In Corsair Cove, your crew consists of pirates, and if you don’t keep them satisfied and under control, don’t be surprised if they abandon ship to follow someone else. Cohesion acts as a code of unity amongst pirates in the game; it’s the only thing that keeps the pirates working for you. This guide shows how to maintain Cohesion in Corsair Cove.
All Ways to Maintain Cohesion
The Cohesion meter or progress bar is shown on the top of the HUD, right under the Compass. It is directly linked to the satisfaction of all the pirates living on the island. Thankfully, the game offers a good number of ways to keep this bar in the green. Here’s what you need to be on top of:
- Meet the Crew’s Needs
- Closing the Border
- Imprisoning People
- Setting Up Banners
Meet the Crew’s Needs
You must provide an adequate amount of shelter, food, and booze to keep the pirates living a happy life. While you may have enough houses set up for the early adventure, eventually the requirements will pile up. As you will see more people visiting the island by various means, they will require a place to stay.
You will also find drifters on your naval journey; when you are planning to bring in more people, you will have to think of the cost of food, shelter, and booze. If you fail to provide the necessities for the people, this will negatively impact the Cohesion meter.
Closing the Border
Corsair Cove features Events where you will get a random group of drifters showing up at your doorstep, waiting for you to invite them in. While it sounds good to have more workforce for your island, if you haven’t set up any proper work-related buildings or you lack crucial crafting materials, then inviting a bunch of people in will lead to many problems. They will quickly suck up the resources and will demand more. Only invite the drifters if you have adequate materials to build up a shelter, a good amount of food and booze in stock.
Do remember the rule: you will always need to craft more, build more; you can’t just be happy with the resources and buildings you have currently on your island. A dozen people will easily break the mirage of a productive system. Having more than the standard amount of materials, houses, and food creates a proper time to invite people into your island.
Imprisoning People
You can do the most childish thing ever imaginable by blaming someone else for all the current negativity. The “Gibbet” Building allows you to gain Cohesion by imprisoning a drifter inside the cell. Essentially, we are blaming all the problems on a drifter to restore 5 Cohesion in return.
Compared to all the other methods mentioned here, this one is a quick fix but not as effective as other solutions on the list. While you will get a good 5 Cohesion boost, once the drifter goes out of the prison, the Cohesion will once again drop.
Note: Demolishing the Gibbet building will also reverse the bonus.
Setting Up Banners
You have the ability to raise your Cohesion by getting the banner building upgrade in the Compass. It should be noted that banners will not restore Cohesion, it will just raise the maximum Cohesion. Here is the list of Banner-related upgrades found in all four sections: Empire, Notoriety, Wealth, and Seafaring in the Compass.
| Building Name | Compass Section Name | Building Effect | Required Points |
| Classy Banner (Building) | Notoriety – Tier 2 | For every banner, increase Cohesion Capacity by 4 | 3 Points |
| Salty Banner (Building) | Seafaring – Tier 2 | For every banner, increase Cohesion Capacity by 4 | 3 Points |
| Bloody Banner (Building) | Empire – Tier 2 | For every banner, increase Cohesion Capacity by 4 | 3 Points |
| Fancy Banner (Building) | Wealth – Tier 2 | For every banner, increase Cohesion Capacity by 4 | 3 Points |
Tips for Managing Cohesion
Here are the tips that will further help you maintain Cohesion and also the ways not to lose them in the game.
- Don’t Speed Up All the Time: Speeding up the game will boost the workforce and various construction activities, but it will also raise the demand and suck down a lot of resources. Only speed up if you are at a good spot in the game.
- Maintain the Pirate Life: Three rules you must follow: provide shelter, food, and booze; fail to deliver one, and you will see the dissatisfaction rise to the surface.
- Choose Cohesion Most of the Time: When you are given choices to sacrifice some crew for keeping Cohesion, it’s better to throw two people to the sharks than lose Cohesion.
- Don’t Switch Ships: When you are thinking about switching ships, be ready to deal with a massive Cohesion hit. In short, firing your crew members will lower Cohesion.
- Convert Resources into Cohesion: The Quartermaster building is one of the upgrades under the Tier 4, Seafaring tree in Compass, allowing you to turn your unusable resources into Cohesion. The building will also reward you with one Cohesion point when you uncover Discovery Events.
