Social Events (White Whales, Royal Convoys, Social Chests) Locating
This is somewhat related to this post.
I have yet to find a single white whale, royal convoy, or social chest in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. I've played for about 70 hours (all of it while online) on the PS4. I've done everything I can in the game except these 3 things and it's killing me. All I've been doing lately is sailing around and wishing something would appear.
Could someone describe how you located the events? As in, the visuals, etc. I've read they appear as blue icons, but some questions I have are the following.
- Did you find them by looking at the minimap on the screen (circle in lower left), or by opening up the big map and scanning around?
- Do you remember finding one while you were moving at travel speed?
Also, does anyone know why these things might not be showing up for me? It seems like a few people online are having the same issue and some have even signed a petition to Ubisoft.
This is all so frustrating.
When the game was first released, people had little trouble finding these events and completed the associated challenges fairly swiftly. Ubisoft decided that the spawn rate was too high and decided to reduce it. With that and/or the release of the next gen consoles, people started to report that they were no longer locating these social events.
The following was posted by an Ubisoft employee known as Ubi-Valentin:
A maintenance is scheduled on 1/14 at 9:00 AM (GMT). The operation will last for approximately 1 hour.
Tasks for this maintenance: We need to update the game server on all platforms in order to fix an issue related to social events and also prepare for the next Title Update.
Since this update, people have responded positively that the issue is now fixed. This forum topic highlights this fact. I have linked from the point that the UK Forum Manager quotes Ubi-Valentin regarding the scheduled update.
In answer to your questions:
- With regards to Royal Convoys and White Whales, these are found by sailing close to them (approximately within 500-750 metres of the event). Chests are found inland and will be discovered when approaching them.
- They can be found whilst moving at travel speed.
The events appear on your map as a light blue icon (chest, whale and convoy). See the map linked further down for examples.
So far, it seems visual clues can be misleading. I have spotted numerous White Whales leaping from the water, but no White Whale event spawned around this location. I came to the following possible conclusions regarding this:
- The events were broken at the time, but the visual of the whale still worked.
- The visual of the whale informs the player that White Whales do spawn in this location, but this event is not currently up.
- Just eye candy. Huge whales leaping from the water is pretty cool looking!
Social Royal Convoys will be sailing with escorts, just like the normal Convoys. Look out for groups of ships sailing in unison. Chests can be heard via the normal "secret" sound, but will probably appear on your map before hearing this anyway.
A map has been created by the community over at ac initiates, which lists many known possible spawn points. Lots of people have reported success of using this since Ubisoft's server update. It can be found here.
Regarding my own experiences. I almost completed the achievement on the PC version when it was first released (about 1 month after console release). Then nothing for a month or two and now I am starting to see them pop up again. I believe I just need to locate a chest and I am done. Hope this helps.
It took me two days going back again and gain to the these sites, but I got the Simulation Challenges 100% completed today (01/20/2014).
These are the locations I found my Social Chest, White Whales, and Royal Convoys:
Social Chest
575,720: (Andreas Island) At the Tavern by the crated 4 Rum Crate directly behind the Morris Player.
633,784: (Nassau) Fast travel to the fort's tower (located Northeast), take out the guard, then to the left of the Leap of Faith (between the two small rock pillars), drop down and go inside the tower, (three window tower), and it appears right of the lamp on the floor next to the rope crate.
White Whale
674,315: (Between Anotto Bay and Cumberland Bay) One can approach it from either location.
NEW LOCATION:877,654. 198,346 for another 7hrs, 50min (January 30, 2014, 7:00pm [CET]).
Royal Convoy
62,162 (Ambergris Key) Sail a figure 8 around those two islands and you will find a royal convoy (the one I found was from Spain).