Advanced Items
Surviving the brutal world of ARK: Survival Ascended demands more than just grit; it demands superior gear and efficient resource management. While the vanilla game offers a solid foundation, dedicated modders constantly push the envelope to enhance the experience. The Advanced Items add-on is one such modification, designed to extend your crafting capabilities far beyond the standard engrams. This guide dives deep into what this mod offers, how to install it, and why it deserves a spot in your mod list.
What Does the Advanced Items Mod Add?
This isn't a total conversion; it's a thoughtful extension of the core game. The mod focuses on adding high-capacity, faster versions of essential crafting stations and a unique weapon for non-lethal takedowns. It respects the vanilla framework, meaning no base files are replaced, ensuring better stability and compatibility with other mods.
Advanced Smithy: Your Mobile Crafting Powerhouse
The standard Smithy is useful, but its limited inventory can be a bottleneck for large projects. The Advanced Items mod introduces an Advanced Smithy that solves this problem with brute force efficiency.
- Massive Storage: Boasts a whopping 500 item slots, allowing you to consolidate all your building materials in one place.
- Increased Speed: Features a 1.5x crafting speed multiplier, getting your metal walls and saddles built faster.
- Full Vanilla Integration: It works exactly like the vanilla Smithy, supporting all standard engrams. You can pin recipes, pick it up, and use wireless crafting from dedicated storage.
- Learnable Engram: No need for admin commands to unlock it; you can learn it normally as you progress.
Advanced Fabricator: Streamlined Industrial Production
If the Smithy is the workhorse, the Fabricator is the industrial heart. The Advanced Fabricator mirrors the improvements of the Smithy, offering the same 500 item slots and 1.5x crafting speed. This is a game-changer for tribes that mass-produce polymer, electronics, and other late-game necessities. Like its counterpart, it retains all vanilla functions, ensuring a seamless transition for your existing production lines.
The Tranqsniper: Precision Non-Lethal Control
Knocking out high-level creatures can be a risky endeavor. The Tranqsniper offers a safer, more efficient alternative. This sniper rifle is specifically designed for tranquilizer use and comes with two unique ammo types:
- Tranqsniper Dart: The standard issue dart for regular knockout operations.
- Tranqsniper Shockdart: A more powerful variant for tougher, higher-level dinosaurs.
It features a scope with zoom and target information, allowing you to assess a creature's level and torpor from a safe distance. It is also a learnable engram, making it a valuable addition to your arsenal.
Transfer Tickets: Streamlining Tribute
One of the more unique additions is the Transfer Ticket. These items allow you to convert Apexitems and Element into a consumable ticket. When consumed, it grants you the Tribute or Element directly, making it easier to transfer these valuable resources between characters or to save for later use without cluttering your inventory.
How to Install and Version Compatibility
Getting started with the mod is straightforward. To download Advanced Items, you typically use the Steam Workshop. For players using the foxygame.net launcher, the process is even smoother; the launcher's integrated add-on catalog allows you to find and install Advanced Items for ARK: Survival Ascended with a single click, automatically handling the correct installation path and version compatibility for your game build. This is particularly useful for players who want to avoid manual file management.
To how to install it manually, simply subscribe to the mod on the Workshop and ensure it is activated in your server's mod list before launching the game. The mod is designed to work with the current major releases of ARK: Survival Ascended. However, it's always wise to check the mod's page for the latest updates, as the developer actively works on improvements.
Planned Features and Future Development
The mod is still in active development, with several exciting features on the horizon. The developer has confirmed plans for multi-language support (German and English) to replace the current German-only text, which is a key consideration for non-German speakers. Additionally, there are plans to add an Oredetector, which will show resource nodes like Metal, Crystal, or Obsidian on your HUD, making resource gathering significantly more efficient. Balancing passes for the Tranqsniper are also in the works to ensure it remains a balanced and fair addition to the game.
Final Thoughts on Advanced Items
The Advanced Items mod is a fantastic quality-of-life upgrade for any serious ARK: Survival Ascended player. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but instead makes the existing wheels spin faster and hold more. The increased crafting speed and storage capacity alone are worth the download, saving you countless hours of inventory management. While the current German text might be a hurdle for some, the mod's functionality is intuitive enough to understand without translation. If you are looking for a reliable, performance-friendly mod that enhances your crafting and taming capabilities without breaking the game's balance, this is a solid choice. Keep an eye on this one, as its future updates promise to make it even more indispensable.