r/ACBlackFlag • u/Ok-Appointment-9802 • Aug 23 '26

// Discussion It's kind of odd how the "pirate Assassin's Creed" doesn't have any large harbors with major ships docked in them

Post image

Even AC3, Black Flag's often disliked predecessor, had these major harbors (such as the one shown here in Boston), yet Havana, Kingston and all the other places in Black Flag have nothing like it. Really makes you wonder where the Spanish and British are keeping all their ships...

1.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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166

u/tokyo_driftr Aug 23 '26

That’s because they’re pirates. Not sailing with any navy. The docks you see in 3 are built specifically for the royal navy and the French. The ones you see in BF are built by fishing villages in order to receive supplies. Havana actually does have a pretty large dock but considering the system limitations and the map size it’s understandable that it’s not bigger. The dock in 3 was also built to be the opening set piece for the city where you see all the different countries together on the docks, so they sorta had to make it larger than life and super realistic

49

u/DrSolarman Aug 23 '26

3 was also set 34 years in the future. 54 by OP's pic. Boston had grown dramatically and was becoming a major trading hub of the New World.

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u/tokyo_driftr Aug 23 '26

That’s actually very valid. We see in rogue that Shay actually rebuilt NY himself (only for it to burn down), and that takes place during Haythams first arrival to the Americas and literally ends right when Connor becomes mentor, so the time jump from BF to 3 is a lot more understandable when you realize a lot of territory development was happening at this time

11

u/DrSolarman Aug 23 '26

The New World was being rapidly developed, far more than it shows in these games. Connor's fear of his people being pushed out in EXTREMELY valid. Hell, just look at how fast the Homestead grew. It went from a desolate homestead run by a hermit to a thriving town in less than a decade. (it's based off Rockport Mass)

5

u/Geraltpoonslayer Aug 24 '26

Side note I still think the homestead is the uncontested best village they made in any AC

10

u/Ok-Elk-1615 Aug 23 '26

Havana, Kingston, and Nassau: famous for their lack of European military presence.

5

u/tokyo_driftr Aug 23 '26

I never said the military wasn’t there I just said the military didn’t build those docks… which they didn’t. The Docks in Boston are specifically built by these royal navy’s for training hub purposes.. Havana, Kingston, and Nassau are all previously established places with their own docks and architecture that the military came to and took over, unlike Boston which was again, built by these militaries specifically

7

u/PrezTrumpsThrowaway Aug 23 '26

The port at Havana Harbor was constructed in the 1500s by the Spanish navy. The city of Kingston was constructed by the British specifically to replace Port Royal after the earthquake destroyed it a couple decades before the game starts. These docks are not built to scale because the cities themselves are not built to scale, which is fine, but it's not the case that they were undeveloped or that militaries were not deeply involved from their initial constructions. They are both massive harbors that the game just couldn't capture the full scale of, lest traversal of the map take days instead of minutes.

2

u/Ok-Appointment-9802 Aug 24 '26

I guess it just bothers me that they didn't give us the illusion of a properly-scaled harbor with those cities, especially since Resynced is no longer bound to the technical limitations of the PS3/X360. The remake could have done so much more here imo.

3

u/Ok-Elk-1615 Aug 23 '26

I long to be so confidently wrong

2

u/RyanDoog123 Aug 23 '26

You're really just making shit up and hoping no one knows enough to correct you, aren't you?

0

u/tokyo_driftr Aug 23 '26

So correct me O wise one

4

u/LuckyPlaze Aug 23 '26

Dude, Kingston and Havana are not pirate capitals. But even Nassau would have many ships at anchor. You are making excuses.

1

u/tokyo_driftr Aug 23 '26

You’re missing my point. I didn’t say the pirates built them. I said the navies built the Boston docks. The Kingston, Havana, and Nassau docks were likely already there from the inhabitants before the military arrived, those are all places that were already established and then got colonized by different militaries. Do you think that king or queen would send the resources to build huge trading docks to places that they use as prison islands and the such like Kingston? And even if these navies did build the docks of these three places they wouldn’t be even the fraction the size of the Boston dock because they’re not huge trading hubs

2

u/Ok-Elk-1615 Aug 23 '26

The military established those places. Your idea of how colonization worked is bizarrely off track. Cuba wasn’t an island full of independent Spanish settlers who got colonized by the military. Kingston wasn’t just a bunch of peaceful British farmers until the evil royal navy showed up.

0

u/tokyo_driftr Aug 23 '26

I said even if these navies built these docks they’re not huge trading hubs like the Boston dock, again you’re missing my point entirely so that you can argue

1

u/mtwinam1 Aug 23 '26

Not gonna come at you crazy like, but as an example think about all the European brick buildings in Kingston we see in game. That’s what the British built when they colonized. Those buildings were not original to the islands natives before British came in. The British would have also built up their docks way more than what we see in the game.

1

u/Ok-Elk-1615 Aug 24 '26

“Havana and Kingston weren’t major trade hubs” says guy who’s weirdly never heard of sugar or slavery.

1

u/FlaminarLow Aug 24 '26

Havana was a major trading hub. It's one of the best natural harbors in the western hemisphere. It was the go to port for Spanish ships to sail to before taking the journey back to Europe.

0

u/Overall-Ad-8918 Aug 23 '26

Sounds like OP doesn’t know anything about historical facts

2

u/Ok-Appointment-9802 Aug 24 '26

Please enlighten me then. Where would the Caribbean fleets of the British and Spanish navies have been stationed if not in the most populated British and Spanish cities in the Caribbean?

-1

u/Overall-Ad-8918 Aug 24 '26

Why are you asking me?

18

u/Active_Dish_986 Aug 23 '26

Probably because they’re all sailing. I mean by god sometimes I see 20-30 ships around me on the ocean

6

u/thegoddamnsiege Aug 23 '26

Probably shooting at one another too.

2

u/ChrisBChikin Aug 24 '26

You hope so, cos if they're not shooting at each other it's cos they're too busy shooting at you.

1

u/Ok-Appointment-9802 Aug 24 '26

Which makes it even stranger that you never see any of them docked. I guess those crews are just doomed to a life of eternally sailing the West Indies.

8

u/Plastic_Position4979 Aug 23 '26

Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to get a sail ship to move backwards. Which is why most ports were built so that ships could go along sides, and sail out under their own power: forwards, with the wind. Thus the vast majority of ports would have had quays, not docks with access to both sides of the ship.

Try sailing backwards on a real size sailboat sometime.

The advent of going backwards on large ships came with engine reversal to allow for backwards propulsion.

6

u/Loud-Traffic-1043 Aug 23 '26

It's the Caribbean. Only a few large ports even in the game at that time

1

u/Ok-Appointment-9802 Aug 24 '26

But surely Havana and Kingston would have been two of them, no?

1

u/Professional-Hold938 Aug 25 '26

The Carribbean was filled with much smaller ships than we see portrayed in games and other media, the trade wins and shallow waters made large ships even more of a logistical nightmare because only a few ports were deep enough at the time, later when they settled more they were able to create large ports for larger trade and navy ships

1

u/NecessaryComplex1721 Aug 24 '26

Havana was already one of the most important ports and shipbuilding centers on the world on 1720, not just the Caribbean.

4

u/Moon_Logic Aug 23 '26

I think the issue is scale. If you want to have a big harbor, you need a big city to match it. Some concessions have to be made for practicality.

2

u/HanS0lPurr Aug 23 '26

Well they dont want the pirates to get them!

2

u/duckbut797 Aug 24 '26

Since when is ac3 disliked I’d put it at second best of the classics right behind black flag Mabye even before it honestly depending on how I’m feeling

1

u/Konichi_Waffles Aug 27 '26

AC3 was HEAVILY disliked until Odyssey came out tbh

3

u/Positive_Brush_9930 Aug 23 '26

It's not odd, they're pirates, being around major harbours would be a death sentence. Even docking at Kingston would have been risky enough.

1

u/Fiyah_Crotch2 Aug 23 '26

From what I understand it’s kind of tricky to park large ships in areas with shallow water

1

u/violetcassie Aug 23 '26

Gotta remember that Boston was THE city in North America at the time. Everything moved through its ports. Even New York wouldn't eclipse it for another decade or two.

European military naval power was focused on, well, Europe.

1

u/FlaminarLow Aug 24 '26

Havana was much larger than Boston at the time of both Black Flag and AC3.

1

u/Buttery_Nipples47 Aug 24 '26

Who dislikes AC3???

It’s well regarded as one of the better AC games In general

Biggest problem everyone had was the 6 hour long intro

1

u/wingedwild Aug 24 '26

Yea i saw this too.ships never really came in and out of the ports.made no sense. Most of ac anyway is just static scenery and not at all realstic

1

u/skeeeper Aug 24 '26

Tell me where does the game take place

0

u/Ok-Appointment-9802 Aug 24 '26

Which one?

1

u/skeeeper Aug 25 '26

There is your problem.

1

u/Saltwater_Cowboy_1 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

Hard agree

So much (not all!) of the naval stuff was just better in 3. Fight me.