When it comes to open-world exploration, things can’t get better than a game that leaves you in the open sea where you can make your own fleet and demolish everything. Sail Forth allows you to do all that as you progress through different sets of islands to uncover the mystery behind the mutation of sea creatures.
The game starts with a tiny boat where you have one crew member to control everything. You can slowly progress through different areas to have much bigger ships and up to four of them in your fleet. Exploration and combat keep getting better as you get to newer areas.
Map Fragments Are Your Priority
From the very start of Sail Forth, you’ll notice that map fragments are one of the best things you can get in the sea. Whenever you get a map fragment, it will either mark a new location on the world map or reveal another activity in a specific area. Finding new islands can get quite hard if you can’t find these fragments.
You have a chance of getting a map fragment when you destroy giant wooden boxes on the shore or broken structures, defeat a skull clan vessel and reap your reward, or if you fish out a wooden box.
It’s not guaranteed to get a fragment from any of these activities, but the chances of getting one are significantly high. There are around seven to nine sets of islands that belong to a particular category. If you’ve unlocked all the islands in that category, you need to progress in the main story to get to the next set.
Moreover, the map fragments don’t highlight the final area for any category, and you simply have to explore and find that yourself. If you’re trying to find the final area or a new location in general, you can simply keep sailing in a certain direction on any island and keep an eye on the map.
The map gets zoomed out as your ship sails farther away from the main island, and you’ll be able to see the structures of all the surrounding islands. If you find any that you haven’t been to yet, that’s your next stop.
Random Events Can Spawn Repeatedly
There are two types of events/activities that can happen when you visit a certain island. These are known as specific and random events. Any mark on the world map belonging to a certain island like Skull clan vessel, Lighthouse, or Racing Course, are the specific events that will always be on that island.
Apart from that, there’s a chance that you can get some random events on any island. These events are marked with a question mark icon on the island’s map when you get close to them, and there are quite a few of them:
- Sometimes, you’ll get random sailors on a rock or inside a small boat who’ll be looking for a ride. If you’re low on crew members and need someone to fill up your boat, these can be quite good.
- You can also find a sailor stuck on a tiny island, and you need a Harpoon Gun to drag them down. You can’t finish this random event until you unlock the Harpoon Gun, but it will always give you an Ancient Junk to exchange for Lumenade at the lighthouse.
You can also get Ancient Junk by taking pictures for people who ask you for it, or by fishing in places where there are white bubbles instead of fish. In these places, you will fish out wooden boxes that can give you Ancient Junk.
These random events can also spawn over and over again on the same island when you visit them in the future. This means that you can essentially farm for Wooden Plants and Ancient Junk if you keep visiting the same islands. Although, the chance of getting the required random event isn’t 100 percent every time.
You might also get the surroundings covered with fog which makes it difficult to see around you. In these instances, keep an eye on the bottom-right of your screen. Whenever new information is added to the island map, a pop-up is shown there.
Don’t Let Any Type Of Ship Get Away
Apart from your fleet, there are three kinds of random ships you can meet on the horizon: Skull Clan vessel, Merchant vessel, and Random vessel. The Skull Clan Vessel will always be aggressive toward you, and it will start a battle whenever one of the ships in your fleet gets close enough.
On the other hand, the Merchant ship and the Random vessels aren’t aggressive to the player from the start. Although, you can still attack them if you want to. For example, the Merchants will try to sell you different items at a high price, but you don’t need to buy them if you can just take them.
The Merchant vessels are quite hard to fight, and there’s no point in starting a battle with them unless you have a Harpoon Gun to board their ship. You will only get all the items they were selling if you take over the ship and break it down.
The Random vessels will be ready to join your fleet if you aren’t capped at four ships. These vessels are usually quite small, and you wouldn’t want them to be a part of your fleet during mid or late-game. If that’s the case, you can simply take over and plunder the ship. While this might be cruel, it does get you some good resources.
Fishing And Taking Pictures Are Important
As you’re sailing in the deep blue world of Sail Forth, you’ll come across some areas where you can fish after stopping your ship. These fish can be sold to the fisherman for 50 wooden planks each, but you can only fish in every location once. So, you will have to sail around if you want to find more fish.
Similarly, you can sell the pictures that you’ve taken for people during the activities on any island to the cameraman and get a bunch of wooden planks based on the rarity of the picture. You can also take pictures of beautiful scenery or something intriguing to get the money.
While these activities aren’t important enough to specifically sail for them unless you enjoy them, you should still not ignore an opportunity if they’re in your way. Passively fishing and taking pictures over time can help you a ton.
Protect Your Fleet
Even if you have more than one ship in your fleet, you’ll only be able to control one of them at a time. The rest of the ships will be controlled by the AI in Sail Forth. This might lead to scenarios where your ships end up getting stuck on an island near one of the Skull Clan bases, and they can even get destroyed if you don’t pay attention.
The best way to avoid this is to have your game music turned up. Whenever any of the ships in your fleet start getting attacked, battle music will start, notifying you of what’s happening. At that point, you can just switch over to all your ships and find the one that’s in trouble.
Another problem you might face is the ships running into each other, or running into the ship that you’re controlling. This usually happens when you suddenly change the direction you’re sailing in. While you can’t avoid the AI sailing into other ships, you can try to keep an eye on and avoid collision with the ship you’re controlling.
Islands Are Randomly Generated
You can start up to three adventure games at the same time in Sail Forth. While these games will have the same sets of islands and the chronology, the specific structure of the map and island names are randomly generated. This means that you might not be able to speedrun an adventure game since it won’t be the same.
On the other hand, it also makes the game a little different every time you start a new one. The RNG factor in this game makes it a lot more fun for exploration lovers.
It is also important to know what you’re selling to the Merchants. While the number of Wooden Planks you can get from certain items might be tempting, these items can usually give more value if you keep them. For example, different mods for your ship can sell for a lot, but you should only sell them if you have a surplus.
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