Naval Action Part II

Right then, we have managed to complete all of the required missions to unlock all of the remaining Naval Missions - which is a good thing since resolving Kidd's Treasure side-quests is a strategically critical task for us as it allows us to get a special item that we need for some of the upcoming story missions. So with that in mind head to the docks and the ship now!

Before you set sail if you have not already been looking after them you should be dispatching your remaining Assassin Apprentices on their missions, as you need to get all of them to Level 11 (Master Assassin) to 100% that section - just saying...

Privateer Mission: Blistering Dawn

The goal here is to destroy the British privateers who are scouting the trade routes, and as we begin that process we find four opponents that we must sink while at the same time limiting our own damage to 25% and no more! This is actually a fairly easy one to complete and get 100% Synchronization on – just use your main guns and maneuver well and it is easy-peasy!

Answering the Independence and her Call for Help

Privateer Mission: A Call for Help

The Independence has sent out a distress signal and we need to respond - and the optional objective is to limit the damage to the Independence to no more than 75%.

You start out among rocks so you have to do some fancy navigating at half-sail, and then you end up among a literal fleet of gunboats, so you need to be quick with both your main guns and your swivels, but if you are quick (watch the video) you will easily manage to 100% this one!

Privateer Mission: Search for the Somerset

This time around we need to locate and destroy the Privateer ship Somerset - but hey, we can do that!

The mission starts with the Aquila among some rocks so there is some quick maneuvering that is necessary. The optional objective here is to limit environmental damage to 25% so the idea here is to avoid the rocks completely. After that you sail into the search area and encounter the Somerset with a half-dozen or so gunboats. This is a straight-up shoot-em-up so mind your manuevering and use both your big guns and your Swivels and you will easily 100% this one!

Taking out the Sea Wolves Fleet

Privateer Mission: The Sea Wolves

For this mission we need to scuttle the infamous Sea Wolves fleet. Unfortunately we are not alone here there is a large fleet of small gunboats that we need to protect and avoid killing. The optional objective is to limit damage to them to keep at least 4 with us (that means only 4 could be sunk in theory)...

This is really a straight-up shooting and maneuvering match that requires little finesse other than to remember not to shoot your allies, heh. The only really critical issue is to make sure you have actually destroyed the ship you are shooting at before you move on to the next, because if you simply damaged it and it looked destroyed but was not, then you risk losing allies.

Privateer Mission: A Midnight Engagement

This time around we need to chase and destroy the Greyhound and its fleet of gunboats. This one starts with our men beating to quarters and then we need to avoid the rocks and thread them like a needle. The optional objective here is to limit environmental damage to 25% so just don't hit any of the rocks and you have it nailed!

Once you are clear of the rocks and can maneuver properly, engage and sink the enemy and you will quickly 100% this one!

It should be called the Giant of a Storm

Privateer Mission: The Giant and the Storm

Another shoot-em-up mission, but now we need to lure the Orpheus and her fleet in and take them out!

This is the very last of this type mission, and you will need to mind the optional objective after you sink the 5 small boats is to sink the three bigger ones by targeting their powder supplies. This is a lot more complicated than you might think because in addition to not getting sunk by THEM as you do that, you have to not get sunk by rogue waves too...

There is a fair bit of confusion with respect to the optional objective here - what you want to do is not hold down the big gun trigger at ALL. Holding it down concentrates the fire into a smaller point, which has a very good chance of sinking the target, whereas if you just pull and release your shot is spread way out and does less damage. That is the secret to getting this, because basically you only want to damage them enough to reveal the gunpowder stores, which will appear as a target ring in much the same way that the weak spots did in previous missions. Once you reveal the powder stores, you target and shoot them with your swivel guns to sink the ship and get credit for it.

Now while you are doing this you should try to focus on one ship at a time, and be very aware of rogue waves - I actually had one run through where I sank all three by hitting their powder stores and then was sank myself by a rogue wave before the level ended, which cost me the credit for it!

So, to recap, pull and release on the main guns to do less damage per broadside to reveal the weak spot and then target that with the swivels for the kill!

Alternate method - if you simply cannot get all three using the above tactic an alternate way is to use chain shot to disable their sails and then simply ram them in the bow to reveal their weak spot and shoot it.

Completing this mission unlocks the Achievement “Entrepreneur Not Pirate” (20G) Complete all 12 Privateer Contracts.

Escorting La Bella Donna to America

Naval Mission: French Involvement

This Naval Mission has us looking for the ship La Bella Donna and escorting it back to America, so naturally the ship we are seeking is with us at the start. The problem is that the ship is loaded with military stores and the British are not going to want to allow you to succeed. The French Captain is an asshat - but hey, he is a French Captain...

The optional objectives for the mission are to limit damage to La Bella Donna to 50% and to sink more boats than the French ship can do. Sounds easy enough but that means you need to sink 11 boats quickly. Oh, and not let La Bella Donna take damage from the frigate.

Once you take out the 11 boats and the frigate you get a CS of another larger frigate attacking and crippling La Bella Donna – you battle and then dismast the second Frigate and then board it. At that point you have about a minute to assassinate the Captain of the Frigate, who turns out to be a Templar (was that really a surprise?).

Once you finish the Animus interrogation of the Captain and learn that Nicholas Biddle the supposed patriot is who lead them here, you see the Randolph approach and then turn and run away when they realize what has happened. Rather than giving chase Connor chooses to stay with the French ship to protect it. That ends this mission, and you get 100% Synchronization.

Defeating Biddle and the Randolph for Good

Naval Mission: Biddle's Hideout

It seems that Nicholas Biddle has been spotted in the Caribbean and we need to give chase and capture him! Now I don't know if you remember this but Biddle is supposed to be on our side... He is supposed to be a patriot and the USS Randolph is an American Frigate (a Man of War that is flying the US flag). So he should not have betrayed La Bella Donna's location to the British, but of course as far as he is concerned he did not do that - he betrayed them to the Templar - which is not the same thing in his mind. It may have escaped your notice but the Templar are not really opposed to an America free from British rule, they just don't want an America free from Templar rule.

As the mission begins you see the Randolph and you chase it through some narrows, avoiding the rocks, at which point as you come out into the open sea she is joined by several Man of War class ships! The optional objectives for this mission are to dismast the Randolph with ONE broadside, and then sink both Man of War ships in under three minutes. Hey, you can do it!

As you board the Randolph you must ONLY kill Biddle - let your men deal with the rest!

As you reach Biddle you get to fight him alone in-the-round, but the battle is more like those of the Boston Brawler types than a battle to the death, though it is to the death. There is a scripted event where he shoots a barrel of gunpowder, then you both fall through the deck and you continue the battle. Once you win you get an Animus interrogation - and Biddle tries to tell you that you have it all wrong, but of course you do not...

Connor decides to let Biddle blow up the Randolph, though your crew and first mate are not pleased with that decision... Still any battle you can sail away from is a good battle, right? Plus you unlock the Achievement “All Washed Up” (40G) Complete all Naval Missions aboard the Aquila. So you have finished all of the Naval Missions, which means we just need to complete the Kidd Treasure quest and we are ready to return to the main story! Well done mates!

Obtaining the final piece of Kidd's Treasure Map

Peg Leg's Mission: The Mad Doctor's Castle

This is the mission that we needed to get the final piece of the Treasure Map - and it starts in the Mad Doctor's Castle. Well sort of castle anyway... Basically this is a museum, and inside is, in theory, the map piece we are looking for. We need to run along the corridor, then climb the walls and jump to the chandelier, using that to get to the walkway. Nearby is a Chest with some money in it you should grab, and then go through the door and the next two rooms and then swing down to the next level down. There is another chest with money here to grab...

After you get the money slide under the wreckage and you enter the museum. Look for a clue to learn about the display case, and then use Eagle Vision to reveal a pair of clues - examine those and watch the CS, which then adds the optional objective to reach the attacker's location in under a minute.

To do that you need to use the bear to climb up and then run across the beams and swing on the tusks, then to the chandelier. Go around and back-jump to the second chandelier and then climb up to the beam above, jump across to the other beam and then jump and swing onto the balcony - you should easily manage that in under a minute.

Once on the balcony examine the clue at the other end and then climb through the wolf display and examine the gun rack to learn what happened. Head back through the wolf display to the far end of the balcony and use the secret door there, then go through and climb the pipe organ (neat sound) to the beams and make your way along them to the far side and drop down when you are told to.

Inside here you need to go into the narrow opening and push the painting out of the way to drop into the next area. Here use Eagle Vision to spot the three clues in the room - the first is the missing musket, the second is some bloodstains, and the third is the clock.

Did you notice that the clock in the CS was set to 5:50? Interact with it and use the two Joysticks to set it to 5:50 and it will open, revealing the hidden passage behind it. Go in and assuming you managed to set the clock to 5:50 in under a minute you have completed the second optional objective.

All that you need to do now is follow the path to the dungeon and take the map piece from the body and that ends the mission and gains you full Synchronization! Good on ya! That was spooky and easy!

You get a CS after the summation in which you examine the map in its completeness, and you find the location of the treasure! Peg Leg cackles at the realization that you actually found the treasure location, and isn't that nice of him?

Peg Leg's Mission: Oak Island

This is it! We are on our way to find Captain Kidd's fabled treasure! Are you stoked? I know I am!

After you arrive with your First Mate Faulkner, you are presented with a puzzle that you need to solve within five minutes in order to get the optional objective for it...

Using Eagle Vision, move over to the rocks by the tree (remember the tree?) and you will find a clue - basically what you need to do is line up a series of symbols consisting of interlinked circles. Line up the two circles with the tree and the rock and the third circle, which needs to align with the other tree. At that point you then climb the dead tree and go out on its branch and line up another trio of circles that need to line up with the three trees, and a fourth that needs to align with the rock. Jump down and then look across the clearing for the glowing tree – remember all of these objects will glow under Eagle Vision.

Head across to the dead tree and climb it, look down and you have the next set of the puzzle. Do a leap of faith to get down and then head to the glowing cairn to trigger the final part of the puzzle in Eagle Vision, which is a trio of circles, the first of which needs to line up with the larger rock, and the remaining two with the smaller rocks. Once you align those with the trees and the rocks and you have marked the location of the treasure.

** Required Pause to Address an Odd Issue **

In the process of writing this walkthrough I naturally talked with a lot of other people who played the game since they are on my friend list and all. One of the odd things that happened with almost every single one of them was they – each and every one – asked me what I thought of the Wolves on Oak Island?

The general attitude that I detected was that they were angry and frustrated by that part of the game. That getting past the wolves took them HOURS when they tried to do the button-mashing quick-time sequence, and even when they climbed onto the dead tree they could not actually air-assassinate the wolves as that was disabled, so they had to time it so that they dropped down close enough to attack the wolf and were lucky enough to kill it AND get back on the log BEFORE one of the other wolves initiated the quick-time attack... It is fair to say that there was genuine vitriol in the comments that I was hearing.

The long and the short of it was that ALL of the people I talked to HATED this part of the game with a passion. The thing is I do get it – they read the optional objectives and its said you could not use a ranged weapon to kill the wolves. So that leaves out guns and the bow and arrow. Before I go any further I want to tell you a story...

When I was doing my advanced military training – the stuff that came after basic training, and before we were sent to the schools for our specialized training, we were handed over to these crusty old instructors who in between swearing at us and telling us how the best part of us ran down our momma's legs and all that, they actually said things that they expected us to listen to.

For example because I was air crew we had to go through what is called E-and-E Training. That stands for Escape-and-Evasion, and the point to it is that if we paid attention to what we were being taught AND the plane we were in got shot down AND we survived bailing out, we could put that knowledge to use on the ground to keep from being captured long enough for a rescue. On day one of E-and-E the Instructor told us that the most important thing that we can do for ourselves in the process of taking this class was to listen to the instructions we received and follow them. That warrants repeating - Listen to the instructions you receive and follow them.

About half-way through the course we were taken on a bush walk of around 20k and told that we would need to forage for food and water - that we were not to bring ANY with us - and that we would be graded on how well we put into practice the information we had been given about what we should eat and what we should not eat in low-water conditions. On that bit of training I found and ate grubs. The big white ones tasted like peanut butter, the red ones tasted like really old really nasty butter, but I ate enough to satisfy the Instructor that I would have stayed well energized, and that was the point. In the class we took on how to find food, grubs were right up there on the list of good things to eat if you don't have access to lots of water – and considering that I eat lobster and crab whenever I can and THOSE are bugs, I figured there really was no difference.

A few days later we went on another 20k hike with full survival packs (that is all the crap that normally was tucked under the ejection seat) and evenly distributed over your body weighs around 20 kilos if you take it all – but we were told weeks before that we were only supposed to take the parts of the kit that were color-coded for the environment we were down in. So you would not be carrying all of it, right? Except some of the guys in my class tried to do just that. In short, they did not listen to what they were being told.

What we were told for this bush walk was that we “are responsible for our own lunch” – what a LOT of the guys in my class interpreted that as was that we had to scrounge food again. I already ate grubs once to prove I would do it – I was most certainly NOT going to do that again unless they ordered me to, and that was NOT what they said. So before assembly for the bush walk I went to the supply building and I asked for two ration packs (I got one for me, one for my best mate) and you know what they did? They gave them to me. I asked for two canteens of water. They gave them to me.

I took them with me and found my mate, and told him to tuck his canteen and rations into his pack and I did the same. Halfway through the bush walk the Instructor called a halt for lunch, and proceeded to pull his canteen and ration pack out of HIS pack and eat. Almost all of the others went looking for food, while my mate and I pulled OUR canteens and rations out and started to eat. One of the guys (really he was always whinging anyway) saw this and complained. They are not getting food they brought it with them! The Instructor cocked his head to the side and asked “why didn't you?”

The point to this story is that those guys did not listen. Instead of learning a lesson from that most of them were ****** off at me and my mate because we did not TELL them to get a canteen and ration pack from the supply officer. The reason that we did not tell them was I just assumed that was the point. You have to understand that military training can be as chicken **** and ****-laced as the missions you find in games like this. And THAT is the point.

I listened to all of these gamers tell me what a **** mission this was. How hard it was. How it took them hours. Then I solved the puzzles, ran to the dead tree, climbed up... And killed all three of the wolves with poison darts. Because the game never said anything about not using poison.

The moral to this story is you need to listen – or in this case READ. Poison Darts are not a ranged weapon, they are POISON weapons. You can kill the wolves with them and still get the Optional Objectives. Personally, since you are reading this guide, and therefore asking me for my opinion, that is what I think you should do.

Obtaining Kidd's Treasure

** Back on Track **

Once you have defeated those ******* Wolves on Crack, you simply work with your First Mate to get the next clue, shoot the powder barrels to open the pit, and then dive in.

Once you enter the cave you basically need to do the climb-jump-run path which is pretty obvious – but bear in mind that there are a few bits where the game expects you to be moving fast and fluid to get through. After you do and you reach the treasure, there is one final last nasty **** move in store for you...

You see there is this pile of treasure and all, but the one thing that stands out is a Piece of Eden – which is something Connor is familiar with as he has seen one before. The thing is (**** move coming) as soon as he takes it, the world goes to **** and you have around 24 seconds to get the hell out or die! RUN! Seriously! Just RUN! You will easily get out in time.

Assuming you make it out without having to restart, well, hey, good on ya mates! You did well, you worked your way through a seriously messed up mission, and you got the reward we were seeking: a Piece of Eden that repels BULLETS. Yeah, you can imagine how useful THAT will be when you have to make your way across a battlefield full of people shooting at you, right? Because you will. Yeah.

Well done. You really deserve a piece of cake. Go get that, I will wait for you.

Oh and for getting through this you also unlock the Achievement “Kidd Gloves” (30G) Uncover the mystery of Oak Island.

That wraps up the missions that involve the ship, and it clears the way for us to resume the story mode, but before we do that, head back to the Homestead.

Homestead Conversation

Check the map and you will see a conversation marker bear the Manor House - head there and you will talk to Achilles who tells you about the painting you retrieved for him (sort of) and why he cannot hang it on the wall.