Revision 1

Skull Rock is one of the three starting islands in Corsair Cove and the gentlest of the set. It is described as a somewhat peaceful atoll with land and cliffs aplenty to build a pirate capital on, which makes it the natural first choice for a player still learning how the haven fits together. See Islands for the full comparison, and The Seven Seas for the waters around it.

The Island

The island takes its name from a skull formation, and the haven is founded beneath it. Shipwrecks are scattered around the atoll and are meant to be taken advantage of rather than avoided: the opening haven is raised from the remains of the galleon the crew arrived on. Alongside the wrecks, the island holds other mysteries under the water for a player willing to go looking.

Compared with the other two starting islands, Skull Rock trades hazard for room. Land and cliff space are plentiful, and there is no environmental complication of the kind the other islands build their identity around. That makes it the island where the vertical building covered in Vertical Construction can be learned without also fighting the terrain.

Skull Rock and the Campaign

Skull Rock is the island the main story runs on. The tutorial questline gets the haven up and running here across fourteen steps, ending with the guns of Skull Rock and the opening chapter of the campaign proper. The Seven Seas then open outward from the island in rings, with the first discovery point sitting just south of Skull Rock and the first region carrying the tier 2 path quests.

The four locations in that first region sit around the island at the compass points: dangerous fog to the northwest, a smuggler island to the northeast, Barbos Bay to the southeast, and a jungle island to the southwest. For orientation, the camera angle when first arriving at the haven, looking at the camp from the inlet, counts as north.

Choosing a Starting Island

All three islands are complete, finishable maps rather than difficulty presets. Each has its own achievement for finishing a game on it, so a haven raised on one is a separate run from a haven raised on another. The campaign runs on a fixed island, while the second mode randomises the layout around whichever starting island is picked. See Islands for the comparison and Getting Started for the opening moves that apply everywhere.

Unconfirmed Details

• Island-specific resource deposits and how they differ from the other two starting islands.

• Whether the underwater mysteries are a fixed set or vary between runs.

• The full event table tied to the island rather than to the surrounding regions.