Corsair Cove Captains

Four starters, eight to find

Guides agree on four captains in the opening pier menu and roughly eight more gated behind deeds, regional events, and legendary encounters. Treat unknown names as spoilers to discover — the stat pattern stays consistent: two +20% passives or a special skill like Legend's Luck for Timothy.

Teach is the Blackbeard-inspired survivalist — last of the old guard in official blurbs. Kanja, Scarlet, and Honorata cover supply speed, boarding, and manoeuvre niches so your first sortie already teaches counter-play.

Captain vs crew quality

Captains modify the ship, not replace crew tiers. Filling Landlubber to 15/15 crew still matters; Teach’s gun bonus scales on a staffed Destroyer more than an empty hull. Promote Marauders, Navigators, and Bombardiers per the crew guide after you assign the captain.

Easy As Murder — Teach’s signature

Easy As Murder grants +1 dice roll next turn. If you deal Health damage that turn, the bonus can chain — community combat guides treat it as the safest pick when the enemy plays neither pure offense nor defense (e.g. Lose Cargo turns). Pair with Into the Breach or gun cards once dice stack.

Teach’s passives (Health +20%, Gun Damage +20%) align with Destroyer and Hunter hulls that already lean on cannons — Steel Edge and Azimuth-style Tier 2 builds from the ships page.

All Or Nothing and Rise Up, Mateys

Later captains add aggressive tempo skills referenced in compass and fleet guides — All Or Nothing style cards push damage at crew cost; Rise Up, Mateys boosts boarding waves. Read the enemy preview card (purple HUD) before spending your Captain Action; defensive enemy turns favor Teach’s dice setup, low-Crew enemies favor Scarlet boarding.

Shrine of the Sea and other buffs

Seafaring principle buildings like Shrine of the Sea buff ships at sea independently of captains. Stack captain passives + shrine + good crew tiers — not captain alone — before you tackle Crown hunters or kraken events.

Reaver + Scarlet

Reaver hulls like Moonlight and Sharktooth emphasize boarding damage and raid payouts. Scarlet (+Health, +Boarding) doubles down — assign her when enemy crew bars are the win condition, not hull HP.

Destroyer + Teach

Destroyer lines (Steel Edge, later Iron Fist names in Empire track) bring high gun damage and armor. Teach adds gun and health — the default Crown hunter pairing until Charlie’s speed matters in multi-ship fights.

Hunter + Kanja or Honorata

Hunter hulls (Azimuth, Tide Runner) trade speed and exploration. Kanja extends Supply and Speed for long map reveals; Honorata helps flee bad encounters and chase merchants.

Prowler + Honorata

Prowler stealth missions from Notoriety unlocks favor manoeuvre over raw guns. Honorata (+Speed, +Manoeuvrability) supports stealth and chase cards — sync with zipline-heavy vertical bases that unlock Notoriety early on vertical building.

Goldseeker and hybrid unlocks

Hybrid hulls like Goldseeker (Wealth + Notoriety costs) accept Raven for coin or Scarlet for boarding depending on whether the event pays treasure or crew kills. Check compass investment before you reassign — see tech tree.

Cooldown discipline

The ~2-minute swap cooldown punishes reactive swapping during event chains. Before a back-to-back Crown fight and a raid run, assign Teach first or split ships so each hull keeps its captain through the chain.

Multi-ship players (up to ~six hulls late game) rotate captains like tools: one Teach destroyer, one Scarlet reaver, one Kanja hunter — not one captain hopping hulls every return.

Port upgrades and assignment UI

Higher pier tiers expose more ships at once. Assignment is per hull — upgrading Landlubber to Tier 2 does not auto-transfer captain; re-open the panel after Dry Dock completes.

Landlubber is temporary

Tier 1 stats are low — captain choice teaches habits, not endgame meta. Teach trains gun counters; Scarlet trains boarding timing. When Dry Dock finishes your first Tier 2 hull, reassign to the class-appropriate captain from the pairings table above.

Unlock order vs captain order

Captains unlock from events, not compass alone. Do not delay Tier 2 ships waiting for Charlie — beat deeds with Teach, then swap when Charlie’s quest fires. Track ambition progress on achievements and deed lists on tech tree.