You will come across plants in Aloft, but upon interacting with them, you will get a message requiring you to restore the ecosystem before you can gather the plants. Here you must (craft and) equip your trusty field guide to see what exactly is wrong with the island and then take steps to fix it. It will take a while to make progress against corruption on the island. In this article, we will go through everything you need to know about restoring the ecosystem in Aloft.
Steps To Restore Ecosystem Of Corruption Island
You must take on various tasks to fix the ecosystem on a corrupted island. Here are the steps to restore the ecosystem of an island: The requirements to restore the ecosystem of an island will vary from one island to another, so you must rely on your field guide to view the steps to fix the island.
- Remove Corruption: A corrupted island will have a yellowish environment, and it will be covered in mushrooms and fungi. You are restricted to do anything on a corrupted island, we must cure the island before we can fix its ecosystem. Here we need to hunt down the corruption on the island to fix it.
Look out for a giant tree-like structure with a yellow node in the middle. You can’t directly attack the node in the middle as it will be covered with branches. You must find weak points around the bulb or node in the middle, and destroy them using your axe. Only then the giant node in the middle be revealed for us to deal damage. Destroying the node will clear out the corruption. - Craft a Field Guide: Before you think about restoring an island ecosystem, you must possess a Field Guide, which can be crafted using the Workbench. You will need 2x Leaf Cloth, 1x Paper, and 1x Rope to craft the Field Guide in Aloft. Once crafted, open your inventory and equip it. You can access your newly owned Field Guide by pressing Right Click on your mouse.
- Use your Field Guide to examine the state of the ecosystem. A corrupted ecosystem will be referred to as an Unhealthy Ecosystem at the top right of the book. The left page of the field book will have more information about the island. We will see Tree and Floral Diversity, Decompose Amount, Animal Amount, and Insect Diversity, and destroy Corrupted Trees and cores. Each one of these will have requirements (in numbers) next to them, meeting the number is how we progress against corruption on the island.
- Tree Amount: It will display the amount of trees present on the island. If the island already has trees, then you will see the progress bar in the color green. But if the amount is too low, then you must plant more. Check out the tree amount required for the island, and plant trees until the bar on the field book turns green.
- Flora Diversity: It will display different types of plants present on the island. Here you must plant a variety of plants to make progress. Again you will also have the required number of these plants to make progress. The best way to raise Flora diversity is by placing Emerald Wild Isle Seed on your island. You can collect seeds from bushes on the island. Once done, hold the wild seeds by right-clicking and then change the species to plant different varieties. It is not the number, it is the variety that we are striving for here.
Bug Alert: If you come across a corrupted island with 8 or 9 Flora Diversity Requirement, then you must wait before trying out anything, it is a bug.
- Decompose Amount: It indicates the number of decomposers present on the island. You can raise the Decompose amount by planting Mushroom Innoculant on mature trees. It is craftable by grinding Reishi Mushrooms at Millstone. You can find Reishi Mushrooms near the bases of any adult tree on the island. Use your interaction button to acquire them off the trees.
- Animal Amount: Number of animals on the island. If the amount is too low, then you must put animals on the island to meet the required number. Animal numbers can be increased on an island by breeding animals, installing birdhouses, or bringing animals from other islands.
- Insect Diversity: You need to head over to a healthy island and grab insects from tree trunks. Then bring those insects and release them in the corrupted island to raise their diversity.
- Destroy The Corruption Cores: They are just like corrupted trees, find them using a Field Guide to destroy them.
- Cut Down Sick Trees: Sick trees can be a bit tedious to find, just look out for trees with red veins at the base. That’s our cue that the tree is rotten or sick, you can chop it to meet the amount set in the field book.
Note: If you are struggling to find these trees, just open your field book and walk around the map, the sick trees will be highlighted in red color, making them easier to spot on the map. As you will always come across maps larger in size, using the field book to highlight them is the best way to find the sick trees and chop them with your axe.
Just remember – it is not necessary to do all the above for each corrupted island. Look at what’s missing, and then accordingly do what is required from the above steps.