Hello Anno Community,

Throughout Season 4, your New World empire has reached new heights. You started from the ground, by revolutionising the agricultural sector thanks to the Hacienda, and then took off to the sky and new horizons with Paloma and her airships. Now, it’s time for Season’s 4 grand finale: “New World Rising” opens a sea of possibilities for your Anno cities and their residents, who will experience first-hand an industrial and economic boom.

With December approaching, it means that the release of the third and last DLC of Season 4 is upon us – and what better way to set the mood than a deep dive into its content?

A new Generation: Artistas

Raw talent is both a blessing and a curse. It leads to sleepless nights, excessive ice cream consumption and truly exceptional results. The Artista has the heart of a poet and the hands of a musician, always coming up with new and exciting ways to change the world. Pursuing his endeavours with genteel manners and childlike enthusiasm, it is easy to think him a simple man at heart – but there’s a shrewd mind hiding underneath all that glitter.

At the centre of the New World revolution, a new generation is blooming: the Artistas. With refined taste and an ambitious desire to strive towards their dreams, Artistas will change the New World from the inside out, with your help. They are the new Resident Tier in the New World, coming right after the beloved Jornaleros and Obreros. Once reached 1000 Obreros in your cities, you will need to upgrade one Obrera house in order attract the first Artistas to your island. This new residence houses up to 40 Artistas, and could potentially go up to 85 with fulfilled Lifestyle Needs. Furthermore, once you have attracted the first Artistas to your island, a new building will be available to house them in the Hacienda quarters, that brings a sparkling pop of colour amid the warm tones of the New World. The Artistas Hacienda Quarters can house up to 80 Artistas, double the residents of the standard counterpart – but with Lifestyle Needs activated and fulfilled, it can get up to 165.

Of course, to attract more Artistas, you need to fulfil their needs – which can sometimes be quite out of the ordinary. As a result, new needs mean new production chains, which will require a mix of existing products and new ones.

A bright new start

The future of the New World has never been brighter! And we mean this literally, because Electricity will now be available in the New World with “New World Rising”. You know the drill when it comes to electricity: just like in the Old World or Cape Trelawney, you will need Oil Refineries, Power Plants and Oil Harbours to bring Electricity on your New World Islands. Once supplied with electricity, each factory and production building will receive a boost in productivity. But that’s not all – when it comes to New World farms, on top of the boost, something else happens: farms’ pastures will produce bonus goods. This is the case of cattle pastures, that will produce milk, whilst alpaca pastures produce saltpetre as bonus goods.

However, you should also know that oil refineries and power plants might not the only way to supply electricity in the New World. There is the special case of Manola, a large island that has been recently discovered in the northern part of the New World. We hope we got your attention with this, because you will have to wait another week to know more about Manola and its secrets. Stay tuned!

From Mezcal and Jalea…

One of the first recipe you will notice once you unlock Aristas, is a brand-new product: footballs! Quite the hint for the Monument you will build in the near future… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. A new farm will be available for you to produce the leather required for the balls, the Nandu Farm. The leather will then be tooled and assembled into balls in the Ball Manufactory.

Traditions are important for Artistas, even when it comes to food. Mezcal is a traditional beverage served by the Mezcal Bar and loved by Artistas; it will require Orchards for Citrus trees, Sugar cane plantations, and Herbs from the colourful Herb Gardens. Once you reach 900 Artistas, a new recipe will be unlocked, Jalea, a gourmet dish made with Calamari, which are now produced by the Calamari Fishery. Upon reaching 1800 Artistas, a refreshing product will be available: Ice Cream! Perfect for those torrid afternoons in the New World. As a dairy product, ice cream needs milk, which is now produced by cattle farms’ pastures as a plus good, if supplied with electricity.

After all this food talk, it is time to focus on a different type of products. As we have mentioned before, Artistas have quite an exquisite taste when it comes to their needs. Among these, we can find Perfumes, produced by the Perfume Mixer: in order to get the perfect fragrance to please the Artistas’ refined taste, you will need Orchids, Coconut oil, and Ethanol.

Artistas will also demand ventilators to fight against the warmth of the New World. This is where things start to get complicated, Annoholics. This new product will see the introduction of two new factories: the Cable Factory and the Motor Assembly Plant.

Towards the beginning of the 1900s, the first motorised scooters started appearing around the world. Of course, Artistas cannot resist this marvellous piece of technology, which makes their life a lot easier. Together with the Ventilators, Electric Scooters represent the most complex product needed by Artistas: from the mechanical parts like cables and motors, to the pigments needed to create the wonderful different varnishes for the scooters.

… To the world of entertainment!

Yes, Entertainment is a huge part of the Artistas’ life: amongst their hobbies, they enjoy spending their time at the Cinema, when they are not practicing dancing in the Samba School. Obviously, for the Cinema to work, you will need to produce roll films, the recipe of which will be available in the Chemical Plant (NW), a multi-factory that you may already be familiar with if you own “Tourist Season”. For the Samba School, instead, you will need to craft colourful Costumes with cotton, pigment and nandu feathers, produced in the nandu farms, if the farm is supplied with electricity.

With the presence of Artistas in the New World, entertainment has now become a new lifestyle need for all your New World resident tiers.

Emergency Services upgrades

With higher tier residents and bigger islands, comes even greater responsibility. With “New World Rising”, you will be able to upgrade the emergency services on your island, to assure greater safety for your residents than before. By reaching the required number of Artistas, you will unlock a new button in the menu of the Police Station, Fire Station, and Hospital, which will allow you to upgrade the selected service. Once upgraded, those services will require input goods, but will become fully automated: this means that once an incident occurs, they send out all available units. Furthermore, they strongly reduce the chance on incidents and have a larger street range than the regular ones.

For example, the upgraded Fire Station will need to be supplied with fire extinguishers, produced by a new Multi-factory: the Laboratory. This building will also produce Medicine for the upgraded Hospital, and pigment, used for Costumes and Electric Scooters. Finally, the upgraded Police Station will need to be supplied with Police Equipment, now produced in the Arsenal. However, if any of these input goods are missing, the emergency services will respond to incidents like a traditional city institution – requiring your input to recruit volunteer units instead of instantly sending them out.

If necessary, you can downgrade the emergency service at any time with just one click, from the service’s menu.

By the sea

There is nothing more relaxing than chilling on the beach after a long day, enjoying the sun setting on the horizon. Well, New World residents love spending their free time on the fresh shores of their islands, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. By building the Beach House, you will provide an additional public service for your residents, whilst making your island look even more beautiful and welcoming. Just like other public services, the Beach works within a specific radius, which can be increased thanks to the beach ornaments: a parasol picnic for your residents to enjoy some food in the shadow, an ice cream parlour for a refreshing snack under the sun, a life-guard tower to keep your residents safe, and more! Each ornament you place provides attractiveness to the beach building, proportionally increasing its range.

Time to get the ball rolling: a new Monument

Back in September, during Ubisoft Forward, we let you take a small glimpse at the Monument for “New World Rising” in our CGI teaser. Many of you shared with us your guesses on the Monument, however, none of you got the answer perfectly right. Well, it is finally time to reveal what your most ambitious project will be with “New World Rising”: the Grand Stadium! Just like any monument, the Stadium will be built in phases, three in total. Be aware that, as usual, it will require a great number of materials and workforce, so be prepared! Once built, everything will be ready to host football games. To launch your first event, simply access the Championship panel in the Stadium menu. Based on your population you will unlock three different levels of events: Local, Regional and World, and they all provide additional Influence as a reward at the end. An event lasts 20 minutes, and during its preparation you have the chance to deliver goods to the Stadium to increase the quality of the reward.

We hope you enjoyed today’s DevBlog and are thrilled as we are for the release of “New World Rising” on December 8th at 3 PM CET / 9 AM ET. Keep an eye on the Anno Union, because more DLC 12 DevBlogs are coming your way – one dedicated to the New World expansion and one dedicated to our third Scenario, Pride and Peddlers. In the meantime, if you have any question on the new content or would like to know more on a specific feature, feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook and our official Forums.

Happy city-building!

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.

Today I saw a most remarkable thing. We gathered, the whole town, filled with anticipation. A breathless silence settled on us, broken only by the clicking of pocket-watches repeatedly checked.

And then, rising beyond the distant mountains, silhouetted against the morning sun, it came: immense and majestic; thunderous and forbidding. A titan of the sky, its lungs enclosed by ribs of metal. I must say, I had the impression more of some noble antediluvian beast, grazing the sky, than of a man-made craft.

I sense a new age dawning, the possibilities stretching as far as the limitless horizon. Untethered from the capricious sea, we can accomplish vast voyages in record time; melt away the distances between nations. But fear grows in me, too; visions of what violence we might wreak on one another, of these vessels we worked so hard to launch into the sky falling to earth once more, screaming plumes of gas bleeding from their ruptured sides.

A new age, indeed. To stand on the threshold between epochs… It is a vertiginous sensation.

Hello Anno Community,

Welcome to our second DevBlog dedicated to DLC 11, “Empire of the Skies”! Previously, we (hopefully) delighted our players and readers with a DevBlog dedicated to Airships, heart and soul of this DLC. Today, instead, we will focus on the whole content and mechanics of the DLC.

Come on aboard, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the flight: we will be cruising through game mechanics, dev insights and more!

A quick recap on Airships

As mentioned in our Airships DevBlog, with DLC 11 you will have access to two types of Airships: Rapid Airships if you prefer speed over cargo space, and Cargo Airships if you need more space to transport your goods. Airships present different capabilities and features: from transporting goods on your designed trade routes, to worker commuting and drop actions on islands. The first step of your journey into the sky starts with building a Hangar on your island: that is where your airships will be constructed. The Hangar is a monument that needs to be built in 4 phases, each one requiring various materials and quite a bit of workforce – so you will need to be prepared!

New Production chains

Two new elements will be essential for the construction of your airships: aluminium and helium. Of course, this implicates the need for two new production chains.

The new airships are surprisingly lightweight thanks to the aluminium frames that help maintain their structure. Not only is aluminium used in airship constructions, but also for many of the buildings used by airships. Two elements will be required to start your aluminium production: coal and bauxite, with the latter only available in the New World.

These Airships also require a new type of gas, helium, another element that can only be found in the New World, where numerous helium-rich gas pockets have been discovered. The production chain for helium is a bit more complex than the aluminium one. The Helium Extractor, unlike other mines, needs input goods to function and start extracting the gas. The first is lubricant, produced by the Palm Oil Press, which uses two input goods, fish oil and saltpetre, in addition to needing space to plant palm trees. We know you like a good challenge, so you will need to set a trade route to get that precious saltpetre, as the saltpetre works is only available in the Old World. Together with the lubricant, add some clay, and the helium extractor is ready to begin its work!

Airship Platforms

Once you have built your first airship, it is time to build an Airship Platform to maximise the airships’ potential – plus, this way, you will always know where you parked! You can build only one platform per island which can then be expanded with various modules to unlock unique features and capabilities on your island. Platforms can only be built in the New World and the Old World.

There are in total 3 modules that can be built from the Airship Platform menu.

Item Transfer

It allows you to quickly transport items between different islands and sessions. Once the Item Transfer module is built, you will be able to drop any item in an empty slot. The dropped item will then be available after a cooldown on any other island that has an Airship Platform with an Item Transfer module built – however, be aware that the cooldown varies based on the rarity of the item you are dropping. The more Item Transfer modules you build, the more your global storage capacity will increase. Each module you build will supply two additional slots, up to 24 in total.

Airmail Module

This module represents the main mail sorting centre present on your island. It allows you to send and receive mail through airship and their routes. Mail is produced passively by your residents and collected by Post Offices and Post Boxes. Once collected, the mail will be then distributed via airship to other islands and regions. But let us stop here for now, more on Mail and Air Mail Routes later in the blog, just be patient!

Airship Commuter

Shared workforce, anyone? Just like the Commuter Pier, it will allow workforce to commute between islands on which you have built an Airship Platform with an Airship Commuter module.

Based on what your airships are transporting, they will direct themselves to an Airship Platform or other trading spots. When it comes to Mail, airships will unload their precious epistolary cargo on Airship Platforms only, whilst when it comes to other goods, they will approach Airship Platforms, Piers, Trading Posts, etc.

You’ve got mail!

One of the most interesting aspects of “Empire of the Skies” is the Mail System. Nowadays, we live in a hyperconnected world, where everything and everyone is just one click away. However, nothing beats the joy and charm of receiving a handwritten letter from an old friend living on the other side of the world, doesn’t it? An envelope carefully sealed, with stamps methodically placed on the back, or a care package full of our favourite treats thoughtfully picked and placed together…

Mail is a Lifestyle Need for your Residents, and it provides additional income and resident influx. In total, there are three tiers of mail:

• Local Mail – distributed locally on the same island
• Regional Mail – distributed between islands within the same region/session
• Overseas Mail – distributed between different regions/sessions

As mentioned before, Mail is passively produced by your residents and then collected by Post Offices and Post Boxes. Both buildings have a radius, therefore you should place them strategically in your residential districts: the more Residents in the range, the more Local Mail will be gathered. While the Post Boxes are easier to place as they take very little space (only one tile), their range is also smaller than the Post Office. Another thing to keep in mind is that radiuses cannot overlap between each other: time to use those Tetris skills!

As the name suggest, only Local Mail will be consumed by your Residents on a specific island, while to obtain Regional and Overseas Mail, you will need to transport Mail via the Airmail Module and, therefore, Airships. In terms of numbers and percentages, about half of the Local Mail produced by your Residents will be needed to fulfil their Lifestyle need for local mail. This means that the remaining will be used to produce Regional and Overseas Mail.

Once you start producing enough Local Mail to get to second and third Mail tier, the next step is to transport it to other islands: this can be considered as the next step in the “production chain” of Regional and Overseas Mail. This distribution will start once you set a Trade Route through the Airmail Module. Once the Mail reaches its destination, it will convert to Regional Mail when reaching another island within the same session, or Overseas Mail when reaching another island in another session (except for Old World – Cape Trelawney, sending mail between them will only count as Regional Mail). We called this conversion process Route Alchemy. This does change a few things to how you are used to trade routes to work. First, mail will always be completely unloaded at target, it will not be unloaded in steps. If you cancel a trade route or throw the mail overboard, the mail will be unloaded and lost.

What about the Arctic, you might ask. Well, while the Arctic platform on the plateaus follows the same rules as when it was introduced back in 2019 with “The Passage” DLC, a special stand-alone mail module has been added for them with “Empires of the Skies”. For the regular islands in the Arctic, a modified Airship Platform has been added that also has this one module.

In short: You will still need to have a platform and a module on any Arctic island or plateau that you want to connect to your mail system. The existing Post Offices will now handle two tasks: Fulfilling the regular need of the Technicians and collecting as well as distributing mail in the context of DLC 11’s mail feature.

Drop Goods

Air-Drops are another important feature of the new Airships, allowing you to drop different goods on your islands, based on your needs. To produce them, you will need a Drop Goods Factory where you can choose your preferred good from the recipe list. Once produced, you can load the goods onto your airship.

There are 5 distinct types of drops available: pamphlets, care packages, bombs, sea mines and water. For each drop production, the Factory will require specific input goods but will use the same amount of workforce and have the same maintenance costs for each.

Pamphlet Printer

By dropping pamphlets on your opponents’ islands, you will create unrest, affecting residences and production by distracting your opponents’ population with propaganda.

Care Package Factory

An effective way to boost your own, your allies’ or neutral factions’ production and happiness! After all, who does not like a thoughtful care package dropping from the sky?

Water Drop Factory

When fires are too extended and firefighters are struggling to keep a fire under control, you will be able to take out fires with water drops from your airships.

Bomb Factory

As you have learned from our previous DevBlog, airships can now be armed with bombs and attack your opponents’ harbours and fleets.

Sea Mine Factory

An interesting way to sabotage your opponents’ trade routes and fleets would be dropping sea mines in the open sea.

Ornaments

Let’s not forget the most important part for the beauty-builders out there: ornaments! In total, there will be 8 brand new ornaments that will go perfectly with the whole DLC 11 theme. They will help you create the perfect atmosphere around your landing platforms and, of course, make your people feel comfortable and ready for their flights: a nice refreshing drink from the Airport Café, café tables to sit in the shadow, an airport clock to make sure not to miss their flight and much more!

Free Game Update: Military Changes

DLC 11 will also come with a free update, available for all the Anno 1800 players. We mentioned some of the changes already, like the resizing of the Passage Airships, for example, or the Lifestyle Needs and several new items. Alongside of those changes, there will be some free military improvements: for example, new weapons will be available for your harbours, such as an anti-armour gun or a flame tower. Following this, we did some changes to the different damage types, which means that based on the weapons you will build, there will also be distinct types of damage – e.g., wooden ships will take more damage from fire attacks from the flamer tower.

The full list of changes will as usual be shared close to the Game Update’s release – so watch this space to know more!

This brings us to the end of today’s DevBlog, Annoholics. We explored quite a few topics and had a taste of what awaits you in “Empire of the Skies” on September 20th. We hope you enjoyed the read and are ready for the next one, as soon we will share our third and last DevBlog dedicated to DLC 11: the “Clash of Couriers” Scenario DevBlog!

As usual, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, and our official Forums.

Until next time, happy city-building!

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.