Ethan Crossfield 
If you’re jumping into Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, don’t wait for a tutorial to tell you what to do—start with the game’s easiest forts early. They’re positioned as a quick path to fast travel points, upgrade materials, and in-game money, and they also unlock Kenway’s Fleet so you can build momentum before the story moves on.
What to prioritize in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced
Ubisoft’s latest take on Black Flag is built on the same idea that worked in the original 2013 release: some side content is too valuable to postpone. In Black Flag Resynced, forts are framed as a classic activity that delivers meaningful benefits, even if other improvements across the game are more subtle.
Once players gain full access to the Jackdaw and get access to the opening map, the forts become a practical starting point. The upper portions of the map include three “Easy” forts. Clearing them isn’t just optional busywork—completing those forts improves fast travel, provides materials for upgrades, and rewards Spanish Reales, the currency used to fund further improvements and purchases.
The forts are also positioned as an early upgrade accelerator for the Jackdaw itself. By collecting coin and materials sooner, players can reinforce the ship earlier than they would by focusing purely on story progression, and the fast travel points make exploration and future fort runs easier to manage.
Who’s affected—and when you should start
This is aimed at anyone who wants to avoid the common “I’ll do side quests later” trap. The game’s fort system doesn’t fully tutorialize until Sequence 5, during a mission titled The Forts. However, the source notes that players can begin work on these activities before that guidance ever appears.
The ideal window starts earlier. During Sequence 4, in a mission titled Nothing is True…, players are tasked with meeting Kidd. That moment effectively gives players enough freedom to begin early ship improvements before heading to the meet-up point.
Among those earliest upgrades, Mortars are highlighted as a first priority. Mortars help with taking down the forts, and they also make both Jackdaw travel and ship combat feel better. Beyond the mechanical payoff, the forts are described as genuinely enjoyable because they blend a military-fort destruction objective with on-land follow-up—so the loop is entertaining even before you think about optimization.
What comes next after the easy forts
Completing the easy forts doesn’t just reward you immediately—it also expands Kenway’s Fleet. That expansion is described as a smaller, passive way to earn extra money while staying engaged with Edward Kenway’s broader pirate fantasy.
After the upper-map forts, more forts are spread through the middle and lower portions of the map. The guidance is to keep upgrading as you go and to look toward finding Ultimate Plans and completing them as soon as possible. Those steps are positioned as a way to be ready for the harder fort content.
The key takeaway for players is that the benefits of forts continue beyond early-game momentum. The improvements persist across the game’s runtime and make later challenges easier to handle—meaning the time investment pays off in both convenience (fast travel) and capability (ship upgrades and combat readiness).
What players should know
- Start forts early after you have full access to the Jackdaw and the opening map—don’t wait for the Sequence 5 tutorial.
- Clear the three “Easy” forts in the upper portions of the map for fast travel points, upgrade materials, and Spanish Reales.
- Prioritize Mortars as one of your first Jackdaw upgrades to speed up fort takedowns and improve ship combat.
- Know that forts expand Kenway’s Fleet, adding a passive money-earning layer to Edward Kenway’s pirate playstyle.
- As you move to middle and lower-map forts, keep upgrading and aim to use Ultimate Plans to prepare for harder encounters.
Expert View
Forts are the rare side activity that functions like an early-game investment: they’re not only entertaining, they directly fund upgrades, improve traversal through fast travel, and unlock Kenway’s Fleet. If you want the smoothest ramp into ship combat and later fort challenges, prioritizing the easy forts before the game explicitly tutorializes them is the smartest play.
