How to make money? | Basic info AC IV: Black Flag Guide
Last update: 02 February 2017
The lack of money is one of the main problems that you need to face in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag at the initial phase of the game. The lack of cash impedes your actions considerably - without it, you are, not only, unable to get new equipment for Edward, but also to upgrade his ship, replenish ammo, hire courtesans that facilitate the city exploration or hire bodyguards. Making money quickly is, therefore a key matter, especially at the beginning when your needs are the greatest.
In Assassin's Creed IV there are many various ways to obtain money. Below, however, we have focused on those that you should take into consideration, predominantly at the beginning of the game.
Dealing in goods
Sugar and rum are the two goods that you can sale without any restrictions, because they are not required to upgrade the Jackdaw. The easiest way to obtain goods is by seizing enemy ships (a successful boarding lets you obtain 100% of the cargo; in case of sinking the ship you only get 50%). You get to know about what a ship is carrying by means of the telescope. At the initial stages of the game, there is not much opportunity to show what you are made of, because the Jackdaw is too weak to take on frigates and liners but, schooners and brigs are within its capabilities. You can also obtain goods by looting plantations - however, you will obtain this way less sugar and rum than you would have during naval battles. You can sell the looted goods at merchants, who are stationed in each major location, or directly at the captain's cabin aboard your ship, if you are far away from the mainland.
Chests
It would seem as though opening chests is not too profitable, because there is not much money inside (you need to be lucky to loot a chest for more than 500 reals). This is not true, however. As much as it is true that the containers are not filled with gold up to brim, but there are many of them, on the other hand, especially in major settlements and cities and, what is even more, reaching them causes virtually no problems at all. There is one more, important , asset to them - it is easy to determine their whereabouts using the map. You only need to climb onto a beauty spot to reveal the locations of all the chests around. At the initial stages of the game, chest hunting should be your priority.
Assassinations
On many islands and in cities, you can find pigeon coops, where you can receive simple assassination contracts. The assignments are about eliminating a target and they always carry a considerable bonus if you manage to complete the assignment without being detected. And this is not too much of a problem, in Black Flag, due to the numerous spots where you can hide and use the elegant weapons, like darts. The pigeon coop contracts can be completed virtually since the beginning of the game, which is its arguable asset.
Floating treasures
Apart from the regular ships, across the Caribbean Sea, you can also find the ships marked on the map with "R", which carry nothing but gold (the amount varies, usually it is around several thousand reals). Attacking such ships is quite risky, they are always escorted, and the sailing ships themselves are well armed. At the initial stages of the game, it is best to swim up to such a ship, eliminate the entire crew and take to the traditional attack afterwards. This saves a lot of problems and makes the entire process easier.
It is worth knowing
Right at the outset, it is a good idea to teach yourself to loot corpses, and it is not necessarily because of the money, because you do not get much from that. Corpses are, first of all, a perfect source of ammo (bullets, smoke bombs and various darts) so, thanks to looting, you can save a lot of money.
What is the most profitable is destroying a legendary ship - the yield is 20000 reals. However, there is no point in attacking such ships at the very beginning of the game. As soon as you are able to pose threat to such ships, the money will not be your problem anymore.