Quick answer
Before adding workers or a ship, make sure the active Pirate Camp has housing, a working food route, a working Booze route, and enough spare Drifters to keep them staffed. A full inventory can still hide a negative production balance, so read the game’s net flow and observe one delivery cycle.
Version and source notesUpdated 2026-09-06 · Within source review window
- Updated
- 2026-09-06
- Works with
- Current PC food, drink, housing, and camp systems
- What this guide covers
- Conservative upkeep checklist based on official system descriptions
- Version notes
- Consumption and output values vary by crew tier and patch
- Update status
- Within source review window
The four checks
- Select the Pirate Camp and note missing housing, food, or drink.
- Confirm the Campfire or other producer has workers, inputs, and output space.
- Confirm the Galley and Tavern are connected to the intended camp.
- Pause one optional workplace if essential upkeep cannot keep up.
Do not use a warehouse as a substitute for a missing Galley or Tavern connection. Storage can buffer a route, but it does not satisfy a camp until the correct distributor reaches it.
Before recruiting
Recruitment adds mouths and often adds jobs to staff. Check free beds and the destination camp’s local supply first, then accept one event result and watch food, drink, and Cohesion. If the new residents arrive while the camp is already yellow or red, pause expansion and fix the underlying chain.
Before the first ship
Keep the home settlement stable while crew leave. The starter ship needs its own crew and upkeep; launch only when the camp can release those people without stopping food, drink, storage, or construction. Use the first-two-hours guide for the milestone order and crew upkeep for later tiers.
When a camp is unhappy
Pause the simulation, inspect the camp panel, and identify whether the failure is beds, production, distribution, route reach, or staffing. Restore the smallest missing link, then watch the meter recover. If Cohesion keeps falling, open the cohesion and mutiny fix rather than adding more buildings.
Sources and caveat
The need categories and camp loop are supported by official game materials; the order here is a conservative player checklist. Exact output rates and consumption change with crew tier and patches. Do not treat community ratios as universal.