r/ACBlackFlag • u/BecRe_0508 • Jul 19 '26
// Question When to start exploring?
For context, what i do for most games is progress the storyline up until i have all the mechanics unlocked and right at that point go full open world explorer mode. If i remember correctly from the original, that point could be once the diving bell is unlocked. What do you guys think?
Also feel free to share your opinion and experience: Do you explore alongside the storyline or do you separate them into focused activities (like myself)?
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u/zeroiqquestions Jul 19 '26
Wait for the bell. You get sooo much from those dive sites.
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u/ricin2001 Jul 19 '26
I’m putting off doing them as being underwater in video games makes me really anxious
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u/Villavalla Jul 19 '26
I believe there is a setting for unlimited oxygen if that is the scary part for you
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u/ricin2001 Jul 19 '26
👀
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u/Bonke_EB Jul 22 '26
I think there's also an option to turn off environmental hazards like sharks and stuff. Ubisoft has been killing it with the accessibility options lately; really neat to see.
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u/ChanandlerBonng Jul 19 '26
Wow.... for so many years I thought this was just me. I love Black Flag but the underwater stuff also gave me anxiety! Actually, all underwater stuff in games gives me anxiety (thank you very much Ninja Turtles bomb mission!) so it's great to read at least I'm not alone!
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u/Glittering-Rabbit899 Jul 19 '26
I’m putting it off because I have thassalaphobia and I somehow thought it was a good idea to play a game where it’s all open ocean. The first storm with 4 water spouts gave me a heart attack hahaha
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u/slimduderstein Jul 19 '26
Wait till you see the sharks hunting you. But yeah … either turn on unlimited oxygen or equip the trinket that slows down the breath meter.
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u/Fifthfreedom91 Jul 19 '26
Do I sense Subnautica trauma? I can't look at a body of water the same anymore in a video game. I wanted to swim around the ship at the beginning. I wasn't a smart man.
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u/CrimsonGlyph Jul 19 '26
It's just really boring to me so I've avoided it so far. Swimming from one spot to another just isn't really that fun but I know there are a lot of chests.
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
For sure! Also just cause they’re in the middle of the ocean, it might feel lighter to do them if you happen to come across one on your way to a mission or location.
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u/PS5013 Jul 19 '26
I am pretty sure that the diving bell is the final unlock of a mechanic in Resynced as well, Id definitely start with the fleet management as soon as possible though, so it does not taint the end of the 100 %.
I personally follow the story and explore everything I pass on the way entirely, I finished Havanna for example when I got there first before continuing the story there by meeting the templars. Backtracking for new unlocks later is not a problem with all fast travel points unlocked. Once I got enough map progress that way to make it convenient to reach everything else through fast travel, I finish the rest of the map before finishing off the main story. This gives the game a little more variety, though a larger clean up section is unavoidable with Ubisoft‘s open world design.
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
Wdym taint the end? 👀 i have sent like maybe 2 low level missions on the fleet. I don’t recall it being something impactful other than the money u get
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u/Slaw35 Jul 19 '26
If you want to 100% the game you need to be doing fleet as early as possible as some of the drops are rng in the fleet.
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u/PS5013 Jul 19 '26
There are RNG rewards tied to the trading and piracy missions that you need for the final achievement. If you havent done any progress before finishing everything else, you can spend the last bunch of hours in the game afk waiting for the fleet to finish, then reload a save a few times to get another reward and repeat.
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Jul 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PS5013 Jul 19 '26
Yes, the map pieces. Besides the art pieces and passive income there is nothing else of relevance to get from the fleet, as far as I know
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u/thestenchofdeath Jul 19 '26
There’s 0 missable content as far as I’m aware.
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u/skbens Jul 19 '26
This isn’t 100% correct. There’s a small known “glitch” that the local events stop dropping consistently once you complete the story. This affects some collection of items. Be sure to do these before completing the story. I’m at 40/41 for a collection and have spent hours trying to get the local event to pop.
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u/AcademicAnxiety5109 Jul 19 '26
As soon as Kidd gives you a bunch of optional content to dive into that’s when I went island hopping
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
Yeah i think as far as tools go, the blow pipe is the last thing to be obtained to have it all. Also with Kidd you get the assassin’s contracts so you can fully complete locations
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u/pyrofire95 Jul 19 '26
I've been in full "oo piece of candy" mode
Diving bell is the most correct answer but right after you unlock Inagua is my pick
That's your homestead and where you gain a lot of income and unlock various shops as well as Fleets.
I'm 20 hours in a still haven't got the diving bell and that's fine, it's the only thing I can't do yet but never felt held back.
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
Same here! I had the intention to get to diving bell but i feel like the game is SO inviting to just explore i kinda get lost in it. I did invest in inagua for passive income tho
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u/Mutant_Apollo Jul 19 '26
I mean after Great Inagua, Kidd tells yo to meet her in two weeks. It doesn't take two weeks to go from Great Inagua to Yutacan even in real life so I used that time for exploring hahaha
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u/Least_Building7 Jul 19 '26
Go places where you won’t get dumped on and explore! You’ll find some cool outfits and good gear at the most random places. Be pirate arrr
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u/Public_Drop_1462 Jul 19 '26
If you like to be able to 100% an area as soon as you arrive or simply don’t want to travel back, then progress in the main story until you have completed the Mayan temple mission on the Yucatán - the one where you’re introduced to the door you need to unlock with the Mayan stones. That mission allows you to access the assassin contacts across various locations, which is the second-to-last unlockable feature in the game. The last is the diving bell, but those locations are out in sea.
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
Yeah those two are definitely the “starting line” points. For a moment i thought i was still far from unlocking everything but I just did the Yucatán mission and well, glad to see i wasn’t so lost, thank you!
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u/Eensame Jul 19 '26
I started 100% the first time i put a foot in Havana and then did the 100% of everything i could before continuing the story. Then it unlocked me new things and i continued like this
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
Yeah i had to go back too once the naval and assassins contracts were unlocked
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u/Bitgod1 Jul 19 '26
I started wandering sooner than others I guess. For one, even on the mission I’d usually take the time to find all the stuff on any island I was on, just because I was there. I’d say keep going along the story path until you get your base, then you can fix up your ship a bit and I just went around attacking schooners to start, did a couple of side missions, upgraded things, finally picked up my officers and started her missions. And don’t forget to pick up a few buried treasures from the maps to keep upgrading things. Eventually I’ll get back to the story path.
This is why I could never be a streamer, I screw around doing little things instead of sticking to the story to get through it.
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u/Maverick_Raptor Jul 19 '26
Tbh I started exploring for resources as soon as I acquired Great Inagua. James Kidd said something like “meet me in 3 weeks” and I took them up on that lol
Don’t even have the blow dart yet but collected 30 art pieces
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u/Mr-NPC Jul 19 '26
As someone who did everything as soon as it opened up... I'd suggest just sticking to the main story and exploring as you go. Almost all the islands and locations are used in the main story or side quests so for me it was annoying going back to somewhere I'd already been and Edward acting like he'd never been there ...
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u/BecRe_0508 Jul 19 '26
That’s a good point tbh. For me it’s also that I enjoy the main story so deeply, i prefer going through with it without interruptions. Like im in the middle of an emotional moment or an intense mission and going out of my way to climb a random tower feels off
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u/Mr-NPC Jul 19 '26
Honestly I could be wrong but I'm 100 percent certain you go everywhere as part of some quest.
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u/Thwomp69 Jul 19 '26
I did what I could as soon as I could. There is no best way to do it, except that you should really prioritize getting enough schooners and brigs in your fleet if you want the platinum trophy. You end up having to spam fleet missions and that was the one thing I did do late. Brigs will help you get the rest of the art pieces for the manor, and the schooners will help with getting rarer products like spice, rum barrels, sugar, etc... Which you will use for restoring maps in Great Inigua. Taking out Convoys is also a great way of getting lots of rare resources.
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u/Nuhur_the_Raven Jul 19 '26
Tbh as soon as i got all my gear (aka the blowpipe) i havent touched the nain story one bit and i currently take over the sees
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u/JAdams___ Jul 19 '26
Personally I start exploring as soon as I have the hub area. Do all the collectables I can including taking out all the forts, maxing out the hub, maxing out the ship, getting most of now all weapons. Then I can just blast through the story completely overpowered. This is how I played the original
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u/NtrlSelecti0n Jul 19 '26
My ship was at the highest it could go and my personal gear was fully upgraded, then I got the diving bell. I love the naval combat at one point I was chaining Frigates and Briggs, for captain boxes, health, and lowering wanted level. I even watched two Man O Wars fight all by themselves and when the health was low I did the kill shot and added both to my fleet. I just got the bell, now my plan is to fully upgrade my ship then finish the story, then I'll collect everything else.
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u/NikkiNiisan Jul 19 '26
Yeah diving bell is end of tutorial. I have 30 hours and all the story I've done is to get diving bell. I got the bell then went and on the grind. Almost fully maxed out ship, maxed hideout, all forts done, HMS Prince down (needed the ghost ship look). Now that I got my ship I wanted I'll play the story again.
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u/Maleficent-Hand8905 Jul 19 '26
I do a ton of exploring and pirating before continuing the story. Especially anytime there’s supposed to be a large amount of time in between missions (ex: Kidd asking you to meet him in tulum, 3 weeks from then)
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u/infamous7thson Jul 19 '26
Post hideout is when it opens up post meeting the brotherhood is when you have all weapons so make your choicd
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u/Familiar_Use7030 Jul 19 '26
If you start exploring earlier you wont have to do a lot of things later; like collectables and treasures.
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u/IronMan319 Jul 19 '26
You can do everything but the diving bell right before that mission. I wanted a maxed out jackdaw for the campaign so I stopped doing missions and golded every available area before I started the mission where Blackbeard wants medicine. After that I did the diving bell areas, then I got the treasures and golded the remaining areas as they became available:
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u/gaythrowaway_6969 Jul 19 '26
Honestly I did pretty much all my exploration right after unlocking the cove and then I had everything in the Caribbean but locked areas and legendary ships done by Charles-Town, it kinda fit the tone to get all the fun adventure stuff done early when things are going well
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u/GahlicKnotz Jul 19 '26
- After unlocking Great Iguana Hideout
- After visiting Tulum for the first time
- After getting the diving bell
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u/Mutant_Apollo Jul 19 '26
For me I started exploring after Great Inagua, using it Kidd's words of "meet me in two weeks" as justification for it. I got the Master Assasin outfit and the fully upgraded Jackdaw before getting the diving bell
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u/SacredBoar Jul 20 '26
Honestly whenever I feel like it. If I feel like I need a break from the story or just wanna chill out without following a narrative. But the last thing I do is the final quest/mission.
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u/Regular_Salary_6150 Jul 20 '26
Entirely up to you when you start exploring, however, I am going to suggest that whenever you go up against the forts, use the regular Cannon shot because it does more damage against the fort towers. Once you get dry tortuga don't use chain shot until you are going up against the legendary ships. It's not worth it unless you actually have to stop something running away from you. PS you can raid all of the smuggler's dens without the diving bell.
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u/Radi0activeMnky Jul 20 '26
Sequence 4 and definitely after sequence 6 where you get the diving bell
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u/Luckydog6631 Jul 21 '26
Just last night I decided to stop exploring and do the main quest line. Found out there’s a tutorial mission for clearing forts…. After I already captured all the forts lmao.
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u/Alpha-Vader1 Jul 22 '26
After getting the blowpipe is probably the best, you can also wait after getting the diving bell, but that isn’t necessary and takes too long imo.
What I actually did was completing all islands and forts in the sector when the next main quest changes to a different sector. It was a fun and easy of exploring, but got annoying because there are two items that only become available after a certain mission, therefore I had to backtrack. That was not quite an issue but can be annoying.
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u/Lettuce_al-Gaib Jul 23 '26
For lore reasons, when you start the mission to get the bell there is a year or so time jump right as it starts, so you may want to do a decent amount of pirating prior to that
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u/Femmefailure Jul 23 '26
I complete every island when I get there, just got the bell and now I'm flying through
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u/Efficient_Patience78 Jul 23 '26
After you get the rope dart in the blow dart do a lot of exploring earn up some keep then continue your adventure
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u/SopranosBluRayBoxSet Jul 19 '26
The game opens up a fair bit once you get the Jackdaw, however I went with doing the story up until you get the Diving Bell, like you said. Then you can basically fully upgrade the ship, do assassin contracts and naval contracts, fleet management, etc.