship tech, and more.
How to Build a Ship in Once Human
Your new boat in Once Human will act as your base and a transport vehicle to get around the Isles of Abyss. The base of your boat will be readily available as you update the game and follow the Isles of Abyss questline, but additional infrastructure that will allow it to move from place to place will be all on you. First, head over to your ship core and right-click on it to bring up the ship building menu. Over here, you can unlock and set down all the required parts for your ship.
Furthermore, if you make your way to the House Blueprints tab and select the Preset option, you will find several ready-to-use ship blueprints. Select any blueprint that you like to be taken to the Description menu. Like all blueprints, you require materials to craft the ship. The Materials tab will tell you exactly the quantity and materials needed to build your ship. Mostly, the materials you need to gather are wood and shells, which are found in abundance around the beach.
Enhancing your Ship in Once Human
I recommend completing the quests that are included in the Isles of Abyss update for Once Human, as this will introduce you to ship building and adding new parts to it. You will soon learn how to add a hull, weapons, an engine, and rotators to help your ship move around. Later on, you can unlock new recipes to craft new items to enhance your ship, but it comes at the cost of farming enough Tech Points.
Plus, progressing through the ship’s tech tree is vastly different from normal. You need to unlock all prior ship recipes before you can move down the tech tree, which is why you need to farm enough tech points and increase your Tech Level to get all the ship upgrades. The best way I found to gather enough tech points is to carry your recycler tool and explore the overworld. You need to collect items that can be added to the Tech Research Workbench, which will break them down and convert them into points.
Best Ship Upgrades To Get First in Once Human
As you start building your ship, there are a few upgrades you need to keep in mind to optimize movement and carry capacity. For enhanced speed, you should get yourself some propellers, either the Fuel Propellers or Electric Propellers. The more propellers you add to your ship, the higher your speed gets.
You can keep track of your current ship speed by looking at your speed meter on the left side of the hotbar. While sails do look nice on your ship, I would recommend against them later in the game, since sails prevent you from navigating efficiently. You’d be better off purchasing boosters instead and using them for extra speed.
For handling your ship, side thrusters are another requirement to help with maneuverability. Place two of them on either side of your ship to help navigate it. Furthermore, you can passively collect resources from the seabed by adding a Trawl Net. All resources collected can be found in your boat’s vault, which you can either sell or use in crafting.
Tidal cages can also be added to your ship to capture fish to use in the new recipes. While adding new equipment, keep an eye on the bar at the top of your screen. This bar shows you the number of ship attachments you can add, as well as your Building Rating.
Adding Workbenches to your Ship
You can continue crafting and refining your researched items while on the move by placing your most used workbenches on it. The plus point of owning a ship is that you don’t need to carry all your resources and materials on the ship. Whatever materials you already own on your base will automatically be accounted for and usable even if you are further away from your base.
Your inventory items are not counted here, so whatever resources and materials you have put up on your base can be used on your land base and also on your ship base. But you will still require storage containers and a fridge to safeguard all your crafted food and items, so you need to build those on your ship before you set sail.
Preparing for Combat
Your ship isn’t just a mobile workstation. You will need to use your ship to find all the new enemies residing out at sea. Your ship can be equipped with turrets and cannons for ranged combat, while you can use your own skills and take some help from Deviants to take down all the sea foes. If you own multiple cannons or turrets and wish to toggle between them during battle, press the Tab key to bring up your radial wheel and select which weapon you wish to man. This is especially handy if you wish to stay in your driver seat and use the turret or cannon without moving towards them.
Another tip to keep in mind while preparing for combat is to use a lighter ship. Heavier ships won’t be easy to maneuver, and the added weight from all your equipment will weigh it down. Shift to a lighter and smaller ship with just the essential weaponry and thrusters to tackle the Isles of Abyss enemies in Once Human.
