How to make the best barge ever in Raft Pirates - hints, tips, and tricks

Raft Pirates has a fair amount of strategy to its resource gathering and pirate battling.

I really enjoyed my time with the game, so I thought I'd sneak in a few more hours of play and report back to you with some essential tips for having the best raft on the seven seas. Or in the very least, the best raft amongst your mates.

So read on for survival tips, info on how you can maximise the amount of resources you'll be gathering, as well as a guiding hand when it comes to constructing your own colossal craft of chaos.

Stay in the game, and be smart with resources



Unlike a lot of freemium builders, where you play the game for a few minutes at a time, in Raft Pirates it's beneficial to have the game running in the background as you do something else.

This is because you're susceptible to attacks while out in dangerous waters, and you'll want to be able to get rid of enemies quickly so you can continue diving for resources.

The important lesson to take away from all this is that resources are extremely important for progress.

To gather the most resources you'll need to be out of safe waters, so make a move into dangerous seas and start fishing. The first few dives for goodies are really short, so lay your device next to you with the sound turned up so you can hear the tell-tale splash of your diver re-emerging from the water, then collect the resources, and send them back under.

The deeper you dive the more stuff you'll find.

Repeat this for as long as you like, and pretty soon you'll have a stack of wood, rubber, metal, and all the other gubbins you need to make loads of defences. You can also play the minigame for bonus loot, if you're so inclined.

Always be fishing is the long and the short of all this; always be fishing and you'll never be wanting for stuff to build items with.

Build methodically



The longer you're out in dangerous waters, the more levels you gain by counting down the timer at the top of the screen. The higher your level, the more Blueprints you gain, and in turn the more types of defences you can construct.

But the seas are hazardous, and you'll be scrapping with rival pirates in no time if you're not careful. Very low level players should spend their first half hour with the game avoiding these areas at all costs, but soon you'll need to venture out for the most bountiful materials.

Therefore you'll need to be able to defend yourself when the time comes. Focus on building a few extremely high BP rafts, rather than lots of lightly defended ones. Plough all of your resources into one or two extremely capable sections, and would-be attackers will have a tough time sinking your ship.

The more weapons on your raft, the more dice rolls you have access to in battles, the more chance of landing the decisive blow, but the lower-end weapons also break the moment an attack lands, so keep this in mind. You also need to be sensible with your layout, maximising the amount of defences you can have in one section, and not leaving lots of wasteful gaps.

Oh and after a battle make sure you always repair everything you have. It's a small detail, but if you miss it you're in for a world of trouble the next time you're attacked, as your defences won't be at full capacity.

Think ahead



If you're getting into Raft Pirates then you're no doubt in for the long haul, so think really carefully about what you want to achieve next, and how you're going to go about doing that.

For example, you might want to try and leave the initial area as soon as possible, but it's not really a realistic goal, even if the game does dangle it in front of you very early on. Cap'n Dragonbreath's ship - which you must sink to progress - is a monster, and you'll need loads of materials to even think about going up against him.

Always check in with your resources and line them up against what it is you want to achieve. Tap the Wheel in the bottom left corner of the screen, then go to the rucksack, and you'll see what you have access to.

Planks are important, as they let you build more raft, so hold onto those for when you want to expand your floating terror, and in general try not to be too wasteful, as each scrap you find should be treasured.

Got any tips to share? Let us and the rest of the PG community know them by leaving them in a comment below.