Author: Ubi-Thorlof

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Union Talk – Cosmetic DLC and current Voting

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Marcel and Oliver used one of those rare occasions they’re at the office at the same time to sit down and talk about Anno 1800’s Cosmetic DLC and their personal favourites of the current voting in this new Union Talk.

 

But hey, what are Union Talks again?

Since it has been over a year since the last episode, during which a lot of new players have joined the Anno community, it is worth reintroducing our Union Talk videos to you all.

Unlike our tightly scripted and focused trailers, Union Talks are not intended to deliver breaking news about upcoming content, but instead, take a longer format to take you behind the scenes of Anno development and to explain how and why we do things we way we do.

Do you have any questions about the topic of Cosmetic DLC or are there any topics you’d like us to cover in a Union Talk? If there’s something you have always been curious about regarding the development of the Anno games or the inner workings of our team, let us know in the comments, and maybe we can cover it in a future episode!

 

And now: Grab a coffee or some hibiscus tea and watch the two ramble on.

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(Also: Who watched the full 27min?)

Vote for this year’s Cosmetic DLC!

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

One lesson we learned over the last years is that there’s no such thing as “too many ornaments” for our beauty-builder community. We can see this being reflected in both the reception of, for example, the new harbour ornaments added with “Docklands” as well as the success of the three Cosmetic DLC we havereleased up until now.

For 2021, we’d love to expand on this and work on two more Cosmetic Packs for you. And as announced last week, we are planning to once more put the decision on the topics into the hands of you, our Anno Union community!

In total, we’re presenting you five possible Cosmetic DLC topics, of which we’re planning to develop and release the top two. More precisely, we plan to release both packs later this year in the same way we have done in 2020. As you will see, several of the topics are inspired by your feedback and suggestions while others are the result of internal brainstorming.

The exact content and scope depend on the theme of the pack, especially since we also have another Skin Pack for you to vote on. As before, the packs will be standalone purchases for a price of 4,99€ and will not be part of the Season 3 Pass to give our players maximum flexibility over their Anno 1800 experience.

And now enough of the introduction, here are the 5 themes you can vote on!

 

“Vibrant Cities Pack”: Change the look of your city with new skins for various buildings.

“New World Pack”: Enhance your New World session with dedicated ornaments and decorations.

“Pedestrian Zone Pack”: Make your pedestrian’s life more comfortable with over- and underpasses, statues, wells, and more.

“Eldritch Pack”: Introduce fantastical and gothic horror elements to your city with some spooky ornaments.

“Big Top Pack”: Have the circus come to town whenever you feel like it!

 

Of course, all of us on the Anno 1800 team have our own favourites that we are crossing fingers for, and we can’t wait to see which theme will emerge as the community’s favourite!

The voting will run for two weeks and end on Thursday, April 22nd at 11:59pm CEST / 5:59 EDT. You can click on any of the images to view them in full size. Happy voting, and stay safe!

[totalpoll id=”12713″]

*Please note that as before, all content will be cosmetic and will not change Anno 1800’s gameplay. The names of the packs are “working titles” and might change later on.

Union Update: Vehicle Liveries Pack release

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

 

last week we talked about our Cosmetic DLC plans for 2021 and the upcoming “Vehicle Liveries Pack”. The latter is now available via Prime Gaming and can be claimed by following the instructions at the end of this article.

 

The following pictures give you an overview of all available skins, just click on an image to see it in full size.

As mentioned last week, the “Vehicle Liveries Pack” will later this year become available via the Ubisoft Store, Epic Store and Steam (for owners of the Steam version) for the price of 4,99€.

Make sure to also check last week’s post for more details on our Cosmetic DLC plans.

 

You can already look forward to Thursday, when we will launch the vote for the remaining two Cosmetic DLC for this year. We’re already curious, which topics will end up being your favorites 😉

How to claim your “Vehicle Liveries Pack” with Prime Gaming:

  • Subscribe to Prime Gaming (https://gaming.amazon.com/)
  • Visit the Prime Gaming rewards page (https://gaming.amazon.com/anno1800)
  • Log in to your Amazon account
  • Link your Ubisoft account with your Amazon account
  • If you accidentally linked the wrong Ubisoft account to your Amazon account and you haven’t yet claimed the “Vehicle Liveries Pack”, go to https://primegaming.ubisoft.com to unlink your accounts
  • Visit https://support.ubi.com/ to troubleshoot any issues with your Ubisoft account
  • Visit the Prime Gaming FAQ for any questions about Prime Gaming

 

You will receive your “Vehicle Liveries Pack” automatically in-game. Keep in mind it can take up to 48 hours for the content to be delivered in-game!

Our Cosmetic DLC plans for 2021

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

with Season 3 well underway, we today want to give you on update on our plans for Cosmetic DLCs in 2021.

 

Vehicle Liveries Pack – available starting April 6 from Prime Gaming

First off is something many of you have been asking for- more vehicle skins! The “Vehicle Liveries Pack” adds more than 30 new looks to your airships, ships, and trains, including both skins and new model variations.

As part of Ubisoft’s partnership with Prime Gaming, this pack will be exclusively available to Prime members for a limited time, at no additional cost. From April 6 onwards, any Amazon Prime members can redeem the Pack here to start outfitting their fleets.  If you are not an Amazon Prime member yet, you can sign up for a free trial, which also allows you to redeem the “Vehicle Liveries Pack”.

Later this year, the Cosmetic DLC will become available for purchase on Ubisoft Connect, the Epic Games Store and Steam (for owners of Anno 1800).

Here’s a complete overview of everything included in the “Vehicle Liveries Pack”:

Ships:

  • 2 Battlecruiser skins
  • 2 Clipper skins
  • 2 Cargo Ship skins
  • 2 Command Ship skins
  • 2 skins for the Imperial Command Ship (available to all players since the game’s first anniversary)
  • 1 Command Ship model variation
  • 2 skins for the Command Ship model variation
  • 2 Frigate skins
  • 2 Gunboat skins
  • 2 Ship-of-the-Line skins
  • 2 Monitor skins
  • 2 Schooner skins

Trains:

  • 3 skins for the train
  • 3 skins for the Imperial Train (available to all players since the game’s first anniversary)
  • 1 train model variation

Airships (only available to owners of “The Passage” DLC):

  • 3 airship skins
  • 1 airship model variation

Now comes the best part – to give you maximal flexibility in how you want to customize your fleet’s look, you can change the skin on every single vehicle at any time. Want to have your Battlecruisers operating in the new world to sport a unified “Conqueror” paint job? Go for it! Want to make sure that all your sail ships look their best for the next time a monument finishes construction on your main island? Dress them up for the occasion in the “Parade” livery!

 

Get ready to cast your ballot

Last Spring, we asked you, the community, to cast a vote to decide what Cosmetic DLC you would like to see next, giving you the choice between amusement park, circus, and city themes. And while we could not anticipate that you would essentially vote for both the “Amusements Pack” and the “City Lights Pack” (with a difference of less than 1% between them), we happily obliged by releasing them both in August and November of last year, respectively.

Starting next week on April 8 and running for two weeks, you will once again be called upon to vote for our next Cosmetic DLCs. Yes, that is DLCs as in plural – we will offer the choice between 5 new topics, and the two most voted for candidates will be realized as new Cosmetic DLCs for Anno 1800 later this year.

Many of us on the team have already picked their personal favorites that they will be crossing their fingers for, and we can’t wait to see how they will fare in your voting. We’ll see you next week to find out!

Stay safe,

The Anno Team

How to claim your “Vehicle Liveries Pack” with Prime Gaming:

  • Subscribe to Prime Gaming (https://gaming.amazon.com/)
  • Visit the Prime Gaming rewards page (https://gaming.amazon.com/anno1800)
  • Log in to your Amazon account
  • Link your Ubisoft account with your Amazon account
  • If you accidentally linked the wrong Ubisoft account to your Amazon account and you haven’t yet claimed the “Vehicle Liveries Pack”, go to https://primegaming.ubisoft.com to unlink your accounts
  • Visit https://support.ubi.com/ to troubleshoot any issues with your Ubisoft account

 

You will receive your “Vehicle Liveries Pack” automatically in-game! Content to be delivered in-game within 48 hours of redemption.

 

Frequently asked questions

Q: Do I have to have Prime Gaming?
A: Yes, a Prime Gaming membership is required to receive Prime Gaming rewards – Prime Gaming is included free with Amazon Prime, and free trials are available for new users.

Q: Is this for all platforms?
A: It can be redeemed on PC only.

Q: I don’t see my rewards.
A: If you’re having trouble redeeming your Vehicle Liveries Pack, please contact support (support.ubi.com).
For more information about Prime Gaming, visit the Prime Gaming FAQ.

Union Update: News and a 1602 livestream

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Annoholics,

in this week’s Union Update we’ll give you a quick round of news for the upcoming days:

 

Update on Wednesday 24th

We received some reports about issues with certain antivirus programs and will therefore replace the current Anno.exe in an update tomorrow. This update does not include any fixes or other changes.

Anno 1602 Livestream

Might feel like yesterday for some, but Anno 1602 is turning 23 on Wednesday next week! This calls for a livestream (and maybe a History Collection giveaway?), but with next week cut short due to the Easter weekend, we decided to celebrate a bit earlier:
This Friday at 5 PM CET we invite you to join us on Twitch when we dive into an Anno 1602 multiplayer match!

Game Update 10.2

We’re currently in the process of testing Game Update 10.2. We’ll share more information and the Release Notes with you next week.

Anno 1404 (legacy) Online Services

We have to inform you that the decision was taken to shut down the services for some older Ubisoft games with smaller online audiences on May 22nd. This includes the legacy version of Anno 1404.
The reason for this is that it allows the Ubisoft IT and service staff to better focus on newer titles with bigger active player numbers. We understand that the multiplayer of Anno 1404 is still popular with parts of our community and that some of you may therefore be disappointed by this news. Until May 22nd the online services including the multiplayer will still be fully available, the singleplayer experience is not affected.
A list with all games for which the online services are or will be disabled can be found on the official Ubisoft Forums.

Union Update: A packed Community Spotlight

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

While we’re in a slightly quieter period right now, you’re all definitely not quiet at all when it comes to sharing impressions and stories from your games. So, we’ll dedicate this Union Update to a variety of art, screenshots and videos created by our awesome community!

 

There’s just one thing we wanted to mention first based on the results of the Reddit AMA we did a few weeks ago:

We’ve seen many really interesting questions but some of them would’ve required much more detailed explanation than we were able to give on Reddit to provide the full picture. So, there are a few points we want to get back to in dedicated articles in the coming months.

If there are any topics you’d like to hear about or development insights you’d love to know more about, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Community Spotlight

 

Let’s start things off with a quite relatable comic by the great Dulcamarra – we’re sure her city is absolutely fine.

Talking cities, Breadom created a wonderful cinematic video for his current savegame. Definitely worth watching!

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Over on the Anno 1800 subreddit, painter Virginie shared a photo of the artwork she created at her brother’s request.

To round things off, some idyllic screenshots from our community like this busy coffee production area by Poppytat…

… this little farming village below the old castle on Crown Falls by Neptun_VII.…

… and the “Imperial Gardens” by YameroReddit.

Finally, in collaboration with Ubisoft’s “gTV” channel, Simon from ClayClaim recreated the Docklands in polymer clay. Something for all model-making fans out there.

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*Note: Screenshots and videos in the Community-Spotlight can include elements like buildings from mods that are not available in the regular game.
Please be aware that the use of mods happens at your own risk and can lead to technical issues or bugs.

Union Update: Community Spotlight

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

A little bit over a week ago we’ve released “Docklands” alongside Game Update 10, giving you all the option to build a massive Docklands district in your harbour. We’ve already seen plenty of examples as to what kind of designs you came up with the Docklands themselves and the new ornaments – you can find some impressions at the end of this post.

We’re happy to see the new DLC as well as the quality of life improvements we added with Game Update 10 are so well-received. Additionally, we want to once more add a big thank you for everyone who participated in last week’s AMA on the Anno subreddit – we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! 🙂

 

Game Update 10.1

While the reception overall was very positive, we were also made aware of a few new bugs that affected your enjoyment of the game. We’re currently working on an update to address the most pressing of these issues. While we’re planning to release the update in the near future, we do not have a precise date yet. Keep an eye on our channels for news.

 

Community Spotlight – Docklands

We promised some impressions from our community’s Docklands designs, so follow along:

Kaankaan7 combined their “wishlist” with a screenshot of their redesigned harbour area.

Quite a few different layouts were tested by MichaelEugeneLowrey.  You can find one example below but might want to check out the full Reddit thread for additional inspiration:

For a super symmetrical solution, look no further, Wardinary got you covered:

All new content of course has to be “night mode tested” – thank you to Grieswurst for providing some beautiful impressions of the Docklands by night:

And finally… we can see that TheUnbrokenCircle’s shipbuilders were very excited when they managed to get their hands on the new blueprints. Maybe a little bit too excited…

 

 

 

 

*Note: Screenshots and videos in the Community-Spotlight can include elements like buildings from mods that are not available in the regular game.
Please be aware that the use of mods happens at your own risk and can lead to technical issues or bugs.

Try out Anno 1800 for free this weekend!

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Are you still debating if Anno 1800 is the game for you? Or do you know people who aren’t convinced Annoholics yet? Then wait no longer since we got the solution for either scenario to celebrate the launch of Season 3:

From February 25th till March 1st  you can play Anno 1800 for free!

This Free Weekend version contains the full main game (without any of the DLC) and is completely compatible with the regular version of Anno 1800 in multiplayer. The ideal opportunity to start a co-op game and help your friends set up their first industrial metropolis.

Even better: If you decide to purchase the game after testing (it’s currently reduced by 50% in the Ubisoft Store), you can simply continue your savegame from the test period!

 

The pre-load is already possible on Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Launcher, the Free Weekend itself will start on Thursday. You can see the exact times for your region below.

 

Enjoy the Anno 1800 Free Weekend – and don’t forget to tell your friends! 😉

Union Update: It’s “Docklands” release day!

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Annoholics!

 

It’s release day for “Docklands”! You can now download and play the first DLC of Season 3!

Not only will this allow you to construct your very own modular warehouse district to make more efficient use of your harbour area, but also give you access to the new “Export/Import Contracts” feature. With those you can exchange goods at specific rates, even in large quantities, which allows you to specialize your economy and even focus exclusively on certain goods while importing the rest via contracts.

The Docklands and its modules allow you to turn your harbours into global trade hubs which you can make shine additionally by various new harbour ornaments like *drumroll* two different kinds of lighthouses! We know you’ve been waiting for those 😉

More details and screenshots can be found in our extensive DevBlog from last week!

 

Alongside the new DLC, we’ll be releasing Game Update 10, with various improvements as well as some new features free to all players. We have published the Release Notes yesterday and you can find them here.

 

 

Both “Docklands” as well as Game Update 10 released today at 6 PM CET (12 PM EST, 9 AM PST) and the DLC can then also be purchased as individually for 6,99€ in the Ubisoft Store, Epic Store and on Steam (for owners of the Steam version of Anno 1800).

“Docklands” is also part of the Season 3 Pass – you can read all details about it here.

 

We’re excited to see you create your very own Docklands and are looking forward to your feedback on the new features! Don’t forget to share some screenshots!

 

 

 

Union Update: Twitch Drops & Reddit AMA

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

The release week is drawing near, and we have some final announcements to make to help you prepare for what’s to come ?

 

Reddit AMA

First, since there seems to be a great demand for knowledge, we thought a proper AMA (“ask me anything”) would be a nice idea, to give you all the opportunity to ask whatever question you want to the Anno 1800 dev team.

This AMA will happen over on the Anno subreddit where we’ll start a new thread on Monday. From the 22nd till the 25th, members from various departments of the Anno team will be active on Reddit to reply to your questions posted in said thread.

There might of course be a few questions we can’t answer (yet) for various reasons, but we’ll do our best to address as many as we can.

We will share the link to the AMA thread on Monday via our social channels, so you don’t have to repeatedly refresh the subreddit page to look for it.

We’re looking forward to a great release week with interesting questions!

“Docklands” Twitch Drops

Over the coming days, we will give you the opportunity to already take a closer look at the contents of Season 3’s first DLC – “Docklands” – as well as the improvements coming with Game Update 10, by watching some of your favourite streamers during another Twitch Drops Event.

The whole event takes place from Friday, February 19 until Sunday, February 28.

During the event, you will be able to watch how a variety of selected Twitch streamers turn their harbors into massive trade hubs with the new Docklands district and the Export/Import Contracts. Oh, and don’t forget about all the new ornaments!
Anyone watching them construct the modular Docklands and exporting thousands of tons of fish for a handful of Steam Carriages can grab two brand new ornaments, the “Docklands” Flag and the “Docklands” Lamppost. The only thing you need to do is to first link your Ubisoft account to your Twitch account and then watch the streamers during the event for up to 3 hours to receive your loot. You don’t have to watch these hours consecutively to receive your drop; watching them accumulated on participating streamers will also grant you the ornaments.

After receiving a drop, you need to claim it via the Twitch inventory.
Please be aware that all rewards will only be delivered to you after the end of the Twitch Drop Event.

If you haven’t already done so in the past, make sure to first link your Ubisoft- and Twitch-account by following the steps outlined on this website.

You can find the full list of all participating Streamer below: