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Progression Paths - Version 18 vs Version 19
Aug 17, 2026, 02:54 AM
Added the Compass tier thresholds, path ship classes, and booster structure, and trimmed items that are now published
Aug 27, 2026, 06:01 AM
Corrected the captain framing to the recruited roster, added the four Proclamations, fixed the Ocean Coliseum spelling and the Notoriety building list
11Progression Paths are the four parallel pillars that shape a Corsair Cove run: Notoriety, Empire, Seafaring, and Wealth. Every haven runs the same builder loop, but the pillar a player leans into determines which missions appear, which buildings unlock, which production chains matter, and which ships sail out of the harbour. Each pillar is fronted by its own fully-voiced captain. See also the Overview, Getting Started, and Golden Age of Piracy.22The Four Pillars44Each pillar is anchored to its own captain. The unlocks are how the haven changes shape as the player commits to it.5+Each pillar has its own focus, its own class of ship, and its own closing Proclamation. The unlocks are how the haven changes shape as the player commits to it.66PillarFocusCaptainThemeNotorietyFearsome reputation; vice-driven economy.Fully-voiced captain.Feared, infamous pirate.EmpireIndependent pirate nation; political and territorial reach.Fully-voiced captain.Pirate lord-turned-statesman.SeafaringOcean exploration, expedition range, and ship quality.Fully-voiced captain.Captain who lives on the water.WealthGold, trade routes, and economic muscle.Fully-voiced captain.Wealthy pirate lord.7+PillarFocusCompletionThemeNotorietyFearsome reputation; vice-driven economy.Proclamation of NotorietyFeared, infamous pirate.EmpireIndependent pirate nation; political and territorial reach.Proclamation of EmpirePirate lord-turned-statesman.SeafaringOcean exploration, expedition range, and ship quality.Proclamation of SeafaringCaptain who lives on the water.WealthGold, trade routes, and economic muscle.Proclamation of WealthWealthy pirate lord.88Notoriety99The Notoriety pillar leans into the theatrical side of piracy: the haven everyone has heard of. Its content is explicitly vice-driven, with gambling halls and brothels among the buildings on this track, turning social districts into income engines as much as morale anchors. The pillar's captain is feared rather than respected. That reputation cuts both ways: it attracts crew willing to throw in with the most infamous flag, but it pulls pirate hunters and Crown patrols in behind them, feeding back into naval combat.10+The Notoriety pillar leans into the theatrical side of piracy: the haven everyone has heard of. Its content is explicitly vice-driven, with gambling dens, cabarets and a voodoo shack among the buildings on this track, turning social districts into income engines as much as morale anchors. The pillar's captain is feared rather than respected. That reputation cuts both ways: it attracts crew willing to throw in with the most infamous flag, but it pulls pirate hunters and Crown patrols in behind them, feeding back into naval combat.1111Empire1414The Empire pillar treats the haven as the seed of an independent pirate nation rather than a single fortified base. Its missions and buildings push toward political and territorial ambition: claiming ground, controlling waters, and turning a shipwrecked crew into a power the Crown has to negotiate with rather than simply hunt. It is the pirate answer to the closing of the Golden Age.1616Seafaring1818The Seafaring pillar is the path of the captain who would rather be at sea than on the island. Its content is built around ocean exploration and naval expeditions: better hulls, longer-range voyages, and missions that push the fleet past the edges of the charted archipelago. A Seafaring haven invests heavily in shipyards and provisioning chains so expeditions can stay out longer. The path is tightly coupled to naval combat and to the legendary creatures that live in deeper waters.2020Wealth2323The Wealth pillar runs the haven as a business. Its focus is gold, trade, and economic muscle: stacking production chains, moving goods through smuggling and trade routes, and converting raw output into hard currency. The captain on this path is the wealthy pirate lord whose plunder is measured in coin and contracts rather than burnt sails. A Wealth run still deals with pirate hunters and the Crown, but it tends to do so by buying its way out or outpacing them economically rather than leaning into open confrontation.2525Deeds and Compass2727Progress along the four pillars is tracked through a system the game calls Deeds and Compass. Deeds are achievement-style goals spread across the four piracy tracks, ranging from amassing wealth to building a fearsome, bloodthirsty reputation. Completing them feeds a Compass that opens four directions in a technology tree, each direction unlocking new ways to optimise the haven and new ships.2929The tree does not lock the player into a single direction. It is possible to work toward unlocking everything in one playthrough, though doing so demands a great deal of wealth and patience. Leaning hard into one pillar simply gets that branch first; it does not close off the others.3131Pirate Archetypes3333The four pillars are framed in public-facing terms as four pirate archetypes a player can choose to become. The mapping below shows how the archetypes line up against the pillars.3535ArchetypePillarNotorious PirateNotorietySlippery SmugglerWealthBloodthirsty RaiderNotorietyWealthy Pirate LordWealth3838Empire and Seafaring are not framed as single-word archetypes in that public catalogue, but they sit on equal footing with Notoriety and Wealth as full progression options.3939Captains4141Each pillar is fronted by its own fully-voiced captain, and committing to a pillar is partly a story focus on that captain's arc. They are not the only captains in the game: other named captains are recruited over the course of a run, and one historical figure available to bring on board is Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. Recruitable historical captains like Blackbeard sit alongside the four pillar captains rather than as one of them; they expand the roster a player can deploy on naval combat without changing which pillar the haven is built around. The full captain roster, including the recruitable historical figures and the characters introduced in the pre-launch lore reveals, is collected on the Captains page.42+Captains are chosen and recruited separately from the paths rather than being attached to one. They are not the only captains in the game: other named captains are recruited over the course of a run, and one historical figure available to bring on board is Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. Roughly eleven captains exist in the release build. Four are available from the outset and the rest are unlocked through quests out at sea, so the roster grows with exploration rather than with any one path. Recruiting a captain expands who can be deployed on naval combat without changing which pillar the haven is built around. The full captain roster, including the recruitable historical figures and the characters introduced in the pre-launch lore reveals, is collected on the Captains page.4343The Compass4545The paths are spent through the Compass, which holds more than a hundred buildings, boosters, ships, and upgrades bought with principle points. It is laid out as a compass rose with one quadrant per path: Notoriety to the north, Empire to the east, Seafaring to the south, and Wealth to the west.4747Each quadrant is divided into five concentric tiers. The three options in the first tier of every quadrant are available as soon as the Compass opens. Investing enough points in a tier unlocks that path's next ship, and unlocking the ship opens the following tier of options.4949Compass TierPoints RequiredTier 10Tier 23Tier 37Tier 412Tier 5205151Ships unlock automatically on reaching the threshold rather than costing an extra point. Committing to two adjacent quadrants also opens the hybrid ships sitting on the diagonals between them, at the tier 1 and tier 2 border and again at tier 4. Those hybrids are stronger than the ordinary ships of the same tier, which is the mechanical argument for splitting a run across two paths instead of driving one to the end.5252What Each Path Fields5454Every path fields its own class of ship, with a shared stat specialisation, and its own line of housing, banners, and principal buildings. The classes are the clearest expression of what a path is for.5656PathShip ClassSignature BuildingsNotorietyProwlerGambling Den, Cabaret, Statue, Voodoo Shack, Ocean ColosseumEmpireDestroyerSalvage Dock, Gibbet, Spy Nest, Brawler Arena, Military FortressSeafaringHunterCrow's Nest, Shrine of the Sea, Cartographer, Quartermaster, Great LighthouseWealthReaverTrading Post, Loan Shark, Well, Grand Market, Golden Palace57+PathShip ClassSignature BuildingsNotorietyProwlerGambling Den, Cabaret, Statue, Voodoo Shack, Ocean ColiseumEmpireDestroyerSalvage Dock, Gibbet, Spy Nest, Brawler Arena, Military FortressSeafaringHunterCrow's Nest, Shrine of the Sea, Cartographer, Quartermaster, Great LighthouseWealthReaverTrading Post, Loan Shark, Well, Grand Market, Golden Palace5858Each path also carries its own traversal unlock in its first tier: the Zip Line on Notoriety, the Elevator on Empire, the Mast on Seafaring, and the Aerial Lift on Wealth. Those are the pieces that make a cliff-side haven workable, so the first few points spent shape the settlement's physical layout as much as its economy. See Vertical Construction.5959Boosters6161Alongside buildings and ships, each quadrant holds boosters that raise the output of a specific production building, most with up to five ranks. Rock and Roll lifts Quarry output by 25 percent at first rank and 60 percent at second; Walk the Plank adds flat production to the Sawmill; Powder Monkey steps the Powdermill up by 2, 4, and 6 across its first three ranks. A few boosters instead improve traversal, such as the Bosun's and Royal Ropeway lines that speed up the connections between districts.6363Because boosters are tied to named buildings, they reward a haven that has already committed to a chain rather than one hedging across all four paths. See Goods and Production for the chains these feed.6565Unconfirmed Details6767Path structure, thresholds, ships, and building unlocks are published. What remains unclear:6969The effect values at ranks 3 through 5 of most boosters, which the published tables leave blank.Whether points can be refunded or reallocated once spent.The full quest catalogue for each path beyond the 20 path quests noted in-game.
