Author: UbiCecce

DevBlog: The “End of an Era” Pack CDLC

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hello Anno Community,

As you might have seen in our latest teasers on social media or yesterday’s  livestream, we will soon release a brand new Cosmetic DLC, the “End of an Era” Pack!

To be totally honest with you all, when first approaching this DevBlog, we struggled to find the right words to talk about it and give this Pack full justice – both because of its grandiosity and the fact that it marks, for real, the end of an era. If you don’t know this already, this CDLC will be the last piece of content developed for Anno 1800, after an amazing journey that lasted 5 years, with 16 beautiful Cosmetic DLC – not to mention the post-launch game content released over the years.

… *Nervously clears throat* … But let’s not get emotional now, we haven’t even started talking about the Pack! So, without further ado, let’s join the festival.

“A crazy unicorn festival of lights, flowers and dancing”

In this pack there are Funfair Stalls for all necessities, big and small: whether your residents would like to smash some unicorn pinatas, eat some food or enjoy the famous Anno cocktail at the Cocktail Bar – the Margarita Hunt – for an evening of fun, the End of an Era Pack contains everything you’ll need to build the perfect festival in your Anno cities.

For the residents who enjoy movement, a Dance Floor is in order – together with a Beer Tent for when they need a break and a fresh drink after all the late-night waltzes.

Flowers are a central theme of this pack as you might have noticed: Lily Pond Lights, Dazzling Dandelions, and colourful Fairy Flowers installations – each of them with multiple variations. And who knew flowers could pair this well with an Aquatic Streetlights and an Aquatic Light Tunnel?

A burst of colours and pure joy

Anno 1800 looks SO stylish in neon pink, don’t you think? Or neon blue, green, yellow… all the colours! Well, colours extravaganza is another recurring theme in this pack. Engineers’ and Investors’ residences have never looked this great – and so sparkly!

“The Jorgensens – The Musical” in Theatre now!

Fun for the whole family: the latest musical masterpiece starring Bente Jorgensen, Sir Archibald Blake, Carl Leonard von Malching (and his pink tutu), and The One True God of Anno, is in theatre now! Treat your residents to a show they will never forget, thanks to the Musical Stage included in this pack. Some of you might remember “The Jorgensens – The Musical” from the credits scene in Anno 1800, which was masterfully recreated by the talented Laura in this shorter version for the ornament (more info on this in the Q&A section). And do not worry about limited seating for the show, we even included an Auditorium to accommodate a big audience.

Paint your sky with fireworks

What kind of festival would it be without fireworks closing the night? Actually, let us rephrase that – what kind of End of an Era Pack would it be without fireworks celebrating the support you’ve showed us for the past 5 years? These fireworks will paint your Anno sky with our gratitude and appreciation, as well as… flying pigs and unicorns? (Editor’s note: no animals or magical creatures were harmed during the production of this CDLC)

Q&A with Laura

And now, it is time for our favourite part: Q&A with the Art Team! We asked some questions to Laura, Prop Artist and CDLC Overlord™ on Anno, to get some insights on the creative process behind the End of an Era Pack.

 

Q: It seems that you had a lot of fun creating this pack! What were the main sources of inspiration for it?

A: So, after some brainstorming the decision was made: we wanted to go out with a big festive bang, a celebration of Anno and the Players and since it would release around Christmas time the first source of inspiration had to be fairy lights, lots of lights in the dark, like a Christmas Wonderland kind of theme. But the idea of another Christmas Package didn`t quite do it for us, so we went ahead and made it into, what I call, “a crazy unicorn festival of lights, flowers and dancing“. Luckily, I had been to Tokyo earlier in the year and took away quite some inspiration from the teamLab Exposition, which is an amazing thing, everybody who can go see, do it! So, in short, the main sources of inspiration would be a mad mix of Christmas Wonderland sparkle and the fantastic teamLab Tokyo.

 

Q: What was the hardest ornament or skin to create? Why?

A: In terms of designing, the hardest were actually the tiny festive stalls. We have so many stalls in the game already, it was quite hard to come up with something completely new. So, after initial rather tame designs, I decided to go more bonkers with this and make them out to be weird, dreamy flowers from the top view, which in the end fit in quite well with the flowery overall theme.

 

Q: This CDLC is filled with content, which ornament or skin is your favourite? Is there a particular reason?

A: I think I have two favourites. The first will be the blue lights tunnel with the goldfish “swimming through”, just because I would love to go through there in real life, sit down and just endlessly look at it. The second one are the waterlilies. They just look so pretty, better even in the dark and if precious production time was spent with a darkened monitor and only those lilies on the screen staring back at me…. It was…. Ehm… I was quality checking them, yeah…

Q: How was it to work on the last CDLC for Anno 1800? It’s literally the end of an era!

A: Working on it was great, as is true for most of the CDLCs. It’s true though that this time around there was mixed in a hint of sadness, to let my precious CDLC-babies go, to let go of my self-organised authoritarian overlord state, and the uncertainty of what would come next-task wise didn`t help either. But there was also relief, because it grew so hard to come up with new, purely cosmetic ideas. So, it was a cocktail of emotions, but staring at the waterlilies soothed about everything.

 

Q: Flying pigs fireworks?! We love them! But why?

A: Well…. Only when the pigs learn to fly, will there be an end to Anno 1800!

 

Q: How complex was it to create the theatre ornament?

A: The Theatre was a self-evolving, not-certain-to-be-created-at-all kind of thing. We wanted to have a really big festive tent as a main attraction, but it ended up looking a lot like a circus tent no matter what. And I had been having this idea to bring the credits into the CDLC (because “The End”…), so I just threw the two of them together, the big tent with the theatre stage in front of it and there it was. What was a bit tedious was the animation of the puppets, which I did frame by frame imitating the exact movie animation. That took a lot of endurance… But the result was quite worthwhile, I think. So yes, it was the most complex ornament to do in this package, but also the most rewarding.

 

Q: Which Anno 1800 CDLC would you combine with this one to decorate your own city?

A: Well, this is something that I do really like about this package in particular, that it is so very universally combinable with a lot of the stuff we already have in the game. Be it the Holiday -, the Amusement -, the City Lights -Pack or the Seasonal Decorations, even the Chinese New Year Pack CDLC or the ornaments from the High Life DLC, you can just build a huge festival throughout the city, throw in basically everything: the madder, the better.

What’s left to say? We could write words and words about how weird it feels to be writing the last DevBlog for Anno 1800, and how bittersweet it is to be at the end of this journey – but that’s for another day.

The End of an Era Pack will be available starting December 5th on PC and Consoles, for the usual price of 4.99€ or your regional equivalent.

We cannot wait to admire your festival-ready cities in Anno 1800!

List of full content

  • Musical stage
  • Auditorium
  • Dance Floor
  • Beer tent (2 variants)
  • Lily Pond Lights (4 variants)
  • Dazzling Dandelions (3 variants)
  • Wisp Lanterns (4 variants)
  • Fairy Flowers (4 variants)
  • Flowery Funfair Stall (2 variants)
  • Unicorn Funfair Stall (2 variants)
  • Cocktail Bar
  • Sunflower Swing
  • Aquatic Streetlights (2 variants)
  • Fireworks Podium (2 variants)
  • Aquatic Light Tunnel (3 variants)
  • Festive Light Tunnel
  • Funfair Arch (3 variants)
  • Balloon Pole (2 variants)
  • Flower Power Flag
  • Large Banner (4 variants)
  • Bunting (2 variants)
  • Sun Gate
  • Umbrella Seats (4 variants)
  • Iluminatree (3 variants)
  • Parade Pavement (4 variants)
  • Glowing Garlands (3 variants)
  • Festive Skin – Engineers Residence
  • Festive Skin – Investors Residence

Union Update: Anno Dev Talk recap, mods, and more

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

Let’s have one more round of updates before the weekend!

Starting with a reminder about the livestream we did on Wednesday: Community Developer Oliver was joined by Brand Director Haye, Creative Director Manuel and Executive Producer Stephane for one hour of Anno Dev Talk:

We talked about the scope of their jobs and how they all entered the video games industry, as well as their motivation to get out of the bed every morning to work on video games.

Together with the chat, we discussed what makes an Anno game actually “Anno” – and all four revealed which games they are playing right now.

If you’ve missed the stream, you can watch the VOD here on Twitch.

Anno 2205: New Frontiers mod

On the very same day (22.05), Anno modder Taludas released his “New Frontiers” mod for Anno 2205 (excellently chosen date, we have to admit). You can watch the trailer below:

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The mod does not only add Mars as a new sector to explore and settle, but also includes many changes to the existing regions and their production chains, as well as a new population tier for the Arctic region: Geniuses.

A great opportunity to dive (back) into Anno 2205 and check out all the changes Taludas added to the base game. There are so many, actually, that we heavily recommend checking out the “Features” section on his GitHub page.

Very impressive work, we certainly did not expect an Anno 2205 mod this year.

Modding Spotlight: Hier0nimus

More modding news! In next week’s Union Update we’re welcoming Hier0nimus, creator of the “Perfect Specialist & Items Pack” mod as well as “Music to my Ears” – a winner of last year’s modding contest!

In the interview, you’ll learn more about his journey into modding Anno 1800 and the projects he has been and currently is working on. Including the “Military Attention” mod.

DevBlog – The Eldritch Pack CDLC

Posted on by UbiCecce

Boo, Anno Community – happy Halloween!

What better day to finally showcase one of the most awaited Cosmetic DLCs of all time in the history of Anno 1800? This is not a drill, you read that right in the title – our next Cosmetic DLC will be the Eldritch Pack! Those of you who have been following us for a long time have probably seen this name pop up a couple of times in the past, mostly during the Community Vote for CDLCs – and you probably know that it holds a special place in the hearts of the Anno team.

Last week, you might have seen a small teaser of what you will find in this new Cosmetic DLC, but are you ready to be spooked and let yourself get carried away by glimmering lights, twisted trees and gargoyle statues? If your answer is yes, then…

… Something wicked this way comes!

Forgotten places, mysterious statues and Gothic architecture

Let’s start with one of our favourite ornaments from this pack: nothing screams Eldritch (pun intended) more than the Forgotten Abbey you saw in our teaser, don’t you think? It seems that this place has been abandoned for years, becoming a distant echo of the past. Left in ruins, now overrun by nature and eerie tranquillity. Is that all there is? Those green, flickering lights on the quiet surface of the water suggest something else…

The Eldritch Pack would not be complete without gothic statues: did anybody say Gargoyles? Not only is there a Gargoyle statue in the pack, but you can also spot some gargoyles on the Gothic Fence, standing tall and peering into your deepest thoughts. Not to mention the majesty of the Statue of Lady Morningstar. Look at all that grace! 

For all the fans of gothic architecture and style in the Anno Community: this pack will be undoubtedly a dream – or a nightmare, if you prefer – come true. Once you decorate your cities with the new ornaments, you will find yourself wandering around the Dreamspire at dusk or sitting at the Wishing Well hoping for your desires to become reality.

Gothic ornaments call for Gothic building skins

Do not get fooled by the cheerful atmosphere around the Old Inn, as the thick fog can bewilder anyone when they least expect it. The Worker and Artisan residences, on the other hand, are surrounded by a strange tranquillity. However, we heard rumours about… ghosts? Weird figures have been spotted creeping into the night, making our residents’ dreams less sweet and more frightening.

Even the Hospital now seems to be changed, somehow. Is it just us, or does it look even more imposing than before? A thick, mysterious haziness surrounds it, hiding all its secrets from prying eyes. 

After all this ornaments & skins talk, it is time for our favourite part: Q&A with the Art Team! We asked some questions to Laura, Prop Artist on Anno, to get some insights on the creative process behind the Eldritch Pack.

What was the main source of inspiration for this pack?

It was a bit of a strange mishmash, on one hand all those lone Victorian spooky villas with their gorgeous windows, towers and verandas. On the other hand, the ornamental charm of gothic architecture and statues. It was clear we wanted Grotesques and Gargoyles and a lot of fog to surround suspicious standalone villas. From that point on, ideas just popped up and this CDLC happened.

What was the hardest ornament/skin to create? Why?

The hardest were the residence skins. This time around we decided to not only paint the skins, but to as well alter the geometry. We deleted most of the second buildings, leaving only one standalone house and then created a geometry kit to add new windows, verandas and towers. Designing those was quite challenging, especially the Artisan houses, since those have quite a different base building structure.

We have noticed there are quite a few secrets hiding in this pack. Although we won’t spoil the surprise here for the players, could you talk about your approach in their creation?

It was super fun obviously, it is always nice, after being dedicated to one strong theme for such a long time, to add some funny little details to bring it to life. There is not really one inspiration or anything, it’s more like… my mind is a huge alive Pinterest of all the stuffs I’ve seen, read and listened to, basically a culture melting pot of my time and circumstances and if prompted with a certain theme it just delivers back to me.

Are you an Eldritch/spooky stuff fan yourself?

Whilst I love the ornaments and the architectural designs as well as the general mood and colouring of it all, I can’t take anything remotely spooky myself. Real life and human beings are spooky enough as it is, no need for more horror than that. 😉

Which ornament and/or skin from this pack do you consider your favourite? Is there a particular reason?

I really love the Ruined Abbey. I love the idea of nature taking back those places, and I appreciate the beauty of those buildings. The idea of those grand architectural achievements coupled with wild overgrowing nature fascinates me. Also, I really love the set dressing, placing plants everywhere and making it look all green and wild… just love that.

I really like the big spooky tree, too, since it’s based of one of the 1000-year-old oaks from Ivenack, a childhood place I used to go to a lot, so it holds a special place in my heart.

And then there is the Asylum. I just love how it turned out so imposing and it was a great fusion of minds between our concept artist Damian and me. I really love how working on assets together and having great concept art like that one takes a design to a whole other level.

What’s left to say? Get ready for a treat – no tricks here, promise – because the Eldritch Pack Cosmetic DLC will be available starting from 14th November on PC and consoles, for usual price of 4,99€ or your regional equivalent.

We cannot wait to see your spooktacular creations with the new Eldritch ornaments, we can sense they are going to be terrifying – in the most amazing way, of course.

We hope you are looking forward to the CDLC release as much as we are! For the bravest and the detectives amongst all of you, a quest awaits: will you find all the secrets hiding within the Eldritch Pack?

List of full content

  • Forgotten Abbey
  • Dreamspire
  • Cathedral Square
  • Wishing Well
  • Dead Tree
  • Twisted Tree
  • Gargoyle
  • Statue of Lady Morningstar
  • Fiery Lantern
  • Fire Pit
  • Stone Bench
  • Nostalgic Pavement (3 variants)
  • Ornate Pavement
  • Gothic Fence (modular system)
  • Black Gate
  • Victorian Skin for Worker residence (4 models)
  • Victorian Skin for Artisan residence (4 models)
  • “Old Inn” Pub Skin
  • “Asylum” Hospital Skin

Discover the new Definitive Annoversary Edition

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

It’s been a while since Anno 1800’s release and over the last years we released a lot of content. It’s time to bundle all those DLC in a “mega pack” of sorts, right?

Let us announce the “Anno 1800 Definitive Annoversary Edition” which includes all DLC content for the game, including all Cosmetic DLC. The perfect bundle for that one friend who doesn’t yet own Anno 1800!

Additionally, we’re releasing a new Gold Edition and a second Cosmetic DLC bundle.

When, you might ask? Well, today, October 17th!

Let’s take a more detailed look at these new digital editions and bundles:

Anno 1800 – Definitive Annoversary Edition

This new complete includes the Anno 1800 base game, all 4 Season Passes, all Cosmetic DLC and the Deluxe Pack. In short: it includes all types of DLC that we have released and will release for the game. The Definitive Annoversary Edition is priced at 129,99€ (or regional equivalent).

Anno 1800 – Gold Edition

The Gold Edition includes the base game, all 4 Season Passes and the Deluxe Pack. This means this edition focuses solely on gameplay DLC – but of course gives you the option to buy the Cosmetic DLC separately. The new Gold Edition is priced at 99,99€

Anno 1800 – Cosmetic Pack Bundle 2

This new bundle contains Cosmetic DLC 7 to 16 and is priced at 39,99€. This comes in addition to the already existing Cosmetic Pack Bundle that includes the first 6 Cosmetic DLC.

 

These new digital editions are available right now and the “Definitive Annoversary Edition” and “Gold Edition” will replace the “Anno 1800 Complete Edition Year 4” and “Gold Edition Year 4” in the Ubisoft Store, Epic Store and Steam Store.

Now, the ones of you with keen eyes will likely have spotted this very quickly: 16 Cosmetic DLC? And indeed, we can confirm that we’re planning to release three more Cosmetic DLC. These are already included in the price of the new editions and will release throughout 2024.

We can’t share more details on these future Cosmetic DLC quite yet – that will have to wait till 2024 – but maybe we’ll have a first little teaser at the end of this year? We shall see…

 

So, if you know someone who (shockingly!) does not yet own Anno 1800 or if you always wanted to give those Cosmetic DLC a try: This is as good of an opportunity as any!

Union Update: New date for the modding livestream

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community!

 

We wanted to give you a brief update on the modding-related livestream that we announced in late September.

The livestream has found a new home(-date): Tuesday next week (October 17th) starting at 5PM CEST / 3PM UTC / 11AM EDT. As usual, the livestream will happen on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

Community Developer Oliver will be joined by Studio Technical Director Kevin and Lead Tools Programmer Jakob, talking about the mod support update for Anno 1800 and showcasing some mods from the community.

 

We’ve also seen the occasional discussions about what the next Cosmetic DLC might be about… well, we have to ask for a little bit more patience but in late October we’ll drop the first teasers on our channels, so: stay tuned! We had a lot of fun with this one in particular.

 

That’s it in terms of news for now, but we’ll have a few more things happening till the end of the year. You’ll definitely hear about them here on the Anno Union.

Union Update – Upcoming stream & Community Spotlight

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hello Anno Community,

In the past weeks we have seen the Anno modding community grow bigger and bigger, with over 300 mods uploaded at mod.io and hundred thousands of downloads: from additional ornaments and cosmetics to more technical mods that add even more complexity to the game (not for the faint of heart!).

After a break from live streams during summer, we decided to dedicate our next one to mods. If you would like to join us, then clear out your calendars for Friday 29th of September from 5-6 PM CEST: Oliver (Community Developer), Kevin (Technical Director) and Jakob (Lead Tools Programmer) will show how the built-in Modloader works, while giving some dev insights and showcasing some mods.
Please note that the livestream had to be postponed, we will communicate a new time soon.

Community Spotlight

After showcasing the modding works of Kurila and Taludas, we thought of switching the perspective for today and show off some modded screenshots, together with some other interesting posts we have seen in the past few weeks on Reddit and Discord.

Let’s start with this screenshot by Mithaldriel, shared on the Annoverse Discord: this New World city almost looks like a painting, so lively and colourful. If you are wondering where these houses are from, then go check out the Jakob’s New World Cities mod on mod.io!

This modded capital city by domis_cze does not only count up to over 100 hours for its creation, but also over 100 mods! This overview of the city is quite breathtaking, and if you wish to see more make sure to go check the full collection of screenshots on Reddit. Plus, if you would like to know which mods have been used, domis_cze will help you out.

What about this video showing off this beautiful metropolis by Lumpi? A magnet for tourists! We don’t know about you, but the Anno Team would love to visit this place – we can see ourselves strolling through the Old Town and visiting that mysterious castle. If you are curious about the mods used, Lumpi has listed all mod creators in the video description on YouTube.

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We all know that Anno goes hand in hand with math, but mafieth really impressed us with two interesting Reddit posts. In the first one, you can find an extremely useful spreadsheet of Needs Economy Analysis, that explains the economical impact of all production chains. Just by looking at that spreadsheet you can all understand that mafieth really likes data and math – but be prepared to be swept off your feet because there is more. From needs economy to the Ultimate Ship Analysis: in this post mafieth explains how each ship has a sweet spot of cargo load at which it achieves the highest possible throughput, and provides a detailed trade route calculator. As mafieth mentioned at the beginning of the post, trigger warning: a lot of math (and graphs, too!). Kudos to mafieth for creating such useful tools, we are sure the Anno Community will love them!

For our last feature of the day, we would like to show you this lovely National Park by Ancalagon-j on Reddit, who says “luckily I still had a little free space on Crown Falls!”. Well, it does not seem so little after all! Your citizen must be quite happy to have all that nature so close to their city.

Union Update: CDLC Teasers, Anno Union survey & Community Spotlight

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

Happy Friday! As you are getting ready to jump into the weekend, we thought of giving you one last recap on the latest news. On the menu today: a quick overview of the timeline for the upcoming CDLC after this week’s teaser, an update on the Anno Union Survey, and a Community Spotlight for dessert.

In terms of livestreams, we will take a short (summer-)break after having featured the first four Anno games in the recent months on our Twitch channel. We’ll likely resume our streams in late August or early September and keep you updated on this topic here.

A first teaser for the upcoming Cosmetic DLC

Some of you might have noticed this on Twitter and Facebook – last Tuesday, we shared a cheeky little sneak peek of the upcoming Cosmetic DLC:

 

A trail sign? A mysterious path leading to… the Lake District? Well, if you want to find out more about the new ornaments, keep your eyes on our social channels and the Anno Union: there’s one more teaser coming up next week, as well as a dedicated DevBlog on Wednesday 26 July, that will reveal the release date of the CDLC.

For the Game Update 18 Release Notes you’ll need to wait just a little bit longer, as we will have them ready for you in early August. Stay tuned for those!

In the meantime, we would like to know your guesses about the theme of the upcoming CDLC, so feel free to share them in the comments below. Let’s see who gets the closest to the correct one! 😉

Anno Union Survey

As you might remember, a couple of weeks ago we asked for your feedback about the Anno Union, your experience with the website and our communication over the last years in general. We have received so much valuable feedback from the survey you completed – and we would like to thank everyone who participated! Today, we would like to touch on a few topics that were highlighted a few times.

Forums – Well, not entirely surprising, but you made it pretty clear that you loved the forums and are missing a comparable platform right now, even if you’re using Discord and Reddit. As you know, Ubisoft is currently not planning to operate forums anymore, but we have taken note and will look into communication channels, old and new, as well as improvements to existing ones for the future and our next project.

Blogs (cadence/length) – From your answers, we learned that while the length of our (dev-)blogs seem to be just right for the majority of you, some would like to see more digestible blogs and would prefer to rather have more but shorter articles. We will keep this in mind for the future and see if certain topics can be split into different chapters, to give each article a stronger focus. In terms of cadence there will always be periods (like right now, for example) in which we won’t have too much to share with you and when news will be rarer, but we will do our best to give you a better overview and info on what’s coming in the immediate future. See the paragraph regarding the upcoming Cosmetic DLC.

Dark Mode – We were happy to read that the dark mode for the Anno Union is widely used, but we acknowledge that there are a some areas that could see some improvements. Thank you for pointing this out, we put those points on our list.

Q&As – We have always enjoyed doing Q&As with the Community, as it always was a great way for us to reply to your questions directly but also to connect with you all around the world. And clearly, you enjoyed them, too, since this topic was brought up several times in your answers to the survey. So, while we have to ask you for just a bit of patience: When the time comes, we will resume Q&As for our next project.

Community Spotlight

Now it’s time to focus on the creations of our beloved Community. We have seen quite a few outstanding screenshots lately, and we can safely say that your beauty building skills never cease to amaze us.

Speaking of beauty building, let’s start with this “beautiful” and maybe a bit abstract (???) creation by Aestris, shared on the Annoverse Discord. Three Christmas trees, and a panoramic wheel in the middle of a spiral made of canals and wheat fields. What’s the symbolic meaning behind all this? Is it a visual representation of the rule of the golden section? We have so many questions.

With summer heatwaves hitting quite hard in many parts of the world, we thought we could share a video by AnnoEffect, that feels quite… refreshing – but also looks great! After watching this video, we can confirm that Anno 1800 perfectly combines with scenic summer storms. We recommend watching this with earphones on, the sound of the rain feels so relaxing!

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If you’re new to beauty building and would like to give it a try, Taka has shared a super interesting and useful video on how to combine the game content and some of the most popular mods out there, in order to create the cities of your dreams. Enjoy!

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Finally, Laudica has shared this amazing creation on the Annoverse Discord. While still a work in progress, we were amazed by the creativity (combined with a lot of patience, too!) of this screenshot. We cannot wait to see the finished work! If you are curious to see how this evolves, do not forget to check the Annoverse for updates!

Union Update: It’s Annoversary Update release day!

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

It’s release day: the Annoversary Update is now available on PC! If you missed the Release Notes for Game Update 17 or simply would like to brush up the (very long) list of bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements that come with today’s update, then feel free to check our dedicated blog.

At the end of last year we shared our plans for 2023. Today, we would like to take the opportunity to remind you all that the Annoversary Update will be the last update for Anno 1800. Of course, we still have three Cosmetic DLC releases this year (more news on those later this month)- but no major update is planned besides necessary bug fixes if needed.

We can tell you that it’s a strange feeling for us, too, speaking of “the last update” after having worked on Anno 1800 for such a long time.

Even more important for us therefore was this Annoversary Update, to leave our “baby” in state we can be happy with. So, no reason to be sad, since the update includes a bunch of great improvements. And in today’s blog, we would like to give you an overview on the Stamp Feature and the Creative Mode – the two brand new additions to Anno 1800 on PC.

The Stamp Feature

The Stamp Feature enables you to save layouts and use them again later or even in a different savegame. You can even share the Stamp files with other players!

How to create a Stamp

Like with the copy tool, you select a number of buildings, streets, ornaments etc. that are then saved as a “stamp” in a separate menu.

You can rename each stamp and select an icon (from any of the buildings included in the stamp, or one of the default ones). To do this, right click on the Stamp to open the edit window.

You can also rename each folder, just click on it and edit the name. Please be aware that the icon for each folder is chosen automatically based on the first Stamp in the folder. The Stamps in a folder are organized alphabetically.

Folders

If no folder is open, newly created Stamps are added to the “New Stamps” folder. If such a folder doesn’t exist, it gets automatically created. You can rename the “New Stamps” folder at any.

You can add a new Stamp into an existing folder by opening said folder before creating a new Stamp.

What you can’t do in-game, however, is moving Stamps between folders.

Folder Management

To organize your Stamps you can also use your Windows file explorer.

You can create new folders, rename both the folders and Stamps and move Stamps between folders there. Just keep in mind that any changes are not applied to a running game. So, either restart the game after doing your edits or simply organize the Stamps while the game is not running.

Other Notes

Stamps are organized by region and scenario by default and can only be used in their respective environment. You can find all your Stamps here, in the order described above: \Documents\Anno 1800\stamps

It’s possible to share and use Stamps from other players. Just drop the file in the respective folder.

If a Stamp includes content that is either limited to the Creative Mode or part of a DLC you don’t own, you can still place it, but the unavailable objects are placed as blueprints and cannot be upgraded (or, in the case of DLC content: not until you own it).

The Creative Mode

This one goes out to all the beauty-builders out there. The Creative Mode is a brand-new and separate mode that allows you to focus on your city building creative skills without feeling the pressure of AI requests or the constant worry of running out of money. Yes, you heard that right! There are no restrictions when it comes to the Creative Mode: money is unlimited, you can forget about incidents, construction costs, input goods, workforce and road connections. Just unleash your creativity and share your masterpieces in beauty-building with us! We cannot wait to see you your awesome creations.

Keep in mind that this is not the intended way to play Anno 1800, since it does not simulate a regular game you would normally play in sandbox or campaign. Plus, keep in mind that it can only be played in single player.

Well, Annoholics – this is all for today’s blog. We hope you enjoy the new features and are satisfied with the quality-of-life-improvements and balancing changes added with the Annoversary Update. Share some screenshots of your Creative Mode builds with us and don’t forget you can share your Stamps with other players! We are looking forward to seeing your creations!

Looking into the future, we have a few more things planned to celebrate this quarter-century journey with you all. Speaking of, have you noticed our 25th Anniversary logo in today’s clip?

 

Stay tuned for more. 😉

Happy city-building!

Union Update: Anno 1800 Console Edition launches today!

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

After our big reveal back in January, it finally happened: Anno 1800 is now available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S!

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And if you haven’t ordered your copy yet, you can buy it for your preferred platform via this link: www.annogame.com/console. Plus, you have until April 16th to get the Early Adopter Offer – a bonus pack that includes the Imperial and Console Founder pack with additional skins, logos and ornaments, together with the digital artbook!

Learn how to play

Whether you’re new to Anno 1800, need a refresher, or would like to learn more about controls on console, this is the right place for you. We teamed up with Ubisoft Gameplan for this Essential Tips guide: from choosing the perfect game setting and difficulty level for you, to city planning, income growth and trading.

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Free Week – 16th-23rd March

If you are new to Anno 1800 and would like to try the game before purchasing it or want to introduce your friends to the Anno universe, we have got the perfect solution for you. Starting today (5:00 PM UTC) until March 23rd, you will be able to play Anno 1800 for free on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Interested? Then follow this link!

Twitch Drops: Anno 1800 Console Edition

Just a reminder that together with the launch of Anno 1800 Console Edition, our dedicated Twitch Drops Event also starts today! We have quite a few drops for this event, and it last until March 23rd.

By watching any of our partner streamers, you can earn the “Anno Union Banner” for watching 1 hour and the “Celebratory Ship Skin” for the Ship of the Line for watching 2 hours.

In addition, there are 4 company logos, the “Anno Union Billboard” and the “Celebratory Ship Skin” for the Battlecruiser which you can earn from any Anno 1800 streamer.

For more information on the Twitch Drops event and the list of Partner Streamers, please check our our dedicated blog.

FAQs – What does the Anno 1800 Console Edition offer?

Not too long ago, we bundled up the most frequently asked questions about the Console Edition you asked us, and put them together in this Union Update.

Of course, if you still have some burning question related to the Console Edition feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook or our official forums.

This is all for today’s blog. Thank you, Anno Community, for your continued support throughout the years. And if you are new and joined because of the Console Edition release, welcome! 🙂

Happy city-building, Annoholics!

Union Update: What’s coming in February & Community Spotlight

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

With the first month of 2023 already coming to an end, let’s update you on what’s coming in the next weeks!

Game Update 17 & Playtest

Firstly, let’s talk bug fixes and patches.

While we continue working on the Free Game Update we briefly mentioned at the end of last year (currently internally dubbed the “Jubilee Patch”), we’re going to have a playtest for said update in mid-February, both to test the stability of the version as well as to get feedback on the new features we’re implementing.

There are still some issues that we want to iron out, including of course bugs that you have reported like the Anarchist quests, issues with the music or regarding the targeting behaviour of the AI – all of which are planned for the mentioned update.

We’ll have more news on the playtest soon and will follow this up later in February with more details on the “Jubilee Patch” – stay tuned!

Console Edition Reveal – FAQ

Following our reveal of the Anno 1800 Console Edition last week, we’ve seen a few questions pop up multiple times, so, let’s answer some of them today. Next week we’ll have a slightly longer FAQ blog that will then hopefully also answer the remaining ones. As a reminder: Anno 1800 Console Edition releases on March 16th on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Cross-play & Cross-progression

The Anno 1800 Console Edition allows multiplayer matches with a maximum of 16 players, with up to 4 players per team in co-op mode. However, the console version does only support multiplayer between players on the same platform.

Cross-progression between Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 is supported.

DLC content

For Anno 1800 Console Edition, we have decided to focus on the base game experience of Anno 1800 which already provides many hours of content, especially since we’ll be including the Free Game Updates that have been released for the PC version so far. Upon its release, the first 9 Cosmetic DLC will be available for purchase. The recently released “Dragon Garden” Pack as well as the three remaining Cosmetic DLC that are planned to be released in 2023 will become available later this year.

Controls

Our main focus during the development of Anno 1800 Console Edition was to achieve a smooth experience with a controller, for which the UI and controls were redesigned. It will therefore not support mouse and keyboard.

Since the PC version is optimized for mouse and keyboard input and with all the additional DLC released there, we are currently not planning to add controller support to the PC version.

Missed our livestream? – No worries, you can see the console version in action in our recording.

Community Spotlight

Rounding off this Union Update and with the “Dragon Garden” Pack having released one week ago, let’s feature some of the creations you posted using the new ornaments.

Let’s start with this this GIF by L_Q_Nguyen on Twitter, celebrating the Tết Festival: what a lovely composition! It’s great to see how the atmosphere changes between day and night, bringing out the bright colours of the lanterns and the Great Dragons in the centre.

If you would like to see some beauty building in action, then we recommend checking out Nivarias video, showcasing the whole Cosmetic DLC pack. Such a nice and peaceful idea to build a beautiful district to celebrate the Lunar New Year next to the river!

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Pyronite shared a dreamy screenshot on the Annoverse Discord. The contrast between the dark skyline and the Dragon Garden ornaments creates an amazing atmosphere for the perfect night shot. Bravo!

We love to see combinations between ornaments from different Cosmetic DLC, and PeterMaywald shared a great example of these combos on Twitter. The lovely Ceiba tree from the “Plant a Tree” CDLC and the Hildegarden from the “Old Town” Pack CDLC blend perfectly together with the “Dragon Garden” Pack CDLC!