Nautical Gameplay

Whiskers can explore the ocean, fish in the deep sea, and fight naval battles against attackers. Nautical activies start in the mid-game and bring with it benefits and dangers, from uncapped resource gathering options to the need to defend your islands.

Take to the sea

Once you've researched Tier 1, you have a random chance of discovering a lone sailor in desperate need of assistance in the winter. If you choose to rescue him, it will trigger a spiral of consequences which will see you come into possession of schematics containing the vital secrets to shipbuilding.

Ships are capital assets requiring heavy investment to construct but can be freely reassigned between docks. There are 3 ship types, including combat ships and boats that can act as fast ferries.

Naval Resources

With your first ships, you'll be able to explore the open ocean to uncover valuable points of interest, including Guano Rocks, Fishing Spots, and Sunken Ships rich with salvage to collect.

You'll also be able to trade, fish, and harvest guano to fuel your industry. Leverage the bounty of the ocean with uncapped resources through trading and open ocean resource nodes, such as guano farming on Guano Rocks for unlimited Fertilizer and industrial scale fishing in the deep sea.

You can also fulfill requests from the Pirates, which in turn will buy your colony periods of protection from Pirate raids. In doing so, the Pirates' pressure on the Claws will increase, until it reaches a boiling point and the Claws establish an anti-pirate corps. From there, by currying favor from the Claws, you'll gain the means to build a fighting navy.

Late game ship gameplay is focused on maximizing Guano harvests, selling cargo to other colonies at better rates than the smuggler, importing basic resources to feed your industry, exporting finished goods at twice what the smuggler pays, and ultimately eliminating every Pirate island.

Naval Dangers

There are a number of situational dangers to be found on the ocean, and the most pressing is the constant requirement to eat. Whiskers need food both on shore and at sea -- but on the open ocean, there are no berries to pick. Instead, you must pack your own canned food to survive, because if you run out of food and your sailors and officers will starve.

Should your ships arrive at their home dock in one piece, the ship's crew will unload the spoils and bury any dead. On the off chance the ship sunk, the carried cargo will be left floating in the ocean as salvage and any survivors will row home in the emergency lifeboat.

Keeping your crew alive is vital, as not just any Whisker can crew a ship. Only Whiskers with the new skills of Sailor or Officer can set sail. Larger ships require Officers & Sailors, while smaller ships can make do with only Sailors. Whiskers with Sailor and Officer skills will slowly and randomly become available in Whisker ships, but their skills carry a heavy cost. As with other Skills, nautical skills can be taught to other Whiskers using the School.

Naval Combat

A fighting navy brings with it the opportunity to fight, both in naval combat against other ships or by storming islands themselves. You can attack Pirate islands to eliminate them permanently, but your islands can also be attacked.

In order to defend your colony, you will need to build Cannon Towers and Defensive Walls. Cannon bombardment is simulated, so walls and terrain defense provide functional protection based on height and line of fire obstacles. Similarly, all ships are simulated with open ocean pathing, so a maze of cannon towers can force attacking ships to navigate through a chokepoint and flip the odds in your favor.

Nautical buildings, ships and goods

Reference data from the game files (patch 28). See each page for costs, research and details.

Ships

Ships are built at the shipyards and can be reassigned between docks.

Ship	Built at	Materials	Build time	Description
Scout Caravel	Small Shipyard	13 × Planks 13 × Sails 21 × Bronze Nails	43m 4s	A swift but fragile ship with a limited cargo hold
Work Galleon	Small Shipyard	21 × Planks 34 × Sails 21 × Bronze Nails	43m 4s	Well rounded ship with workable space for supplies
Cargo Schooner	Small Shipyard	21 × Planks 21 × Sails 34 × Bronze Nails	43m 4s	An expansive cargo hold fit for trade
Armed Barque	Large Shipyard	21 × Planks 34 × Sails 34 × Bronze Nails 12 × Bronze Cannons	77m 54s	Sturdy sloop equiped with cannons capable of combat
Merchant Barge	Large Shipyard	34 × Planks 34 × Sails 34 × Bronze Nails	77m 54s	A slow ship with massive cargo hold well suited for long distance trade

Naval goods

• Bronze Cannons • Bronze Shot • Cannon Frames • Iron Shot • Sails • Stone Shot • Guano
• Trading with other islands: see Island Trading.