Overview
You must master new Discoveries in order to access new types of Buildings and Units. Construct the Observatory to begin researching new Discoveries. The more you upgrade the Observatory, the faster you can complete new research. Researching each Discovery costs Gold, Lumber and Rum. The more advanced the Discovery, the more expensive it will be. The cost of upgrading a given Discovery also becomes progressively more expensive with each higher Level. After a certain point you will find that you need to acquire a set number of Sketches to unlock research on a specific new Discovery. You will get a new Sketch from your Tinker every day, but you must have all the Discovery-specific Sketches for a given Discovery before you can initiate Research. (For example, if you have 3/6 Sketches for Shipbuilding and 5/8 for Armor Plating...you still can't research neither one. You can trade with other players for specific Sketches you need...so in this case Trade 3 of your Armor Plating Sketches for 3 more Armor Plating Sketches, then you can begin researching Armor Plating.)
If you research all Discoveries that do not require Idols, you will receive a boost to your Gold and Lumber production. Once a new Discovery appears, your Boost will be placed on hold until you research the new Discovery; in which case the Resource production boost will begin once again.
Workshop
Construct the Observatory to gain access to McCallan's Workshop. From here you can view promising new avenues of Discovery, conduct research, and plan your Haven's development. While in your Haven, click "Discoveries" on the right-hand panel to open the Workshop. You can pan the Workshop Discovery Tree from right to left, zoom in and out using either your "scale" control at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, or use your mouse's scroll wheel. Click each Discovery for information on:
- which buildings and Crew it provides access to;
- how many Sketches you will need to research it;
- what effect it will have on your Crew;
- how many upgrade levels are available for this Discovery;
- how many Experience Points you get for researching it.
Place your mouse over the "Research\Upgrade" button to find out how much it costs to research this Discovery.
Sketches
As your Discoveries become more advanced, you will need to collect a set number of Sketches before you can unlock them. You will get a new Sketch from your Tinker each day to put toward completing a set for a given Discovery, after which you can initiate Research. Sometimes you won't get the Sketch you're expecting, or the right one in the series. (For example: If you have 3/6 Sketches for Shipbuilding and 5/8 for Armor Plating, you still can't research neither one. But if you Trade 3 of your Armor Plating Sketches for 3 of your missing Shipbuilding Sketches, then you can begin to research Shipbuilding.) Use the Trading feature to get the ones you need.
To exchange Sketches at the Observatory:
- Open the "My Sketches" tab at the Observatory.
- Select a Discovery.
- Select the Sketch you wish to offer.
- Click the "Trade" button.
- Select the Sketch you wish to receive.
- Click the "Make Offer" button.
Go to the "Market" and open the "Trade Sketches" tab to view the Offer you've created. You will also be able to see when your Offer expires from this menu, and delete any pending offers you've made that have yet to be accepted.
To exchange Sketches at the Market:
- Go to the Market and open the "Trade Sketches" tab.
- Click the "Extend Offer" button.
- Choose a Sketch you wish to trade.
- Click the "Make Offer" button.
- Set the "My" filter to view your Offers.
You can also gift Sketches to your friends instead of Trading. You can do this in several ways:
- Visit your Friend's Haven, click "Actions" and choose "Send Sketches" to send them a Sketch.
- You can also go to Map, find your Friend's Haven, and choose "Send Sketch" from the drop-down menu.
- Find a Friend on the Friends panel, click on the Friend's profile picture, and choose "Send Sketch" on the drop-down menu.
Whichever method you choose will open a window where you can select which Sketch you wish to send. Once you've selected a Sketch click the "Send Sketches" button.
In order to view Offers from other Captains, go to the Market and set a filter (All, Available, Friends, or My). If your request is not found, you will see an empty list. You can also use the "Looking for" and "Offering" drop-down menus to filter your search. Once you research a Discovery, exchange a Sketch, or gift it to friends - it's gone. You do not retain a copy. Seawater does not agree with printing presses, and McCallan doesn't believe in making backup doodles.
Levels
Discoveries used to unlock new Units have 20 upgrade Levels. The higher the upgrade Level of the Discovery, the more effective its related units or buildings are. (e.g. to increase your Marauders' stats upgrade Swordplay Discovery.) View the current upgrade Level at the top part of each Discovery's window.