Send a land expedition from the center
Select the settlement center and use its scouting action. A land expedition costs three coins and five food, takes two game days and reveals its route plus a larger area around the destination. Only one land expedition can run at a time.
Choose an undiscovered destination reachable by land or built bridges. New expeditions follow a real route rather than jumping across water. Keep enough food for residents after paying the expedition cost, and resume time for scouts to complete their journey.
Use towers for lasting local visibility
The observation tower becomes available in Stone Neck and is also available in Open Bay. It costs 20 wood, eight stone and six coins, occupies a two-by-two land footprint and needs road access. It does not require a worker.
Building the tower reveals a radius of six tiles. Upgrading to levels two and three expands the radius to eight and ten where the scenario allows those levels. The discovery happens on construction or upgrade, including while paused. Demolishing a tower does not hide already discovered land.
Launch a scouting ship from a port
A road-connected port with an assigned worker can send a scouting ship for five coins and eight food. Select an undiscovered water destination connected to that port. A separate water region has no usable route from it.
The ship follows a water route out and back over three days of travel, revealing a radius of two tiles around its path. A naval expedition can run alongside a land expedition. The ship is visible on the map, and the port displays the remaining journey time.
Plan around pause and storms
Pause stops expedition progress. A storm also stops the scouting ship; once the storm ends, its journey continues without charging the expedition cost again. Three travel days can therefore take longer than three calendar days in the settlement.
The sending port is protected against demolition until its ship returns. Plan your roads and port location before departure. Read the active event notice when a voyage stops rather than paying for another expedition.
Keep discoveries when transferring a save
Local and exported saves retain discovered tiles and expedition progress. Use Export before moving to another browser or clearing browser storage, and import into the matching scenario.
Choose the method that fits your next decision: a tower for nearby building space, land scouts for inland routes and a ship for the connected coastline. Exploration reveals possibilities; it does not supply the workers, roads or materials needed to develop them.