Author: Ubi-Thorlof

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Anno News & Community Spotlight

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Time for another Union Update to keep you, dear community, up to date on what’s happening in the world of Anno!

Status of the Land of Lions Technical Test

The Technical Test for Game Update 9 and Land of Lions is still ongoing and will last till August 14th. In fact, we sent out another wave of invites yesterday, so make sure to check your inboxes and spam folders!

We’re extremely happy with the amount and quality of feedback we received so far and based on that our team is working hard on making your trip to the Land of Lions this autumn a memorable experience.

This also means that you will unfortunately have to wait till after the conclusion of the Technical Test until we’re able to share more details on Season 2’s last DLC and the improvements which are part of Game Update 9.

If you’re part of the Technical Test and haven’t shared your feedback with us yet, please join us on the dedicated forum.

Amusement parks opening soon

While Land of Lions is still a little further away, we can announce that the release of the “A Day at the Amusements” cosmetic DLC pack is drawing near. Stay tuned for more details to come soon, for now, we leave you with this little teaser:

Game Update 1.3 for the History Collection

Today we also want to give you an update on the situation regarding the Anno 1404 History Edition’s performance. When we first released the Anno History Collection a month ago, many of you reported less than satisfactory performance, which was sometimes much worse than in the original release. In addition, it was not possible to select DirectX 10 as your preferred API, instead being forced to use DirectX 9 (which also meant that some graphics options were not available).

The good news is that we have been busy investigating these issues since then and will be addressing them with the release of Anno 1404 History Edition Game Update 1.3 soon. First of all, DirectX 10 is working correctly again, meaning that you can enable the Transparency option in the game’s graphics options.

We have also made huge strides with game performance, and most users can expect the 1.3 performance to be on par with the original game. In many situations, you will find the History Edition to be exceeding the original game, sometimes by a significant margin. One area we have put a special focus on during our optimization work has been late game cities with more than 100k residents. And, as a welcome side effect of our work on Anno 1404 HE, we have also been able to apply some of the improvements to Anno 1701 HE, which is also receiving some (more modest) performance improvements with Game Update 1.3.

We are expecting to release Game Update 1.3, which is the last planned update for the time being, in August. Keep an eye out for the full release notes at the time.

Community Anno Afternoon with Anno 1404

Anno 1404 is also the candidate for next Friday’s Anno Afternoon livestream where we’re planning to dive into a community multiplayer match. More details, as usual, to follow next week.

Community Spotlight

Finally, it’s about time for another Community Spotlight where we share some of the creations and stories you posted across all our channels.

We’ll start with this amazing Anno-dragon artwork by FerudaFarstaria and Wolfi Hitory which was shared on the English Anno forums.

There are still new players regularly joining the Anno community and working on building their island empire. Luckily you, the awesome community, has worked on so many fantastic tutorials and guides helping new players learn the ropes and all the tricks they might need for a sprawling mega-city. We want to share two more recent ones here, but feel free to share your videos or written guides with us and we’ll happily feature them here in a future Union Update or on our social channels.

The first one is by perafilozof with a collection of 9 tips and tricks:

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The second video is by Takarazuka who besides his Let’s Plays has already created several other handy guides in the past:

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Finally, some impressions and stories shared by community members on the forums and on reddit:

Over on the forums SirQuestinghood has shared impressions from his city with us, always wrapped into a little story, like the opening of the Grand Central Station:

On reddit, ArtavaZzd shared a recreation of the palace of their home town:

And with the current summer heat, what better place to cool down than the Arctic, which offers romantic views like this one by Muesli_pmzjs:

If you’re an Anno veteran, why not jump into this discussion revolving around “I want to take a break from Anno 1800, which other Anno title would you recommend to play?”

 

 

*keep in mind that videos and screenshots from other players shown here or on the linked channels may contain mods which alter visuals or gameplay.

Technical Test start and an Anno Afternoon

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

The Technical Test has started!

The Technical Test for Land of Lions and Game Update 9 has started this morning and the first wave of invites have been sent out over the weekend.

If you have not received an e-mail yet, keep in mind we’ll be inviting several waves of testers over the coming weeks – just like last time. So keep an eye on your inbox!

For everyone participating in the test, please keep in mind the Technical Test is under an NDA, which means you’re not allowed to share any details, pictures or videos of the test except in the dedicated forum.

Therefore, please visit this dedicated forum and share your feedback there – and only there 😉

 

We know you’re all impatient for more news about Land of Lions to be prepared for its release in Autumn. And do not worry, after the conclusion of the Technical Test we will slowly start on the road to release.

Anno 1701 adventures in this week’s Anno Afternoon

This Friday it’s time for another Anno Afternoon. It’s Anno 1701’s turn now and Ubi-Thorlof – with very professional help from Ubi-Hanabi – will go on an adventure in the first Anno game created by Related Designs, the team you now know as Ubisoft Mainz!

If you want to offer help in building a functioning city or just want to chat with them and other community members then join on Friday 24th at 5PM CEST over on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

There’ll also again be an opportunity to win a key for the full Anno History Collection! 😉

Anno History Collection Game Updates

Last but not least, our team is currently working on another Update for the Anno History Collection. One of the points we’re investigating for this Update are the performance issues in Anno 1404 you reported to us.

An Anno Afternoon with Anno 1503

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Anno Afternoon with Anno 1503

After taking a trip into the year 1602 last week, this week calls for adventures in 1503 – new islands want to be settled!
Ubi-Thorlof and Ubi-Trenchcoat are facing each other again in the multiplayer mode of the second game of the Anno series – and they’re bringing gifts! Like last week, you’ll have the chance to win a key for the complete Anno History Collection.

Tune in on Friday, July 10th, at 6PM CEST over on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

Of course more streams for the remaining games of the History Collection are planned and we have a few ideas on how to spice things up a bit.

If you have feedback to past livestreams or suggestions for future ones – let us know! Are there “special guests” you’d like to see on the show or is there a specific format you wish to see, for example another stream where we’re looking at savegames from the community? Write it in the comments.

In other news…

And when we’re already talking about the History Editions: Our team us currently working on the second update for the Anno History Collection. We will soon share more details with you.

Finally, don’t forget we just announced the Technical Test for Land of Lions and Game Update 9. If you want to help us test the last big update of Season 2, sign up for the test!

History Edition updates and livestream

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello dear Anno Community and welcome to the first Union Update on our shiny new website! We have several great news for you, so let's get started right away.

Welcome to the new Anno Union

Since Monday the now almost 3 years old Anno Union presents itself in a new, sleeker look. The new website provides several advantages like faster loading times, better optimisation for mobile devices and better support for more than just one game of the Anno series.

You might still see some issues with the layout here and there but we wanted to launch the website now to support the launch of the History Editions and get some feedback from you on the design.

Let us know and share your thoughts in the comments below the announcement.

Game Updates 1.1 for the History Editions

Talking about the History Editions: Thank you for your valuable feedback, your questions and the reports of a few issues with this re-release. Our team is currently investigating these reports and we can already announce a first patch for this week which will address several points on all 4 History Edition games like the language issue on the Steam version of the Anno 1404, the music problem when increasing the game speed in Anno 1503 and more.
We will have more details for you soon.

Currently still under investigation is for example the Anno 1404 History Edition using DirectX 9 instead of newer versions as well as other issues forwarded to us.

As with all Anno 1800 Game Updates before, you will be able to find all patch notes for the History Editions in the “Updates” section.

For the modders – a safe GUID range

As you know, we continue to being impressed and appreciate the work some our community members put into creating mods for Anno 1800. To make it a little bit easier for you when it comes to adjusting your mods to new Game Updates, we now reserved the GUID range 1337471142 to 2147483647 just for you. This range is “safe” and not used by us.

A nostalgic Anno Afternoon live stream

After a longer break, the Anno team is back with a History Edition live stream!
Ubi-Thorlof invites you to a slightly improvised Anno 1602 home office stream, joined by his colleagues Ubi-Hanabi and Ubi-Trenchcoat. To share your Anno 1602 stories and memories and get the chance to win a key for the complete Anno History Collection, tune in this Thursday at 6PM CEST over on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

Bright Harvest, a board game and contest winners

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Let the “Bright Harvest” begin

Last Tuesday, June 2, marked the release of the “Bright Harvest” DLC and Game Update 8!

Boost your agriculture by building silos and state-of-the-art tractors, and beautify your islands with additional farming and industrial ornaments. The farming revolution is already well underway!

Game Update 8 additionally provides you with a convenient item overview, bigger warehouses, the Great Eastern steamer and many smaller improvements and fixes which you can find here.

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Thanks to your feedback following the release, our team is currently working on Game Update 8.1 to address some of the concerns you voiced. We will have more info on it closer to its release around Mid-June.

 

Get ready for analogue Anno 1800

And another kind of announcement was made last week which we are extremely excited about: On Thursday Kosmos Spiele (whom you may be familiar with from games such as “Catan” and “Legends of Andor”) announced “Anno 1800: The Board Game”, releasing this autumn.

Famed game designer Martin Wallace, who has proven his industrial expertise with award-winning games such as “Age of Steam” and “Brass: Birmingham” will be handling this version of Anno 1800, which we are very excited about ourselves. Follow Kosmos’ Instagram channel for updates if you’re interested in developing your island and competing with friends or family around a table.

 

 

The “Seat of Power” Screenshot Contest

We also have some winners to announce! In late April we started the “Seat of Power” screenshot contest and asked you to share the most epic pictures of your palaces with us – and wow, we received a lot of stunning examples of our community’s creativity! From smaller coastal palaces to enormous inner-city complexes. From palaces with vast parks and flower beds over palaces with an integrated zoo or museum, broad triumph and parade streets and intricate hedge-mazes to dedicated courtyards for specific events and functions.

Understandably, we had a hard time deciding on the winners and want to thank all participants for sharing their creations with us.

Let’s then get to the winners who can look forward to some great gear from our friends at Corsair.

First place, a CORSAIR VOID Headset, CORSAIR IRONCLAW Wireless Mouse and CORSAIR MM350 mousepad, goes to justVera.

This massive palace complex not only incorporates a Zoo, Museum and Botanical Garden, but does so in an extremely elegant way with plenty of green to separate the different modules and paths inviting for a stroll through the vast park. Directly connected to the World’s Fair on the other side of the park and a broad street and park leading to the palace from the harbour our team was deeply impressed by the amount of planning that went into the creation of it.

 

In second place, the lucky owner to be of a CORSAIR IRONCLAW mouse and CORSAIR MM350 mousepad, comes ChrisX86!

We really liked the symmetry of his palace complex which at the same time still including variety like the hedge maze or differently styled flower beds and courtyards. While less green and more focused on mosaic and plaza tiles than others, the palace does not feel stuffed with decoration but provides plenty of space, offering a calm oasis with resting spots in a busy city.

 

In third place we have adam5909’s lake palace on Crown Falls which won him a CORSAIR HARPOON mouse and MM300 mousepad.

Far from the bustling, noisy city, this palace sits on Crown Falls’ large lake and offers a spectacular panorama thanks to the waterfalls in the distance. While smaller in size than some other palaces, plenty of parks, hedge mazes and other botanical arrangements make this a calm and quiet retreat for any ruler or magnate with a perfect view in all directions.

 

All winners will be contacted by us via direct message or forum PM so please keep an eye on your inbox!

Believe us, it was a tough choice to make and our team decided to add two honourable mentions for their different approaches to the topic of palace-building.

One is gntherfrank for his not only idyllically calm and green but also very realistically looking palace and garden. You can easily imagine coming across such a palace in real life, a retreat for a local count or duke while over the years the nearby city has grown closer and closer, slowly integrating the palace into the cityscape.

 

The other is Moppelkotze09 for the sheer insanity when it comes to the scale of the city design. While the palace itself is not as big as others, city and palace are directly interwoven in their design with the latter not only being at the centre of it all but also dividing the former into four districts. The amount of ornaments and parks built into this project impressed us so much that it indeed deserved an honourable mention.

 

Finally, again, a big thank you to everyone who sent us screenshots of their palace or posted them on the forums! We can’t wait to see what you manage to create with more ornaments and buildings of the following updates.

 

And now for some education with Fatherlorris

Last but not least we’re excited to share another comic strip by Fatherlorris of The Chapel with you.  Learn about Dr John Rae’s Arctic expedition and his discovery of the lost Franklin expedition:

 

 

Fatherlorris and the Arctic

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

All of the Anno games are inspired by history and our team spent a significant amount of time researching the era of Anno 1800. History buffs across all departments of the team spent countless hours going through hundreds of photographs and pictures as a reference for the design of ships and houses, researching on the societal changes and struggles of the time and discussing how to implement those as a gameplay feature. So while we are not and don’t want to be historically accurate, plenty of references can be found in the game.

The 1800s have also been an era of technology and innovations. Take “The Great Exhibition” that took place in London in 1851 as an example, which inspired the World’s Fairs in the game. Ground breaking innovations of the time found their way into Anno 1800, like railroads, electricity or steam ships, while Old Nate and his inventions are of course a small venture into early science fiction.

When we’re talking about expeditions, many of you were also curious about the inspirations for The Passage and we already had a Union Talk with our Game Writer África about the background of the DLC. So to give you a few more insights into the (ant)arctic expeditions of the time, for example the Franklin Expedition, we enlisted popular artist Fatherlorris of The Chapel and asked him to create some comics for us.

 

Who is this Fatherlorris and The Chapel, you ask? Well, we let him introduce himself:

Hi, my name is Ryan AKA Fatherlorris. And the Chapel is a little webcomic about strategy games.

How did you get into making comics – and even more so comics about strategy games?

I first started making comics as a hobby in high school, I am very dyslexic and wasn’t particularly literate so comics were a great way to make my friends laugh without needing to use too many words. But more importantly a great way of giving friends birthday and Christmas presents without spending any money. Then a few years ago I decided to sign up to reddit and post a comic there, it was a surprise success and I have been making comics ever since

Most of the games you’re creating comics about have a historical setting. A hobby of yours?

Yes, absolutely. Always been a huge fan of history. I am from South Wales, not too far from the Blaenavon Ironworks, one of the birthplaces of the industrial revolution. The landscape all around is shaped by the coal and steel industry and I think it’s almost impossible not to take an interest in it.

Obvious follow-up question: How did you get involved with Anno then?

I was actually a bit of a latecomer to anno, I only started playing with the release of ANNO: 1404 Venice. At the time it was one of the only multiplayer city builders on the market, and that really appealed to me.

With these latest comics focusing on the (Ant-)Artic: Do you have personal connections to those regions or their history?

I don’t have any personal connection beyond my great granddad sinking the coal mine that dug the coal that fuelled the ships that sailed to the arctic. I actually got interested in the Arctic by accident, I picked up a copy of The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard and it was one of the most gripping books I have ever read. Ever since I have been reading every diary about arctic expeditions I could get my hands on. If you are looking for crazy Tolkienesque tales about real people then I would definitely recommend a book written by or about an arctic explorer.

Thank you very much, Ryan!

So, without further ado: here is the first The Chapel comic about the events of the Franklin expedition. There will be 4 more about similar icy adventures which will be shared in future Union Updates – so keep an eye out 😉

 

Seat of Power Screenshot Contest

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

With all the tools necessary to construct a palace worthy of an industrial magnate at your disposal, we are sure that many of you have already created some amazing and lavish palace complexes! The ideal time to start another creative contest and ask you to share pictures of your architectural marvels with us.

Simply share your screenshots with us on Twitter using the #seatofanno hashtag or post them in this dedicated forum thread.

And while it is not mandatory and will not be part of the selection process, feel free to tell us more about your palace! Did you model it after any real-world monument? Is there any cool story behind it? We want to know!

The submission deadline is May 8th, 11:59pm CET. We will announce the winners in an upcoming Union Update after our team had some time to browse through all your magnificent screenshots.

Of course, palace-building is hard work, and needs the right tools. Thankfully, our good friends at CORSAIR (no business or family relationship to Anne Harlow) have once again volunteered to sponsor some of their great gaming hardware for the Anno Union, allowing us to offer these prizes:

 

Grand prize: CORSAIR VOID Headset, CORSAIR IRONCLAW Wireless Mouse and CORSAIR MM350 mousepad

2nd prize: CORSAIR IRONCLAW mouse and CORSAIR MM350 mousepad

3rd prize: CORSAIR HARPOON mouse and MM300 mousepad

Given current circumstances, we have to add a small disclaimer: Once we have selected the winners, we will undertake every effort to send them their prizes as soon as possible, though there may be some delays depending on the Covid-19 related regulations at the time.

Good luck to all palace builders out there, we are looking forward to your creations! And as always, stay healthy and safe!

Twitch Drop Event: Seat of Power

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

To prepare you for all architectural challenges of our upcoming Season 2 Pass DLC “Seat of Power” as well as Game Update 7, we will run another Twitch Drop Event beginning this Friday.

The whole event takes place from Friday March 20th and – to give you some time to pick your favourite streamer – will last until March 29th.

 

During the Event, you will be able to watch how a variety of selected Twitch Streamers construct their first palace to not only beautify their cities but also boost culture, production and more.

Anyone watching them struggle during their attempts can grab two brand new ornaments, the Seat of Power Flag and the Seat of Power Billboard. The only thing you need to do is link your Uplay to your Twitch account and 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.

If you haven’t already done so in the past, to link your Ubisoft- and Twitch-account, just follow the steps outlined on this website.

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

Mathia (Dutch)
Scok (French)
Kenny (French)
Azriette (French)
Jeel (French)
Sir Thomas (French)
ZeratoR (French)
Valle (German)
Writing Bull (German)
Radlerauge (German)
Zazuno (German)
Fetter Zocker (German)
monstersandexplosions (German)
FragNart (German)
fishc0p (German)
Sissorstream (German)
Syrenia (German)
Lomadiah (English)
Caaaaate (English)
UrQueeen (Polish)

 

Union Update – Season 2 & City Sightseeing

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

What an exciting week! In our big announcement livestream on Monday we unveiled the future of Anno 1800 and our plans for 2020. If you missed the stream or want to watch it again, we got you covered:

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Since you’re already on the Anno Union you probably noticed, but… we also summarized the upcoming DLC in a dedicated blog post and a new trailer.

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As a big thank you for your support and by now over a million players, we also prepared a special ornament for you which you can now find in the game.

 

 

Fittingly, this week’s Anno Afternoon is all about YOUR cities! Ubi-Thorlof and Ubi-Hanabi will take a look at several Anno 1800 cities created by community members. Time to take a stroll along beautiful boulevards, check out fleet sizes, city layouts and production centres – and maybe cause a bit of mayhem along the way.

Tune in on Friday, March 13th, at 4PM UTC over on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte
A big thank you again to everyone who sent in their savegame!

Union Talk – Plans and Challenges

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Episode 6 of our Union Talk show is here, with Community Developer Basti and Brand Manager Marcel talking about the differences and challenges of Anno 1800’s first year and what is to come. They also address the unusual quiet on the Anno Union in early 2020 and might even know a thing or two about when things will pick up again…

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Our Union Talks aim at providing you insights into the work of our developers and certain processes behind the scenes as well as news about the most recent developments for Anno 1800. Is there a topic you always wanted to know more about? Are you curious about a specific aspect of game development or an ingredient of the Anno series? Let us know in the comments below for future episodes of the Union Talk!

 

Anno Afternoon – Scuba Diving Cows

Since they were not able to save all cows from the flood last time, Ubi-Hanabi and Ubi-Thorlof return to the world of Anno 2070. With their priorities set and the heart-shaped city completed, it’s time to explore the ocean and build an underwater base. Tune in for a fun and relaxed Anno Afternoon on Friday, 28. February, at 4PM UTC over on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

We also want to use this opportunity to thank you for sending us save games of your Anno 1800 playthrough! We will showcase them in the next Anno Afternoon (March 13th) – Ubi-Hanabi is already looking forward to getting her hands on them.

And of course, feel free to also send us YOUR save game for the stream! Just send them via mail at anno-community@ubisoft.com

 

Podcast – Environment Sounds in Anno 1800

There’s always something going on in the world of Anno 1800, but all the activity on the roads and sea is not just visual. Listen to the latest Game Makers podcast with members of Anno 1800’s audio team and learn about how sounds adapt based on camera zoom or jumping from one end of the map to the other. Audio Director Stefan Randelshofer and Lead Audio Designer Tino Schleinitz from Ubisoft Düsseldorf talk about how they developed a brand-new environmental sound system for Anno 1800. Give it a listen!