Loftia Crafting Basics: Stations, Materials and the Tool Wheel

Loftia crafting runs on generated power rather than a workbench: gather raw materials, refine them at a station, then craft the finished item, with sun, wind and rain feeding it. As of the October 2026 Steam Next Fest demo, Qloud Games has confirmed that loop but has published no ingredient lists, drop rates or level gates, so every material name and tier breakdown now circulating is community-compiled until Early Access opens on November 3, 2026.

• The chain is gather, refine, craft, and every stage runs on renewable energy.
• Crafting is one of four official proficiencies, capped at Level 5 in the demo only.
• The tool wheel, opened by holding down R, is the hinge: some seeds stay invisible in your bag until you use it.
• No official recipe, ingredient count or power output exists.

Official source: Loftia official homepage

How the crafting chain actually runs

The official framing is the same on the store page, homepage and demo page: explore, gather resources with tools, craft with what you gathered. The solarpunk twist sits on top: the tools you craft run on renewable energy too.

The demo covers the gathering half of that loop: the official demo page lists Salvaging resources among the activities, and the demo announcement describes a questline where you salvage resources and grow crops. The Loftia beginner guide covers the session order, the salvaging and item fragments guide covers where raw materials come from.

Official source: Loftia Demo page

Renewable power is the crafting economy

This is the part most summaries skip, and it has real official backing: the homepage pairs crafting with energy in one sentence, you craft your own tools using renewable energy from the sun, wind and rain.

Official source: Loftian Skies: January 2023 developer blog

That post describes turbines held aloft by helium or hydrogen shrouds and says plainly that the electricity they generate feeds crafting. It predates launch, so read it as stated design. Missing everywhere is the planning number: no watts, no generation rate, no power cost per craft.

Official source: Loftia Demo Patch notes #1 and known issues

Stations, tiers and unlock requirements

Community-compiled recipe data, a third-party guide published on October 21, 2026 from the game's own recipe tables, splits Loftia recipes into two parallel ladders of three tiers and tags each with an unlock source. Qloud Games has published no station list, so treat this as a working map, not a rulebook.

Upgrades chain: a Tier 2 tool needs its Tier 1 version as an ingredient, and the battery line steps up one level at a time. Refining is separate from crafting, which is why a station is the first thing you build. The station names in that data are Refining Station, Carpentry Station, Tailoring Station, Cooking Station and Project Station. The Research Station tag is the one to watch: no official page mentions one.

Official source: Loftia Early Access page

Furniture is crafted on the same spine as tools.

Material names you may have already seen

These refined material names are community-compiled. Qloud Games has not confirmed them and no ingredient counts have been published, so the mapping below is a community reading of recipe tables.

Metal Plates, Flexible Lumber, Copper Bars and Rust Resistant Alloy are the refined names players quote most. Two arrive early and feed garden and station upgrades; Rust Resistant Alloy is a Tier 3 component.

Carbon Fiber, specifically

Carbon Fiber is the material players ask about most, and the honest answer is that no one outside the team has confirmed how you get it. There is no official recipe and no mention in the FAQ, demo pages, Early Access page or patch notes. It also does not appear in the community Tier 1 to Tier 3 refining tables, so the community pages ranking for this question describe the general structure, not a recipe.

Treat Carbon Fiber as unannounced until you can see the crafting menu on November 3, 2026; the tables above give a workable ladder meanwhile, and Gridfall is where salvaged inputs come from.

The tool wheel is the hinge of the whole system

Everything you gather ends up in your inventory, and the tool wheel is how you get it into your hands. The official known-issues page is explicit about this.

Seeds you need for a quest, or that you bought from Hazel the seed shop owner, can fail to show up in the bag. The official workaround is to hold down R, or the gamepad button, to open the tool wheel, then left-click to add the item from your inventory. Patch notes #1 reworked the tutorial for exactly this: the prompt now appears during the planting step, stays visible for up to four minutes, and dismisses only when you open the wheel.

Official source: Steam Next Fest known issues on the Loftia news page

Controller note: the Steam store lists Loftia with Partial Controller Support, while the official FAQ says it is fully playable with controller or gamepad in addition to keyboard and mouse, and also supports the Steam Deck. Store metadata versus developer wording; the tool wheel has a gamepad button either way. The controls and keybinds guide covers the binding side.

What the demo gives you versus what Early Access adds

Nothing in the right-hand column is playable today; each row is announced for Early Access on November 3, 2026. Level 5 is a demo restriction, and the proficiencies and perks guide explains what changes. Cooking and recipes matters for the same reason, since cooking shares the stations and power.

Official source: Loftia Early Access page

Confirmed versus undisclosed

• Confirmed officially: renewable power drives crafting, and that electricity powers crafting, cooking, exploration and your home.
• Not published: recipe lists with ingredient counts, level requirements, drop rates, and power output or per-craft cost.
• Community-compiled only: the Research Station name, the tier layout, every refined material name, and any Carbon Fiber recipe.

FAQ

Do I need a crafting bench in Loftia?

No bench in the usual sense. The community recipe data lists stations as craftable items themselves, including a Refining Station that turns raw materials into components, and the official framing is that you craft with tools you have crafted. Because the chain is powered, power access matters as much as raw materials.

How do I get carbon fiber in Loftia?

Nobody outside the team has confirmed a recipe. It is not in the official FAQ, the demo pages, the Early Access announcement or the patch notes, and it is absent from the community refining tables for Tiers 1 to 3. The route will be confirmed by the crafting menu on November 3, 2026.

Where did my seeds go? I bought them from Hazel

An official known issue, not a broken save. Seeds you need for a quest, or bought from Hazel, can sit in your inventory without being visible. Hold down R, or the gamepad button, to open the tool wheel, then left-click to pull the item out. The prompt was reworked in patch notes #1 so it appears during planting and stays on screen for up to four minutes.

Related Guides

• Loftia Beginner Guide: First Steps in the Demo Session order before placing a station.
• Loftia Salvaging and Item Fragments Guide Where the raw materials for refining come from.
• Loftia Proficiencies and Perks Explained What the Level 5 demo cap means for Crafting.
• Loftia Cooking and Recipes: What's Known Cooking runs on the same stations and power.

Official source: Loftia on Steam