Ubisoft

Author: Ubi_MarcelH

International Brand Manager @ Ubisoft Mainz Twitter: @com_raven

Happy First Annoversary!

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Hey Anno Community,

Time sure flies! Has it already been a year since you all first joined us in the age of the industrial revolution? Turns out the answer is yes, and what an incredible year it has been for all of us. So, let us look back at the first year of Anno 1800 together!

April 16, 2019: Anno 1800, the seventh game in the equally beloved and long-running Anno series is released, inviting PC gamers worldwide into the age of the industrial revolution

April 29, 2019: Thanks to all of you, we can announce that Anno 1800 is officially the fastest selling game in the franchise’s 20-year history! Thanks everyone ?

June 5, 2019: “The Anarchist” Dr. Hugo Mercier joins the party as the first new content release for the game, including a new NPC opponent (or ally), new quests and items. Alongside Hugo come new menus for construction projects like the world fair, dig site and court of justice.

July 30, 2019: Annoholics start the hunt for “Sunken Treasures” with our first DLC from the Season 1 Pass, which includs major new features like the diving bell system and item crafting with Old Nate, and of course the ever popular Crown Falls island, which has become the centerpiece of many a building record attempt. On the free side of things, Game Update 4 brings with it a higher zoom level, overall performance improvements, reworked expedition rewards and improvements to the trade route menu.

 

August 19, 2019: Not only does Anno 1800 make an appearance at the first ever gamescom Opening Night Live event alongside some of the biggest games of the year, but it also gives players a first glimpse at “Botanica” and “The Passage”, plus the announcement of the all-new day and night mode that many of you had been hoping for!

September 5, 2019: Our second Season 1 DLC, Botanica, makes your cities bloom with the new botanical garden, while bringing a lot of free improvements as part of Game Update 5. Among those are the beloved day and night mode, new plaza tiles for your cultural buildings, new botanical expeditions, ships being able to escort between sessions and… ghost ships. So many ghost ships.

October 1, 2019: As a result of the ghost ship invasion of 2019, we announce a change to our development roadmap, combining the free Game Update for the co-op and statistics features with the release of “The Passage” for December. We also announce a larger scale test to give community members to chance to help us fine-tune this huge update prior to release.

December 10, 2019: Marking the biggest day since release for Anno 1800, December 10 has something for everyone! “The Passage” invites players for a dangerous journey into the arctic, the statistics system gives everyone the ability to fine-tune their economy even further, the co-op mode unites former enemies, and the “Holiday Pack” allows Annoholics to construct a beautiful Christmas Market in their cities.

December 12, 2019: What’s the best way to end the year on a high note? Awards! Anno 1800 is the big winner at the 2019 edition of the German Developer Award, winning across all nominated categories, including the main award for the “Best German Game”. Dankeschön!

February 28, 2020: All good things must come to an end, and so we say goodbye to two long-time veterans of the Anno franchise, with Anno 1800’s Executive Producer Burkhard Ratheiser and Senior Creative Director Dirk Riegert moving on to other projects here at Ubisoft Mainz. In their stead, we welcome our new Game Director Manuel Reinher and Senior Producer Charles Harribey.

March 9, 2020: After an extended content break, Anno 1800 is back and firing on all cylinders with the announcement of the Season 2 Pass. For the first time ever in the history of the series, an Anno game will get a second year of support, including several free Game Updates and three all new DLCs! In addition, we have to say “thank you” to everyone in the community once more, as we announce that the game had attracted more than a million players by December 2019!

March 24, 2020: Only two weeks after the announcement, the new “Seat of Power” DLC kicks of Season 2 of Anno 1800 in style, inviting you to construct a magnificent palace. Alongside the new DLC comes Game Update 7, including several improvements like a difficulty setting for the influence system, improved multi-copy and reworked item pools for the diving bell system.

As you can see, we have been busy, and continue to be so with all the future goodness coming to the game. This Summer, we will invite you to give your farms a big boost with “Bright Harvest”, before travelling to the “Land of Lions” in Fall. And we are of course also working on new Free Updates, including an overview of all your items, and the much-rumored return of the “Great Eastern”.

 

Before we leave you for today, we again want to stress how all the above has only been possible thanks to your passion and support of Anno over the years. As a small token of our gratitude, we are releasing the “Imperial Pack” (Anno 1800’s Pre-Order Bonus) and all Twitch Drop Ornaments from 2019 to all our players for free… today! So the next time you start the game, you will have access to 10 additional ornaments, as well as the Imperial skins for the command ship and train engine.

Thanks for playing, stay tuned to the Anno Union for future news, and (most importantly)
stay safe and healthy!

Thanks,

The Anno 1800 Team

 

DevBlog: Seat of Power

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

“Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail,” wrote poet John Donne, an idea many a royal and tyrant appear to have refigured over the centuries, constructing extravagant and self-aggrandizing Palaces as an extension of the self— a demonstration of the power and freedom of divine privilege. The masses would look on in awe of what beauty and grandeur was possible, while they themselves grew ever more miniscule.

By constructing vast and lavishly-adorned palaces, rulers presumed they had the personal heft and prestige to fill the yawning emptiness within. Their gold oozed along every rim and chamfer, their
Objet d’art cluttered the mantelpieces, and the oil paintings of their illustrious ancestors gussied up the walls. But mere appearance of power and status will never be enough.

Any such seat of power must also have some connection, no matter how moot, to the important business of state. Such an immoderate edifice as a palace must be more than the oppressor’s great white
elephant— it must appear to the people to serve a purpose in their lives. It must be the constitutional heart of government, from which grave and meaningful decisions come to pass under the gavel, in chambers puffed full with the nation’s great political minds. An illusion of democracy. The Palace is the nexus of legislative limbs that reach out and touch every corner of the empire, where, as no leaping lord will admit, all of the real business is conducted…

The palace is as classic an Anno element as any, having been first introduced all the way back at the franchise’s birth in 1998 with Anno 1602. From then on, it would go on to serve in several other Anno games as something to aspire to in the late game, once you had mastered all other challenges. In this way, it would serve as the ultimate projection of your city-building prowess.  Now, the palace is ready to make its triumphant return in Anno 1800, kicking off Season 2 and living up to its predestined role as your “Seat of Power”.

 

A Seat of Power fit for any industrial ruler

Flexibility
both majestic and modular

The first thing players will notice about Anno 1800’s palace is its visual opulence. The palace joins the ranks of the botanical garden, museum and zoo as 1800’s latest modular building, giving you a lot of freedom on how to arrange the 6 different modules (straight, gate, corner, junction, crossing and end pieces, plus some cosmetic variations on the straight pieces) to your liking. As with our other modular building projects, it all begins with the main building, which you will unlock once the first investor calls your empire their home (assuming of course you can afford the associated significant building cost). You will also be able to build an initial number of modules, based on your profile level. As you attract additional citizens and raise your profile level, you will unlock the ability to place even more modules. And guess what- there is no hard limit on the number of modules you can unlock, with one community member reaching more than 130 modules in a recent playtest! Now before your mind starts drifting off with visions of an all-palace empire, there are some limitations we have to talk about- namely that you can only build one palace in your empire, and it can only be placed on an Old World island (so  either the original session, or Cape Trelawney from our “Sunken Treasures” DLC).

Beyond this limitation, you have a lot of flexibility when it comes to building your palace, and we have already seen a variety of impressive setups in our tests- from extravagant gardens to museums and even a world fair constructed within a sprawling palace’s inner courtyard! And of course, both streets and railway tracks can be placed inside the gates to make sure that whatever you want to construct inside the place grounds is properly connected to the rest of your city!

 

Entering the halls of power…

Projecting
your power, one buff at a time

But what about those players who don’t care pretty looks you, I hear some of you ask? Very well then- let us talk departments and policies! Once you construct your palace, you immediately gain access to one or more departments (based on your city attractiveness), with additional departments unlocking over time as your island increases its attractiveness. So, what do they do? For starters, each unlocked department immediately gives you access to a permanent buff, such as +200 tons islands storage per Harbormaster’s office on that island (each department is specialized on one aspect of your city, such as administration, culture or trade). In addition – and this is where things get really interesting – each unlocked department gives you a choice of several policies, of which only one can be active at a time (though you can switch them out). These give you a lot of flexibility to make sure that whatever the situation on your island currently is, you have full control of what boon you want to use.

 

The departments you can unlock over time

Of course,
it would not be Anno if there was not also a logistical element to it all- these boons only work in a certain radius around the palace, and only along the street network (though only the palace main building has to be connected to the streets, rather than every module). And, to bring everything full circle and ensure that future palace builders will have to make some tough choices, the radius of these effects increases with each additional palace module constructed. Do you want a minimal palace to leave as much room as possible for the rest of your city? Or are you looking to construct enough modules to have the effects of your policies reach across all of Crown Falls? As always, the choice is yours!

There is one more piece of the palace puzzle, and that is the local department. These are essentially outposts of the palace that you can construct once per Old World or Cape Trelawney island to select a single policy (out of al your unlocked departments and policies) to enact locally. Beyond this limitation, local departments follow the same rules as the main palace- they give a passive buff (based on the active policy you selected), and buildings must be both within their radius and connected to the street network to benefit from them. And yes- more palace modules also increase the range of the local departments. Happy city-puzzling, everyone!

 

What choices will you make for your islands?

Start ruling from March 24

And there you have it! Seat of Power combines a lot of flexibility for building the modular palace of your dreams with some tough choices when it comes to which buff to select for which island and local department. On top of that, you can prove your mastery with five new achievements, and two new sets of ornaments you can unlock with the Ubisoft Club. You can start constructing the “Seat of Power” of your dreams when the first DLC of Season 2 becomes available on March 24th for all Season 2 Pass owners. Starting on that day, you can also buy the DLC individually for 9,99€/ $, or your local equivalent. However, please note that due to the current government advisory on the Covid-19 pandemic, we will have to skip our traditional release stream for “Seat of Power”. Please take care of yourself and the people around you, and as always, keep an eye on the Anno Union for the latest news.

 

An illuminated palace at midnight

 

Announcing the Anno 1800 Season 2 Pass

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Prior to the release of The Passage last December, we excitedly announced our plan to deliver even more Anno 1800 to our 1 million+ pioneers of industrial revolution throughout 2020. This presents a unique opportunity for the Anno team, as it means that Anno 1800 will be receiving more postlaunch support than any previous game in the series! In the past, development of content has ended a year or so after the release of an Anno game, with the team moving on to the next title. With Anno 1800, we are excited to have the chance to flesh out the world of the industrial revolution even further, with new systems, citizen tiers and yes, even a new continent. Enter stage right: The Anno 1800 Season 2 Pass, which will be adding three exciting new DLCs to the game this year!

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Seat of Power (March 24)

It all begins later this month with our next DLC pack, Seat of Power, which allows you to construct a magnificent palace fit for the ruler of an industrial empire. And while we know that our modular buildings like the zoo or botanical garden are big hits with beauty builders, the palace has an altogether more profound impact on life in your capital. As the eponymous Seat of Power, the palace will house several departments, each giving you not only a passive bonus, but also the pick of several policies that you can use to influence different aspects of life in your city.

 

A majestically illuminated palace at night

Game Update 7 (March 24, free for all players)

Speaking of influence, we would be remiss if we did not mention our free Game Updates. As with Season 1, each of our three Season 2 DLCs will release alongside a free Game Update that will further improve and enhance the game for all Anno 1800 players. With Game Update 7, we will tackle one of the most discussed game systems by adding three separate difficulty tiers for the influence system. With this change, you can select whether you want to earn more, less or the same amount of influence as you currently do. And yes, this will also apply to existing save games, asking you to pick a difficulty the first time you load up your save game!

Bright Harvest (Summer 2020)

With our second DLC, we are taking the technological marvels of the second industrial revolution to the countryside, allowing you to boost your farms’ productivity to unknown heights! To do so, you will place new tractor modules on your farms, which will increase the overall productivity of the farm, while also lowering the required workforce. Depending on how many farms you have, this could mean a whole lot more space on your islands, and we can’t wait to see what you do with it! Of course, you will have to make sure that your tractors don’t run out of fuel along the way…

 

Early technical test of a tractor

To round out the theme of industrialization, Bright Harvest will also include a new selection of farming-and-industry-themed ornaments, to make your cities feel even livelier.

Land of Lions (2020)

We bet you didn’t see this one coming, eh? Jokes aside, we know that the community has been clamoring for an African-inspired session in Anno 1800 ever since we first announced that the game would be using the Session system, way back in 2017. Good things come to those who wait, and we are happy to say that Land of Lions will be the biggest DLC for Anno 1800, including a new session and continent, new citizen tiers, buildings, production chains and quests. In a new storyline, you will travel to the drylands to join up with Emperor Ketema, as he works to turn his lands green.

 

Discover the Land of Lions later this year

You will do so using the new irrigation system, making smart use of what little existing water there is on the map to construct a network of canals and fertile patches of soil. Anno veterans will notice similarities to Anno 1404’s Noria, though Land of Lions puts an all-new spin on the timeless fantasy of making the desert bloom. We also listened to your feedback regarding the Passage, and rest assured that Land of Lions will have a deeper impact on things in the old world! We will have much more information about all the new content later this year.

The Season 2 Pass is now available!

In addition to these three DLCs, buyers of the Season 2 Pass will also receive three exclusive new ornaments when Seat of Power launches on March 24th— so enjoy your first look at the appropriately-themed ‘Palatial Column’, ‘Ploughman’s Glory’ and ‘Elephountain’.

 

The Palatial Column and majestic Elephountain

The Season 2 Pass for Anno 1800 (including Seat of Power, Bright Harvest, Land of Lions and the three ornaments) is now available for purchase from Epic Games Store, Steam (Update: The Season 2 Pass sadly won’t become available on Steam until Seat of POwer and Uplay, for a price of 24,99 $/ €, which will represent a saving of 9,99 $/ € versus individual purchase of the three DLCs. We can’t wait to show you more about all three DLCs, and our free Game Updates over the coming months!

 

The Ploughman’s Glory is a monument to your farming prowess

You are cordially invited…

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

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We will see all of you next Monday, March 9th, at 5pm CET/ 4pm GMT/ 11am EST/ 8am PST on Twitch!

Changing of the Guard

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Hey Anno Community,

As we are getting ready to reveal our 2020 plans for Anno 1800 next month, we want to inform you about some changes in the Anno development team. At the end of last year, we said goodbye to two long-time veterans of the franchise, Burkhard Ratheiser and Dirk Riegert. While we are sad to see them leave Anno, we can appreciate that working on the same gaming series for over 15 years is a long time and that the huge success of Anno 1800 makes this the perfect time to hand the scepter over to our new leadership. Rest assured that both are staying with Ubisoft Mainz, exploring new ideas for future projects!

Burkhard is not only one of the co-founders of our studio here in Mainz but has been instrumental in Anno’s transition to full 3D as the Lead Programmer of our game engine during the development of 1701. Following that, he worked on Anno 1404 and 2070 as the Head of Graphics and R&D, before moving into game production with Anno 2205. Over the last years, he led Anno 1800’s development as Executive Producer. Of course, many of you know also know him from the eponymous “Burkhard’s Trail” easter egg from Sunken Treasures.

 

Burkhard on staging presenting Anno 1800

“I’m very thankful that I had the chance to contribute in several different roles to this great franchise. For the last 15 years Anno has always played a big part in my life and with Anno 1800 being the fastest selling Anno ever and for many also the best installment so far, the time has come for me to move to new ventures, handing over the baton to a new team. I would like to thank the Anno community for their great support and feedback over all these years, knowing that the fruitful collaboration will ensure that Anno has a bright future, continuing in providing countless hours of joy and excitement to our fans.” – Burkhard

Dirk probably needs no introduction to Anno devotees, given the number of interviews and live streams he has participated in over the years, earning him the loving nickname of Karrenschieber (“cart pusher”).  He is one of the driving forces behind the Anno games developed in Mainz, starting as Lead Game Designer on Anno 1701 and 1404, before taking over as the franchise’s Creative Director with the Venice add-on. He then took the franchise into the future and even space with Anno 2070 and 2205, before leading the Anno team and franchise into the age of the industrial revolution with Anno 1800 as Senior Creative Director.

„When I started as Lead Designer on ANNO 1701, I wouldn’t have dared to dream that I would help shape five Anno games over the coming 15 years! It is said that one should quit while they are ahead, and after the great success of ANNO 1800 last year this moment has finally come for me. I am already working on new, exciting projects within Ubisoft. The baton with the golden nine engraved in its knob has been passed on to Manuel. I for sure know that he will take perfect care of it.” – Dirk

 

Dirk across the ages

Which brings us to our new Game Director, so please welcome Manuel Reinher!

Manuel is a true strategy gaming veteran, having first started his career as an artist at Phenomic on Spellforce in 2004, before filling a variety of art related roles on games such as Spellforce 2 and Battleforge (by then as EA Phenomic, as the studio had been acquired by Electronic Arts in 2006). He has now been with Ubisoft Mainz for over 6 years, starting as Lead Artist for the futuristic cityscapes of Anno 2205, before leading the art team responsible for the detail-obsessed 19th century world of Anno 1800. As Game Director, he will oversee the overall future of the Anno franchise, both for future Anno 1800 content and beyond.

“Hi Anno Union, I’m Manuel, and extremely honored to follow in the footsteps of Burkhard and Dirk. Working on Anno for the last years has been a fantastic journey: After our adventures in space we brought the game back to a historical setting and we are extremely proud to kick off 2020 with new ideas and full of energy.

But, before we head into a bright ANNO future, I want to take the opportunity to say thank you: The success of Anno is just possible because of our hard-working team and the fantastic support we have from our community. So, I grab the baton: we have more opportunities than ever and I’m very excited to take the next steps together with all of you.” – Manuel

 

Manuel hard at work

And that’s it for today! Please give a round of applause to Burkhard and Dirk for their many contributions to Anno, and a warm welcome to Manuel! And as always, keep an eye on the Anno Union, as we get ready to unveil our plans for Anno 1800 in 2020!

 

 

The next steps for Anno 1800

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Today we want to give you an update on what is next for Anno 1800. We have received a lot of community feedback on Game Update 5, including some issues. The Anno community is at the heart of everything we do, so we are of course committed to improving the quality of all upcoming updates. As such, we have made some changes to our roadmap, which you can find detailed below.

Game Update 5.3 (mid-October)

We are currently working on Game Update 5.3, which we are planning to release in mid-October after extensive additional testing. For this update, we will be focusing on fixing the following issues:

 

  • Trains getting stuck inside the oil harbor
  • Ships getting stuck at the session border
  • Anarchist Main Story Quests appearing too rarely for some unlucky players
  • NPC characters having large fleets of duplicate ships
  • Ships in the ship list flickering/ switching around
  • Issues with selecting ships when preparing for an expedition
  • Ships returning to the wrong island after an expedition
  • The Shift+V command not working on depots
  • Ships of quest givers not despawning after the quests are finished, which can crowd NPC harbors
  • The Sunken Treasures session of Cape Trelawney being available without first doing the respective expedition
  • Ships drifting/ leaving their positions by themselves
  • Ships duplicating on the world map by registering multiple times for session transfer
  • Influence point balance being affected by saving and loading a game
  • Issues with manually loading/ unloading oil tankers
  • Quest objects spawning in water

Game Update 6 (December)

Game Update 6, including the previously announced co-op mode and statistics system, will be released alongside our third DLC, The Passage, in December. Combining all these content drops into one update will allow us to focus all of our polishing efforts into one release, giving us extra time for additional extensive testing of all the new content and new features. We are also planning to involve some of our Anno Union members in these tests, similar to the co-op technical test we conducted last week (more on that later this month).

We appreciate that some of you are very keen to get your hands on the co-op mode as soon as possible, but we hope that you will agree that getting the most polished experience possible is worth a few more weeks of patience.

We are as committed and focused on improving Anno 1800 as ever, and are looking forward to sharing more news on everything included in Game Update 6 – including the new arctic session, resident tiers, production chains and airships from The Passage, as well as the free co-op mode and new statistics features – in the weeks to come. Thank you all for your patience and ongoing support.

The Anno 1800 Team

Union Update: Anarchic News

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Our last Union Update for May not only brings you all the information you could ask for regarding next week’s Game Update 3, but also news on our next live stream. Finally, the Anno 1800 team is looking for some new blood, so let’s get right to it!

 

As you saw when we announced our Season Pass, we have some big plans for Anno 1800. To realize all of them, we are currently looking for some reinforcements to join our industrial revolution. So if you have experience working in game development and would like to help us shape the future of Anno, you should definitely check out our career portal!

We currently have the following openings:

3D Engine Programmer

Tools Programmer

Gameplay Programmer

Senior Game Designer

Lead Narrative Designer

Senior QA Tester

 

And right before the content launches, we will have another Community Corner Live-Stream with our Community Developer Bastian.
Tun in next Tuesday June 4th to have a closer look on the the Anarchist’s island while Basti answers your questions about the DLC and other community hot topics.

Anno 1800 – Community Corner: The Anarchist
When: Tuesday June 4th at 5pm CEST / 11am EST / 8am PST / 3pm UTC
Where: http:// twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

 

DevBlog: I want to be anarchy

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

The class struggle in the 19th century was a clash between capital and labor, between the money aristocracy seeking profit and the working people yearning for their individual rights and a sustainable way of living. To break the chains of the ruling class, many of them organized in unions and opened their minds to new ideas, preaching a more humane and progressive evolution of society. Naturally, some of those visions of what this new and better world could look like were more radical than others, stoked by agitators whose tongues were as sharp as any sword…

Dr. Hugo Mercier, the infamous Anarchist, will be the newest addition to Anno 1800’s diverse cast of characters. While ruthless robber barons like von Malching or visionary architects like Gasparov build their magnificent Metropolises on the back of the populace, the Anarchist is a true man of the people, breaking the chains of indentured servitude and freeing his citizens from capitalist oppression. At least that is what he will happily tell you, and anyone else willing to listen to his manifesto.

Us humble game developers, on the other hand, are happy to tell you how exactly he differs from other characters and what this means for you as the player, before we end with the cold hard numbers of content included with the Anarchist.

If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought
Unlike other NPCs in Anno 1800, Hugo Mercier does not bend to the rules of capitalism, and many of his political beliefs are also reflected in his gameplay. While he will follow the general game rules that other NPCs (and human players) have to with regards of production of good etc., his islands will deviate from his competitors in some major ways.  One such drastic exception is that as a vowed opponent of capitalism, the Anarchist will not allow any investors to set foot onto his island, capping his progression at engineer level instead. He also has strong feelings about the monetary system and religion, so do not expect to find any banks or churches throughout his empire.

The same is true for tourism. While Mercier is happy to welcome any new believers to live on his island, he despises the notion of hordes of idling tourists dallying around his utopian cities.

 

With all of those missing buildings, you may be wondering how Dr. Mercier keeps his citizens happy and following his party line? Those problems are nothing that a little bit of propaganda won’t fix. To this end, the Anarchist’s islands will have a unique look, as he will deck out his buildings with lots of banners, flags and posters to inspire his citizens’ love for the cause. To do so, he goes beyond just visuals- you will also see him constructing lots of speaker towers, which will play recordings of his teachings to his loyal subjects. You can of course listen in on them yourself to see whether you agree with his political leanings.

The Revolution devours its children

As it turns out, not all of his citizens do, which brings us to the defector feature. As Doctor Mercier’s grip on his islands tightens, many of his not-so-loyal-after-all subjects will be looking to leave his anarchistic experiment behind. To this end, they will offer you quests to accept them onto your islands. If you choose to do so, they will express their gratitude with rewards like new items or money.

At a certain point however, Mercier won’t accept you taking on all these defectors anymore, and may start to spread unrest among your own citizens with his agents. You will have to be very careful to manage this threat, lest anarchy and unrest can quickly engulf your own islands! To represent this in the game, we are introducing a new quest type related to his threat. For these, your citizens will make their demands known, leaving you with the choice whether you want to give in to their demand, or face the (sometimes dire) consequences, such as fires and riots in your city. Defectors will require players to constantly balance the benefits of receiving their rewards with the risks of anarchic mayhem spreading in your empire. Long-time Anno fans may recognize the conceptual similarities to the beggars in Anno 1404 (or Dawn of Discovery, as it was known in many regions).

 

Friend or Foe?

Of course, the defection mechanic is not the only way that players will be able to interact with the (fully voiced) Anarchist, who is a medium-difficulty opponent. Similarly to our other NPC opponents, he will also offer players a range of voluntary quests to undertake, during which they will learn more about the character and the beliefs driving him.

As part of that, he may occasionally ask you to print special propaganda articles in your newspaper on his behalf. These special marked texts will not cost you any influence to print and will provide you with powerful buys, though there will also be associate downsides for them.

Another aspect setting him apart from his peers is how trade-happy he is. Not only is he very easy to come to a trade agreement with, but he will also offer to sell you items, which is usually reserved for third-party characters like Madame Kahina. One of these items you will be able to acquire from him are the new sea mines, which speak to his defense-focused nature.

The Anarchist content and Game Update 3 (Release Notes on this coming next week) are planned to be released on June 5. He will be available to all owners of the Digital Deluxe and Pioneers Editions. Should you have bought the Standard Edition at launch, you can now upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition to not only gain access to The Anarchist once he is released, but also the digital art book, digital soundtrack and 4 unique company logos.

The Anarchist at a glance

New medium-difficult AI opponent: Dr Hugo Mercier, the Anarchist

New defection system to keep players on their toes

Over 50 new quests

Over 50 new items

Unlock his portrait and logo for your own profile

6 new Achievements to challenge players

2 new ornaments you can unlock via Ubisoft Club to build in your city

 

Union Update: Rumors of Anarchy (Updated)

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

Hello, and welcome to another short, but nevertheless important Union Update! This time we will cover the release of today’s Game Update 2, give you first information on GU 3, and also tease you about our next major content release, The Anarchist. What fun!

Game Update 2 is out now

By the time you are reading this, we will have already released our Game Update 2, which includes a broad variety of bug fixes and balance adjustments. You can find the full list of release notes for this 850mb update in last week’s Union Update.

Coming up next: Game Update 3

Of course, there is no rest for the wicked, so we are already hard at work on our next game Update. While it is too early to go into details on the many fixes we are planning to include, we wanted to give you a first glimpse of what you can look forward to:

 

  • Eli Bleakworth has been busy locking up criminals, giving you access to a wider variety of specialists you can acquire on his prison island
  • We have reworked the monument construction interface for the world fair
  • Get ready to go an expedition with the first community-submitted event from our previous Union contest and vote

This Game Update will be released alongside the coming release of The Anarchist. Which naturally brings us to…

Coming next week: Our DevBlog on the Anarchist

As previously announced, our first big content release after launch will be The Anarchist character, whom you can already secure today by buying the game’s Digital Deluxe or Pioneers Edition of the game (or via the Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade). Next week, we are planning to give you much more insights into this unique new NPC opponent and content, and some of the major ways in which he will differ from our existing cast of characters. Without giving too much away, let us just say that you will want to keep a close eye on your own islands when competing with his charismatic demagogue. Never underestimate the dangers of anarchy…

Update: The Anno Union Company Logo is now available

You asked for it, so here it is: The much asked-about “Anno Union Emblem” company logo is now available for redemption from the Club Rewards section on Uplay. So go forth and represent the Union!

Announcing the Anno 1800 Season Pass and our free content plans

Posted on by Ubi_MarcelH

One of the most frequently asked questions over the past weeks and months has been what kind of post-launch content and support players could expect from Anno 1800. Today, we are happy to answer some of those questions, as we announce our Season Pass, which consists of three DLCs (which will also be available separately) that we plan to release throughout 2019. We are also giving you a first glimpse at our free content plans, and detail how you can upgrade your standard edition of the game to the Digital Deluxe Edition to secure the Anarchist character that we will release in the coming months.

The 1800 Season Pass is here

Let’s start with the biggest news: We are announcing the Anno 1800 Season Pass, which will give players access to three big content drops that we will be releasing throughout the year.

Our goal with these DLCs is to offer a variety of content that expands on all the new features and systems of Anno 1800. This includes some new additions that the community has been asking for or speculating about. So let us a first teasing look at what to expect when you buy the Season Pass.

DLC 1: Sunken Treasures

Expand your island with a new European session and large continental island, as you join an eccentric inventor and his diving bell on a treasure hunt.

DLC 2: Botanica

Grow your city’s attractiveness to new heights with a modular Botanical Garden, allowing you to earn new items and rewards as you draw the tourist masses to your floral masterpiece. Alternatively, construct the new Musical Pavilion and enjoy beloved tracks from previous Anno games inside your city.

DLC 3: The Passage

The Passage will take you on a new adventure to the Arctic Circle as you explore the legendary Northwest Passage. To succeed in this merciless climate, you will need to construct an arctic outpost and master all-new production chains and goods.

Cosmetic Content (available on Day 1)

Buyers of the Season Pass will also immediately receive three cosmetic customization items that you can use to customize your game profile for multiplayer: the prisoner portrait, and two exclusive company logos (“Promethean Fire” and “Eagle Crest”).

The Anno 1800 Season Pass is now available for digital purchase and is priced at 24,99$/€.

Upgrade your game to Digital Deluxe and secure the upcoming Anarchist character

Another question that has frequently popped up is how players who have bought the standard edition of Anno 1800 could get access to the Anarchist character when it is released. This is now possible, thanks to our Digital Deluxe Edition upgrade, which you can now buy to upgrade your version of the game.

Doing so unlocks fours things for you:

  • Access to the Anarchist character (once he releases in the future)
  • 4 unique company logos you can use to customize your profile (now available)
  • A digital version of our beautiful artbook (now available)
  • A digital selection of music from Anno 1800’s orchestral soundtrack (now available)

Also, to avoid any confusion: The Anarchist is only available as part of the Digital Deluxe Edition, the Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade and the Pioneers Edition. It is not part of the Season Pass (see above for details on what is included in the Season Pass).

So, who is the Anarchist, exactly?

“A self-proclaimed anarchist, Dr. Mercier has created a radical new society free of the state. Formerly champion of a union of student dentists, Mercier was asked by the Queen to use his popular appeal to pacify increasing threats of revolution in her territories. Instead Mercier sided with the protesters, declaring the people’s complete independence from crown authority.”

In game terms, the Anarchist is a new NPC opponent you can select to play against, including his own unique set of quests and rewards for the player to tackle. And while we don’t want to spoil too much, we can safely say that he will bring a very flavorful and unique playstyle to the game, with his own set of behavioral rules that mirror his views on politics and society.

Consider yourselves warned…

Did someone say Free Content?

As you can see from the above, we do have some big plans to support Anno 1800 and to make sure it stays exciting and fresh for our Annoholics. To this end, we are also planning to deliver regular Game Updates that will be free for all players of Anno 1800. Those will not only include bug fixes and ongoing balancing, but will also include all-new game content- some of which is a direct result of your feedback here on the Anno Union. So let’s see what’s in store (Note: We can’t promise any dates when this content will hit, so the below order does not necessarily reflect how it will be released).

Statistics Building

One request we have seen from many of the more experienced Anno players that love to go all in on the min-maxing is to have more information about their production chains and their output available. To provide you this information, we will be introducing a new statistics building in the future.

Co-Op Mode

You asked for it, and we listened: Anno 1800 will receive a free co-op mode in a future update, allowing you to team up with your friends to take shared control of a single empire as it evolves throughout the industrial revolution

Community Challenges

We will be giving the Anno Community regular challenges that will require all of you to come together to reach a shared goal. Doing so will unlock new cosmetic customization options like company icons or even skins for all participants. Go Anno union!

And that’s it for today! We know that you are all busy enjoying Anno 1800 as it currently stands, but we hope you enjoyed this first glimpse of what we have planned for you in the future.