Forever Skies Starter Guide

This Forever Skies Starter Guide will teach you the basics of the game and take you through a step-by-step walkthrough of the early parts of the game.

Quicklinks: HUD Explanation | Starter Guide Walkthrough | F.A.Q.

Forever Skies can be a challenging game for new players -- you'll need to make sure you have enough Food and Water while you're exploring the skies of a ruined Earth in your Ship. Read on to learn the basics of the game in our Starter Guide!

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Forever Skies HUD Explanation

1. Compass - The Compass shows you which direction you're facing, whether you're on foot or in your Ship. A second, separate Compass is built into the helm of your Ship and shows which way the Ship is facing.
2. Immunity Circle - The Immunity Circle shows how badly Viruses will affect you when you're infected. The size of the circle is influenced by your Energy, Health, Hunger, and Thirst combined.
3. Active Effects - Any active effects, such as Viruses or Boosters, are shown here.
4. Energy - This shows how much Energy you have. Energy is restored by Sleeping or by consuming certain Foods.
5. Stamina - Stamina affects your ability to sprint and use tools. Your maximum Stamina is dependent on how much Energy you have.
6. Health - This is your bog standard Health bar. If Health reaches 0, you die.
7. Hunger - This shows how hungry you are. If Hunger drops to 0, you die.
8. Thirst - This shows how thirsty you are. If Thirst drops to 0, you die.
9. Hotbar - The Hotbar shows your currently-equipped tools and items. Only certain items can be placed on the Hotbar.
10. Tool Abilities - Certain Tools will have special abilities or context-sensitive options; these will be shown above the Hotbar.
11. Ammo - If your Tool has ammo (such as a Crossbow), it will be shown here.

Forever Skies Starter Guide and Walkthrough

This Forever Skies Starter Guide will take you from the very beginning of the game until the first major upgrade for your Ship. Read on for our step-by-step walkthrough!

Starter Guide | Navigation Technology >

Select Your Difficulty

Before you begin the game, you'll have to select your difficulty. Here are your options:

• Easy - Food and drink bars drop much slower. No loss of resources after death.
• Normal - Food and drink bars drop at a normal rate. Loss of 20% of base resource types upon death.
• Hard - Food and drink bars drop at an increased rate. Loss of 50% of basic and advanced resource types upon death.
• Permadeath - The same as on Hard difficulty level, but in addition, death means the end of the game.

Landing on Earth

Choose your difficulty and you'll jump into the game. You'll see a short cutscene showing the collapse of the world from your drop pod. The drop pod will fall through the atmosphere before landing, and you'll have control of the game.

While your Energy is high, your Health, Hunger, and Hydration are low. Read the tablet on the console in front of you to learn more about your mission.

Next, turn around and grab the First Aid Kit off of the wall. Do not use it yet. Finally, head up to the door and hold E to make an emergency exit.

Walk over the metal bridge. Look underneath the stairs and you'll find several Machine Parts, one of the many Crafting Resources in Forever Skies. Then, head up the stairs.

Looting and Opening the Locked Door

At the top of the stairs, you'll find a pair of doors that are locked. Turn to the left and head into the dilapidated shack. You'll see a sparking electrical box that requires a Solid State Battery.

Thoroughly search the first floor. You'll find an Old Canned Water and several more Machines Parts. Do not drink the Old Canned Water just yet. Once you're sure the first floor is clear, head upstairs.

The second floor has two Sunmelon and a closed electrical box:

Take both of the Sunmelon, but don't eat them just yet. Hop over the metal platform in the center, walk to the electrical box, and open it up. You'll find a Solid State Battery inside. Take it, then head back downstairs.

Back on the first floor, head back to the sparking electrical box next to the laptop. Interact with it to insert the Solid State Battery. This will power up the laptop and unlock the locked double doors nearby.

Read the message on the laptop. Head back outside and open the double doors:

Finding Your Ship

Head inside. Search the first floor of this new area and you'll find some more supplies. Again, don't eat or drink anything just yet if you can avoid it.

Go halfway up the stairs and grab some more Machine Parts off of the shelving. Then, head up to the second floor and you'll find your Ship, along with some more areas to explore.

The Ship has a couple of devices already installed, but it's far from ready to fly. Start by heading to the building straight ahead. You'll see a tablet with an "Airship To-Do List." That will start a new Task.

You'll find a new Resource to the lower right of the Airship -- the "Transformer." Pick up the Transformer. Grab several more Machine Parts on the shelf to the left. Then, pick up the Fabricator near the tablet and install it on your Ship.

Getting Resources

Open up the Fabricator and Craft the "Deck Extractor." Then, place the Deck Extractor on the rear of the left-hand Catwalk:

The Deck Extractor can be used to destroy objects and gather basic Resources from them.

Interact with the Deck Extractor and destroy everything in sight.

You can also destroy floating debris through the air. The debris in this area will give you three of the basic Resources in Forever Skies: Metals, Synthetics, and Glass.

Head through the room with the gear on the wall that you opened up with the Deck Extractor:

You'll find another tablet inside with some more information. You can also find some more Machine Parts and two Solid State Batteries inside. Collect all of these items.

Pick up the Research Station hanging from the ceiling, then install it at the rear of your Ship.

Researching and Fabricating More Equipment

Insert a Solid State Battery into the Research Station. Then, Research the Scanner. Wait for the Research to be done, then Craft the Scanner at the Fabricator. Equip the Fabricator on your hotbar.

Research the Empty Bottle. Fabricate 3 of them. If you don't have enough Synthetics, use the Deck Extractor to destroy the floating Synthetic Clusters to get more of the Synthetics Resource. You can temporarily move the Deck Extractor if you want to get a better angle while vacuuming up Resources.

You'll also want to use the Fabricator to Craft a Water Purifier. Mount it on any available wall.

Research "Engine & Fuel." This will give us the final tools we need to leave this area.

Your Hunger is probably pretty bad by now, so eat both of the Sunmelons you found. This will give you the Photophobia Virus and a valuable lesson in not eating uncooked Food. Photophobia will cause blindness and pain when you stare at the sun. We'll take care of curing this Virus soon -- but first, we need to finish looting this area.

Head into the last area on this tower:

Inside, you'll find some more stuff including Dirty Water, a Condensor Membrane, and a Simple Insect Lure. You'll also find more Machine Parts and some other goodies.

Once you've gathered everything, it's time to Craft your first Engine in the Fabricator. Once it's done, Craft "Synthetic Fuel" twice; that will give you 100 Synthetic Fuel.

While this is going on, cycle the Dirty Water through the Water Purifier. This will automatically convert Dirty Water into Clean Water. When a cycle is complete, you can bottle up the Clean Water and put more Dirty Water through.

Go over to the right-hand Catwalk. Place the Condensor Membrane on the Water Condensor and place the Simple Insect Lure on the Insect Catcher on the right Catwalk to free up some inventory space. We'll be using these soon.

Taking Flight and Getting Food

There's just one more step to go before taking off -- mounting the Engine. You can mount the engine anywhere. I recommend mounting it on the left side of your Ship. You'll also want to move your Deck Extractor to the front of the left-hand Catwalk:

Put the Synthetic Fuel into the Engine, take the helm, and hold Shift to raise your Ship up to 230 MASL, the maximum possible altitude at this time.

You'll get a new objective to head to a flashing light in the distance. Move forward a little bit, but don't head toward the light just yet.

Go to the right side of the Ship and lower the Insect Catcher. While it's automatically fishing for Food, use your Deck Extractor to get some more supplies. You'll want to aim for around 2 stacks of Metals and Synthetics.

After a short time, the Insect Catcher will have caught something.

In my case, the Insect Catcher caught a Dust Moth. It can also catch a Dust Lettuce or a Fat Dust Moth. Either way, eat the raw Food and it will cure the Photophobia Virus.

Landing in a New Location

Now that the Virus is cured, let's fly toward the flashing light. Start moving your Ship forward and Lock the speed by pressing R; this will lock in the ship's speed and allow you to do other things while you're moving toward your goal. (Just make sure to keep an eye on the light in the distance so you don't ram into something.) You can use this time to collect some more Resources along the way.

Eventually, you'll reach your destination -- a Communication Point. Carefully descend onto the platform:

Before we explore the Tower, it's important to set up some storage. Odds are, you're going to collect more items than you have the space for. You'll also have to worry about sleeping soon.

Organizing Your Ship

Research the Small Storage Box in the Research Station. At the same time, Craft a Bed in the Fabricator.

When the Small Storage Box Research has completed, you're going to want to Craft 3 of them in the Fabricator. As always, use your Deck Extractor to get more Resources if you're running low on Synthetics or Metals.

Finally, you'll want to Craft an Electric Cooker at the Fabricator. Then, place the Small Storage Boxes, Electric Cooker, and Bed in the front of your Ship:

This will be enough to cover you for the start of the game without too many problems.

As for the rear of the ship, it should look something like this:

Finally, Research Water Condensor & Membrane in the Research Station. When this is done, you can Craft Condensor Membranes and place them on the Water Condensor to get 5 Dirty Water, and then you can put that Dirty Water through the Water Purifier.

Now's a good time to evaluate your needs. You should have plenty of Water left over from the first Tower, but you can get more using the Water Condensor. If you're low on Food, you can back away from the Tower for a bit, drop the Insect Catcher, and then Cook whatever you catch in the Cooking Station. And finally, if you need Sleep, you can use the Bed in the cockpit.

Exploring the Radio Tower

Assuming your needs are all in good shape, it's time to explore the Tower you've landed on. You'll find several new Resources here to Scan and collect, including Electric Elements and Plastic Scrap. Scan each of these Resources, then collect all of them that you can find. You'll also likely find Repair Patches which can be used to fix any damage on your Ship.

One of the buildings on this tower may also have a Data Card. Here's what it looks like:

Data Cards can unlock new things to Build on your Ship. Most Towers will usually have one Data Card, although it's possible to find 2 Data Cards in one Tower -- or none at all.

Flying Higher

Clear the tower of any and all loot that you can find. On your way back to the Ship, you'll see a red hoop hanging off of a pipe. Scan it.

This is a Wrecked Basic Turbine. This will allow you to Research "Basic Turbine." Research it, then Craft a Basic Turbine at the Fabricator.

Place the Basic Turbine on the right side of your Ship:

The Basic Turbine increases your altitude and allows you to reach higher Towers such as the Standard Wind Farm.

Our next major Task will be to unlock the Map and expand the Ship -- we'll cover both of those in the next part of our Walkthrough. In the meantime, make sure to check out our other Forever Skies guides below!

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Starter Guide | Navigation Technology >

Forever Skies F.A.Q.

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What is Forever Skies?

Forever Skies is an open-world surviving crafting game where players travel above a ruined Earth in an airship in search of the cure for a deadly virus.

Is Forever Skies Multiplayer?

No, Forever Skies is not multiplayer as of its Early Access launch. However, the developers state that they plan for 4-player co-operative play in a future update according to the game's Steam Store page.

Where is the Forever Skies Save File?

The Forever Skies Save File is located in:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ProjectZeppelin\Saved\SaveGames

Where "USERNAME" is your Windows username.

What Happens When You Die in Forever Skies?

If you die in Forever Skies, you will respawn at the helm of your Ship. You may lose some Resources on the harder difficulties, and you can lose the game entirely upon death if you're playing on Permadeath difficulty.

Can You Pet the Friendly Insect in Forever Skies?

No, you can't pet the Friendly Insect.

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That's the end of our Forever Skies Starter Guide. Make sure to check out our other guides below!