It was time to craft a boat and get any last provisions I was going to need. I was going to head north where it snows. It turns out the game's map is a lot bigger than I was expecting.

The sailboat itself is broken down into five different required pieces. Along with a bonus storage. The hardest part was just getting enough to craft all the ropes it required and making the sail.

You then put each of the pieces one at a time onto the base layer. I ended up placing it down slightly on shore. That way, I'd have an easy time assembling the boat. I was not quite sure if it could just float off or not.

There was not a single sheep left on my island with any wool. Between all the ropes for the sailboat. I ended up making a jacket and a hat for the long voyage and being in the cold biodome of the Arctic.

What I did not know at the time was that the map I could see was just a section of the total world. I would have to go beyond any land mass heading north. Across some ocean before finding more land and seeing the next section of the map.

I decided I was going to head east and then north. I was somewhat debating if I wanted to go to the desert first instead. I was, however, just lured by the coldness of the north. Hoping I could find some needed resources up there to get some better tools and unlock more textures for building.

I then waited till the next day to get as much sunlight as I could and set sail. Sometimes boats in games can be rather slow. I found the speed to be decent as long as I was at 50% wind or higher. This thing really shot off like a bullet at 100% speed. With me being able to move the sails a little bit to try and catch some better wind.

Part of the fun was just looking at the shorelines as I slowly made my way north. At the time, I thought I just needed to make it to the other side of the map and I'd see snow. Turns out I would have quite a way to go from there.

Occasionally, I'd crash my ship into the shoreline and get out. I was both checking the map and running around a little bit. Hoping I'd find some kind of new resource. More times than not, I was left a bit disappointed, but still had fun exploring around. Truth be told, I was also looking for a better spot to perhaps set up a bigger house.

After making it to the island in the far north. I did not find snow. Instead, I noticed some yellow patches from afar. I went in for a closer look and ended up finding a couple of patches of sand.

While I'm sure I'll be getting all the sand I'd ever want once I head south. For now, I felt that having some sand to make glass would be nice. While there was not a lot of sand, it would be enough to smelt it and unlock some new crafting recipes.

At one point, I was tempted to find somewhere to set up my shelter before it got dark and hold off till morning again to keep pushing forward. I, however, after giving some thought, decided I'd risk having to navigate in the dark and cold if needed.

At one point, I did not see any more landmass in any direction. I was having second thoughts about not calling it for the night somewhere. I was also starting to wonder if I really needed to keep going north, hoping a new chunk of the map would load.

As evening was starting to fall, I stopped to take a look at the map. I had just reached the Arctic. A new massive landmass was now showing on the part of the map I could see. I still had some distance to travel before I'd hit land. By then, it would be nighttime.

I have no idea what kind of creatures I'd be running into in the Arctic. I knew it was a risky move arriving by dark. By the time I hit the nearest landmass, I quickly jumped off my ship and set up my shelter. Along with putting up a campfire for warmth.

By then, I had put on all my winter clothing. Between the two areas I had just traveled, I had hit some negative freezing temperatures. Thankfully, despite the new lands being covered in snow. They were slightly warmer than being on the freezing ocean.

Once it was daylight again, I set out to explore. I’d end up finding a new kind of resources above ground. Along with some chests that had decent loot that were frozen in ice blocks. I even ran into some penguins, and they were rather friendly.

After going in one direction for a while. I ended up turning back around and going on a slightly different path than I had come. I wanted to explore in a way that would allow me to get back to my camp. I did not want to get too far away in case some bad weather hit, or it was getting too late in the day.

Once I made it back to my camp, I ended up warming up a bit. Still seeing there was a ton of light left for the day. I went in a new direction. Right as I was about to turn around as I felt I was getting too far from my camp. A blizzard started. Temperatures dropped, and I was suddenly freezing to the point of taking damage.

At this point, I realized I was just too far away from camp. I’d, however, try my best, but things were not looking good for me. Then I realized a cave that was hidden from my view, going one direction, now stood out as I was running back. I ducked inside to take shelter from the blizzard.

While at first I used torches to mark my path. I ended up warm enough to no longer need the hat I was wearing and switched over to the miner's helmet for better light at one point.

While I had acquired a decent amount of aluminum ore above ground. This cave was just loaded with the stuff. I also knew once the blizzard lifted that it would be nighttime. The last thing I wanted to be doing was walking around above ground during that time. So, I knew I was going to be in the cave for quite some time.

What shocked me was just how deep the cave was. It just kept going on and on. I did end up bringing a hook and rope to get back out, as some of the drop points were not something I could just jump back out of.

At one point, the aluminum ore layer vanished, and I was now finding tungsten. Not having acquired any of this stuff yet either I filled in my inventory with as much of it as I could. Later on, I'd even find some sulfur in tiny amounts.

There came a point when the first pickaxe I brought broke. I’m rather glad I had crafted a second one as a backup, just in case. I was kind of shocked at how rare coal remained. I’d find small amounts, but nothing like I was hoping.

At least I had loaded up on a decent amount of aluminum and tungsten. Now became the question of how I was going to get out of this massive cave that never seemed to end. That was till I hit the water table. I then decided to let nature take care of things for me and awake back at my nice and warm house.

Final Thoughts

I ended up acquiring over 700 ores of different types from my time in the Arctic. I was also rather lucky and managed to avoid anything hostile while I was there. The cost of needing to build a new boat seems well worth the tradeoff. I now have access to steel tools as I can craft a better workbench from the ores I acquired.

Information

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

Disclosure: This content was written during early access.