On November 8, 2022, the derivative work of "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag" will be released simultaneously on the console and PC. In this game, players will continue to be pirates, like Edward driving the Jackdaw, heading to the crisis-riding Indian Ocean, and establishing their own maritime empire together! In fact, the Indian Ocean is not unfamiliar to us. In the third year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, it was Zheng He who led the "treasure ship" of the Ming Dynasty who set sail from Nanjing Longjiang Pass near the mouth of the Yangtze River, and embarked on a seven-voyage to the West to sail through the Indian Ocean!

Pirates and the Ocean

Pirates and Oceans have always been favorite elements of various film and television games. For example, in the latest work of the Assassin's Creed series, we play the Viking "Wolf Kisser" Aivor. Back in the 9th century AD, starting from Norway, holding a tomahawk in his hand, transforming into a plundering madman, and experiencing a journey of Viking pirates conquering England!

Although the "Ancient Order" Emperor Alfred the Great defeated the "barbarians" from Nordic in the Battle of Eddington and curbed the continued invasion of the Vikings, England was defeated by Knut a hundred years later and entered the Danish dynasty. The pirate-born invaders became the ruler of England, thus deriveing Anglo-Scandinavian literature.

Hundreds of years later, the pirates ushered in the "Great Geographic Discovery" - the Age of Discovery. With the sea navigation and ocean activities of European countries, pirates have become both good and evil characters, just like Captain Jack in "Pirates of the Caribbean", who yearn for freedom at sea without restraint, but have to rob and loot for the sake of their livelihood.

The Golden Age of Pirates

Of course, some of these pirates were given positive images and became national heroes. For example, Knight's so-called ancestor Sir Francis Drake defeated the Spanish Invincible Armada. They laid the foundation for the golden age of the pirates, and it is also the background of the era of this work "Blue Sea and Black Sails"!

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Thirty Years War on the European continent that determined the consciousness of nation-state began, and pirates ushered in a golden age of nearly a hundred years, which can be roughly divided into three stages. From the 1750s to the late 17th century, European countries expanded their colonial empires in the Americas, and a large amount of wealth was transported back and forth. Pirates led by the Caribbean gradually emerged, which was the first golden age of pirates.

"No color can represent us, we are proud of it. Let the black flag become a symbol of freedom that humans should have!" said Blackbeard, the infamous British pirate captain. In addition, various countries issued "private licenses" to allow legal robbery, which made the pirates' robbery more rampant, and came to the world of Assassin's Creed Black Flag!

Blue sea and black sail

The time and space of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag travels back to the Caribbean Sea in 1715. It was roughly between 1715 and 1735. It was the third stage of the Golden Age. During this period, many famous pirates appeared, such as Edward Tic, the prototype of the Blackbeard mentioned above. The landmark event that the third stage started was the defeat of Spain in 1713 signing the Treaty of Utrecht with Britain.

After the signing of the treaty between the two parties, a large number of crew members with "private licenses" were useless and lost their job of "legitimate robbery". As a result, many crew members started to work as pirates. The story of grandpa and him "going to heaven and earth" the Jackdaw. This work "Blue Sea Black Sail" is a derivative game inspired by the naval battle of "Black Flag".

The timeline of "Blue Sea Black Sail" is at the end of the 17th century, slightly earlier than the time of the Black Flag. This period is usually regarded as the second golden age of pirates. Players come to the beautiful and dangerous Indian Ocean as a wanderer. In a maritime accident, the wanderer wanders to St. Anne, which is our first pirate den, thus starting the adventure journey of "Blue Sea Black Sail"!

Pirate Nest

In the chaotic and ruthless era of the late seventeenth century, the pirates played by players "coexist" with various struggle factions, powerful organizations and imperial forces in the Indian Ocean, and a feast of games of thrust and naval battles is about to begin. First of all, preparation work. A good general will never fight unprepared battles. The den is the birthplace and resurrection place of the character.

Shipbuilding and food preparation

At the beginning, there was only one small sloop. Players could build or update ships and equipment at the den (a total of 12 unique ships in three categories) and prepare consumables and supplies for maritime navigation. Each journey is unique. Before departure, pay attention to the ammunition and food in the cargo hold to prepare for any challenges or commissions.

Crew morale and mutiny

As the game progresses, players can build different types of ships and transform the ships in their favorite style. When sailing, you need to pay close attention to the situation of the crew (somewhat similar to the simulator). The crew is all vicious, and many of them are desperate people who can't make a living at sea. If the previous preparations are insufficient and the morale of the crew is reduced (favoriteness), it will be subject to the "murder" mechanism; and once a mutiny occurs, the player can be reborn in the den, most of the cargo on the ship will be retained, and the other part needs to be returned to the original place as soon as possible, otherwise other players will steal these cargo!

Notfair value

In this time of disorderly chaos and evil, playYou can travel individually or with friends. Various forces in the Indian Ocean are turbulent, as if they are like "dark forest". If you want to live longer in the world of "Blue Sea and Black Sail", you need to greatly improve your "notorious value" (INFAMY), which is the core point of the entire game.

Notesty Value and Entrustment

You can see the lower left corner of the picture above. As the infamous value increases, various abilities will be unlocked, including attack and defense capabilities, and even cooking skills. It can also unlock higher-level ships to receive higher-level commissions. One of the ways to increase infamous value here is to do commissions (tasks), such as exploration, robbery, treasure hunt, investigation and random dynamic events, etc.

Big map, high risk, high return

From the information currently revealed, the map of this work may be 6 times the size of "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla", so I guess there is no need to worry about the number of commissions. These commissions can be a transaction you and other pirates, with high returns and high risks. If the commission is messed up, the infamous value will likely decrease. This mechanism probably comes from the reputation/notorious value system in "Watch Dogs".

Ship Weapons

The map size of "Blue Sea Black Sail" is 625 square kilometers (95 square kilometers in the Valhalla), which means that there is a large amount of wealth and resources for players to collect. The mysterious creatures in the ocean can be hunted for fur, meat and other materials, and can also find ore and wood along the coast for forging. Similar to Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Valhalla, there are also design drawings in the game.

Design drawings and ships

Find these design drawings and collect refined resources to forge powerful ships, weapons and armor. Ships are divided into three categories:

1. Cargo ship: slow speed, but large cargo capacity, suitable for entrusting entrusting

2. Ship: faster speed, less cargo hold space, and the life of the ship is low

3. Armed ship: more gun positions, high damage, but poor mobility

Weapons and Armor

Weapons range from the Greek fire of the Odyssey to giant crossbows, to modern rocket launchers and mortars; different armors are used to defend against attacks from different enemies, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, and players can match them as needed.

Sailing Battle

The core gameplay of this game is of course naval battles. Players can team up independently or with up to two friends or other players. In the Indian Ocean, players can use telescopes to detect seductive "prey" and judge the enemy's firepower, discover their weaknesses and perform different tactical mission assignments based on the types of observers of the enemy's ships, weapons and armor.

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After sinking the enemy, some goods will be obtained, anotherThe subdivision will dive into the seabed. The attractive platoon battle is also the charm of naval battles (similar to the platoon battles in the Assassin's Creed series). Players can get more loot, but in the vast sea, players are both hunters and preys. If they are discovered by privateers patrolling at sea, they will inevitably be chased.

Treasure Map and Dynamic Events

There are also some safe havens in the Indian Ocean, where you can trade with merchants. Many treasured items can be purchased from secret walkers. During the voyage, you will encounter various treasure maps. After deciphering, you can search for treasures based on the map. As the game develops, players can also capture the fortress and experience various thrilling dynamic events in MMORPG.

The gameplay of this game is quite free, you can play independently or online. In the process of making various commissions, accumulate notorious values, unlock more weapons, ships and equipment, collect resources on the vast map for forging, strengthen your ships, accumulate goods and money through merchants and naval battles, and obtain various precious props with private merchants in the safe haven. Although there are not many mythological elements added, this game is indeed a major innovative series of Ubisoft. After all, there are not many choices in navigation. I look forward to Ubisoft's new work this time!