Assassin's Creed: Revelations - second play through

[PZ]

Well, I started my second play through without fully completing all the side quests in the first play.  I must say that it is more fun this time because I know how things will develop, so I'm trying to maximize my money and assassin recruit numbers (and skill).

   
• Early in the game you can pick pocket as much as you like, so it pays (literally) to spend the time swiping money from everyone you encounter.
• I'm doing the Templar dens even though I know a few den attacks will inevitably occur - I initially enjoyed the novelty, but that quickly word off as I realized the difficulty in winning the mission - I probably have not found the proper technique yet.  However, I did manage to win my first one!
• Raiding the Templar dens unlocks a couple of assassin recruit quests - doing these quickly builds your assassin group.
• It is important to send your assassins out on missions so they gain the skills necessary to take command of one of your dens.  One trick to quickly advance assassin rank is to pair a very experienced assassin with a new recruit - they share the experience points so the new recruit very quickly advances
• When I fail at a den attack, the Templars take over again, and I have to defeat the den all over again.  However, I'm enjoying that as much as I enjoyed the fighting in the re-spawned areas of FC2  :-()

All in all, I am enjoying the game even more than I thought I would in this second play - I have barely done the main missions - only the first key has been accomplished.
One thing that is strange, and I don't know why the game is working the way it is.  In the first play through near the end, I discovered that the thieves would pick-pocket everyone they encountered.  I started the second play through and used them to quickly build my stash.  Now however, they don't pick pocket any more.  ????

[mandru]

I am pleased that systematically moving through and capturing Templar Lairs and converting them to Assassin dens and then quickly following up by assigning a qualified Den Master with the completed Master missions locks the Den against any further attacks that you need to deal with.  A Den can still be attacked but the master of that Den takes on the responsibility of protecting it.

Once all Dens are safely locked and protected all synchronization for the Den Defense requirements are set to 100% complete even if you failed horribly at them the way I did after the first mandatory one.   8)

It is possible that you could avoid ever having to fight a second Den Defense event by converting all the Dens and locking them before doing any additional main mission segments (once you've made it across the channel to assist Yosef in seizing a Den) by keeping a very close eye on your Templar Awareness gauge and spending it down whenever necessary.   :-X

That was a happy discovery for me.   :-D

[PZ]

Two more tidbits of information, one certain, and another was something I read in the manual:

   
• When you become fully notorious (red), then Templars will attack a den only if you do what would normally be considered "bad" (this is what was in the manual).  If all you do is innocently  look for a herald to bribe or an official to kill, then you should be safe.
• Once you have all your dens locked, you can be fully notorious and nothing seems to happen - having all your dens locked is kind of like wearing a Medicci cape in AC2.

On a different note, I discovered that earning the thief faction ability is what allows them to pick pocket everyone in sight as they stroll the streets with you.  However, I don't know why this feature was active very early in the game, and was then inactivated until I had completed that part of the thief challenge.  Perhaps it is like other things early in the game such as the ability to pick pocket without fear of retribution.

I have yet to determine what the Romani and mercenary faction abilities are, or what their faction weapons are.

[mandru]

After completing the other faction challenges the mercenaries will knock the snot out of the beggar ladies and chase them away from you and the Romanies will poison guards as you walk through or past them.   :-X

The faction weapons while I don't recall their names were never the sharpest toys in the toolbox so I never really bothered with checking them out after seeing that their stats were sub par and not a step up when received.  Maybe if I complete those challenges earlier in the game now that I know whats required to complete them those weapons might be handier.   :)

Hey! Hire a band of thieves and try to keep them all alive (go over the building instead of across the pilings along the water route  ;) ) while getting to the fight club.    If you book a couple low level fights the thieves will wiggle their way into ring with you and start knifing your opponents (knives against bare knuckles? Ya sure!)  making it a lot easier to complete rounds but don't start placing too high of bets until after your thieves have actually started showing up inside the ring.   >:D

When you are done fighting you can pretty much forget the thieves because they will be trapped inside the fight ring and unable to get back out.

[PZ]

Very cool!  You've made quite a dent into the workings of the game, mandru  :-X

The next time I play through, I'll do the faction stuff first so I have them for my advantage.  Now that all dens are manned by master assassin's, and the city is basically under control, there are not that many roving patrols.

One funny thing today - I tried throwing Duccio into the scaffold and he was killed, but he still returned.  In fact, the next time in the area he actually chased me down as if he wanted to fight, but he never struck a blow. 

[mandru]

So far I'm 84 hours into the game and I've recently completed it with full synchronization and only one achievements and one action uncompleted.

The Tax Evasion achievement is basically catching one of the old Templar messengers and using a hook sweep to loot him of his cash without killing him.  The trouble is that he only popped up once during all the time I've been in the game and that was at a point where I had a mission in progress and couldn't break away to run him down.  :-\\

Supposedly he shows up near the banks at the times cash drops occur or very shortly there after and I've read that it's a matter of camping a bank in a hiding spot until he pops up.  There are three drops in a game day (once each twenty minutes for the player or one hour in a day cycle) and I've now spent two solid game days hiding in a group of citizens while one of the women natter on and on and on...  But no target has appeared yet. :D

I've read that he sometimes also shows up at a bank near the Arsenal entrance and I'm ready to try a different if only to get away from that incessantly chatty broad.



The action I've not collected and never will is called True Templar and it's tied to multi-player and from what I've read requires roughly 120 successful missions being played to earn enough points.  And it pays 40 UBI points? ???   Hell I'd pay UBI 40 points to not have to do multi-player.   
How many missions do you think I would need to drag through before I even start breaking even against seasoned multi-play veterans?   :knockout

[mandru]

I was able to look up the weapons unlocked by completing set #3 of each of the faction challenges.

The Romany faction provide the Romani Stiletto.
The Thieves faction provides the Ottoman Mace.
The Mercenaries provide the Broadsword.
The Assassins provide Altair's Sword.


I've found the IGN AC:R wiki site to be a valuable resource for some of those  :D moments you find in any worthwhile game.  While it is a w@&k in progress it has helped me a lot.   ;)

http://www.ign.com/wikis/assassins-creed-revelations

[Art Blade]

good read, chaps :)

Mandru, bringing your own walking knives to a boxing fight is truly a great achievement and a sign of a proper sick mind  >:D NICE one, mate  :-D :-X

[PZ]

... Hell I'd pay UBI 40 points to not have to do multi-player.   

[Art Blade]

yeah, that was a good one. :-D

[mandru]

The fight club is intended as a chance to wager on yourself against mercenaries was showing five matches starting with one opponent for a set amount of time (10 seconds I believe) and each following match unlocked by successfully competing in the preceding match has an additional opponent and slightly more time up to a total of five opponents in what I remember as 30 seconds.  The odds given for the payoffs for winning matches increased with each additional opponent added to the round.

I was at a point where I didn't need to bump my cash up by winning matches.  My experimentation with that part of the game was to see whether completing the first five rounds possible in setting up my matches if there was going to be additional rounds at higher stakes or even I hoped possibly that additional game content would be unlocked but that turned out not to be the case.

Yes Art those "walking knives" really seemed to enjoy themselves.  There were a few times they were so anxious to get dug into it that they were knocking me aside or trying to jump in over the top of me and on occasion I'd catch a too wild swipe of blade edge due to their enthusiasm.   ???

Ah well, it was all in good fun and I got the information I was looking for.   :-D

[Art Blade]

cool  :-X :)

That fight club reminds me of GTA IV, the ballad of gay Tony (dlc). There was a fight club, too, where you had to fight against increasingly stronger opponents, ending up fighting against several of them who on top were armed (while you weren't but you could disarm them, if you were skilled and quick enough, and then use their weapons which were knives or base ball bats). However, you could also take a break and watch the fights which were then NPC vs NPC and I studied them once I found out that they were always the same fighters (quite a lot of different guys, though). I was allowed to bet money on them and by the time I did (with a few hundred bucks) I left the club a millionaire.  :-D

[mandru]

 :-X

[PZ]

... I left the club a millionaire.  :-D

I think that if I went into the ring, my opponents would leave the club millionaires.  :-()

[mandru]

You get to set how much you can afford to lose (any amount) and then the bookmaker pay odds from that.   ;) :-X

[PZ]

Hey! Hire a band of thieves and try to keep them all alive (go over the building instead of across the pilings along the water route  ;) ) while getting to the fight club.    If you book a couple low level fights the thieves will wiggle their way into ring with you and start knifing your opponents (knives against bare knuckles? Ya sure!)  making it a lot easier to complete rounds but don't start placing too high of bets until after your thieves have actually started showing up inside the ring.   >:D

When you are done fighting you can pretty much forget the thieves because they will be trapped inside the fight ring and unable to get back out.

I tried this tactic the other day and it worked perfectly  :-X 

As I easily moved up the ranks in the number of opponents, it occurred to me that there would be no way I could defeat 5 opponents in the allotted time without my thieves.  :-()