Hey Anno Community,

Greetings from Mainz, we hope you’re all doing well!

We know things are a bit quieter on the communication side this year, but we want to at least give you a look at what’s happening in the coming weeks.

Cosmetic DLC 14 is planned to release in May, but we will drop the occasional teaser before that (like we’ve done last week) and there will be, as usual, a DevBlog closer to release with all details. Expect more news in April.

Also: there’s Anno 1800’s 5^th birthday coming up on April 16^th.

Livestream

And what better time than Anno 1800’s birthday to hold our next livestream:

On April 16^th at 5PM CEST we’ll welcome a special guest from our Art Team: Laura will join us to not only talk about the work of an artist in the Anno team but also present you the upcoming Cosmetic DLC: the Steampunk Pack!

As usual, we’ll be streaming on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

Community Spotlight

Lastly, of course we want to end this Union Update with a Community Spotlight!

Let’s first have a look at this dreamy sunset behind the Skyline and Iron Towers: can you imagine how stunning the view must be from up there? Great shot, Dosé (Annoverse Discord)!

“This city is a magnet for genius!” says the voice in this clip – and we couldn’t agree more (are we implying that we are genius? We’ll never know). This aerial shot by AnnoEffect (Annoverse Discord) is so relaxing and beautiful and captures very well the cold and chill we’re still feeling these days. Spring, where are you?

We’re always happy to see some satisfying patterns in your Anno screenshots, and these cotton plantations in this screenshot by Beny (Annoverse Discord) hit all the right spot. So vast and tidy, we love it!

What better way to end this Community Spotlight than going for a promenade in this city by Duke_Irony (Reddit)? Or maybe a relaxing walk by the river? We couldn’t choose, so here are two lovely screenshots – but we recommend having a look at the full collection on Reddit, you won’t regret it!

The header image for today’s blog is courtesy of NumberNegative from the Annoverse Discord.

Hey Anno Community,

We do have one more piece of news this month for fans of video game soundtracks:

On Sunday, January 28^th, the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra will perform pieces from several video game soundtracks including TES V: Skyrim, Civilization 6 and: Anno 1404!

If you’re living nearby, you can still buy tickets via their website, alternatively you can also just simply get comfortable at home and watch their Twitch live stream of the whole concert.

It’s starting at 6 PM CET (5 PM UTC) on https://www.twitch.tv/staatstheateraugsburg

The two pieces from Anno 1404’s soundtrack – composed by Dynamedion – are “Monumental Cathedral” and “Money Counters”. Enjoy the show!

Hey Anno Community,

A happy New Year from the Anno team – we hope you all had a great start into 2024!

We’re back at work after our holiday break, time to let you know what’s coming up in the next months.
First of all: expect a slower start in terms of news and blogs from us this year.

In early Spring we’ll have more information on the next Cosmetic DLC (including a livestream with our artist Laura), the theme of which may or may not have been “leaked” at the end of last year.

The boardgame enthusiasts among you can also look forward to an expansion to the Anno 1800 boardgame, also coming in Spring 2024. We’ll keep you updated on any news our friends at Kosmos have on this.

On the Twitch side of things, we would also love to continue some of the (multiplayer) savegames – for example for 2070 and 1800 – from last year. Let us know what you’d like to see from us on Twitch!

Finally, we still want to continue featuring anything YOU are creating, so, there will be Community Spotlights on specific mods, screenshots and videos shared by you and any other type of player created content.

In this spirit, here’s the first spotlight of 2024:

Community Spotlight

Let’s start with some mods recently uploaded to mod.io:

First, the “Balanced responders” by NumberNegative. A small mod in itself, but likely useful for fans of Muggenstuermer’s Fire Station, Police Station and Hospital. It rebalances the automatic responder units of those building.

For a little bit of additional British-ness, jje1000 has a new church skin for you: Wibblesock’s Parish gives you yet more visual variety – and you’re likely making Willie very happy!

For owners and fans of the “Land of Lions” DLC, the “Safari to Old Enbesa” mod by Lion053 has already been a go-to mod for a while. Reason enough to highlight it again now that it’s on mod.io – together with the “Enbesa Tourism” mod by the same author.

Over on Reddit, wannabegansta123 shared impressions from several of their cities, all with a unique twist and style. We decided to feature the one titled “Engineer’s Respite” here today, but make sure to check the post on Reddit for more examples.

And last but not least, we loved this cute little “potato island” that Nikolai Dante shared on Discord. As you know, potatoes are extremely versatile: you can boil them, mash them, put them in a stew…

The header image for today’s blog is courtesy of Chris92 from the Annoverse Discord.

Hey Anno Community,

This is it, our last Anno Union blog for 2023. It has been quite a year for us (even though mostly behind the scenes) and for Anno – which celebrated its 25^th birthday this year! And we had Anno’s first full console release, as well as a big Annoversary update and mod support for our loyal PC players – together with Anno’s first ever modding contest.

From Anno 1602 to Anno 1800, Anno players could travel through history into the future; and to celebrate the end of this Annoversary and take a laaarge dose of nostalgia, we have a special trailer to commemorate the occasion:

Throughout the year, we have also covered all Anno games in dedicated livestreams with various guests from the team on our Twitch channel. The latest happened just a few days ago, on Tuesday, when we had Jannika (Game Writer) and Christian and Rico (UI Programmers) live on stream to talk about Anno and their work on Anno 1800 specifically. If you missed it, you can watch the VOD here.

2023 also marked the year for another milestone: Over 3 million players have joined the ranks of the Annoholics across PC and Console for Anno 1800 now! By popular request and for tradition’s sake, we have summarized some the achievements (and some incredible numbers!) in the image below:

Last but not least: Wallpapers! As usual, we’ll have all of this year’s artworks bundled together for you as a download. Just follow this link.

And… was there a teaser in our livestream on Tuesday? Maybe…

Could it lead to a page here on the Anno Union – when added to the URL – with some hints to the first Cosmetic DLC theme of 2024? Maybe…

Let’s just put this random video clip here:

Well, that was 2023! We’ll now be taking some time off over the holidays to recharge our batteries and wishing you all a great end of the year, happy holidays and a fantastic start into the new year.

See you in 2024, and thank you for being an awesome community!

All the best from Mainz,

The Anno Team

Hey Anno Community!

In April and August this year we did our two mod support updates, and in late October we launched Anno 1800’s first ever modding contest. Today, we’re excited to announce the five winning entries!

They are not in any particular order and all participants will receive the same prize: The Clutch GM51 Lightweight Wireless Mouse and the Agility GD72 Gleam Edition Mousepad which MSI graciously sponsored us for this contest.

And now, without further ado: The winners! Congratulations to all of you!

Tisogno’s “Maya Treasures”

A mid-game mod that lets you “discover the remnants of ancient Maya culture” and “experience the enriching effects of traditional wisdom and bizarre myth”. Making good use of the Hacienda mechanic from “Seeds of Change”, multiple modules can be attached to the Mayan temple, both ornamental ones as well as ones with gameplay functions. Use them to craft goods like “Love Powder” or “Rejuvenation Essence” (with its very own sets of new input goods) to fulfill new Lifestyle needs.

Add to that special temple policies and a silver production chain if you want to want to fill your coffers with some extra cash and you’ll certainly have a great bundle of new production chains to discover.

The mod is now also available on mod.io for the ingame mod browser.

Flatlex’ and Finchen’s “Gnome Pottery”

We’re sure you missed some good old garden gnomes in Anno 1800 – that’s changing now! The ornamental mod adds “Harry’s Pottery”, the New World’s first gnome pottery and painting company. Appropriately outfitted with sombreros, we’re sure these garden gnomes will be a great success for Harry.

The mod is now also available on mod.io for the ingame mod browser.

HerrTurTur’s “Jungle Expedition Ornaments”

Likely inspired by some of the ornaments of the “National Park” Pack, HerrTurTur delivers you all you need for your very own jungle expedition scenery: A wild jungle path with dangerous events along the way including wild animals and a mysterious skull-shaped rock, but also a full expedition camp and resting places. On top of that, the lake system was revamped into a swamp system, complete with mangrove trees. Plus, there are some ruins for you to place.

The mod is now also available on mod.io for the ingame mod browser.

Taludas’ “Colossus of the New World: Finding Mayabeque”

Probably the most colossal (hah!) of the creations we were sent, this mod adds a whole new region that you will first need to discover, with a new mega-island (a total New World conversion of Crown Falls) as well as a new monument and a quest chain to tie things together. This mod will surely please everyone among you who wants to build yet another massive New World settlement – and enjoy a good story along the way. There are also some “airship-only” islands in this world with their very own bonuses – and don’t forget to finish the monument!

The mod is now also available on mod.io for the ingame mod browser.

Hier0nimus’ “Music to my ears”

Last but not least, this one is all about music: It adds several instruments and their dedicated production chains to the game – from simple flutes over banjos to harps – that serve as new happiness needs. They’re not exclusive to the New World, but each region (including DLC regions) received their own instruments and population needs.

This all culminates in the New World with a building that brings all these things together: The Music Hall! If you transport instruments from all across your empire towards your cities in the New World, you can hold great concerts – not only fulfilling a Need for your population, but also providing buffs to all residences in its area.

The mod is now also available on mod.io for the ingame mod browser.

Hey Anno Community,

Today’s the day Eldritch horrors make their way into your cities! With the “Eldritch” Pack Cosmetic DLC you’ll not only receive several Gothic ornaments, but also appropriately spooky building skins for Worker and Artisan Residences, as well as the pub and hospital.

Watch the video below for some impressions from the Cosmetic DLC:

This also is an excellent opportunity to once again highlight the eldritch fan art Dulcamarra shared last week. Not sure how Bente got roped into all of this, but Eli certainly looks very heroic. We only have one question: Where is Lady Hunt?

Alongside the new Cosmetic DLC we also released patches on PC, Xbox and PlayStation. You can find the patch notes here.

Celebrating over 3 million Annoholics

Earlier this year we also passed a milestone for Anno 1800: Over 3.5 million players have joined us on PC and Consoles since the game’s release in April 2019!

As a thank you to all of you, our fantastic community, and to celebrate the occasion, we’re adding a new ornament to Anno 1800 for everyone.

Livestreams

It’s mid-November and only a few more weeks to the holidays. But before that, we are still planning three more livestreams for the Annoversary.

On November 23^rd (Thursday next week) we’ll be diving into an Anno 2070 multiplayer match

On December 1^st, we’re taking a look at Anno 2205 together with our guest Frank from the 3D Programming team.

And finally, on December 12^th, we’ll be doing our “End of the Year Livestream” with several guests.

All three streams will be hosted on our usual Twitch channel: twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte

We hope to see you there and are, as usual, happy to answer any game dev questions you might have!

Modding Contest Reminder

Last but not least we want to add a small reminder regarding the Anno 1800 Modding Contest!

Running until November 30^th, this is your chance to hone your modding skills and get a chance at winning some great hardware prizes by MSI!

You can find more information and the official rules document here.