My tip on finding the lunar islands

[Electroely]

I play on public servers most of the time. Public server worlds usually only last one play session, meaning I wouldn't have time for more time consuming projects or anything like that. I wanted to figure out a way to find the lunar islands without depending on luck. After generating a few dozen worlds and checking their full map via console, I eventually noticed a couple of details:

- The islands and the mainland will never be separated by anything deeper than shallow water
- The islands and mainland will usually form a huge ring together

The first one is self-explanatory:

The water color on the map does not change from the one you find right next to shores.

The second one, however, might be a little more complex:

if someone were to explore enough of the mainland, they might notice a huge formation that looks like a U or an unfinished circle. In front of it, from my experience, the lunar islands will usually spawn. Meaning you can find the lunar islands by exploring enough of the mainland:

If you don't see the ring formation, here it is:

More examples below:

Spoiler

 

 

With this information in mind, here is my strategy:

- Explore the edges of the mainland until you find the aforementioned U formation.
- When it's found, set sail on one of its extremities.
- If said extremity is completely surrounded by water deeper than shallow, it might be a good idea to continue exploring the mainland some more.
- If shallow water keeps going for a while after you set sail, you probably found the lunar islands.

This was eventually tested on a legitimate world. Me and a close friend were playing the game together, aimlessly sailing for many hoping to find the lunar islands (it was a fun time, we collected a lot of driftwood and had several exciting close collisions with sea stacks, so I wouldn't say I regret it). After some time, I noticed the U formation on my map and after making a new boat at the shore of the desert (one of its extremities) and sailing outward we did find it:

Spoiler

This strategy makes you spend a lot more time exploring the mainland than the ocean, which I think is a good thing because the mainland tends to have more resources & food sources and because walking on land tends to be faster than sailing with a boat.

[Bird Up]

Yeah I've noted that it's always connected to shallow water. I think the problem with the U shape is that in the first image you can kinda see two or three U shapes and it'd be just a matter of luck to guess which U shape is the right one. I hope map generation actually gets reworked because the worlds I've been in branched out less, were more linear, and were more reliant on wormholes to get around than prebeta world generations.

[Electroely]

34 minutes ago, Bird Up said:

Yeah I've noted that it's always connected to shallow water. I think the problem with the U shape is that in the first image you can kinda see two or three U shapes and it'd be just a matter of luck to guess which U shape is the right one. I hope map generation actually gets reworked because the worlds I've been in branched out less, were more linear, and were more reliant on wormholes to get around than prebeta world generations.

I did notice the other U shapes. Notice how much smaller they are, though. It seems unlikely for the lunar islands to fit in a ring formed by them. Either way, a wrong guess can be identified by the lack of shallow water, which normally goes on for quite a bit off shore at the right places. 

You do have a point, though I think that this strategy works regardless.

[Mencken]

Nice write-up.   I came to the same conclusion yesterday after running two maps and noting the U formation.   So you can kill two birds with one stone.

[AN-0923]

The fact that maps now kinda resemble the ‘moon’ figure statue is kinda funny to me.

[Mencken]

Well...not as easy as it looks.   New map, huge gap between mainland land masses, spent 5 days, no islands.

Found it in a much smaller gap.   Bunch of Kelp was a clue but I could have missed it easily.