Corsair Cove Tech Tree

Principle buildings vs passive boosters

Nodes on the wheel are either buildings (Gambling Den, Corsair Cuisine, Great Lighthouse) or boosters (Walk the Plank sawmill tiers). Buildings need placement within Pirate Camp range to matter; boosters apply globally once unlocked.

When a node shows a building icon, open the buildings wiki entry before you spend — some principle structures are large and need flat pads you may not have carved yet on a vertical starter island.

Ship type is the real fork

Tier 2 is the first meaningful Compass payoff — each principle gates its hull line on the ships page. Pick the principle that matches how you actually play: Reaver for loot-heavy runs, Hunter if you explore before you fight, Destroyer when Crown hunters push your shores.

Hybrid hulls (Goldseeker and similar) list split requirements in the ship database — budget 3 Wealth + 3 Notoriety (or the listed pair) before you announce a dual-path plan to your save file.

Deed selection strategy

Scroll the Deed list filtered by your main principle before you spend build orders on unrelated projects. Two half-finished Wealth deeds lose to one Ambition you can finish this session — especially when an Ambition unlocks a Tier jump you are one payment away from.

Pin one near-complete deed per principle color in your mental queue. The Compass UI does not auto-prioritize — you do, by matching deed requirements to buildings already on your cliff (extra Sawmills for plank deeds, Gun Tower wins for Empire deeds, exploration flags for Seafaring).

160 deeds — you will not finish them all in one run

160 deeds exist for completionists and achievement hunters. Story and Uncharted modes reward different pacing; treat unchosen deeds as NG+ content, not failures. Track Steam overlap on the achievements page when you chase 100%.

Regional Ambitions are the fastest bulk injections — when an Ambition and a Tier gate both need the same project (fort line, fleet size, luxury goods), stack them intentionally instead of completing the deed and forgetting the Ambition tracker.

Tier 1 examples worth knowing

Walk the Plank (Notoriety booster) adds Sawmill output in stacked ranks — huge for plank-starved cliffs. Gambling Den (Notoriety building) buffs producer efficiency in camp range for one hour per den. Corsair Cuisine lifts stew, hardtack, cassava bread, turtle soup, roast bird, booze, and rum output near the building — a food-spike before you recruit extra mouths.

Empire spokes lean toward Gun Tower upgrades and powder efficiency; Seafaring spokes unlock dry dock and exploration tools (Great Lighthouse, Shipwrights' Guildhall). Read the node type before you spend — a booster you cannot see on the map still helps; a principle building you never place does not.

Do not confuse ship tier with Compass tier

Ship hull tiers (Landlubber → Tier 2 Moonlight, etc.) are build upgrades on the dry dock. Compass tiers are research rings. You need both: Compass unlocks the hull family; the dock upgrades the frame.

Players searching corsair cove upgrade ship to lvl 2 often conflate the two — if the dry dock recipe is available but the hull type is greyed out, you are missing Compass points, not planks.

Story vs Uncharted pacing

Story mode nudges deed order through scripted beats; Uncharted drops you into broader choice. In both, Cohesion is the lose condition — Notoriety deeds that boost morale tools can be stronger than they look on paper if your camp runs tight on booze.

Uncharted players often rush Seafaring for map fog; Story players may see Empire deeds earlier when Crown hunters attack. Neither path changes tier costs — only which deeds sit in front of you first.

P1 principle entity pages

Full skill lists per spoke (`/tech-tree/wealth`, etc.) are P1 routes. This page stays the decision map; entity pages will list every node when datamined post-launch.

First ten hours — Wealth opener

Finish trade- and raid-flavored Deeds, spend 3 on Wealth Tier 2, queue a Reaver hull when the dry dock is ready, and keep stew/booze chains alive so raiders return to workers not deserters. Wealth without food is a fast raid that ends in Cohesion collapse.

First ten hours — Notoriety opener

Rush zipline unlocks that connect ore or guano shelves to your camp, grab Gambling Den when camp range allows, and pair with plank boosters. Notoriety shines when vertical building already forced you to build on three elevations.

First ten hours — Empire opener

Empire fits players already building Gun Towers and powder lines from the production chains page. Finish military-flavored Deeds, unlock Destroyer Tier 2, and keep powder on green paths — Empire points feel wasted if cannons starve mid-assault.

First ten hours — Seafaring opener

Seafaring rewards map coverage: Hunter hulls, lighthouse builds, and dry dock perks assume you are sailing between deeds. Do not main Seafaring if you still have red food paths at home — exploration deeds stall when Cohesion cracks.

When to pivot

Pivot principles only after a Tier 2 ship is sailing — not when one deed looks shiny. Hybrid players plan 3 + 3 splits for dual-type hulls; everyone else should resist second-color spending until Tier 2 production perks are online.