Black Skylands: Beginner’s Guide

The title will allow us to play the game in the open world, leading the storyline and expanding the spheres of influence.

The plot says that the Earth as we know it many years ago has turned into thousands of islets floating in the air. One of the places where our adventure takes place is called Aspya and is inhabited by the Earners faction. The player takes over Eva a moment after the event where her homeland plunged into battle with the Swarm – a species resembling insects.

Our task will be to fight the Swarm, but also to defeat the dominant Falcons faction led by the cruel and arrogant Kain, who usurps power in the area, explaining it with the need to defend it against the coming Swarm.

Gradually, the main plot will develop as we learn new facts and gain knowledge. We will have to rebuild a damaged native freighter and explore the area in search of raw materials and all kinds of improvements to our equipment and equipment. Lots of fights, arcade elements and exploration.

We start the game on a ship called Fathersland, which was fired upon by a group of hunters called “Falcons”. Most of the buildings have been destroyed, so our task will be to obtain raw materials and rebuild them. The ship is a safe place where we are safe – but the time in the game passes when we are in the base and the enemy may attack one of our islands during this time, and you will have to go there to exterminate the attacking enemies.

At the beginning of the game, we will also have to patch the holes in the damaged base. But take it easy! You cannot fall into them and they only interfere with your movement and have to be handled.

The repair requires the delivery of Scrap Metal – but this one will also be needed to craft other things, so it is worth postponing the repair of the deck to “undefined later”.

Death can occur for two reasons:
– the player’s character will lose all of his health points (HP)
– our aircraft will be destroyed

We can lose the character’s life as a result of:
– falling outside the island / ship (into the void)
– entering an obstacle (e.g. a fire)
– being torn by a wave of an explosion. Most of the exploding items (barrel, cannon) will have an expanding circle projected around them and it’s hard to escape if you stand too close. Sometimes it can help to use a roll (roll over)
– to collide with enemy projectiles or to hit them with a blow

The amount of HP can be increased by creating elements of armor and putting them on the character (shoes, belt, vest). They do not deteriorate during the journey and permanently add certain parameters.

We can recover HP in several ways:

• using a special container. It is located in the base and in some places on the board. We approach, click and our HP and ammunition is replenished immediately. Unlimited use so you can regenerate at will. Thus, it makes it easier to fight the enemy in a given location.

  

• by using the first aid kit (holding down the “V” key) – it will restore a part of your HP bar. The number of medkits can be increased, e.g. by wearing a vest that can be produced (in Armory).
  The used first aid kit can be renewed by collecting the green plant shown here.
• Sometimes, after killing an enemy / destroying an item, the round symbol shown here drops out – after collecting it (the “V” key), the character will regain some health. Don’t save it for later! It disappears after several seconds.
• Sometimes you will also come across such a plant. After collecting it (the “E” key), the character will have the ability to regenerate HP for 90 seconds.

We move around the map using a flying ship. It has a certain durability and if it is destroyed, no big deal happens – we land again on the island (keeping the items in the hold). A little hint: we will also keep the object we were carrying, which we were holding at the time of death.

The amount of the ship’s HP is shown in the lower right corner, and when it takes further damage, it is also shown as holes in the plating that emit black smoke. They can be repaired with repair kits to restore lost HP. Returning to the mothership automatically repairs all HP.

After getting the blueprint, you can also create (in Ship Workshop ) other ship models and choose which one you want to go on the expedition in the base. They have different parameters (speed, endurance, etc.)

The ship can be improved by exchanging components (switching between them). They don’t break down or disappear, so you can do it repeatedly. However, you have to get to the shipyard (e.g. it’s on the mother ship). However, you must first craft the component parts (in Ship Workshop ). Thanks to them, the basic parameters of our vehicle will change.

Our ship can be armed with cannons of various types and purposes. You need to create them (in Ship Workshop ) and then install (replace the currently used ones) using the shipyard.

The ship can also have upgrades. To enable them, we need to go to Ship Workshop and turn on the upgrade here. In order to function, it requires a sufficient number of liberated citizens (visible in the lower left corner). In the event that the enemy takes over one of the islands and loses its population, the upgrade may be disabled as a result.

In the event of enemy fire or collisions with various objects, our ship may be damaged. Then there will be holes in the fuselage from which black smoke will come out. We can return to the base (which will automatically repair our ship) or repair the damage ourselves. To do this, we need a repair kit (you can buy it from a fuel trader or in our base). To do this, we have to approach the breach (empty-handed) and hold down the “E” key, which will cover one hole (and use up one repair kit).

Our base ship (simplifying) is equipped with two cannons (one on each side), a steering wheel for steering the ship, a hold for 15 items, a fuel tank needed for the operation of the engine propelling our ship.

The amount of fuel in the tank can be checked by looking at the circular element in front of the steering wheel. If the fuel tank is full, the color is green and the circle is full. As it wears out, the circle will shrink and the color will shift towards red. When the fuel is very low, we also receive a notification on the main screen.

To refuel the ship, you need to take a fuel canister (buy it if you don’t have one) and go to the fuel dealer. Then approach the fuel filler with it (of course, first take the canister from the hold). Information about the amount of fuel remaining in the tank of our vessel will then appear. We can then pour the fuel from the canister into the tank (key “E”). If the canister is empty, you can refill it at the merchant (who is in our base or sometimes you can meet him while traveling).

The starting ship has a hold with 15 transport hatches, and their number can be increased by installing upgrades. It is worth trying to increase its capacity as soon as possible because the starting capacity is quite low and we will be running out of free space every now and then to collect and transport the goods we encounter. It is worth mentioning here that items of the same type stack (but not all!) And, for example, in one slot we can keep 8 repair kits, 100 bullets or several fish.

From time to time, during your journey, you will come across such a hatch on an island. You can put goods into it and it will be immediately in the hold of our base ship (holding up to 1000 items). We can then move some of the goods to it, freeing up a free space in our ship and continue collecting items found during the expedition.

The situation becomes a bit easier if we are in the base. Then the entrance to the hold brings up this screen and here we can transfer the item to the hold of the ship or the base warehouse with one click without having to run with it and manually move each of the loads.

(xxxxxxxxxxxx – photo of guns – 3 items)
An inseparable element of air combat is the use of our ship’s guns. Whether it is to destroy the threat of an enemy vehicle, to destroy a terrain obstacle, or to fire at an enemy or enemy turret. To be able to use the guns in the cargo hold of the ship, you must have ammunition for it. This one can be purchased from a fuel trader (e.g. in our base). When the ammunition runs out, our vehicle becomes defenseless and the only form of defense is our character’s manual shooting at the incoming enemies. It is therefore worth taking care of a supply of ammunition for various occasions if you are going on a longer trip.

The cannons can be turned (“C” key) by setting them in one of three positions, which allows you to attack the target in front of you, next to you or slightly behind your ship. You must also remember which side you will shoot because each of them is operated by a different mouse button. Sometimes it gets a bit wrong if the ship is turned.

To be able to steer the ship, you must approach the steering wheel and take control. During this time, the character cannot fire his gun and does not move around the deck of the ship. We can accelerate the ship (“W” key) or slow down (“S” key). The ship is rotated using the A / D keys. If we are moving, the rear of the ship skids slightly while turning and it “overlaps” a bit – this must be taken into account when correcting the course. It is similar with the deceleration of the ship – it has a certain inertia, so after that it moves for a short while, so sometimes the ship can shift a bit forward / backward, which may be a bit disturbing.

As players, we will also be disturbed by the steering wheel itself, because you cannot just walk through it, you have to bypass it, so sometimes you will fall off the deck of the ship – but this is no problem because using the harpoon you will immediately return to the deck. Similarly, sometimes you forget to take over the steering wheel and if you are convinced that you are driving the ship, you will jump overboard 🙂

Our base ship will allow us to create several buildings. You can build more than one of each of them, but it does not make sense (well, maybe only at a farm / smelter because smelting metal / growing plants can take a while).

To be able to build any building, you must first clear the construction site (remove the remains) and then approach the marked marker. This will display a list of structures that can be built, where we can also find out what resources we need to have to be able to create a given building. Not all buildings are available immediately, more will be added as the game progresses.

GARDEN – the garden allows you to grow seedlings. Plant the seed and then, after some time (a counter will appear), harvest the fully grown plant.

• COST: 2x Wood, 2x Stone

  ARMORY – the armory allows you to create equipment, weapons, weapon modules and activate (select) player upgrades.

• KOSZT: 1x Wood, 1x Stone, 1x Scrap Metal

  FACTORY – a factory (or rather a smelter) allows you to melt various ingredients into metal bars. It also requires coal as fuel (you can get it by destroying the black debris flying here and there – you have to shoot until one of the coal drops out).

• COST: 3x Stone

  SHIP WORKSHOP – the workshop allows you to create new ship models, better components (to be replaced in the shipyard), cannons and activate upgrades.

• COST: 3x Wood, 1x Stone

  BAR – you can get drinks in it that give you some temporary improvement.

• KOSZT: 2x Red Wood, 2x Stone, 1x Plates

  TRADERS SQUARE – the commercial square allows you to buy and sell items.

• COST: 2x Red Wood

  RANCH – allows you to breed animals to obtain resources.

• COST: 2x Red Wood, 1x Granite

  LABORATORS – allows you to obtain artifacts and improve them.

• COST: 2x Red Wood, 1x Granite

From time to time, one of the already taken over locations will be attacked by the enemy. A notification like this will then be displayed in the upper left corner and the timer will start counting down. After it expires, we will lose this location and thus the number of liberated people will decrease (which may disable some of the upgrades we activate).

You should then find the target on the map and go there to kill the opponents attacking us to stop the process of taking over the island.

If we approach the attack site, the exact location where we can encounter enemies will be displayed on the map.

During your journey, you will sometimes find sky-fishes. You should get close enough to the fishery and you will be prompted to start hunting.

The task is quite simple – the letters move from right to left and if it is in the marked place, it’s time to press it!

If you manage to collect the correct number of correct presses, the mini-game will end and a container with a fish will appear at the spot.

After moving it to the hold, we can check what we managed to catch …

In order to be able to obtain some of the items, we must obtain them by growing plants. You can buy seedlings, for example, from a trader in the base. Then you have to go to the garden (GARDEN) and plant it here.

Then we will also see how long the cultivation will take.