Expeditions are the at-sea content layer of Corsair Cove. The haven runs in real time; the moment a fleet leaves the piers, decisions shift to expedition orders, dice-based at-sea events, and the turn-based combat layer covered in Naval Combat. Every expedition is a population, supply, and timing commitment. Crew lost on a bad run come off the haven's roster, supplies spent at sea have to be re-produced by City Building, and a fleet held at sea past its provisions risks mutiny.
Expedition Types
Type | Purpose | Risk Profile |
|---|---|---|
Raids | Strike enemy ships and settlements to take goods, gold, and crew by force. | Highest direct plunder. Heaviest casualty risk; raises notoriety, which pulls in pirate hunters. |
Smuggling Runs | Move contraband between ports through patrolled waters. | Pays in trade rather than loot. Interception risk scales with route length; cargo can be lost entirely on a bad engagement. |
Exploration | Push into uncharted waters and chart new islands across the archipelago. | Long durations and high event variance. Rewards are intel, claim sites, and unlocks; sometimes legendary creatures. |
Treasure Expeditions | Hunt buried, sunken, or rumoured caches. | High variance. Some runs return empty; others pay out far above raid haul. Often tied to story missions. |
Each expedition draws from the haven's stores: hulls, cannons, supplies, and crew come out of Goods and Production. The captain assigned, the ship outfitted, and the specialist roles loaded all affect what the expedition can attempt and how it survives.
At-Sea Events
Between objectives, expeditions resolve small dice-based encounters along the way. A storm, an unknown ship on the horizon, or a chance to board a wreck plays out as a roll rather than a scripted scene, with the captain's hand, ship stats, and crew specialists feeding into the outcome.
Storm-class events damage hulls and supplies. Encounter-class events open optional fights, optional trades, or recruitment opportunities. Wreck-class events typically offer salvage and the chance to pull Crew and Population out of the water.
Discovery Points
Exploration legs are organised around discovery points: charted stops a fleet reaches as it pushes into new water. Reaching the first discovery point requires a minimum landing party, so an exploration run needs at least ten crew aboard before it can claim that stop. Crew sizing therefore gates early exploration as much as ship choice does, which ties the expedition layer back to Crew and Population and the haven's population economy.
Voyage Length and Haven Trade-offs
Longer expeditions pay more but force harder decisions back home. While a ship is out, the workers assigned to it are not in the haven; consequently certain buildings on the island may need to pause production while the expedition runs. Players have to weigh which structures can afford to idle versus which need to stay staffed to keep Cohesion and Morale stable.
This is the loop that ties the city-builder layer and the naval layer together. A Notoriety raider can keep most of the haven running because its raids are short and brutal. A Seafaring captain pushing exploration into uncharted water may need to brown out half the haven's production chains for an entire voyage.
Threats Faced During Expeditions
Threat | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Crown Navy | Patrolled lanes, near royal ports | Organised state warships under royal authority. Scales with the run's notoriety and territory claims. |
Pirate Hunters | Anywhere the player has notoriety | Freelance crews paid to put pirates down. They tend to chase the havens that have built the loudest reputations. |
Krakens | Deep water | Mythic deep-sea creatures from sailor folklore; turn an exploration leg into a fight for the hull. |
Monstrous Whales | Open ocean | Outsized whales that turn a long-distance voyage into a survival fight. |
Otherworldly Threats | Uncharted waters | A catch-all category for sea horrors beyond ordinary fauna. The bestiary has not been fully disclosed. |
Tying Back to the Pillars
Each of the four Progression Paths expresses itself partly through expedition mix. A Notoriety haven runs more raids; a Wealth haven runs more smuggling and trade convoys; a Seafaring haven runs exploration deep into uncharted water; an Empire haven uses expeditions to claim territory and project political weight. The expedition layer is where pillar choice becomes a tactical doctrine.
Unconfirmed Details
Specific expedition durations or distance scaling.
Mission tier counts or per-type campaign progression.
Whether expeditions can be recalled mid-route.
Named expedition objectives, factions, or rival pirate crews.
Specific at-sea event tables and probability tiers.
Treasure expedition reward ranges and rumour-track sources.