AC4 Speedrun Routing/General
Just a thread to collect all info. I haven't gone through all of MAGLX' videos as it would take a long time to find out which ones are relevant. I will be adding to the thread as I go along and collect more information on the various memories. I might spend 1-2 hours on a single memory though, and I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up. Anyways, if you found something new, post it below and I'll see that it gets added.
General
Glitch video by OwnedByNiko
Fort Seranilla OOB by OwnedByNiko
Glitch playlist by AKHeon
Detection trick by DAZ
Plantation raids by PeterStratford93
- Turn off tutorials
Sequence 1
Memory 1
Route video by 161803398874989
- You only need to take out the frigate.
- Kill the rifleman first when saving Bonnet, he's an asshole.
- Half sail is for weenies.
Sequence 2
Memory 1
Route by 161803398874989
- You can catch the pickpocket as soon as he bumps into the crowd, or a bit later than shown in the video where you can cut him off. Do it once and you'll do it ezpz everytime
Memory 2
Route by 161803398874989
- When you have to eavesdrop, you can get to the group of dancers at the same time as the two guys you're tailing get to the area. Makes for easy eavesdropping, and is also useful in getting the key.
- The route used in the Torres blitzes is the fastest to get into the Fort lockup. Needs more research on staying undetected, because fighting costs time.
Memory 3
Route by 161803398874989
- You have to shoot the pistol three times, each time after Du Casse and Rogers are done talking.
- If you go into the haystack any earlier (before Rogers starts saying "don't you think"), you'll be pushed out.
- You have to be on the stairs to trigger the first scene with Torres
Memory 4
Route by 161803398874989
- Strats to make Torres get a move on are as follows:
* Take out the blowdart guys quickly
* When the blowdart guys are taken out, jump down and try to get all the Templars out of combat. This will make them gather near Torres. When they're all near Torres, Torres will shout "protect the sage!" and start running.
* Again, get all Templars out of combat and be near Torres to start the scene
- There's a consistent way to catch the Sage quickly: just use the freerunning path alongside the building he runs on (after taking the elevator)
Memory 5
Route by 161803398874989
Speedrun by OwnedByNiko
Speedrun by DarkAlphabetZoup
- Being in open conflict will prevent the keycarrier from spawning
Memory 6
Route by 161803398874989
Sequence 3
Memory 7
Ghost run by Slembroccoli
Sequence 4
Memory 2
Ghost Run by MAGLX
Sequence 5
Memory 1
Early Fort Entry by MAGLX
Memory 3
Lost potential skip by OwnedByNiko
Sequence 8
Memory 3
Charles Vane assassination variety pack (including blitz) by Aurllcooljay
Sequence 10
Memory 2
Shortcut by MAGLX
Ghost blitz by Slembroccoli
Sequence 12
Memory 2
Preboarding the Royal Fortune by Aurllcooljay.
Memory 3
Torres Ghost Blitz and El Tiburon Blitz by Slembroccoli
Some exploits by Aurllcooljay
Sequence 1
Memory 1
- Half sail is for weenies.
this may well become your mantra in this run
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Actually the maneuverability you get from half sail is very helpful during combat, as it allows you to get off more (accurate) broadsides in a fixed amount of time.
How much upgrading do you think you'll have to do for the jackdaw to finish a speedrun? have you begun to do the economic aspect? I just remember fed planning the economy of the AC:B speedrun and marveling at the thought that has to go into avoiding something a normal player never runs into (lack of money in the mid/end-game).
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
[OP]
I knew this was only a matter of time. Nice collection of links! Imagine that must have taken some time to format. 
How much upgrading do you think you'll have to do for the jackdaw to finish a speedrun? have you begun to do the economic aspect? I just remember fed planning the economy of the AC:B speedrun and marveling at the thought that has to go into avoiding something a normal player never runs into (lack of money in the mid/end-game).
I'm also a bit worried about this. Could it be worth it to get some of the elite upgrades? Are there even any that don't require tons of iron/wood? I want to remember the round shot elite upgrade only requiring R? Still, I think the time required will be better spent using careful ship battle tactics…
Also, how would we treat kenway's fleet? Playing with the companion app for a week can easily get you hundreds of thousands of R, accessible the moment you are introduced to it on a new savegame. Would it be added to the speedrun time? What about friends speeding your ships up?
How much upgrading do you think you'll have to do for the jackdaw to finish a speedrun? have you begun to do the economic aspect? I just remember fed planning the economy of the AC:B speedrun and marveling at the thought that has to go into avoiding something a normal player never runs into (lack of money in the mid/end-game).
I have no idea yet. I'm just routing individual memories, with a focus on figuring out exactly what the triggers required for continuation are. I suspect there will be at least some upgrading involved, but it's likely a matter of just raiding a couple plantations (IIRC MAGLX has a few videos on how to do that quickly EDIT Actually it was Peter Stratford). Routing that would be considerably more involved than ammo management in Brotherhood though.
In general though, speedruns favour tactics over upgrades, because upgrading costs time. So we're probably looking to find the minimal amount of upgrades. That's something to think about when we get there though. Unless you're playing the game and trying stuff, everything is just guesswork and that's not very useful.
Also, how would we treat kenway's fleet? Playing with the companion app for a week can easily get you hundreds of thousands of R, accessible the moment you are introduced to it on a new savegame. Would it be added to the speedrun time? What about friends speeding your ships up?
This would fall in a New Game+ category. It depends on what the different runs (NG vs. NG+) look like what the dominant category will become. This also means you don't add the time spent in Kenway's fleet to the main game, since it's part of the "+"-bit.
Kenway's fleet might help, but resources like iron and wood are scarce too, so it's not going to magically solve all problems.
I knew this was only a matter of time. Nice collection of links! Imagine that must have taken some time to format.
I spent maybe 20 minutes on it. 
Could it be worth it to get some of the elite upgrades? Are there even any that don't require tons of iron/wood? I want to remember the round shot elite upgrade only requiring R? Still, I think the time required will be better spent using careful ship battle tactics…
hmm. I think the most useful upgrade is the swivel guns... but that's me... but it wouldn't be worth your time, most likely, to collect the resources.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I hope this is not totally dead, i just finished this game on Wii U and I would really love to see this. The only neat things i found while finishing it where:
It is possible to avoid getting tackled from behind by guards by simply doing a well timed jump just before they hit you, not that useful tho since you don't get tackled much, but you don't fall and can just keep running. The jump kinda gets cancelled to.
Its possible make Edward hang at an edge to an angled wall so that he is hanging with almost his entire body inside the angled wall. Haven't tested anything with this tho.
I'll read up on what you have and I'll try to be back with more!
Alright, so i've finished segmented AC4 run which i did to prepare for single-segment run of this game.
Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVGvcb3bvqrsrG_wB3j-ZIUE_H7J40oJF
It desperately needs some of maglx's routing from his single-segment run of AC4 that he did lately and Fed's patience for better RNG heavy sequences. Also i agree with Maglx now that only money upgrades for ship is the way to go - so 6 minutes of this run is wasted on overfarming for overupgrading the ship.
Now it is 6:24 but i think it can be close to 6:10 or sub it with good effort. I hope i will redo it later and spend much more time on making it and not 1,5 weeks like on this one.
Also i would like to thank Maglx,Phi, Aurllcooljay and other members of HiddenBlade for amazing strats that were used in this run
You are welcome, and I am very happy that you completed a segmented run. Sadly, my AC4 disc is broken, so I haven't routed any more memories, so it's exciting to see this be done.
There do exist some superfast plantation loots (JoeyFogey has one up on his channel I believe), so farming may not have to take all that long, especially if it's en-route.
There do exist some superfast plantation loots (JoeyFogey has one up on his channel I believe), so farming may not have to take all that long, especially if it's en-route.
Do you mean this one? This wasn't the most graceful video I've ever done, but I hope it helps show how easy this particular one is to complete.
161803398874989 wrote:
There do exist some superfast plantation loots (JoeyFogey has one up on his channel I believe), so farming may not have to take all that long, especially if it's en-route.Do you mean this one? This wasn't the most graceful video I've ever done, but I hope it helps show how easy this particular one is to complete.
Hot damn, that is certainly very fast and as good a baseline to work off of as any. Black Flag is such a good game, man, wow.
Not to brag, but that clip was recorded after just free-roaming. No plan whatsoever. Yep, I improvised everything. Pure. Mother. F*ckin'. Skillz. Did I mention I didn't go in with a plan?
So this is my second try at segmented run of Any% for this game - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVGvcb3bvqrv3ztkOAexqRxj1ifH2xFY7 - mostly incorporating maglx's routing and some small stuff here and there that i found recently - if no major breaks will be found - you can not go much faster than this one - it's 5:39:33 now.
I did segmented runs of AC4 DLCs:
Assassin's Creed IV Freedom Cry - Any% Segmented Speedrun - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLjoyCaVVX0 - it's 59:59
The main mistake in this run was not freeing one slave on the way to the plantation in the begginning of memory 3 - that mistake cost me ram upgrade for my ship which made sea fights a little bit slower - but i guess i will do it correctly for 100% run of this DLC
Assassin's Creed IV Aveline - Segmented Speedrun - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF3PKoqrjYU - it's 14:44
I didn't even know Aveline was a thing. Also, your video says 14:43 but your link above says 14:44. 
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
well if you look on videos page on youtube - it will show 14:44 - i don't know why youtube shows different times on different screens but i prefer to give biggest time that youtube shows - and my local recording of this run is 14:43
WR Blitz on Bartholomew Roberts 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02ypLuFvZ8o
WR Blitz on Bartholomew Roberts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02ypLuFvZ8o
did you just... run into him with your boat? i'm confused as to what is going on here... ha
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Well I think one of those things happend after reloading of checkpoint:
1. My ship spawned above or inside his ship
2. His ship spawned underwater, upside down or in the air
So is it reproducible for speedrun routing, or was it just a glitch you posted here to laugh about?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I think it's reproducible - just very difficult to reproduce - ships spawn wrong all the time in AC4. So I think it can be reproduced in segmented Any% run after enough of tries.
So I finished first attempt at 100% segmented run of AC4 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVGvcb3bvqrvGPMaoI7_xTFvXv2xtSsnj - it's 12:30:52 - and i'm sure it can be faster - maybe even hour or two faster.