Author: Ubi-Thorlof

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Union Update: It’s “Seeds of Change” Release Day

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Annoholics!

The long wait is over: It’s release day! Today we are releasing DLC 10 “Seeds of Change” as well as the *shiny* new scenario “Seasons of Silver”.

With the new DLC you will be able to revolutionize your agricultural sector in the New World using the new Hacienda. And if you’re looking for a challenge: Join Vasco Oliveira on his search for silver!

Want to know more? We got you covered! You can read all about DLC 10 in our dedicated DevBlog right here. To find out more about the brand new scenario go check out our latest DevBlog.

 

To help you get into the right mood, definitely check out our dedicated DLC 10 trailer below!

From today on, DLC 10 “Seeds of Change” including the scenario is also available to buy separately from the Season 4 Pass! Head over to our store to find out more.

In addition to the new DLC we are also releasing GU 14, you can find the full Release Notes here.

Twitch Drops

As always, the release will be accompanied by a Twitch Drop event. Don’t forget to tune into your favourite streamers on Twitch till April 20th to receive two new ornaments! For more information about the Twitch Drops event check out our dedicated Union Update from last week.

Community Challenge

To kick off the new season we have prepared a community challenge for you! Planting the “Seeds of Change” takes a lot of work and a lot of fertiliser. So, the residents of the New World have asked for your help: The community must come together and reach a global target of 60.000 fertiliser modules built! As a reward, two new company logos will be unlocked for everyone. So, what are you waiting for? Get fertilising!

The community challenge will run for a period of 2 weeks and we will keep you updated on your progress throughout.

And, if you like challenges like this you’ll be excited to know that this is just the first of several. We have planned more challenges for DLC 11 and 12 so keep an eye out for those!

Free Week & Friend Referral

Do you love Anno 1800? Then why not share the love with your non-Annoholic friends: Anno 1800 will be free-to-play from April 12th till 20th! The free week includes the full base game without the DLC and will be savegame and multiplayer compatible.

 

And you know the most exciting part? Like announced earlier this, if you get your friends to play the game, both of you will get the latest Cosmetic DLC , the “Seasonal Decorations” Pack, for free if your friends purchase the game.

Just head to this website and invite one of your friends who doesn’t own Anno 1800 yet!

And that is it for this week’s Union Update! We hope that you will enjoy the new DLC and scenario and cannot wait to see how your New World changes. What are your thoughts on the new content? Let us know in the comments below! And, as always, if you have any other questions or thoughts feel free to share them with us below.

Development of Anno 1800 – Season 4 is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action within the framework of computer games funding.

DevBlog: The “Seasons of Silver” scenario

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

By order of King João, Third of His Name, His Most Faithful Majesty, Emperor of the Crown Colonies, Appointed by the Grace of God and the Unanimous Acclamation of the People; Granter of Mercies, Upholder of Dignity and Scourge of the Corrupt.
Vasco Oliveira, for your failure to retrieve the Scepter of Capon, you are hereby stripped of your position of Chief Aide to the King.

Certainly, a grim situation to be in for someone who once was one of the highest-ranking subjects of La Corona, here at the beginning of the “Seasons of Silver” scenario: Stripped of his titles, Vasco is banished to a distant group of islands to mine silver for the crown. Success might see him reinstated, but failure…

For a quick summary of the scenario’s content, check out the overview by our Game Designer Dominik:

A hostile world

As a player, this scenario presents you with a desert region, consisting of the main island “Deserto de Prata” and two smaller neighboring islands.

Deserto de Prata has seen previous settlements, previous attempts at mining the valuable silver out of the mountains, but each has been met with failure and ultimately abandoned: The dry, inhospitable land, the burning sun and the little fertile ground making life in this region hard and full of privations.

On your starting island you can still see the ruins of an older settlement and can make use of it to start your own. You will also spot a Hacienda which you can restore for later use.

In regular periods, the hot summer will give way to the monsoon period: A time of relentless rain which comes with its very own challenges. And then there are some optional events you might want to deal with.

But let’s talk a bit about the gameplay and your goals first.

Needs and Irrigation

You’ll have to set up a functioning settlement to provide the workforce for your mining operations. This scenario being set in the New World, you will need to supply Jornaleros and Obreros – but like the Eden Burning scenario, we changed things up a bit:

For example, Jornaleros will demand fresh tortillas and rum before you can upgrade them to Obreros who really love a spicy fish stew. And while you will still need ponchos to fulfill their happiness needs, these are now made from Linen – but Linseed fertility is only available on another island. Early expansion is a must.

A constant limiting factor will be the limited fertile ground: At the beginning, only a small patch of ground on your main island is usable for agriculture, while the two neighboring islands are completely barren. If you have played “Land of Lions”, you will be familiar with the solution to this problem: water canals!

There is a twist, however: Without rivers or lakes on your islands, the only source of water are the monsoon periods. With large water basins you can then gather enough water to create the fertile ground needed for crops like corn, linseed or sugarcane. The number of canal tiles is limited by the amount of water stored in a basin – hot summer months do slowly drain your supply, though.

You will need to set up several of these basins on your islands to gather enough water during the rainy periods. Each will take some time to build – going through two construction phases – before it’s able to collect rainwater.

Scenario Background

You might remember Vasco Oliveira from the “Sunken Treasures” DLC. While searching for the Scepter of Capon, just like you, he ultimately decided to concede your victory and handed you the third and last piece – instead of taking all pieces from you by force.

Choosing honor over duty was not appreciated by the royal court of La Corona, however, and that’s where this scenario starts.

When brainstorming ideas for scenarios for Season 4, several points ultimately led to “Seasons of Silver”:

It started with the concept of “let’s do something with harsh weather conditions and meeting production quotas”. So, some early research already went into places with such weather conditions (like El Niño) which led to countries like Bolivia and Peru and ultimately the idea of silver mining.

Vasco, like Isabel in “Eden Burning”, was an established character which we were keen on providing more background story for. On top, at the end of the “Sunken Treasures” campaign he mentions expecting to be punished for his decision – a great opportunity for us to tell the continuation of his story. This could be nicely tied in with the production quota concept mentioned above.

The team also wanted to provide some visual variety with this scenario: After the very green “Eden Burning” and the New World generally being made up of a lot of green foliage, it was time for a change of scenery! Inspired by places like for example the Atacama Desert in Chile or the Potosí mountain range in Bolivia, this scenario shows a different side of the New World.

The weather cycle

The weather is doing more than just filling your water basins, though.

First, you will notice visual changes depending on the season – an element for which we build on a feature we had originally developed for the “Eden Burning” scenario last year.

Second, each season comes with its own gameplay effects. The hot and dry summers might provide a boost to timber production but also impact agriculture, while the monsoon seasons fill water basins and lower the fire chance but also decreases fishery output or even flood your mines.

To keep an eye on the seasons, we added a useful little UI element in the top right: It shows the current season, its duration and any buffs and de-buffs you will have to deal with.

Be prepared for these seasonal changes and plan accordingly.

Shiny Silver

This becomes especially relevant when we’re now coming back to your overall goals we mentioned at the start: silver mining!

The only way to escape your exile is to fulfill the ever-increasing demands by the crown for silver. Five times Edmundo Vara, the royal Actuary, will arrive to accept the deliveries you need to prepare.

 

Mining itself is straight-forward at the beginning: All your islands have several valuable silver deposits which require you to build mines. Later, however, you will need to deliver silver bars and ultimately coins, which greatly increases the complexity of the overall production chain. Let’s take a closer look:

The silver ore will need to be refined using Cyanide Leachers. Separately, charcoal is not quite doing the trick, so before you can progress to making silver bars, a Coal Coking Furnace is required. And for the final few deliveries, you will also need caoutchouc to prepare molds for the coins.

To unlock all these buildings, you will need to gradually increase your Obrero population and fulfill their increasing demands.

The challenge of the scenario therefore comes from balancing all these individual aspects:

  • Limited fertile ground and the requirement of water basins
  • Changing seasons with their very own effects on the gameplay
  • An increasingly complex production chain for silver products
  • Continuously increasing demands from the crown with tight deadlines

And like the main content of the DLC, “Seasons of Silver” also has its own tutorial pages. Just select any of the new buildings and then click on the “?” button in the object menu.

 

Missing one of the deadlines is not the end of scenario right away: Each time you are given the option to negotiate with the Actuary for a second chance. It will cost you, though…
Failing the second chance, failing the last delivery or going bankrupt will always lead to failing the whole scenario, however.

As in our first scenario, there’s a bronze, silver and gold medal to obtain, depending on your performance. For bronze, you will have to fulfill all deliveries or their respective renegotiation quests, while Gold will require you to not only NOT use any “second chances” but also end the scenario with a healthy amount of silver in storage.

Each medal will reward you with a unique ship skin based on Vasco’s flagship.

There’s one last question: How do you access the scenario? By clicking on the “Scenario” button in the main menu, you’ll now load a version of the world map with “Seasons of Silver” and the previously released “Eden Burning” scenario to choose from. All future scenarios will also be added there.
Alternatively, you can also access them any time from the world map in your regular sandbox game.

Well, dear Annoholics, this is the “Seasons of Silver” scenario that is arriving next Tuesday (April 12th) for all owners of DLC 10. Alongside the DLC we will release Game Update 14, the full Release Notes for this update will be published tomorrow evening.

Do you have any more questions about the scenario? Post them in the comments or reach out to us on any of our other channels. We can’t wait to hear about your experience with this silvery challenge!

Development of Anno 1800 – Season 4 is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action within the framework of computer games funding.

Union Update – Annoverse roundtable and orchestral delights

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Amongst all the Season 4 news and new details on “Seeds of Change”, there are some smaller news we also want to make you aware of.

Annoverse roundtable recordings

Let’s start with the “Roundtable”, the Q&A session that happened on Friday last week on the Annoverse Discord server.

Thank you to everyone who used the opportunity to ask us questions the game and our work – and also a big thank you to the Annoverse team who organised and moderated the event!

If you missed it, you can download a recording of the German and the English sessions of the Roundtable to catch up.

Until next time!

Anno soundtrack composer releasing first symphony

Secondly, for all lovers of the Anno 1800 soundtrack, we might have something that interests you:

Tillman Sillescu, founder of “Dynamedion” – the company that is composing fantastic Anno soundtracks for us since Anno 1404 – has composed his first symphony “Nachtlichter”.

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The symphony was recorded by the Staatskapelle Weimar (symphony orchestra of Weimar), directed by Christian K. Frank. If that got you interested, you can also check out the whole symphony over on Spotify.

Video game soundtracks in concert

Up for more orchestral music? Perfect, cause fans of classical music and video game soundtracks should mark April 30th in their calendars:

The Augsburger Philharmoniker (orchestra of Augsburg) is playing parts of the soundtrack of several video games including Anno, Assassin’s Creed and Civilizations and will be live streaming the concert on Twitch.

And no worries, we’ll remind you in time so you won’t miss it 😉

Scenario DevBlog and Release Notes

Tomorrow we’ll be continuing with our DevBlog for the “Seasons of Silver” scenario and on Friday we will have the full Release Notes for Game Update 14 for you. Stay tuned!

Twitch Drops & Early Access: Seeds of Change

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Last week we revealed our plans for Season 4 live on stream – you can check out the VOD here if you missed it – and showed some first gameplay of DLC 10 – Seeds of Change.

As usual, the release will be accompanied by a Twitch Drops event from which you can earn two DLC-themed ornaments. The whole event will start on April 8th at 3 PM UTC+2 and last until April 20th and we got all information for you below:

Expanding the Twitch Drops

This year we’re doing some changes to how we handle the Twitch Drops:

If you’re an Anno 1800 streamer on Twitch, you can simply sign up for the Twitch Drops and participate. For this, simply head to this page for your Twitch account, make sure to connect it with your Ubisoft account, and opt-in to the drops. You can find more info on Twitch Drops in this official FAQ from Twitch. When you stream Anno 1800 during the mentioned period, your viewers will be able to earn drops.

 

Additionally, we will have an early access period for selected streamers as usual. These streamers will be able to play the content of the new DLC – including the scenario – from Friday, April 8th, until the release on Tuesday, April 12th. So, if you can’t wait to see more of DLC 10 as soon as possible, that’s the way to get a look at even more gameplay (and also earn the mentioned Twitch Drops).

Earning Drops

Anyone watching any of the streamers who signed up for the Twitch Drops event, regardless if they’re part of the Early Access or not, will receive two new ornaments:

A “Seeds of Change” Banner for watching 1 hour and a “Seeds of Change” Mural for watching 3 hours.

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 the mentioned time 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. You can find more information on Twitch Drops in general in this official FAQ.

Please be aware that all rewards will only be delivered to you after the release of DLC 10.

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.

To check which streamers are participating just have a look at the Anno 1800 category between April 8th and April 20th.

Announcing the Season 4 Pass

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Earlier today we used our latest Dev-Stream to finally lift the curtain on the highly anticipated Season 4 Pass for Anno 1800, which will add three exciting new DLCs to the game throughout 2022. As mentioned, when we first teased Season 4 at the end of last year, the three new DLCs will focus on your New World region, giving you new optimisation opportunities, a new resident tier to attract and new islands to settle.

Each DLC will also ship with a scenario, providing brand new challenges outside of the main campaign or sandbox game.

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DLC 1 – Seeds of Change (releasing April 12th, 2022)

Season 4 kicks off in just two weeks with the first DLC – “Seeds of Change” – that allows you to revolutionize the agricultural sector of the New World.

To make this possible, you’ll first have to build the powerful Hacienda, which will become the agricultural hub of your New World empire. Construct and expand your own country estate with new ornaments as well as various highly efficient modules.

Those allow you, for example, to brew beer directly in the New World and house your population in more space-efficient residences. Benefit from the adoption of island-wide policies through the Hacienda and produce high-quality fertiliser to boost your local farms and even export it to the Old World.

The new scenario, Seasons of Silver, you will follow Vasco Oliveira’s story into a different part of the New World where you will need to face harsh weather conditions while fulfilling ever increasing silver production quotas.

DLC 2 – Empire of the Skies (planned for Summer 2022)

This summer, our second DLC, Empire of the Skies, will usher in the Age of Airships.

Using the latest construction materials from the New World, you can build a variety of new specialized airships.

Optimize your logistical network by transferring goods and workers between your islands in the New World, and keep your people connected with the new mail system.

Your tactical planning will also take on a whole new dimension as you and your competitors vie for aerial mastery.

Empire of the Skies we will also come with another new scenario. More details on this later this year.

DLC 3 – New World Rising (planned for late 2022)

Season 4 will come to its grand finale towards the end of the year.

With the third DLC, New World Rising, you will not only experience the industrial and economic boom of the New World first-hand, but also let your residents embrace their cultural roots and welcome a new population tier.

Discover a highly demanded feature introduced with New World Rising – newly discovered islands offer crucial additional building space to further expand your empire.

You get to enjoy the sight of colourful, thriving cities and build an iconic monument as the ultimate landmark for a self-confident identity of your New Worlds residents.

And like the two previous DLC, “New World Rising” is also accompanied by a scenario.

Bonus Content

While all DLCs will once again be available for stand-alone purchase, there are a few benefits for buyers of the Season 4 Pass. You will receive three exclusive ornaments upon the release of DLC 10, each of them themed after one of our new DLCs: the Ornamental Fountain, the Airship Monument and the Splendid Gateway. Buyers of the Season 4 Pass will also be able to get all three DLCs for 24,99€/$, which represents a saving of around 10€/$ versus individual purchases.

New ways to buy Anno 1800 for Season 4

While the Season 4 Pass is the best way to enjoy all the new content for our existing Anno 1800 players, we also want to offer new ways to users who want to jump into the age of the industrial revolution in time for Season 4. That is why we have created two new editions of the game that will be available through Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store, starting today. At the same time, we are removing the previously available Gold Edition and Complete Editions for new buyers (existing owners will, of course, keep all their content, and still be able to re-download it in the future).

All these bundles below will be available from April 12th onwards.

Anno 1800: Complete Edition Year 4 – 119,99 €/$

The best way to jump aboard Anno 1800 is the new Complete Edition Year 4, which includes the full version of Anno 1800, the Digital Deluxe Edition upgrade with the Anarchist character, as well as all four Season Passes. This edition represents savings of around 50€/$ versus buying all included content individually.

 

Anno 1800: Gold Edition Year 4 – 79,99€/$

If you just want to dive right into the new Season 4 content and worry that all previously released DLCs may overwhelm you, the Gold Edition Year 4 is the right choice for you. It includes the full version of Anno 1800, the Digital Deluxe Edition upgrade with the Anarchist character, and the Season 4 Pass. This edition represents savings of around 15€/$ versus buying all included content individually.

 

We are, of course, also still offering the classic standard version of the game for 59,99€/ $, giving to anyone looking to build their personal industrial empire the maximum flexibility in how they want to get started.

 

“Cosmetic Pack” Bundle – 24,99€/$

In addition to these editions, you can now also buy all six Cosmetic DLC of the previous years in a dedicated Cosmetic DLC bundle. This bundle is perfect for all beauty builders and includes the “Holiday” Pack, “Amusements” Pack, “City Lights” Pack, “Vehicle Liveries” Pack, “Pedestrian Zone” Pack, and “Vibrant Cities” Pack.

Thank you all for your tireless passion and support for Anno 1800, which has not only allowed us to reach over 2M players by the end of 2021, but also to support the game with a fourth year of new content and free game updates that will improve the game for our community!

 

Stay safe,

The Anno 1800 Team

Development of Anno 1800 – Season 4 is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action within the framework of computer games funding.

We cordially invite you once again

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

So, here I am, writing this invitation to you to join us once again to the unveiling of a new season of content for Anno 1800.

 

We gave you a glimpse at Season 4’s content in December, now it’s time to talk in detail about our plans for this year’s three DLC and their focus on the New World.

So, mark March 29th in your calendars and set an alarm for 5PM CEST/UTC+2. And then join us on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte for one hour of news and gameplay for the first of the three DLC.

 

Until then, keep an eye on our social channels for some first teasers and information on Season 4 and especially the first DLC.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all next week!

Union Update – Launch of the new Known Issues List

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

 

Today we’re re-launching our public known issues list for Anno 1800 to provide you with better visibility on reported issues and their current status.

You might remember the previous list on the old forums which ended up being a bit hard to read for you and inconvenient to maintain for us. So, for the new list we decided to go for a different solution:

You can now find the new known issues list by following this link.

As you can see, the Trello board is split into different categories – the top cards give you a few more details on each of them if you’re unsure what the categories mean. Please also check our DevBlog about the Game Update Process for further details on which phases a bug report passes through.

If you click on one of the cards, you will get more info like a more detailed description, a workaround (if available), and a comment from the team if needed. If we need more information from you about a reported issue, the card is marked with a “Need Community Help” label.

Our goal with this board is, to provide you with visibility and additional information on some of the issues that are most important to our community. For this, we take both the severity into consideration as well as how important an issue seems to be for our players based on the number of reports and discussions (e.g. even a smaller issue can appear here when we see many of you talk about it).

Please also note that this overview does NOT cover all the things we’re investigating and will not include every single bug you discover.

Below you can find some answers to potential questions about the Known Issues list.

If you have any further questions, let us know in the comments. If you have any feedback or suggestions on how to improve the board, feel free to also share those with us – we’re happy to further changes to the board to make it as useful as possible for you.

 

How do I report an issue I encountered?

There are multiple ways, be it via the official Anno forums or via the Ubisoft support. Find below links to all these channels.

Create a ticket or start a live chat:

Contact Ubisoft Support on Twitter or Facebook

Report the bug on the official Ubisoft Player Support forums.

 

Why don’t you give an exact date for a fix?

The fixing of some issues can take significantly longer than originally thought, while tests later may reveal additional issues or edge cases not previously considered.

If a specific issue is confirmed for the next Game Update, it will be marked accordingly, and you will be able to find the announcement of any upcoming Game Update as well as the respective patch notes here on the Anno Union closer to its release.

 

How often are you updating this board?

We aim to update this board on a weekly basis.

 

What happens to cards in the “Fixed” category?

We will regularly archive cards from the “Fixed” category after each major update. However, you can still find the full list of all previous bug fixes in the Release Notes section here on the Anno Union.

Union Update: Annoverse Roundtable and a special Community Spotlight

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Annoholics!

We are back with another Union Update, and it is getting busy! Let’s have a quick look at our upcoming events and our very special community spotlight.

Annoverse Roundtable – Ask the team!

We are very excited to announce that we will be doing a community roundtable on the Annoverse Discord on April 1 (No, this is not a joke!). During this Q&A, you’ll be able to ask all your burning questions about Anno and our work as the Anno team in the text chat. The Anno team will then go through your questions and answer them in the voice channel. The session will be split into two parts with an English and a German one on the same evening – we’ll have the precise times for you closer to the event.

You can join the server via this link and then hop in the dedicated roundtable channel.

A big thank you to the Annoverse team for organizing this event and we cannot wait to see you guys there!

And since we’re already talking about the Annoverse: They just started a new community challenge themed around International Women’s Day, requiring you to ally with your female competitors while creating a beautiful settlement.

Check the #challenge-board channel on their server for details and how to participate.

Plant a Tree DLC Reminder

A small reminder that our “Plant a Tree” initiative is still ongoing! The DLC will be available until 31 March 2022 after which it will be removed from our stores for new buyers. The DLC will be added to the game for free at the end of the year. From each purchase, all net proceeds (that means after any fees or taxes are deducted) are going to Ecologi – and in return you get a lovely Ceiba tree ornament for your city.

For this DLC we partnered with Ecologi, a social enterprise that funds reforestation and other carbon reduction projects. You can find out more about Ecologi here.

So, if you haven’t already: Go check our “Plant a Tree” DLC and help protect our beautiful planet!

Season 4 News – when?

We have seen the question appear across several of our channels recently – and share your excitement! You won’t have to wait much longer for news about Season 4.

As previously communicated, we’ll have a lot to share at the end of the month! (and maybe some teasers before that on our social channels, so make sure to follow our Twitter-Channel)

Community Spotlight

In this week’s special edition community spotlight, we wanted to take the time to appreciate and highlight the many amazing mods created for the community, by the community. As always, we are in absolute awe of all the hard work and passion put into our game by our community, so let’s take a look!

Disclaimer: Before we dive into your creations, we want to clarify that, while we love seeing such an active modding scene, we do not officially support mods for Anno 1800.
That means that using/installing any of the mods listed below happens at your own risk. If you encounter bugs or other technical issues while using mods, we will not be able to offer official technical support for these modded savegames.

Anno 1800 Mod Manager

If you are looking to use any of the mods below, don’t forget to check out the Anno 1800 Mod Manager – a mod manager, game launcher, and news hub for Anno 1800 created by LemonDrop1228. You can find all the information about the Anno mod manager here so be sure to check it out! And thank you LemonDrop1228 for creating this tool!

“Spice it Up” Mod Package

Our first pick of the day is the “Spice It Up” mod package by DaLexy and several other modders. With its various add-ons (including a sandbox mode and AI shipyard!), Quality of Life adjustments, ornamental mods, and more this mod package is sure to ‘spice up’ your gameplay. Just look at these beautiful ornaments! And are those new streetlights? You can find out more about the “Spice It Up” mod package as well as all contributing modders here. Thank you so much DaLexy and the others for this amazing creation!

The Colour Collection

If you are looking to add a splash of colour to your cities, why not try the colour collection mod by Lethani? The mod adds a large range of new rooftop colour options for your Old World buildings so you can let your artistic imagination run wild! For more information about this mod click here. And of course, thank you Lethani for this colourful creation!

Diagonal Road and Paving Edges

Next up we have the “Diagonal Road and Paving Edges” mod by jje1000 which allows you to cut through your city grids and create beautiful diagonal roads. Or to put it in jje1000’s own words: “Liberate your cities with these 45 degree tile edges for roads and plazas!”. Find out more about this mod right here – and thanks so much jje1000!

Jakob’s Collection

And of course, no diagonal road would be complete without diagonal buildings! Luckily Jakob has got you covered with his diagonal residences mod. And if that wasn’t enough, his mod “Jakob’s Collection” also includes upgradable workers residences and more. You can check it out here. Thank you, Jakob, for sharing this awesome mod!

All above mods and more are available on Nexus Mods. Go check them out to discover many more mods, from balancing, to gameplay, to ornamental. Again, a big thank you to all the creators of and contributors to these mods!

 

And that brings us to the end of this week’s Union Update! Don’t forget to share your favourite mods in the comments below! And, as always, feel free to share them below or contact us on Twitter, Facebook or our official forums.

Union Update: Release of the “Seasonal Decorations” Pack and GU 13.2

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Annoholics!

After much teasing the day has finally arrived: It’s release day! Our newest Cosmetic DLC “Seasonal Decorations” Pack and Game Update 13.2 are now live. Let’s have a quick look at both.

“Seasonal Decorations” Pack

Today we released the first Cosmetic DLC of 2022 and if that doesn’t give you enough cause for celebration, the content of the “Seasonal Decorations” Pack sure will!

With the newest Cosmetic DLC, your citizens’ celebrations can now extend throughout the year! Colorful flower decorations in Spring, sunny wine bars in Summer, cozy bonfire nights in Autumn, and magical Winter wonderlands – the “Seasonal Decorations” Pack has it all!

Excited? Then don’t forget to check out our latest DevBlog for a detailed overview of all the new ornaments as well as a short Q&A with Raphael, the Lead Artist of Anno 1800.

The Cosmetic DLC is now available in the Ubisoft Store for 4,99€ (or your regional equivalent).

You’ll have a chance to earn it for free through our upcoming Refer-a-Friend program – more details on this and our Season 4 plans will be shared soon!

We can’t wait to see how your cities change with the seasons!

Game Update 13.2

Alongside the Cosmetic DLC we are also releasing Game Update 13.2 today which will, amongst other things, fix the missing consumption statistics for several goods and activate the fisherman’s quest in the Eden Burning scenario. You can find the full Release Notes here.

Stream Announcement

Before diving into this week’s community spotlight we have one final announcement to make: We will be doing another Anno Afternoon live stream on Friday, February 18, at 5PM CET. Join Celeste and Oliver as they continue on their co-op save and challenge their inner beauty-builders with the new “Seasonal Decorations” Pack.

We can’t wait to hang out with you guys again so we hope to see you then!

Community Spotlight

We wanted to finish off this week’s Union Update with another form of celebration: A celebration of you! As always, we were blown away by the amazing creations that you have shared with us and the community and we wanted to take the time to highlight a few.

First up we have this stunning creation by Spacer176 on r/anno. Using Engineer and Investor houses to enclose historic Artisan quarters is a great way of adding more discoverability to your cities. Thank you Spacer176 for this awesome beauty-build tip!

Next, we have this wonderful side-by-side of JackedKermit’s city on Reddit. Despite its small beginnings, the city is now booming with life! What a transformation!

Although we love a big city, there’s something special about small village life. AlexButterworth’s creation on Reddit made us feel right at home with its dense green forests and adorable little town centre. We know where we will go next time we need a break from the hustle and bustle of the city!

Feeling inspired after seeing all these amazing screenshots? Well, why not take part in the ongoing community challenge on the Annoverse Discord? In this latest challenge, you will take on the role of railroad baron on your mission to create your beautiful railway empire. Submissions close on the 28th of February so head over to the Annoverse Discord now to share your creations!

To finish off this week’s community spotlight we have another great creation by the one and only Dulcamarra! We have to admit that it made us giggle quite a bit (sorry Willie!). Great work as always and if you haven’t already, go check more of her art on her Deviantart page!

Those are all our community spotlights for today! We just love seeing all the amazing creations you guys come up with and cannot wait to see what you will do with our newest Cosmetic DLC. Make sure to share some screenshots with us!

And that’s it for today’s Union Update! As always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to share them below or contact us on Twitter, Facebook or our official forums.

Our Cosmetic DLC plans for 2022

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

In January, we gave you a first short preview of our plans for 2022 and as also already communicated last year, we’ll have a looot of information about Season 4 in late March.
In the preview we also already revealed that we’re planning more Cosmetic DLC this year after the success and the extremely positive reception of our previous CDLC.

Generally speaking, we will follow a similar strategy as we did last year: We’re once again planning with 3 Cosmetic DLC spread over the year and there will be once again a Community Voting for one of the themes. Let’s take a closer look:

The very first CDLC is going to be the “Seasonal Decorations Pack”, giving you multiple options to celebrate each period of the year in your game. We’ll go further into our DevBlog next week, no worries. The release of the “Seasonal Decorations Pack” as well as Game Update 13.2 is planned for February 15th.

For now, we’ll leave you with a small teaser:

In May, we will hold this year’s Community Voting for the third and last Cosmetic DLC of this year. We haven’t quite agreed on the four candidates yet but can already tell you that the Circus will not make a return after clearly losing both previous votes while Marcel’s beloved Eldritch Pack will most likely be part of this year’s voting again. We’re looking at providing a mix of different types of Cosmetic DLC, more on that in May.

The release of the winning CDLC is currently planned for autumn, more details to come later this year.

You may have noticed we skipped the second Cosmetic DLC in our chronological order: That’s because it will release AFTER the voting mentioned above but BEFORE the winner of said vote.

A big part of video game development is planning (one of the main tasks of our Production Team) and with the Season 4 DLC also in development we ultimately decided it’s making our lives significantly easier to decide on and start working on the first two Cosmetic DLC.

The voting in May is too late for us to start working on two CDLC afterwards, while we figured that having a voting directly in January would have seemed rather rushed considering we haven’t even gone into detail on the Season 4 content.

So, with that out of the way: This year’s second Cosmetic DLC is scheduled to release in June and will focus on more ornaments for your industrial and production districts – something we have seen discussed and requested multiple times in the past.

This should provide you with even more ways to beautify the… not so beautiful parts of your islands 😉

Those are our rough Cosmetic DLC plans for this year, with more details still to come in the next months. – Or, in the case of the “Seasonal Decorations Pack”: Already next week!