Demands

Periodically, the Claws or the Pirates will demand something from your colony, rarely on the same day.

The Claw send a tax ship every few days during Spring, Summer, and Fall. Their arrival is not consistent and you may have short or long spans before their arrival. You will get a minimum of a three day warning before they arrive to collect any taxes accrued and owed. The Claw will not collect taxes during the cold winter and their last tax ship will arrive on or before the last day of Autumn. They will return in the first few days of Spring to collect your entire Winter tax bill.

Pirates approach for a ransom demand more infrequently throughout the year. You are not warned about their arrival, but you can click on the dock to see what ships and in which order will arrive over the next three days - revealing if you will be facing any upcoming pirate demands.

Taxes

Taxes accrue every single evening based on a variety factors including a population tax, industry tax, and supply ship charges. Your end of day report will list your current tax bill along with any changes due to your actions.

As your colony grows, The Claw effectively will increase your taxes and increase the taxes you will owe on supply shipments. You can only refuse a few shipments before The Claw will force you to pay with cannonballs instead.

You may not avoid all taxes, but you can choose to pay on a spectrum of partial payment to overpayment. Partial payments may grant you some temporary relief but can incur bombardment from The Claw if your diplomatic relations fall too low. If you are bombarded, you will have your tax debt forgiven, but you will have to pay the costs to rebuild your lost structures.

If you at least successfully pay your taxes, The Claw will reward you. How much of a reward you receive is based on what payment threshold you reach. There are three tiers with increasing rewards both in quantity and rarity. For example, if you're in need of more machinery parts, the 2nd tier will usually reward you significantly more than at Tier 1. You can also sometimes find blueprints available to complete research, but you cannot rely on these rewards to complete all of your research. The Claw are generous only to the point of keeping you working.

The Tier 1 reward is for paying 100% of your taxes, Tier 2 is for paying 125% of your taxes, and Tier 3 is for paying 175% of your taxes. You cannot pay more than this.

The Claw do not have a vested interest in seeing you progress and eant your Whiskers doing hard labor. This is reflected in the goods they accept for payment. With the exception of gold bullion, they accept only "raw" products like ores, logs, fish and berries. Sell what you must to stay alive but iron ore and cotton are usually good options to pay the tax bill.

Pirates

Pirates make a single demand that is usually less than your usual tax bill. It will grow with each visit just as your colony grows in size.

You can partially pay the pirate demands but anything less than full payment will result in cannonballs being fired at your colony. You can see the number of cannonballs you will receive above the payment button. Each one will equate to a randomly destroyed building that they can reach with their cannons. Destroyed buildings will need to be repaired at the full cost of their construction.

Aside from gold, Pirates demand materials that The Claw does not trade in. This can be particularly helpful in paying both demands back to back. The Pirates also only demand a small selection of materials, so it is best to learn their demands and stockpile accordingly. Remember, gold is their favorite and gold bullion will satiate their demands quickly.