Drink the Ocean Upgrades Guide
Drink the Ocean. Use salt at the blue SHOP to choose between belly capacity, straws and tools. Each choice relates to a different part of the trip from the water to the PRESS.
Three kinds of upgrades
Belly
A larger belly lets you carry more water. Think of capacity as the size of one load from the sea to the PRESS. If your belly fills quickly, you have to leave the water each time it fills in order to turn that load into salt. With more room, you can stay at the water longer before making that same walk.
When considering a belly upgrade, look at what makes you stop drinking. If capacity is what sends you to the PRESS, a larger belly changes how much water you can carry on that trip. After you buy it, use the same sequence again: drink, walk to the PRESS and turn the load into salt.
Straws
The straw is what you use at the water. Look at the straw options when you spend more of a trip standing still drinking than walking a full belly to the PRESS. The straw and belly are two separate purchases: one changes what you drink with, while the other changes how much water you can carry.
Once you have chosen a straw upgrade, go back to the sea and try it as part of a normal trip. Think about the time you spend at the water before making the walk. When you shop again, compare that part of the trip with how often a full belly sends you back to the PRESS.
Tools
The blue SHOP also offers tools. Check this part of the shop when you are deciding what to spend salt on. Tools have their own controls: use 1, 2 or 3 to switch between them during play. Those keys have a different purpose from the mouse and the movement keys you use to get around the island.
It helps to keep the route in mind while you compare tools with the other upgrades. You still go to the water to drink and to the PRESS to make salt. If the change you want is room for more water, start by looking at the belly. If you want to change what you drink with, start with the straw.
Which upgrade first
For a first upgrade, decide whether your main concern is time at the water or time walking back and forth. If you repeatedly leave the shore with a full belly, look at capacity. If you spend more time standing still drinking, consider the straw. The question is which part of the loop you want to change on the next trip.
After a purchase, compare the next complete trip with the one you used to make your decision. Notice when you leave the water and how much of the trip is spent moving to the PRESS. Use that comparison when you return to the blue SHOP. Your next choice can address the same part of the trip or a different one.
If you are comparing two purchases, use the same goal for both. For example, think about carrying a full load to the PRESS before you make a separate trip to explore the seabed. That gives you a clearer view of the drinking and walking parts of the loop. Keep the next purchase tied to the part of the trip you want to work on.
Use the guide to the drinking and pressing route to go through a full trip before comparing upgrades.
Where the treasure is
Look below the surface as the water recedes. The known discoveries on the ocean floor include a shipwreck, a whale skeleton and a sunken city. Take a moment to look out from the shore as you drink. When you go back to the water after pressing a load, look again at the parts of the seabed you can see.
If exploring is your goal, use the drinking and pressing loop to reveal more of the ocean floor. Then look around with the mouse and use WASD to move toward the area you want to see. The landmarks give you things to look for away from the repeated walk between the water, PRESS and shop.
What changes after you pull the plug
Treat the seabed discoveries and the plug as two different goals. You can look for the shipwreck, skeleton and city while you are uncovering the floor. If you want to change oceans, keep going until you find the plug. A trip to the PRESS makes salt, a visit to the shop buys an upgrade, and pulling the plug changes the ocean.
The plug is at the very bottom. It marks the point where you can change from the current ocean to a new one. You can keep looking for the shipwreck, whale skeleton and sunken city while you are exploring the floor, then continue toward the bottom when you want to look for the plug.
Pulling the plug gives you another ocean. The replacement can be cola, lemonade, slime or lava. When you reach the bottom and decide whether to pull, the confirmed change is the ocean itself. Until then, the way to keep opening up the floor is to drink with the straw, press the water into salt and choose upgrades at the blue SHOP.