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Scenarios › Isles of Abyss › How to build a ship

Once Human: How to Build a Ship in Isles of Abyss

LiveUpdated 2026-10-23 · Game v3.1.1Starts in Fragrant Cape

By the Once Human Guide crew — a small fan team led by Yao · from patch notes + videos

Short answer: the main quest in Fragrant Cape unlocks your first ship in Build Mode. Fit a helm, a fuel propeller and a sail, plus an anchor, keep the Load under the limit, then save the design so you can call the ship back later with Summon Vehicle.

Hazards on the way:Giant Squid · grabs hullMist of Deceit · wicksSkyfire · hits hullsin Fragrant Cape · Reefshadow Bay · Falling Ember
On this page
  1. Before you start
  2. Build your first ship, step by step
  3. Materials and parts
  4. Fix: ship won’t move
  5. FAQ
  6. What changed

Before you start

Your ship is a vehicle, and it is also a mobile water territory: it can carry workbenches, storage and crafting stations. Everything starts at max level in this scenario. What you can build depends on your Tech progress, not your character level. Tech also sets your piece limit and which hull materials you can use. Later hull parts and the water purifier need Black Tide Clots, which you collect while diving. For the scenario’s dates and phases, see the Isles of Abyss hub.

Build your first ship, step by step

  1. The quest walks you through your first hull. On the way, repair Stones of the World and recycle territory facilities in POIs; dismantling them unlocks recipes and earns Tech points. If your build menu is still locked after the tutorial, keep going to the next quest step.

    src: Grizl o5-Cq9fuLF0 @00:40 · Steam “Returning Player with some questions” · exact unlock step not in the patch notes

  2. Everything you save later is “whatever is connected to the core deck”, so start there. Hull parts come as hull, gunwale, bow, deck, handrails and bulwark, in square, triangle, slope and curved shapes.

  3. Only structural pieces add Load; facilities and decorations don’t. One creator’s all-alloy ship sank at about 10,000–11,000 Load, so use iron or steel for the outer hull and bow (they take cannon fire and Skyfire) and wood for inner walls and rails. from one creator’s video, 22 Oct

    src: MaleOreo d6qDYAK-qkQ @05:00, @06:00

  4. Propulsion goes manual (oar) → sail → fuel → electric. Sails are only fast with the wind behind them; engines hold a steady speed but burn fuel or power. A common opening setup: helm + Fuel Propeller + one sail. Stacking propellers can’t push you past the max speed shown in Build Mode.

  5. Without an anchor the ship drifts and rocks while you work on deck. Keep the helm easy to reach and the hull in a straight line; anything sticking out sideways snags on docks.

  6. At the helm, press G on a cannon to bind it to the driver’s seat. Hold right-click while steering to fire it; the wheel switches between bound cannons.

  7. Select the structures connected to the core deck and save them as a ship design (a “Design Layout” you can share with your squad). You don’t rebuild after that: summon the saved ship wherever you need it, which is also the fastest way out when it’s stuck on rocks.

Materials and parts

Quantities per piece aren’t confirmed yet; the qty column stays blank until a source lists them. Tick what you already have in the ship vault. Where each sea’s resource comes from: Isles of Abyss map.

have item used for where to get it qty
Wood tier 1 hull, inner walls chop trees, Fragrant Cape pending
Iron / Steel outer hull, bow Tech unlock, smelting pending
Skyfire Gold alloy hull, auto-gather meteors, Falling Ember pending
Precision Gear propellers, thrusters, boosters, cannons recycle rare ship gear, then dismantle not guaranteed pending
Black Tide Fuel Fuel Propeller, Generator Drilling Well → abyssal sea oil pending
Mixed fuel early engines fish smelted in a furnace pending
Mist of Deceit Wicks cannon shells, power Mist Core Grass, Reefshadow Bay pending

src: Isles of Abyss dev blog (2026-10-16) · Grizl o5-Cq9fuLF0 @04:40

Fix: ship won’t move

Work down the list. Most cases are solved by check 3.

  1. Raise the anchor. A dropped anchor holds the ship in place no matter what else you do.
  2. Check the wind. A sail is only fast downwind. Use oars or a propeller when you’re heading into the wind.
  3. Fuel or power. A Fuel Propeller needs Black Tide Fuel; electric drives need generator capacity.
  4. Helm present? You steer from the helm. Check that it’s attached to the core deck.
  5. Stuck on a dock or a rock. Use Summon Vehicle or Relocation to put it back on open water.
  6. Giant Squid. Its tentacles can hold the ship still. Fire at the tentacles until it lets go.

FAQ

Does my ship share storage with my land base?
Not by default. It does once the ship is inside your land territory, and there is also a setting in the anchor/core menu that lets the ship use territory resources. (From a Steam discussion; not in the patch notes.)
Why can I only place 60 pieces when others have 300?
Ships have a much stricter piece limit than land bases. The limit shows at the top left of the build screen and appears to grow as your Tech goes up. The patch notes don’t give exact numbers yet.
What happens if my ship is destroyed?
In PvE, the items aboard go into the ship’s vault and aren’t lost. In RaidZone the ship sinks at zero HP and the cargo is not returned. Saving the blueprint at the Anchor raises max HP and lets you summon it again.
How do I repair the ship?
Press H to repair all structures and boxes, or use the Time-Reverse Welding Torch or a territory repair facility.

What changed

  • v3.1.1 · 2026-10-23Page created.

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