Corsair Cove: Best Compass Unlocks To Get Early

Corsair Cove is a colony builder with a swashbuckling twist, allowing you to build the ultimate pirate haven for all the rogues and misfits this side of Davy Jones' Locker. But even if you're a self-proclaimed pirate of much repute, you'll be starting from zero when you wash up on the coast of Skull Rock. 

However, over time, you'll make a series of unlocks as you complete 'deeds', the game's built-in achievement system. These will grant you Principle Points that can be put into Empire, Seafaring, Wealth, and Notoriety

However, it can be a little hard to discern which of these skill tree upgrades are actually worth getting early on, given how much the game throws at you. So, to help you use your principle points in the most economic way possible, these are the ones we would recommend unlocking first. 

Zip Line  

Firstly, I would suggest you unlock the zipline, as it is a really effective, low-cost connection that lets you get your Fletchers from a high point at your hideout to a lower area in seconds. Something that can really tighten up production times. 

Half the battle when it comes to producing the resources you need to keep everyone happy is placement of buildings and connection routes. So having an early connection that lets gravity do the heavy lifting is a huge help. 

Trading Post

One of the best ways to make money early on, aside from going out to see and completing raids and quests, is by stocking up the Trading Post. This is effectively like a warehouse for wares that you don't need and would rather sell for Gold. 

Depending on what you stockpile in there, you could make an absolute killing. It will cost you 100 Gold upfront to build a trading post, but as long as you keep adding items to it, you'll make that back in no time. 

Crow's Nest

This is one you'll want to unlock as early in the game as possible, because for every discovery event you participate in without one of these buildings, you're leaving more gold on the table. 

The Crow's Nest rewards the player with 20 gold for every discovery event they complete. Something you will be doing a lot in the early stages of the game when you're charting the map. 

The downside is that this will cost 125 Gold per Crow's Nest. But it's an investment that really does pay off in the long run. 

Banners 

As you progress, you'll want to keep Cohesion as high as possible, and if you've ensured a few random events, you'll know that 100% cohesion can be dwindled very quickly through no fault of your own. 

This is why you'll want to unlock the Banners, which come in four varieties for each principle and each increase your maximum Cohesion by four. Meaning that, if you keep cohesion high, you'll have even more room for error. In an ideal world, nothing ever goes wrong, but equally, smooth seas never made good sailors. 

Cabins 

As you continue to build new pirate camps and expand your operation, you'll likely grow frustrated with how much space tents take up, which effectively prevents you from making the most of the available space. 

This is why the four varieties of Cabin are a worthwhile venture, as this allows you to build cabins that offer three times as much accommodation as a Tent. But the trade-off is that these cabins cost more resources to make. 

But I assure you, even with those steeper costs, there's nothing more satisfying than demolishing tents and replacing them with one solitary cabin. 

Cabaret 

Whether it's through random events or through sailing the seven seas and taking in outcasts. You'll have plenty of opportunities to recruit drifters for your operation. Something that you absolutely should do if you have the essential resources to spare. 

Getting these folks is already a boon, but you can get even more benefit from recruitment with a Cabaret Building, which grants you 10 Gold for every new Drifter you recruit. 

Considering that, in some cases you can recruit up to 30 drifters at one time early on, this can be a pretty consistent money-maker. So, you'd do well to put on a show at the Cabaret. 

Gibbet 

In an ideal world, you can keep your cohesion high, or at the very least, not at a critical state. However, there may be times where you're right on the cusp of a full-blown mutiny. Which is where a Gibbet comes in handy. 

This is a prison that allows you to sacrifice a Drifter to blame them for all your questionable decisions. Giving you back 5+ Cohesion for as long as you keep them locked up. 

However, if you ever let them back out, that 5+ disappears just as fast as you got it. So, treat it as a helpful temporary measure rather than the answer to your problems. Or run a full-blown prison complex; it's really up to you. 

Bounty Hunter's Guildhall

This one is essentially the inverse to the Trading Post. There are a number of things that the player simply cannot produce on the island, and instead of setting sail, you could just build a Bounty Hunter's Guildhall. 

This is a building that allows you to trade gold for rare goods you cannot produce yourself. It will cost you 200 Gold up front, but it will mean that you don't need to go on quite as many raids to get what you need 

Statue

If you're constantly running out of drifters to assign jobs at your hideout, then the statue can be a good way to bulk up your squad of cronies without needing to search distant lands and convince people to join you. 

The statue effectively gives you a boost every time you acquire a bunch of new recruits when out on a mission. Giving you three additional recruits as soon as you arrive back at port. It's not much, but it adds up over time, and these recruits don't come with any nasty trade-offs.