Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Video: Naval Battles and Forts

A new Gamescom video for Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag shows us the finer points of fighting ship battles and how to capture forts.

Game director Ashraf Ismail runs through different strategies one can employ once setting their pirate eyes on a fort to be captured. The first step is to use a spyglass scout around for outlying dangers, such as schooners and brigs that patrol nearby. Then one must take out the towers that can provide a solid defense for the forts. Once these towers are gone, the fort will be easier to take with a ground assault.

The going isn't very smooth for the crew of the Jackdaw in the video, as a brig comes around to ram them. Thankfully, new fire barrels can help turn the tide and hurt the brig as it makes its attack.

Once you actually make it to the fort and set up a ground attack, you'll be able to run and climb like usual. The primary objective is to kill the fort's officers in order to take it for your own. Once you've killed the commander, the fort is yours and the fog on the map is lifted, revealing the areas nearby.

Check out the video above and let us know what you think of the naval and fort-capturing action.

Black Flag will be available for PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Xbox 360 on Oct. 29. The PlayStation 4 version will be available on Nov. 15, while the Xbox One and PC versions will be released at a later date.