Horsefeathers!

Yes, it’s true, your Horse Isle III steeds can now have wings. On the ground they stay furled but up in the Sky Lands,

pressing spacebar makes them flap and your horse can truly fly! It’s a great way of saving gold dust if you usually use the jet pack, and also you can move faster. The speed builds up slowly but you can cover ground pretty well once your horse has a head start.

There are two ways of getting wings. You can buy them in the Mobia shop for 1000 mobia, or you can craft them if you acquire 25 Pegasus feathers. These can be found on the ground up in the Sky Lands. They are white and not very large but rotate so they are easy to see.

A great feature about wings is that they come in different element-themed colors but can also be dyed! There’s even a tricolor version so you can make yourself a rainbow Pegasus if you want. Or even an alicorn if you also add a unicorn horn accessory! I’m pretty excited about this update and hope you enjoy it too.

Horse Isle will work on Windows 64 and 32 bit, Mac, and Linux.   

It’s free to play, and perfectly possible to succeed without a subscription (which I love) though you do get lots of benefits when you subscribe.  Subscriptions are $5 a month or $40 a year, and you can often buy enough in-game “Mobia” to subscribe from other players.  See my “Making Money” guide for some help with that.

Interested in joining? 

Click  HERE or go to the HI3 site and put in my user ID, 1023.   Whenever you buy your first subscription, you’ll be rewarded with 10 Esroh Essence (good for more energy) and 1000 gold dust to help you along!

Horse Isle III Update – Exploring the Sky Lands

I’m back with the promised update of this brand new expansion to Horse Isle 3! The Sky Lands are every bit as enormous as the lands below them and the Caverns beneath.  There are five biomes to discover, as well as some new plants and other items to photograph. A new mode of transportation will help you get from island to island, and there are two ways to reach the sky. This is somewhat “end game content” though it is possible to explore everything by working hard and not spending any real world money. I appreciate that from the developers, who know that not everyone has a lot of real world money to spend on a game.

Getting to the Sky Lands

The simplest way to get there is by balloon, and I suggest having at least fifty balloon fuel with you before starting. If you don’t have your own balloon, they can carry passengers so you should be able to use the ride along feature with a friend. Balloon fuel has more oomph to it than it used to, so you won’t actually need that many to get to the upper atmosphere – however you may be waiting a bit as you slowly drift over an island. To help a bit with this, you can save time by launching from the top of a mountain. Then watch your altimeter carefully and only land or press “x” when it says you are over land. Otherwise you risk falling through an edge or missing your target, and having to start all over.

Hot Air Balloon Fuel Recipe: 5 corn, 2 coal, 1 tar

Walking around in the Sky Lands is pretty good, the footing is secure and I wasn’t slipping around the way you sometimes do on the Crashed Island objects. I saw a few Esrohs up there, petted one, and photographed them. Got a funny message when I tried to lasso it! You can earn achievements for photographing unique Esrohs, which is another nice little bonus. I also photographed some of the new items, including gems, flowers, and ruin blocks.

Moving Around

The Dust Pack is a new piece of equipment, costing either 20,000 Mobia or 80,000 essence. It costs 250 gold dust per 3 seconds of thrust, but you can actually stretch that pretty well by walking as close as possible to your destination before launching. Space launches you and the directional buttons, or using the mouse, lets you move forward and turn. You don’t need the Dust Pack to walk around on an Island but you need it, or a balloon, to move from one to the other. I actually love the Dust Pack and didn’t spend as much Gold Dust as I thought I would when using it. This is partly because you can jump in a big arc, but cut your thrust at the top and just finish the arc without power, saving a bit of dust. Wearing it makes your landings non-bouncy so you won’t accidentally fall off things as easily.

Interestingly, your horse can jump much higher in the Sky Lands! My best comp horse usually jumps 1.6 meters, but in the Sky Lands he cleared over SIX METERS. Practice with caution but this could be useful depending on what you were trying to. I’m guessing you’d need a pretty brave horse like my good boy the comper. Have fun with it! However, watch out….

Watch out for Holes, especially at night! It gets dark up there.

Tip for a Speedy Return

With the Dust Pack unlocked and at least one Gem Dust, you can use a Sky Tower to be shot back up into the Sky Lands area, then activate your dust pack with * before you fall back out again. At that point you can use the dust pack to fly to any nearby island! Much faster and saves on balloon fuel.

New Items

There are some new items to be found. Along with Essence you can also find Giant Rubies and Sapphires. Clicking on them gives you Gem Dust that can be traded for trips up in the new Club towers. They kind of look like giant cannon and can shoot you high into the sky. Landing on an island isn’t guaranteed but it’s a great view! 

You can also find the new rare item, Magic Nectar, which will de-age a horse by one year but also render them unbreedable. Also the horse needs to be 3 years old or more. Very useful for that favorite comp horse that decided to get old on you! If you have terrible luck, it’s also available for purchase, fairly cheaply, with Mobia.

Giant Ruby
Giant Sapphire
Magical Pitcher – found in Magic Skies, open for Magical Nectar. Respawns after 5-20 days

Finally, I was happy to find that when I logged out on an island, I was still there when I logged back in. Very handy, that. I had a blast exploring this new area and expect I will have more fun for a long time to come! I tested it and no, it’s not possible to save travel spots, but I expected this. I’ll probably be noting what kinds of islands are near my favorite mountains for next time I want an aerial adventure.

If there are questions let me know and I’ll add more to this article. See below for pictures of the different sky biomes.

The Map (M) is handy for seeing the biomes and islands around you
Like to join me on this awesome game?  If you would, make sure and use this link or place my ID, 1023, in the box when you join.
That way, if you ever decide to buy a subscription, even for one month, you’ll get a bonus 1000 essence, plus 10 Esroh Essence to help you get started.  A subscription costs 500 Mobia per month and you can buy Mobia from other players in-game if you don’t have cash to spend.

Horse Isle III Teaser – Sky Lands!

Big update! The long awaited Sky Lands have arrived. I will be playing in them this weekend and make more of a comprehensive guide but here are some highlights for now:

You can’t use your hang glider in the floating islands

There is a new form of tower that will catapult you into the sky (TigerTon has one) but it’s not guaranteed that you’ll land on an island.

The hot air balloon has been improved so you gain altitude faster.

There is a piece of equipment to help you get from island to island, called the Dustpack. You can buy it with 80,000 essence OR 2,000 Mobia, a move I really like.

The islands have their own biomes and you can see ESROHS there but not capture them.

This isn’t the only thing from the update, there is much more, including cow shaped ponies, Timber Frame club buildings and even club hedges and fences. Check out the site and have a look!

Horse Isle III: Building Updates

In case you haven’t looked at the options for building in a while, there are some neat updates available!

(Updated again, 12/22/23)

For Ranch owners, you can now have topiary and benches, of the same type that are available to the clubs. You can also build more things on your right of way margins, including topiary and signs. This will help for those of us who need to put up even more “No Logging” signs!

For Clubs, there are some pretty impressive updates, including the ability to build up to four Lookout Towers. Not only do they go really well with the recent Medieval building upgrade, they add dimension and scale to any village! They are great for seeing a long way, finding a private place to do super orders, or my favorite, glider launches.

Most are probably aware that lamp-posts now have editable colors, and automatically turn off in the daytime. Some clubs have used this to lovely effect. I’ve seen it used to make a really pretty rainbow castle!

Recently Firepits were introduced. They come in four different styles. Each club can only have one. The flames cast light so can improve your lighting or perhaps replace a lamp-post. A really nice bonus is the player stat boost! Once per minute, and up to five times per game day, a player within 10 meters of the firepit will get a 50 point stat boost. I have put a bench nearby the one in TigerTon, so someone can sit and comfortably go over their horse lists or whatever other housekeeping, and meanwhile have a chance of getting small boosts to their Focus, Travel, or Energy. It’s not a big enough boost to unbalance gameplay but I think it is a nice bonus, especially for people who aren’t subscribed.

As of late December 2023, Timber Frame buildings were introduced, along club fences, hedges, and improved signs that can display art. There’s also a Sky Tower that can shoot you high into the sky, and a few new Planterables. Fun update all the way around!

See below for an image of the TigerTon firepit and Watchtower. Pretty tall, huh? We also now have a Sky Tower for anyone who wants to do some extreme skydiving.

Horse Isle 3 – Continuing Adventures

You’ve finally bred your ultimate competition horse, fitted them out with the perfect tack, and made your ranch exactly the way you want it. Maybe you’ve learned to glide or finally gotten that sailboat you’ve been saving for. But now it’s boring – what next? I’ve been playing Horse Isle 3 for years now and it still hasn’t gotten stale. How is that possible? In an open world there is always to do and see, because you can make your own challenges too!

In-Game Challenges

Weekly Challenges

Horse Isle 3 has some neat options if you are looking for something new to spark your interest. For example, In the Players Menu, scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find “View Current Weekly Challenges.” If you place in the top 100 you can win an Esroh Essence and if you place in the top 10 you get four of them! You can place in one, two, or all, so potentially this can get you a lot of extra energy! The challenges rotate every week and might include discovering new areas, delivering mail, flying the longest, walking the longest, catching the most wilds, and more. The really cool thing about having three challenges is no matter what you are good at there’s a really good chance you can place in the top 100 of something if you try.

Breeding Challenges

If you go to the Myself menu, then click on “View My Profile,” you will find breed challenges down at the bottom. Some are hard, some are easy. Basically you have to own one horse of each type listed. You didn’t have to breed them, you can buy them too. Once you have all the horses on the list, go into the page and click the “attempt” button. Don’t worry, you can try again if something was wrong! You keep the award even if you then sell the horses.

Photo Challenges

Each time a new plushie, creature, or horse is introduced you can immediately take a picture of it and add it to your collection. You can even collect photos of different breeds, and you are rewarded every so often for collecting enough! Never ending quest as long as new items are added.

Plushie Collection

Collecting varied or high stat plushies is definitely a thing, they are nice for decorating your ranch or augmenting the stats on your horses. Best of all, new plushies are released periodically so this is another one that could go on forever.

Club Quests

Don’t forget that clubs periodically make new quests! It’s worth a look at the Adventure tables to see what’s available.

Essence Anomalies

I have a whole article about these linked in the heading. These are nice 30 minute mini challenges that keep things lively.

Random Events

You could also try the different in game events such as Mane Event, Star Searches, Snowball fights, water balloon fights, jousting, and photo hunts – all manner of mini-events show up in the System section of chat. New ones are still being added, such as People Tower.

Making Your Own

If you get tired of the challenges built in by the game, there are all sorts of challenges you could make for yourself! The possibilities are endless, so here are a few of my own favorites.

Making Quests

As a club owner or leader, you have the ability to make quests. It can be hard to get them just right, but it can also be really rewarding. In a way it’s like writing a story. The best ones really immerse the player in the story and make them feel like they accomplished something. Think about the kinds of quests you like to take, as well as quests we need more of!

Overland Endurance Challenges

This can be kind of fun – basically the challenge is to pick two clubs or landmarks and ride from one to the other. You have to go over any terrain in the way, and let me tell you it can be cool to finally see that tall Clubhouse coming into view. You could pick two clubs that are only twenty kilometers or so from each other or could choose a bigger challenge. You could set the club as your heading, or you could try to only navigate by the map as additional challenge.

The Newbie Challenge

This is something I’ve done a few times. Basically I will set a time for myself where I will decide to not use any of the items I have gathered or earned. I’ll walk around in some area till I find a wild, catch that, ride it bareback, or maybe I’ll allow myself a basic set of tack. I’ll see how far I can get while only feeding the horse things I gather. There are all kinds of variations here but it can be fun remembering what it was like back at the very beginning when I was still discovering the game.

Playing “explorer”

Most of us do this already but it can be interesting to try it with different constraints. For example, what if you could only use a kayak? How far could you get into a continent by only paddling up rivers? Or how well can you get to know a single island? Or, can you sail place to place by tacking even when the wind isn’t perfectly right? Or maybe try a chariot or pony cart when you won’t normally do that?

Making new Breeds

This has endless possibilities. It can be a lot of fun breeding in traits that aren’t normally found together. I know one person who loves breeding metallic coated drafts. I do too. I also have a metallic coated Arabian project, and a miniature Akhal teke project. Recently I also started breeding giant Arabians and Thoroughbreds. A TB or arab who stands 21 hands at the withers is a truly stunning sight! My mini tekes are all 8 hands or less, usually 7.2 currently. Not bad for such a long legged creature.

I’ll be adding more options as I think of them. Similarly, if you have a fun challenge that keeps you interested, share and I’ll add it here! I’m likely going to write a guide to quest-writing in the near future. Stay tuned!

Like to join me on this awesome game?  If you would, make sure and use this link or place my ID, 1023, in the box when you join.
That way, if you ever decide to buy a subscription, even for one month, you’ll get a bonus 1000 essence, plus 10 Esroh Essence to help you get started.  A subscription costs 500 Mobia per month and you can buy Mobia from other players in-game if you don’t have cash to spend.

Horse Isle 3 – Horse Affinities

This is a pretty big update and a welcome one! Our horses now have the ability to be released so they can run around within 100 meters of the player. You can whistle to get them to come back. They even have their own favorite things! This, plus the update allowing use of a lead rope and halter, really makes me feel like I have a companion with a unique personality rather than just a pixel pony.

Rope Halters and Lead Ropes

You can craft them in your workshop and this will allow you to lead any horse, including a newborn foal. How well a horse leads depends a lot on their personality. Finally, a fun way to show off those tiny little foals and unrideable ponies! Halters are dyeable too, and the shortcut is U. Cause it looks like a droopy lead rope.

Not two years old yet and already this tall? I can still lead him!
Closer view of the halter

Roaming

From the Trick Menu, which is Ctrl + Z, you can select the “unlock” icon to let the horse roam freely, up to 100 meters away. If you select the Magnifying Glass icon instead, the horse will automatically try to find its favorite thing. If such a thing isn’t within 100 meters, then you’ll get a message saying that.

If a horse is let loose to wander without any particular goal, it will do things like graze if it’s hungry, find water if it’s thirsty, move towards people if it’s social, move away if it’s antisocial and so on. If it’s fully healthy, fed and watered, it’ll run and play and gain some mood! A quick whistle (F) will bring them right back again.

The Trick Wheel – all of the available tricks, plus more!

Affinities

So you know by now that each horse has its own Favorite Thing. It can be something simple like rocks or twigs, or it can be wild horses, people, and more. It can be pretty funny watching a horse run around looking for them! It can be useful, too. Say you need to find mushrooms in the Dark Forest Biome. Pain in the tail, right? Well, if you find a horse that likes mushrooms you can use them like a hunting dog! The same is true for things like Essence, Ores, and so on. Another use might be if you are supposed to find a rare flower, like Red Roses or Poppies, get a horse with a flower affinity and follow them!

So you don’t lose track, once a horse finds out what it likes, the affinity shows up permanently on their profile.

Full list of Affinities by rarity

Common: Berries, Cloth, Critters, Essence, Flower, Fruit, People, Poison Ivy, Rocks, Sticks, Wild Horses
Half as common: Caves, Course Starts, Epics, Gemstones, Mushrooms, Quest Tables, Spices, Sweets
10x rarer: Minigames, Ores, Tappable Trees.
200x rarer: Crystal, Treasure

A note about Cloth: That will cause a horse to find silk cocoons, flax, or cotton plants.

Since some affinities are really rare, a Crystal hunting horse or a Treasure hunting horse is worth some cash should you decide to sell it.

Interested in joining? 

Click  HERE or go to the HI3 site and put in my user ID, 1023. 

 Whenever you buy your first subscription, you’ll be rewarded with 10 Esroh Essence (good for more energy) and 1000 gold dust to help you along!

Horse Isle 3 – Ocean Creatures!

There has been another big update on Horse Isle 3: Infinite Wilds. They have brought ocean life to the vast oceans and seas, and there are also now elephants wandering the Savannah biomes! They swim around, and you can get pretty close to them.

Imagine my delight when I found THREE blue whales hanging around my ranch atoll. Of course I kayaked out to meet them. They dove, surfaced, flapped their flukes, and a couple of times opened their mouths at me.

Here is a full list of what has been introduced and where:

+ Blue Whales, Giant Squids (Rare) – Deep Oceans
+ Great Whites, Sword Fish – Temperate oceans.
+ Dolphins, Dugongs, Mola Molas (Rare), Sea Turtles, Hammerheads, and Manta Rays – Warmer oceans.

There is another very special ocean creature that was added January 2021. A sea horse! It carries you through the water at walking speed. You need to use the Diving Bell first, and then activate using the % key. Once mounted, you can climb by using the jump button (Spacebar) and dive by using the crouch button (C). It’s great for exploring underwater! It also costs 25,000 Essence but it’s so worth it.

Brief note on Sea Sponges:

These little guys are really hard to find, but if you’re looking for them, here is where they can be found! They are in Alpine Water, in the deep areas where you find undersea mountains. They look like little round blobs. I found mine at the base of a rock. It’s kind of dark down there and I highly recommend you use a Seahorse so you can travel around and dive more easily.

Here are some pictures I’ve captured! I’ll add more as I find them.

Elephant
Baby Elephant
Blue Whale
Great White Shark with whale in background
Leaping Dolphin
Whale encounter
Hammerhead Shark
Swordfish
Dugong

Interested in joining? 

Click  HERE or go to the HI3 site and put in my user ID, 1023. 

 Whenever you buy your first subscription, you’ll be rewarded with 10 Esroh Essence (good for more energy) and 1000 gold dust to help you along!

Horse Isle 3 – Epics (updated)

The recent update was truly cool! In it was introduced a wonderful variety of Epic Monuments. They are huge, impressive looking, and replace all the obelisks that used to dot our vast landscape. There is a type for each of the biomes and the first player to discover each one is immortalized on the “about” text associated with each one. Because no one could build anything on a plot that had a Cave or an Obelisk, they are all on public land.

Some of the items you can find are pretty great too! Things like giant Gaia Trees in the Fall Forest, or seriously huge Sequoias in the Rain Forest, or pyramids in Jungle. There are shipwrecks in the oceans now as well. You get an Epic Medallion every time you make a new discovery and you can also get awards for discovering a certain number.

Epic Medallions can be donated to your Club and go toward unlocking new building/decor slots. For people not into clubs, you can sell them and make a nice tidy pile of coin.

(In game, the club “Where The Drafts Go” maintains a good list)

Epic Finds by Biome

Alpine — Abandoned Nest
Badlands — Moeriki, Cairn
Bamboo — Forest Panda Statue
Blacksands — Dragon Statue
Dark Forest — Dead Massive Tree, Web Dome
Decay — Massive Mastodon Skull
Desert — Pyramid, Tri-Pyramid
Fall Forest — Gaia Tree
Fjords — Giant’s Causeway
Ice — Ice Cave
Jungle — Step Pyramid
Mediterranean — Massive Shell
Mesa — Stone Spire
Plains — Crashed Island, Hover Stone
Rainforest — Massive Sequoia
Salt Flats — Arbol De Piedra
Savanna — Baobab
Snow — Snowman
Stone Forest — Pu Pu, Spiral Spire
Swamp — Stone Golem
Taiga — Lost Vikings
Tundra — Henge, Massive Moai
Wonderland — Compound Mushroom, Massive Gladiolus
Volcanic — Oracle

Waters: Beaver Dam, Mermaid Statue, Poseidon Statue, Shipwreck

Stone Golem in Swamp
Beaver Dam in Taiga Marsh
Pyramid in Jungle
Giant Sequoia in Rain Forest
Fall Forest Gaia Tree
Black Sands (Fire and Ice) Dragon Statue
Wonderland – Massive Gladiolus
Fjords – Giants Causeway
Dark Forest – Web Dome
Plains – Hover Stone (makes YOU hover!)
Mesa – Stone Spire
Plains – Crashed Island
Ice Cave
Snowman
Medi – Massive Shell
Stone Forest – Spiral
Desert – Pyramid
Wonderland – Compound Mushroom
Desert – Tri Pyramid
Volcanic – Oracle
Dark Forest – Dead Massive Tree
Taiga – Lost Viking
Sandstone – Arbol De Piedra
Savanna – Baobab

Horse Isle 3 – Travel in Ice and Snow

Large areas of the Infinite Wilds are frozen over, and this kind of travel has its own challenges. There are various strategies and equipment you can use to help deal with these, with a varying degree of success. Different horses are needed for these different landscapes, too.

Snow

Snow slows you down tremendously, and it can be hard to climb the slippery hills.  Snow fields can also be quite vast so you may be a while crossing them.  Also, the landscapes are quite beautiful and not to be missed!

Equipment

Snowshoes can be purchased with Essence and they equip automatically. They make the terrain less slippery and boost your walking speed. They are really helpful if you want to complete a puzzle or quiz post that’s located on a slope.

 

Skis can also be purchased with Essence and they are great for cross country skiing, giving something of a speed boost, but they truly shine if you have to go downhill. You can reach some pretty respectable speeds!   Steering works better when you use the mouse as well.  The shortcut is =,

Horse Types

For snow, it’s best to have large horses, preferably with big feet, who are good in Speed, Strength, and Bravery. Shires, Shire Sport Horses, other similar drafts, and various flavors of Grade Draft are all good for this. A lighter horse that is still relatively tall, strong fast and brave, can do pretty well too.

Ice Crusts

Ice Crusts are very slick and can be difficult to travel on. Your snowshoes don’t work here and horses get hurt easily on the sharp ice.

Equipment

Skates can’t be used here – and wagons or carts can but it’s a pain to deal with all the ridges and bumps.  Walking or riding is your best bet.  Or maybe a balloon?

Horse Types

I’ve had really good luck with my Hunter Thoroughbred on ice crusts. I think any good runner-jumpers would do well. Horses who are brave and agile do well here, and speed never hurts. I highly recommend getting a Salus Amulet or at the very least, a preventive vet exam.

Ice Sheets

The majority of ice you see will be in sheet form, over the oceans. Horses don’t like this area because it easily frightens them – I don’t blame them! Nobody likes the chance of a cold bath.  However, there are multiple ways of dealing with it.

Equipment

Skis work here, though not very well.  You can also just run, but who wants to do that?   This is where the Ice Skates truly shine. You can use them with alternating key strokes, much like a Kayak, though if you just press Forward you will still make progress, albeit more slowly.  You can also use Pony Carts, Horse Carts, and Chariots, though the ice still cracks under horses from time to time.  Shortcut is ~.

Horse Types

The ideal horse for ice travel is strong, fast, brave, and light. Of course, light horses don’t tend to be as strong, so there’s a balance that must be struck. Strong ponies tend to have a broad chest along with their other attributes. Some people breed miniature ponies with draft breeds to boost the strengh of the resulting foal – this can be tricky but it can work. There are also various breeds that are designed more for ice draft work. Also, the horses of the Decay Biome tend to be tiny and some of them are strong.

Broken Ice

Broken up ice sheets floating on a sea, too spread about to walk across. This situation can be a pain. You pretty much have to either swim slowly through it or sometimes you can use a kayak. Luckily it just borders major ice sheets so you won’t have to endure long stretches of it.

 

Not a player yet?  Interested in joining? 

Click  HERE or go to the HI3 site and put in my user ID, 1023.   Whenever you buy your first subscription, you’ll be rewarded with 10 Esroh Essence (good for more energy) and 1000 gold dust to help you along!

Horse Isle 3 Update – Hang Gliders are here!

(Also the long awaited ice skates and skis.)

But in the mean time, hang gliders!

First, here’s what it says on the site:

+ Must find a high point to launch from. Launch succeeds when open air roughly 3 meters in front of you.
+ Hang glider automatically pitches down to prevent stalls.
+ Pitch Forward (Descend) with Up Arrow (W)
+ Pitch Backward (Go Up) With Back Arrow (S)
+ Steer with mouse/Arrows
+ “Super Woman” award added. First level achieved with 1000m of total hang gliding distance.
+ Added 3 Course Air Rings 10m, 25m, 50m high
+ Added course requirement which will Auto-Start the Hang Glider equipment if owned.
+ Courses For Hang Gliding will be quite difficult. Expect to have to forfeit a lot 🙂
+ Hint: Record a location at the top of mountain before jumping so you can quick travel back if (you) want. (GOOD TIP, JOR!)

Hang Glider Essentials

Now that you’ve read what the site has to say, here are the things I’ve discovered when hang gliding.

You will need 10,000 Essence with 1,000 of that having been earned in Fjords, to buy the hang glider.  Once bought, it doesn’t require fuel or anything like that.   You can launch from any mountaintop, mesa, cliff, fjord, et cetera.

It doesn’t seem like the most fantastic way to travel because you can only travel a few klicks at best but is great for short term exploration, finding resources or new puzzle areas.  It’s also just boatloads of fun and the flight controls are easy.

The wind is not a factor with speed, only descent.

There was a recent update including an altimeter on screen to the lower left.

The shortcut key is }.  Looks like a hang glider.

You cannot launch from a balloon or while falling in the air – you have to be on a solid piece of ground.

You can stretch your glide a bit by flattening it out, but do so carefully.  Best glide is around 20 to 21 MPH, or 32 to 33 KPH, or so I’ve found so far.

The hang glider colors are based on your profile, same as carts, kayak, etc are.

Speed:  You will fly faster if you are descending faster.   So far when I’ve been gliding best with as little sink rate as possible, I’ve been flying at between 19 and 25 MPH.  I saw 70 MPH one time when I was descending too fast though.  The trick is to handle your wing angle really carefully so you don’t accidentally dump all your lift.

Protips:  

Turn up the world sound effects and you’ll be able to hear the wind as you glide.  As you pitch the nose down, you will hear the wind get louder.  Pull the nose up and listen as the wind gets quieter – it goes silent before it stalls, just like in real life.  If you pitch the nose down again at that point you can glide a lot longer – play with it a bit and you’ll get the hang of it.  Basically if you pick up speed you can trade it for a little extra lift, and get to keep most of that if you avoid the stall recovery.  I was able to boost my best glide distance considerably within a few flights of doing that.

If you climb until the point just before it stalls and then drop your nose quickly to pick up speed, then begin climbing again at a slightly higher point then where you began your last climb, it’s possible to gain altitude slowly and fly pretty much until you reach terrain that’s too high or until your system lags.  I know someone who managed to get up to around 300 meters in altitude with a lot of patience.  It can be done!

Usually, using the mouse helps a lot for control.

Pulling the camera back so you can easily see yourself also helps immensely.  There is a practice area at Whistler club, called Big Air, reachable by wagon.

Successful gliding flight looks rather bouncy, not like a long smooth glide.

You can also collect Epics, pots of gold, and even chop wood if you are careful.  To collect Epics, fly next to the Epic as close as you can.  To collect a pot of gold, try to fly through the rainbow while pressing E.  To chop wood, fly as close as you can to the top of the tree and press E.

Launching Spot ideas:

Basically you want somewhere that’s high up, has sloping terrain around it, and has a fairly sharp dropoff.

Mesas

Tall Alpine mountains

Beach Spirals

Fumaroles (if you can get to the top, that is)

Tall Fall Forest or Jungle Mountains

Fjords if you don’t mind landing in the water

Ice Cliffs

Tall Redrock cliffs

Tall towers and other buildings now work for launches!  Yay!

…and let me know if you have more ideas!   Pictures of the hang glider are below.

Not a player yet?  Interested in joining? 

Click  HERE or go to the HI3 site and put in my user ID, 1023.   Whenever you buy your first subscription, you’ll be rewarded with 10 Esroh Essence (good for more energy) and 1000 gold dust to help you along!