In the early game, you should learn to move fuel and water around the base in Raft. For this, you can use either Water or Fuel Pipes. As easy as this sounds, getting and using pipes is tricky.
Water Pipes shift water from tanks, sprinklers, and purifiers, while Fuel Pipes move biofuel from tanks to appropriate machines. If you have the mechanism and want to use pipes effectively, this guide explains how to craft and use pipes in Raft.
Using Pipes in Raft
The process of setting up functional Pipes in Raft is quite simple. You’ll get two individual Pipes for each water or fuel pipe you craft.
You need Scrap to craft Water and Fuel Pipes, so to craft a lot of pipes, you must learn how to farm Scrap, a common resource found in vacant rafts, barrels, and on the reefs. You can also use a hook to collect Scrap that is buried underwater.
Once you’ve crafted your desired Pipes, simply hold them in your hand and press left-click to place them on the ground. Pipes can be placed in any direction. If you have one foundational Pipe, you can attach another pipe to any of its sides.
If you’ve already placed a Pipe but want to change its position, aim towards it and press the X button to pick it back up.
How to Connect Pipes?
To connect your Sprinklers, Water Tanks, Purifiers, and Biofuel Tanks to different machines, place the respective Pipe down next to them, and they will automatically connect. Then, create a pipeline to the machine you want to transport the biofuel/water to and connect it to them similarly.
As long as the machines are powered up, the Pipes will work independently. You do not need any extra power or pressure system to make the Pipes work. This means that the length of the pipeline or its shape has absolutely no effect on the flow of the water or biofuel.
If your Pipes are connected to multiple water or fuel sources, they will first drain the source closest to them. It will then move on to the next closest source, and so on.
How to Get Water Pipes
To get the pipes, first, you must get the Water Pipe Blueprint in the storage area in Tangaroa right after the crane puzzle. After getting hands on the blueprint, learn the crafting recipe.
Water Pipes cannot be crafted individually; you will get 2 pipes together. To craft 2x Water Pipes, you need 4x Scrap.
How to Get Fuel Pipes
You can craft Fuel Pipes after finding its blueprint inside Relay Station 4 on Balboa Island.
Once you’ve found the blueprint, research it at the research table and you’ll learn the crafting recipe for the Fuel Pipe. Just like Water Pipes, you’ll receive two Fuel Pipes each time you craft them. To craft 2x Fuel Pipes, you need 4x Scrap.
Tips on Placing Pipes
Here are some handy tricks you can do with the pipes:
- You can pass the pipes through ripe fences; this will also help keep the animals in one place in Raft.
- If you want to keep pipes hidden, connect them to the backside of a sprinkler attached to any wall or floor.
- If you have a raised pipe, place it down and destroy the floor; the pipe will get fixed to a place.
- If you’re placing Pipes above or under your base, you need first to lay down flooring to place them down. Once the Pipes are all laid down, you can remove the flooring, and the pipes will float in the air.
- When it comes to the ideal layout for the Pipes, you need to lay them down so that they go from point A to point B with minimal displacement. So ideally, you’ll want to place straight pipelines instead of curvy ones, as the latter will need more individual pipes.
- Each Pipe takes one block of space on your base. So, if you lay down the Pipes inside the base, you will quickly run out of space to place other objects. So, build a platform around, above, or underneath your base to lay your Pipes on.
