Beginner Tips For A Great Raft!

[Chaophim]

So, you've landed on an island, huh? Well that clunky lifeboat you brought with you is good for only two things...

Getting you to shore and serving as a mini-crate.

For the best in Stranded Deep, you're going to need to build a raft. Many videos and guides exist on the basics and several designs, but I've tooled around with some builds and come up with one that I think works the best and "grows with you".

Start out with a single segment, on land, and put a floor on it. Do NOT put it in the water yet!

Next, gather the stuff you will need for an anchor. Pull the raft into the water, make the anchor (handle facing inward) and immediately drop anchor.

Next, gather the stuff you will need for a rudder and put this on the other end of your tiny raft, again with handle facing inward.

Next, gather the stuff you will need for a second raft segment and construct it at the ANCHOR end of the raft. This will make the anchor seem to "glitch" through the raft. We want this because when you are using the rudder to steer, the anchor handle will be right in front of you and usable without having to release the rudder or turn your head.

Now build a third segment, if able, and put a floor on it. This (not the middle one) will be our "sail" segment.

Next, build your sail on this end segment, making sure you have the arrows pointing away from the anchor and rudder segments. This will now be the "fore" of the raft and the rudder segment the "aft".

I would not suggest sailing at this point unless you like swimming and/or getting chewed on by sharks.

Gather the materials for two more segments either by gathering bouy balls (10) or doing like I do and *starting* the segment construction wherever you find them and not clicking "finalize"/"place" until you are back at your boat (there seems to be no distance limit for doing this - just don't click either mouse button until you are in place) and build the two segments to the right (starboard) and left (port) of the rudder section. Put floors on them and you are stable for sailing.

If using the 53exp or above version, I recommend canopies highly. Put one over the rudder.

Growing it:

Upgrading for storage:

This base raft will get you where you need to go without too much tipping, but we need room for crates and other goodies, right? From this point on, because of both float weight and physics, you will want to build onto the raft symmetrically to reduce the chance of drift.

Create your "crate storage" by creating a new segment on either side of the middle segment but do NOT put a floor on it. This allows the crates to be stacked on it and have the raised lips of the surrounding floors keep them in place.

As such, you will want to build segments to the fore and sides of these two floorless "slits".

Your raft should now be a 5x wide by 3x long rectangle. You can now transport 8 crates relatively safely if you pack them right. Put canopies along the back edge to match the first as well as to cover a wide angle of sun.

Upgrading for speed:

By this time, you have probably already found the materials for one (or more) fuel stills. Best get to brewing and collecting jerry cans to fill up. Farming potatoes and running multiple stills is great.

You will need to gather the materials (fairly easy with some islands) for TWO motors. The reason I say two is not only for symmetry but also peace of mind. Sure, the sail and rudder are always there in case of a real emergency, but I find that having both motors full plus full gas cans in a labled crate makes life so much easier for long treks.

Place these engines one to each side of the rudder. Remember our anchor we built? Still reachable from here.

Now, we have a lot of weight on the ass...I mean "aft"...end of our raft, so I recommend adding two more segments off of the end of the raft, one to each side of the motors, putting floors on them if you like, or leaving them bare.

Upgrading for "Story Mode".

In the Story missions, you have to fight pretty big beasts and, thanks to this build, you have a fast, maneuverable boat that can ALMOST do the deed, serving as a floating platform from which to dive and launch spears.

However, it could do with a tad more stability in those times, especially when the beasts try to overturn you.

Adding four more anchors, one at each corner of both starboard and aft sides, seems to do the trick for me. I drop the center anchor first, then quicly drop the others while my enemy paces below. After that, my raft is going NOWHERE until I have claimed my prize (or died in the attempt).

And that's it. If anyone has (non-flame) comments or suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them. :) Thanks for reading this!

[brabbit.tfk]

Sounds great, I especially like multiple motors. I found with really big ships having a motor or sail going in the opposite direction works well for going in reverse too.

Could you post some screen shots?

[Chaophim]

I haven't taken any yet, but know how to back up my save game and will try to do a step-by-step picture tutorial this weekend using the devtools console to give me all the items quick. Lol

[brabbit.tfk]

Thanks Chaophim, that would be neat =)