This Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has created a functional airship that does not require energy cells
Something that always amazes me is the ways that dedicated players find ways to push the boundaries of the games they play. Whether it’s Animal Crossing designers who know the perfect way to line up buildings to recreate certain perspectives, or a Tears of the kingdom player who created an ultra-fast flying machine by holding the fan up in a certain way, I’ve always appreciated the dedication and creativity it takes to push a game to its limits. I was making the rounds on Reddit when I saw something that really surprised me: Reddit user Scalhoun03 created an entirely wind-powered airship in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The airship requires no energy to fly, meaning no Zonai charges or energy cells are needed to run it. It can fly through the air and remain at high altitudes seemingly indefinitely. The original message shows the ship that flies through the skies of Hyrule without input or energy. It’s only interrupted at the end when Scalhoun03 said they accidentally bumped the control stick. Below you can see a video of the construction in action.
The device seems to defy the laws of (Zelda) physics itself. Energy cells are a crucial and fundamental aspect of building machines in the game. If you want to use Zonai devices such as a fan or flame radiator, you will need to increase Link’s maximum power cell capacity. This is why you see so many top builders with big, long rows of little battery icons as they operate their huge machines.
So how does a ship fly without Zonai charges or energy elements? According to the maker, propulsion depends on a rotating movement generated by the control stick. “Basically the energy from the control stick is used to drive the props. When you move the control stick, a rotating force is applied to the entire structure. This force is transferred to the axles of the wagon wheels, driving the (propellers),” Scalhoun03 said via Reddit DMs.
Obtaining the materials required a private journey through Hyrule. Scalhoun03 picked up propellers from the Gemmik Shrine in the Akkala Highlands region and traveled to the depths to retrieve the raft and rails. Then came the actual building.
“The hardest part was finding the balance of allowing the props to rotate without interfering. The props must be in the right position, otherwise they will touch each other. When building with auto-built parts, you have to be careful how you break them down or they will disappear. The raft is an automatically built part and if the supports are in the wrong places you run the risk of your raft breaking.”
Scalhoun03 highlighted how important the Hyrule Engineering subreddit and the larger community were in building the ship. Throughout the design, others contributed their own innovations that helped the builder hone the design. For example, YouTuber KingX discovered someone could build a machine that launches without any “catalyst” such as rockets or that sends a ship off the side of a floating island. Others would provide feedback on clips.
“Without community suggestions, things like this are a lot harder to make. The community has given me the motivation to keep working on powerless flight builds and I hope everyone can try them out and have fun flying around Hyrule without having to worry about anything except having fun flying!