First Orders

A new shore feels small because it is small. The first day has two jobs: make the island less fragile, and find your people. Income first, storage before waste, shelter before soldiers, an alliance before you need one, and by the end of the arc, a warship and your first raid. The adviser walks this same path beat by beat; this page is the map of it.

Alliances

Why the banner matters, and how to join or found one on day one.

Resources & Economy

How production, storage, and coins keep the island moving.

Raiding

Where the first arc ends: an empty shore, a warship, a haul.

Second Orders

The path from a steady first island to a second shore.

Raise income before ambition

Start with the Gold Mine, then bring the Stone Quarry and Lumber Mill upward. Resources are the bottleneck behind almost every early order: buildings, research, walls, ships, and the first serious garrison.

Treasurer Mora: Spend the starter chest unevenly

Do not divide early spending as if every shortage is equal. Coin pressure arrives first, storage pressure follows, and lumber becomes painful once the Harbour enters view.

Protect what the mines produce, and shelter who works them

Build a Storehouse before production starts spilling over; mines keep working while the Governor is away, and full storage wastes output. Housing turns population into room for soldiers. Farms matter too, because a growing population needs food before it can hold a line for long.

Join an alliance before you need one

This is the first real order after the tutorial, and it is not a formality. An alliance is how a small realm survives contact with a large world. The banner buys you four things a solo Governor does not have:

• Aid when it counts. When your island is threatened you can raise a distress call, and every member is told at once. Allies who answer sail real troops to garrison your shore, and those troops fight in its defence.
• People who answer. Alliance chat is the fastest source of live advice in the game, and world events land on alliances together, not on Governors alone.
• Shared progress. Alliance quests and alliance XP raise the banner through ranks that unlock more members, a larger shared depot, and a flag of your own design.
• A place on the map. Recruiting alliances accept new members with one tap from the alliance browser. If none suits, found your own; a one-Governor banner still raises distress calls and grows.

Sanctuary does not stop any of this. Joining, chatting, and building the banner are all safe on day one.

Say hello, then scout

The World channel is open from the moment the tutorial ends; a greeting there is the cheapest way to find out which of the hundreds of islands around you have living Governors on them. Then put your spy ships to work. Three wait at anchor from your first day. Send one to an unclaimed shore near home; the report that comes back reads the island's watch and stores, and a new Governor's first survey is steadied by the Newcomer's Favor, so it cannot come back empty.

Collect what you have earned

Rewards do not land in your stores on their own. They wait in Dispatches under Claims until you take them, and the early beats pay mostly in gold. Collect before you plan the next build; more than one Governor has stared at a Main House quote thinking themselves broke while their pay sat uncollected.

Raise the Main House and take the sea

The Main House is the spine of the climb. Level 2 speeds construction and opens core offices such as Housing and the Stone Wall; level 5 is the gate the whole first arc points at, because it unlocks the Harbour, and the Harbour builds your first warship.

With a warship afloat, sail back to the shore you scouted and raid it. While the Newcomer's Favor holds, a first raid on an empty shore is sure to land, even with the hull alone. Soldiers are still worth bringing once the favor fades; a ship with no troops aboard has no one to take a defended beach. The haul comes home in your hold, and the sea stops being scenery.

Watch for the overnight consignment

Once you finish settling in, the Steward sends a relief consignment after you: a load of stores and a few hands that sails through the night and reaches your harbour by morning. It shows in the orders bar counting down while you are away, then waits in the Claims tab for your seal. A plain reason to look in again tomorrow; it never spoils for a week, so a missed day costs nothing.

Use sanctuary to prepare, not to wait

New Governors receive 7 days of sanctuary after joining a world. Build walls, train a first garrison, join the banner, read the chart, and finish the first arc before that shield falls.

Reference

Marshal Voss: Before sanctuary falls

Walls, garrison, and allies. Have all three before the sanctuary banner falls, or the first lesson may be taught by someone else.

Common questions