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:

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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.

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.

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.

Hey Anno Community,

Last week we shared a first modder spotlight, talking with Kurila about his way into modding Anno 1800 and what kind of mods he created so far.

Today, we’re happy to feature Taludas who you might know from the “Wholesome Hacienda Overhaul” as well as the “Riverslots” mods. Let’s get started!

Hello Taludas, hope you’re doing great! How did you get into modding Anno 1800? What was the reason you started?

I was incredibly enthusiastic about the IAAM mod for Anno 1404 which made numerous changes to the gameplay, and I also enjoyed playing with the ARRC mod in 2070 and for 2205 another Anno veteran created the “Revolution” mod.

Later I was particularly fond of Skyrim – I spent more time looking for mods, installing them and watching them than with actual gameplay – and my passion for modding was sparked to new heights.

For Anno 1800, it really started for me in autumn 2021, directly after the release of “Highlife”. The new complexity that was added was enormous and impressed me a lot. And that’s when my first mod idea was born: I wanted to integrate the new product Celluloid into the production chain for the souvenirs. And that quickly turned into more, a third good (Gold) should be added, and the whole thing should either be produced by Artisans in one of the new manufactories, or with cheaper material (brass) by Workers in the Assembly Line. The mod still exists today and was my first change of sides from mod user to mod creator.

After this first step, what did you work on next? What other types of mods have you done so far?

I love complexity in video games. In Anno, no production chain can be too hard for me, no need too much. I can spend hours coming up with new mechanics.

Especially since I didn’t know how to handle the graphics files at the beginning of my modding career, I preferred to bring in gameplay changes and use the original game graphic files for that. After the community developed the appropriate tools, the mods became more and more complex.

My first really big mod was the “Wholesome Hacienda Overhaul“. Since I didn’t agree with some of the design choices of the “Seed of Change” DLC, I invested a week’s holiday well and adapted and expanded the whole thing a bit.

In addition, I have already converted many of the islands of the Old World and incorporated them into the New World. Among others, Crown Falls, which is supposed to be the highlight of a new session in the New World at some point (video impressions: https://youtu.be/wSqFEBe8ZmY).

Through Taubenangriff, I came up with the idea of further island modifications: He planned the river building sites in the New World known from 1404 and 2070. So, I dug in and implemented the idea in the Old World. Add a few new buildings, like a sawmill and a river power plant, and the mod “Riverslots” was born. So far, it’s my biggest and most high-profile project.

 

Did you have any prior modding knowledge or specific skills (programming, 3D art, …) when starting to mod Anno?

Since I come from a completely different professional background, I really started from scratch.

So, in the beginning I had to get used to it: What is xml? How does the modloader work? How is such a graphic asset for Anno actually constructed? Then I learned everything myself bit by bit. Always step by step and with every project I learned something new.

In addition, 1800 is unfortunately not very beginner-friendly when it comes to modding. However, by now I know my way around quite well, have also got to know some new programs, e.g. Blender, and am deeper into the subject. But I’ll probably never become a programmer, I just don’t have the background for that, or the interest.

So, even after almost 2 years, I still make beginner’s mistakes again and again, which make me slap my forehead repeatedly.

You said yourself that you started from scratch and learned a lot over the years. What would you advise other players wanting to get into modding Anno 1800?

Look at other mods as templates! It’s best to start with something simple. In the meantime, we also have a quite extensive beginners’ tutorial, where you are guided step by step on the way to your first own mod.

And the most important thing: don’t get discouraged!  A lot of things are hardcoded, so, sometimes you have to discard an idea because it just doesn’t work. Also, when learning the tools developed by the community, you sometimes need a high tolerance for frustration, because some things are very specific (e.g. the command line tools, or the Blender plug-in for graphics editing).

But the most important thing is ideas! Anyone who has an idea that they would like to alter the game with, should simply get started. It’s a lot of fun and the community is super nice and helpful! We are happy about every new modder!

Just looking at the mod.io library, you already created quite a few different mods. Is there something that you’re working on right now?

I have a thousand ideas on my list! At the moment I’m mainly working on a new major project: “The Queen’s Gambit”:

• All islands of the New World incl. Manola are reskinned and available in the Old World to get more variety in the map generation. Manola has a special place in this: it will be available as the second continental island next to Crown Falls in the Old World! However, not just like that: there will be a separate questline to obtain the island, which is initially owned by the Queen.
• Two new monuments on the converted Manola Island: the Dam, which can supply the island with energy, and the Statue of Freedom, which plays a role in the questline. There, the goal is to gain independence from the queen. If everything works out, there will also be the possibility to defeat the rising separatists and thereby secure some interesting bonuses: You decide which side you will choose 😉

Apart from that, I’m also working on smaller projects from time to time, especially with the background of the community activities, changes to the existing mods are always necessary, so I always have something to do.  Be curious to see what else is in store for you!

 

Thank you so much for taking the time, Taludas. We’re indeed curious what else you got in store!

Like last time, we want to end this blog with a showcase of a specific mod – but we thought “let’s pick two” this time cause they both have something in common that we quite appreciated: They both not only change production chains but also attempt to add more realism to the game.

Let’s check out the “Forest Glass” and the “Glasshouses for Orchids” mods.

The “Forest Glass” mod introduces, as one might imagine from the name, a new production chain for glass: Use quartz sand and potash to produce glass – which historically then had a slightly green colouration. While not a way anymore to produce glass today, back then it was quite important for the Holy Roman Empire and a way to produce a good locally instead of having to import all glass from outside.

In Anno 1800, building the production buildings as well as woodcutters next to each other also provides you with some valuable buffs.

Talking about glass, the “Glasshouses for Orchids” mod replaces the orchid field tiles from the “New World Rising” DLC with greenhouses. Orchids are now grown indoors and harvested with slightly more care than a tractor would show… but you’re also losing the production boost that a tractor would provide.

That’s it for today’s modder spotlight! Check out Taludas‘ mods directly on mod.io or search for his mods directly in the ingame mod browser.

 

You would like us to feature your mod in a future spotlight? Reach out to us here in the comments or on Discord!

Hey Anno Community,

With the mod browser now implemented for Anno 1800 on PC, adding community creations to your savegames has never been easier! We’ve been very happy with the reception following the release last week and hope many of you will give some of the fantastic creations from the Anno modding community a try – especially if you haven’t done so before.

Since we owe a big thank you to said modding community, we of course want to feature some of their creations on our channels. This of course includes the Anno Union, and today we’re not only featuring some mods, but also have an interview with their creator: Kurila!

Read on to learn how he got into modding and what he recommends to players who want to start creating mods.

Hey Kurila! Thank you for taking the time. Let’s start at the very beginning: How did you get into modding Anno 1800? What was the reason you started?

As is usually the case with modding, I wanted to try to implement my own wishes and ideas.

I had already modified existing mods before, but my first own mod was that farms with tractor barns have fast transporters like the electrified factories.

But that was only the start, as we know. What other kind of mods have you worked on so far?

So far, I have created mods that include completely new products and their production, such as smoked fish.

My aim has been to find a way to make fish interesting for engineers and investors.

I have also created mods that have expanded existing productions, for example, the production of schnapps and beer requires either clay or glass in addition to the existing products. Since their previous production was too simple for me.

But I have also created smaller mods that only involve minor changes, such as making the Arctic canteen also function as a warehouse.

Did you have any prior modding knowledge or specific skills (programming, 3D art, …) when starting to mod Anno?

I had no idea about modding at the beginning. I had been playing computer games since I was a child, but otherwise I had nothing to do with computer-related work. My beginnings with mods were with XCom2 where I had adapted values in existing mods, so it went on at the beginning also with Anno 1800.

But at some point, this was no longer enough to achieve my wishes and ideas, so I started to look at how I could achieve this myself.

So, having started from zero yourself, what would you advise someone who wanted to get into modding Anno themselves?

Not to be deterred because everything seems too complicated and incomprehensible.

You have to start small and then develop your work. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get caught up in complex processes without understanding the basic structure of the mods.

I was very sceptical at the beginning about trying to learn how to edit graphics as a person with no experience in 3d graphics, as it seemed so incredibly complex.

But with the help of other modders and their modding tools it is possible with patience and will to learn everything you need.

And, final question: is there something (new) you’re working on right now?

One of the mods I am currently working on is an extension of the production of clothing.

Sewing thread and Wool Fabric should have a relevant role in their production.

 

Thank you, Kurila! We’re looking forward to your future mods, making a complex game yet even more complicated 😉

At the end of today’s blog, we want to highlight one specific mod by Kurila, the “Production Works” one. In true industrial revolution spirit, this one is all about factories, adding for example a Cable Factory – with cables now being required for the construction of elevators as well as for the construction of various buildings, like Power Plants or Radio Towers.

Drinks now also need materials to produce the container it’s filled into: glass for bottles, wood for barrels etc.

You’ll also find more uses for Wanza Timber (from Land of Lions) in adjusted recipes as well as new needs for your population – like potatoes!

Check out Kurila’s mods on mod.io or search for his mods directly in the in-game mod browser.

 

 

You would like us to feature your mod in a future spotlight? Reach out to us here in the comments or on Discord!