Each of Kainga’s environments has some twist or feature to make it unique and challenging in some way. No biome is as difficult as the Pebbles, a zone unlocked after completing one of the challenge quests. It’s highly advised that players get comfortable with the Flatlands and Terraces before moving to this zone.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Pebbles in Kainga.
Geography
The Pebbles can best be described as an archipelago of small islands. Each island resembles a small hill or mound that has multiple levels of terrain and geographic features including copses of trees, sandy beaches, small mudflats, and patches of grassland. The most prominent terrain element is the sea that separates each island from each other. If you thought the Terraces had significant limitations on flat ground, then the Pebbles are much more limiting.
Resources
Though each island may be humble in its resource offerings, the larger ones usually have enough to get a settlement going. The biggest issue comes from expanding to other islands to include in the village’s supply chain.
Buildable flat ground is as much of an issue for the Pebbles as it is for the Terraces with the addition of transportation and traversal over water. Despite being next to the coast on the Terraces, aside from flooding players don’t really need to interact with the water, whereas in the Pebbles challenge zone players will need to develop tools with which to deal with water.
Wildlife
The wildlife in the Pebbles is quite limited with only a Walker or two roaming between islands and a massive Leviathan patrolling the waters, as an NPC has already settled within its shell. There’s always the possibility for a Crustacean, but here the chance of seeing one is slim to none.
Strategy
As mentioned in the resources section, the success of the villages depends on how players deal with transportation across water, as well as finding space to place lodgings and food production. Of all the environments, the Pebbles is the most demanding technologically and to get new technology players will need to find a way to island hop.
There are several ways of dealing with the challenges of archipelago traversal. The first option is to invent water transportation technology, such as boats or canoes. These can be built on the coast and village Braves can pilot them to other islands, gather resources, and then make their way back to the village center or a resource storage unit.
The second option is to tame Walkers if they happen to lumber near your starting island. If you research the Walker saddle, a fishing platform, or some other technology, the village will then be able to use it as a form of transport, as well as a small building platform. Walkers are quite slow, but can cross almost any terrain.
The Pebbles arguably provide the most interesting challenge to the player as this environment brings together the lessons learned from the previous two, while adding a significant new terrain feature to deal with. The game knows this and will encourage you to spend Karma points you earn throughout each playthrough in the main menu shop to purchase technologies that may help with the archipelago’s limiting features. How will you answer the challenge of island hopping?
Kainga is available on PC.
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