I was just missing gold to unlock the last tier of tools. I just needed to rebuild my sailboat and head south into the desert. It was not as sandy as I was expecting it to be.

I have quite a sizeable hemp field growing near my base now that getting enough rope and other things from hemp is no longer a huge deal. Not only did I build a new sailboat in recorded time. I ended up crafting sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt to go along for this trip I was going to take south. While none of the clothing displayed any kind of resistance towards heat, it must have done something, as it was never an issue.

Sailing down south, I ended up taking a path somewhat like this. I had the wind with me, so I was moving quite fast. For some odd reason, it kept knocking me off the course I'd set at pure south. So, I ended up having to repoint the sailboat once in a while.

While moving at over double the speed that I did when I went north. Along with it just being a bit shorter distance. I ended up arriving there rather quickly. I also did so, taking a bit of a risk.

I was concerned about the possible heat I'd be dealing with in the Desert. So, I made the trip at night. This would almost end up being a deadly mistake. As once I landed, I ended up being attacked by some kind of triable Individual.

As soon as I landed, I put a shelter down. I then had to fight off what was attacking me in the dark. I did not get a good view of the attacker. They almost killed. Thankfully, I brought along quite a bit of cooked meat, so I was able to make up for the health I'd lose on this encounter and many others. At one point, while exploring above ground and mining some gold rocks I'd find. I had an encounter with a lion. I survived, but only just.

It ended up being a good thing I went north first. As the desert ended up being quite a lot more of a hostile location. There were lots of little areas where you had to push forward across a narrow land bridge to get to further land. This usually required some combat, and me just hoping not to get killed.

At one point, I was tempted to jump back in my sailboat and head further south. Perhaps following one of the channels into a more bay-like area. I, however, did not want to attract any unwanted attention from the very hostile locals. This place was so hostile, in fact, instead of carrying around my pickaxe ready to mine, I had my sword ready to defend myself with every step I took, just in case.

I was rather shocked by just how green the desert area was. While sure there were zebras, lions, elephants, and tribes' people. It just seemed so odd. I even came across some lakes once I got out of the little landing area I was somewhat trapped in.

Unlike the north, where the special ore for that area was found everywhere above ground. I was struggling to find gold rocks to mine. It seemed less abundant, and even when I found it, something was usually guarding it.

At one point, I ran into a group of the tribal people in the desert. They had two melee and a ranged. I decided to retreat a bit, allowing some distance to be made between their melee and ranged. I then took out the melee one at a time. Once they were dispatched, I could not find their ranged attacker anywhere. It seems he fled the area. I was at such low health by that point, I was more than happy with that being the outcome. As it could have gone either way of me killed them before they killed me sort of ordeal. A real shame they did not want to be friendly from the start.

During my second day, I ended up catching the break I needed. I noticed a large rocky area. Not only did it have quite a few gold rocks to mine. I ended up finding a cave entrance as well. I could now escape the heat and dangers that were lurking above ground. So, I dived in to enjoy the cooler climate and to my shock, a very dense cave filled with different ores.

This cave ended up having lots of forked paths. It was quite the maze. I gave up even trying to work out how I was going to make it back to the surface. The good news is my eyes were far too busy darting from one ore vein to the next.

I even found quite a lot of coal. I guess the coal just stands out so well, like the other ores against the sand block down here. While the gold was a bit funny-looking. After finding a couple of veins of it, it would not be something I'd miss as I went deeper and deeper into the cave.

The nice part was that I now had a steel pickaxe, and it made quick work of mining out any ores I found. Even some of the deeper veins I'd hit. I ended up walking out of there with nearly 1k ore of different varieties. Even one point, I ended mining more iron as it seems I can never get enough of it. There was just so much down there as well to farm.

Once I arrived home, I started to smelt the gold I had. This would allow me to make cold sheets. I then needed to use iron sheets, aluminum wire, gold sheets, and tungsten wire to make circuit boards.

This is perhaps the part of the game where it gets a bit odd. There are power tools and even a power boat in this game. While there is an electivity section of the crafting bench as well, it remains empty, as I assume some future update will bring a lot more stuff in.

I ended up first crafting myself a chainsaw and mining drill. Since I then needed more wood logs to keep the forge smelting, I went out with the chainsaw and cleared what remained of my local forest. It’s perhaps a good thing I have 50 or so tree seeds growing not that far from my house.

Final Thoughts

With the pile of gold bars now ready to be crafted into anything I'd like. I have, for now, unlocked the highest-tier tools, gear, and block textures. As far as any remaining progress goes, it looks like I've hit the max for now.

The good news is that for many is more about building cool buildings like castles and towns. While I had some fun building a house. This seems like a good stopping point for now, since this game is in early access. I can only expect that at some point for further content to be added.

I have also only touched the surface of the desert and the arctic. Another huge part of the game is just exploring around. Perhaps at some point I'll return and see how quickly I can get to the bottom of my local cave with a powered mining drill. I also still have the inflatable boat to craft. That alone would make exploring a lot faster.

Information

Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about Rising World.

Disclosure: This content was written during early access.