Flooding is a new mechanic introduced in the Shipwrecked DLC. Areas become flooded during Monsoon Season by puddles and Beach biomes are regularly flooded by encroaching tides during nighttime.
Puddles
Puddles will appear during Monsoon Season, which are initially small but increase in size and number as the season goes on, eventually covering most of the land and inducing wetness to the player. Crafted Turfs will prevent Puddles from spawning on that tile, however expanding Puddles can still eventually flood that tile. Flooded areas also slow down the player. It is suggested to have water resistant gear (such as a Snakeskin Hat and Snakeskin Jacket), if one must traverse into flooded areas. Puddles will dry up by the third day of Dry Season.
Wilson standing near sandbags and puddles
Puddles spawn randomly at each monsoon season, with the "eye" of the puddle and four surrounding puddle tile in a clover leaf manner. It will start spreading, in shape of diamond/rectangle, using the "eye" as the center with each wave of rain during monsoon season. The "eye" can be identified using the edge of the rectangle/diamond, tracing a line to the opposite edge diagonally, and finding the center tile. This "eye" can be "killed" using sandbag no matter how big the puddle has been (see Sandbags section paragraph 2).
Tides
In other seasons, Tides cause water to cover Beach near the shore, moving in as night falls and receding in the morning. Tides move furthest in during the Full Moon, and are absent during new moons. Unlike puddles, tides replenish Seashells.
Sandbags
Both puddles and tides can be stopped by placing Sandbags in front of them, but if a puddle isn't completely surrounded it can continue to expand in any direction which isn't blocked by a sandbag. This means that given enough time or a small enough wall, a puddle can seep around a wall of sandbags and overtake it. However, a complete encirclement of sandbags can keep a puddle from getting in or out, allowing you to either contain a puddle in one spot where it starts or keep a small area from being touched.
Another use of Sandbags other than walling of water, is to absorb the water from that tile. This can be used to clean up flooded areas(albeit pricey) using Sandbag to absorb and hammering them down after completely blocking the area from the "eye" of the puddle and its surrounding puddle tile using other Sandbags. However, a better use and more economical strategy with this ability is to kill the "eye" before the Puddle starts spreading. Placing the Sandbag on the puddle "eye" tile will absorb the water from it, and permanently kill it for that monsoon season, stopping its spread. The remaining puddle surrounding it can then be dried off with the remaining sandbags and hammered down to create dry space.
Walls do not block flooding or puddles.
Structures that do not function while flooded
- Research stations (e.g. Science Machine, Alchemy Engine, Piratihatitator and Shadow Manipulator)
- Crock Pot (and Warly's Portable Crock Pot which can't be picked up as well)
- Ice Flingomatic
- Ice Maker 3000
- Ice Box (it can still be used for storage when flooded)
- Non-elevated fire pits (e.g. Fire Pit, Endothermic Fire Pit and Obsidian Fire Pit). However, the Chiminea will continue to function as it is elevated.
- Campfire and Endothermic Fire cannot be placed on flooded ground, and existing fires will extinguish if flood expands to them.
- Krissures
- Slot Machine
