Hello and Welcome back to my blog!
In the last session of my game Dredge, I tested a semi-passive method of catching Crabs by using a lot of Crab Pots in a small area. That method worked exceptionally well and gave me a lot of crabs and valuable research parts. I used it a lot, and it almost felt like an exploit, but the constant chore of taking the pots to the shore to get them repaired made it feel like an exploit.
I researched all the nets and installed one of them for more passive fishing while travelling.
The next set of upgrades was the hull upgrades. The next hull would add 15 new cargo spaces to the boat but for this, I had to first finish the missing upgrade which added 2 net spaces.
I was missing a bolt of cloth for this one and without this one item, I couldn't advance. I was also short of money. Even though selling crabs was lucrative, I spent most of the money that I earned on getting new research parts and refined metals.
I spent a few more days in this location and then went into the deep ocean to find and collect the raw materials for the upgrades.
Shipwrecks are everywhere in the game. In the deep ocean, you will find the wreckage of big ships which will give the Crates to be used in the Iron Rig. Shipwrecks in the shallow waters will give materials like Lumbar, Scrap Metals and Bolts of Cloth. These were the most I was looking for.
I went back to the Mangrove for fishing and found a Longfin Eel. I really wanted to get the new hull as I was struggling to even take this new fish in my cargo. I had to discard another fish just to make room for it.
Fishing at night in the Mangrove was not a wise decision. The swamps there had narrow channels and a lot of closed paths. Not to mention the weird-looking plant that follows you and tries to attack you.
In one of the islands, I saw the wreckage of a plane. In the pile of this wreckage, I found a pair of D'og Tags', a worn gold ring and a research part.
Some paths were blocks which required strong explosives. I am guessing one of the quests in future will give us explosives which we could use here to find out what's hiding here.
On another island, there was a makeshift Dock which can be used as a dock to rest and skip the night. It also had a campsite but no one was there. There were three distinct sets of symbols.
These sound like puzzles to solve. Could they be directions to treasure chests or something? I thought for a while but couldn't crack any of them. This made me feel really dumb. xD
In the entire Swamp, I couldn't find any Bolt of Cloths. How!? But later when I was going back to the Marrows, I found a wreckage near the Steel Point. Finally, after looking for it for two days, I found the only missing material to upgrade my boat.
I docked at the Greater Marrow to start working on all the upgrades. I placed the missing items and completed the upgrade to get +2 Net space.
Now, the new hull required loads of items. I had enough Lumbar, refined metals and metal scraps but again, the missing item was Bolt of Cloth. How come it is this rare? Or am I getting unlucky all the time?
No worries, for now, I will just be happy to install the new Heavy-Duty Trawl net on my vessel. It has a yield of approx 18 per day.
I went on a search for the missing item again. This time, I was going for the Devil's Spine located at the north-eastern part of the map. After getting the Haste upgrade to my boat it doesn't seem too long of a journey.
It proved to be a fruitful journey as I found those bolts of cloth there.
The heavy-duty trawl net was working well too. It caught a Razormouth Tuna which is my first for this species.
I also checked on my crab pots and most of them were full. For the first time, I didn't need the money that much. I caught a lot of them in a long session back then, and now I had more than $2500 and not enough upgrades left to buy. Also, the net was catching fish passively as I moved so I had more freedom to just explore rather than worry about earning money in the game.
I went to the nearby dock to get the Tier 4 Hull Upgrade. I was so happy to get this final hull upgrade. Having 15 more cargo space is going to be such a relief. I don't have to worry about filling up my cargo space too quickly.
I had enough raw material and cash to get two more minor upgrades. Adding 2 more engine slots and 1 additional light slot. Both are good quality-of-life upgrades.
I crossed 100 days in-game too. As my boat became faster and I added more lights to my boat, I didn't rest as often as I used to at night. This made me do a lot more things in a single day. I didn't know I would have this much fun in the game. Now that I have most of the upgrades that I wanted to do, I will focus more on the story and explore the entire map.
Until next time...
