Tag: Union Update

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

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Annoholics!

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

“Seasonal Decorations” Pack

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Update 13.2

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

Stream Announcement

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

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

Community Spotlight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Cosmetic DLC plans for 2022

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Union Update: Game Design MainzFrame & Community Channels

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

 

The first month of 2022 is almost over, if you believe it, and it has been a relatively quiet month on the communication side of things for Anno so far.

This will change in February, when we first tell you more about Cosmetic DLC plans for this year (next week) and then right into the first of these CDLCs (in two weeks) that is going to release in mid-February.

 

With this Cosmetic DLC we will also release another patch to, amongst other things, fix the missing consumption statistics for buildings like Power Plants and Arctic Heaters.

MainzFrame – Game Design

In the meantime, we heavily recommend you checking out the latest episode of “MainzFrame”, a series of video podcasts by Ubisoft Mainz. Each episode is taking a look at different aspect of our work and often also talks about the professional backgrounds of the involved team members. This might be especially interesting for anyone of you who is interested in working in the video game industry one day, too.

For the latest episode, our Communications Manager Basti has invited two of our Game Designers who many of you will probably recognize: Andrea and Dominik talk about their work in Game Design and how they ended up in their jobs here in Mainz.

Check it out below!

Twitch has been deactivated. Do you accept the use of cookies to display and allow you to watch the video content?
Set Cookies

I acceppt Cookies

Community Channels

As we have just entered the new year and are getting ready for the months to come, we thought it was the perfect moment to remind you of some useful pages, created and maintained by our amazing Community.

If you are looking for Anno 1800’s features, mechanics, and stats, then this is the right place for you. Extremely useful for new players looking for some answers, but also for veterans, who can share their immense knowledge of the game.

This is a subreddit completely dedicated to the Anno series. It is the perfect place for you to share screenshots and fanarts, start very insightful discussions, and ask questions.

The place to go to discuss any Anno title, find other Annoholics for a multiplayer match, share screenshots, videos etc., and have a chat with other players while competing for the Community challenges.

Not enough for you? Do not worry, we got your back. Check our Community Page on the Anno Union for more and let us know if you think we forgot something important!

Since we mentioned the Community Challenges in the Discord section above, the second Community Challenge is happening right now in the Annoverse – if you have not participated yet, be quick! You have time until January 30th. Task for this challenge, wisely called “The name is the game”, is to create the word “Anno” in the game using ornaments or other buildings. Here are some of the entries we’ve seen so far.

Tristan891 decided to use trees for this task. An evergreen choice… we might say. Beautiful and eco-friendly!

 

Annoholiker submitted this colorful screenshot for the Challenge, and what can we say? We love Anno 1800 too! (Totally not biased)

Ionovia created this majestic “Anno 1800” that takes up the full island. Wow!

This is all for today’s Union Update. For any question, feel free to ask them in the comments below or reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter, or our official Forums.

Union Update: We are back & GU 13.1

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community, 

We hope 2022 has been treating you well so far. What better way to start the New Year than having a quick look at our plans for the weeks and months to come? Let’s have a look at them together!  

GU 13.1 News 

Game Update 13.1 will be released next Tuesday, January 18th. GU 13.1 will address several of the issues you have been reporting GU 13. The full release notes will be shared here on the Anno Union closer to its release since we’re currently still running final tests. 

A huge thank you again for helping us with reports, screenshots and descriptions of the issues occurring since GU 13. 

Short 2022 Preview 

As you might already know, Season 4 is coming to Anno 1800 this year! 2022 is all about the New World and we cannot wait for you to see what we have in store for you. We will share more on Season 4 in March – so, watch this space! 

In the meantime, get ready for some exciting news related to our upcoming Cosmetic DLCs. We might reveal something very soon… 

Livestream 

Let’s kick off the new year with a livestream: Join us on Friday, 14th January, on Twitch for this year’s first Anno Afternoon. Community Developer Oliver and Community Manager Celeste will play some Anno 1800 co-op. The stream will start at 5PM CET, see you there!  

Community Spotlight 

Our first pick of the day is this lovely screenshot shared by Pyronite on Discord: the depth of the shot and the dusk atmosphere make those neon signs pop – we think this is a great way to use the skins of the new Cosmetic DLC “Vibrant Cities Pack”. 

Augustus_Johnson titled “Fresh Colours” this collection of screenshots – we love the contrast of the different colours! And right at the centre of this screenshot you can see a Ceiba Tree ornament, available through the “Plant a Tree” DLC. 

Last but not least, Rooonaldooo99 shared this amazing screenshot on Reddit, showing off most of the new skins for the buildings. Great job! 

That is all for today’s Union Update. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to write a comment below or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook or our official forums. 

Union Update: Happy Holidays

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hey Anno Community,

Here we are at the end of 2021. It has been a year packed with content and surprises for Anno 1800 and lots of amazing screenshots, videos and creations shared by you. We are getting a bit nostalgic, so, before we get to the part with the gifts, let’s walk through 2021 for one last time, in this Union Update.

The Anno Year 2021 in Review

2021 started with a bang: our first big step of the year was sharing with you the first Season 3 Pass trailer, to let you have a glimpse of what 2021 had in store for you on the Anno 1800’s front.

Not too long after that, Season 3 kicked off with the first DLC of the Season, “Docklands”, followed by “Tourist Season” and finally “The High Life”.

The first Cosmetic DLC of the year was released in April, the “Vehicle Liveries Pack” – it was all about skins and new model variations for your airships, trains and ships.

Later that month, you voted for your favourite Cosmetic DLC themes, which were then implemented in the game: September was the perfect time to add some canals and new ornaments with the “Pedestrian Zone Pack”, while last week we released the “Vibrant Cities Pack”, a total of 69 skins for residence buildings as well as 3 new model variations for the Marketplace. Now you can express your creativity in many ways and make your cities look even more lively and vibrant!

Between October and November, we celebrated several Annoversaries: Happy birthday again to Anno 1503, Anno 1701, Anno 2070, and Anno 2205! We loved reading your memories related to your favourite Anno titles, so keep them coming!

And then there was one more celebration: This year, we also reached a particularly important milestone – there are now more than 2 million Anno players around the world! We celebrated this with two ship skins, one for the Ship of the Line and one for the Battle Cruiser.

 

Our big end of the year update, GU 13, was released last week and included Anno 1800’s first scenario, “Eden Burning”, which is the result of our participation in the Green Game Jam, organised by the UN under the “Playing for the Planet” umbrella. If you would like to know more about the project and the new game mode, we wrote a dedicated DevBlog here on the Anno Union.

Alongside with this new game mode, we teamed up with Ecologi to support reforestation efforts: We released the “Plant a Tree” DLC – all net proceeds will be donated to Ecologi to support the planting of more trees. Head over to the Ubisoft Store to purchase it, support our planet and receive an ornamental Ceiba Tree for your cities!

Issues related to GU13

As communicated last week, we are aware of the issues following Game Update 13, and our teams are actively investigating the reports made by you. We apologise for any inconveniences and frustration caused by the bugs introduced with the latest update and thank you for your patience. Please follow this thread on our Official Forum to stay updated on the matter and for a list of several of the issues we are currently aware of.

We worked hard over the last months to prepare a nice update bundle for our community before the Holidays, but acknowledge that GU13 did not release in the state we would have liked it to release.
This is a lesson that we will include in our planning for next year and Season 4, to e.g. allocate additional time for bugfixing and polishing before a release.

We will have more news for you in January.

Happy Holidays!

And here we are, at the end of this blog. Looking back at everything that happened, we can say it aloud: What a year it has been! We cannot wait for you to see what the Anno Team has in store for you. 2022 is just around the corner, and so is Season 4 for Anno 1800 – more info coming in March!

Thank you, dear Anno Community, for the amazing support you constantly show us. As an early Christmas present for you all, we combined all of this year’s artworks in a new Wallpaper Pack!

 

And to get all of us in the right mood for the Holidays, we requested the services of the one and only Dulcamarra – don’t you think this artwork perfectly captures the spirit of the (slightly chaotic) Anno family? We absolutely love it!

And with that: Happy Holidays, Annoholics, and a Happy New Year!

We’ll be back in January with renewed energy.

The Anno Team

It’s Game Update 13 Release Day!

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

We have just released Game Update 13, our last big update for the year, and it should be available for you momentarily.

The full Release Notes with all changes and bug fixes can be found here.

 

That’s not all, though, since GU13 also includes Anno 1800’s first scenario, “Eden Burning”, which is the result of our participation in the Green Game Jam. Learn more about it here in this DevBlog and visit the Play4Forest website to sign the petition to protect our Earth’s forests.

Another part of this project is our collaboration with Ecologi to support reforestation efforts: By buying the “Plant a Tree” DLC in the Ubisoft Store you’re supporting the planting of more trees since we’re forwarding all net proceeds (i.e. everything after taxes and other fees are deducted) to Ecologi. On top, you’re getting a new Ceiba Tree ornament to place in your cities.

 

Also releasing today is Cosmetic DLC 6: The “Vibrant Cities Pack”. Change the look of your cities by providing your residence buildings with a fresh coat of paint!

Be it a colorful paint job, a more traditional brick theme, or the neon-lit nightlife version for Investors and Engineers – each allows you to further individualize your cities.

More details about its development can be found in this DevBlog – and you can purchase it here in the Ubisoft Store.

We’re nearing the holidays but are not quite done yet – we do have one more blog and a little Holiday gift for you Tuesday next week. So stay tuned!

 

Until then: Enjoy the new content!

We can’t wait to see screenshots of your vibrant cities, so please share them with us on Reddit, Twitter or any other of our platforms.

And of course, let us know your thoughts on the “Eden Burning” scenario: How many attempts did you need? How is your eco balance looking like? Share it in the comments!

Community Spotlight

We also want to use today’s Union Update for a small Community Spotlight, considering we have once again seen some great content created by you!

First comes this absolutely stunning beauty building attempt by Laudica, once again, creating architectural marvels out of Skyscrapers:

Following our Season 4 announcement, we greatly enjoyed following the various speculations, for example on Reddit, as to what the teaser trailer did show – and what it didn’t. An interesting watch in this regard is also the video by Takarazuka featured below:

YouTube

YouTube has been deactivated. Do you accept the use of cookies to display and allow you to watch the video content?
Set Cookies

I acceppt Cookies

And with 2021 slowly coming to a close, Johnnyvanderzwaag shared some early Holiday greetings on Reddit:

If you worked on a cool video or have a great screenshot to share, we’d be happy to share it in a future Community Spotlight!

 

Until next time, and enjoy today’s Game Update!

Union Update: 2 million players and lots of news

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hello Anno Community,

Yesterday has been a day packed with news during our End of the Year stream: a new game mode, the upcoming Cosmetic DLC… and, wait a second, the Season 4 announcement? Let’s go with order.

The GGJ Scenario – Eden Burning

As you might know already, back in June we announced our participation in this year’s Green Game Jam. Our plan was to create a new, alternative game mode to raise awareness for environmental issues and to support the “Play 4 Forest” campaign.

Yesterday we published a DevBlog dedicated to the Green Game Jam mode that, during development, turned into a scenario called Eden Burning. This overview will provide you with all the information you need to be prepared for this new challenge which will release together with GU 13 on December 14th.

If you cannot wait until then and would like to have a first look at the early game, check out the VOD of our livestream.

Also part of this green initiative is the “Plant a Tree” Cosmetic DLC. The proceeds from this Cosmetic DLC will go to Ecologi – you can find more info here at the end of the linked DevBlog.

Game Update 13 & CDLC06 

On December 14th we will also release our latest Cosmetic DLC, “Vibrant Cities Pack”. Want to know more about it? Check this dedicated DevBlog for all the info you need. 

What about GU13 you might ask. This Game Update will contain as per usual some bug fixes and improvements based on Community feedback. Keep an eye on the Anno Union for the Release Notes, which will be published by the end of the week. 

Ubi35 and Anno 1404 Giveaway

Earlier in November Ubisoft started their celebration for their 35th anniversary, with various giveaways and contests. As part of this celebration, you can now redeem a copy of Anno 1404 History Edition for free, until December 14th! Click here to get your copy – and tell your friends!

2M players

We’re not done with celebrations: We are proud to announce that there are now more than 2 million Anno 1800 players around the world! To celebrate this very special occasion, we will release two resplendent ship skins, one for the Ship of the Line and one for the Battle Cruiser. Both ship skins will be released on December 14th, with GU13.

Here is an overview of some your achievements – thank you for your constant and amazing support, Annoholics!

Season 4 Announcement

Last but not least, the moment we were all waiting for. Yesterday we announced that Season 4 is coming to Anno 1800 in 2022! The new Season will consist of three new DLCs and focus on the New World. At the moment there are only a few things we can share with you, and you can find everything in this blog.

This is all for today’s Union Update. We hope you are as excited as we are for the year ahead of us. Today, more than any other day, happy city-building!

Union Update: Cosmetic DLC, Green Game Jam and Anno 1602 in Minecraft

Posted on by UbiCecce

Hello Anno Community,

We are getting closer and closer to the end of the year – only 5 days until December, how is that possible? As Annoholics, there is no better way to get ourselves prepared for the end of 2021 than looking at our end of the year plans. It is time to dive into this Union Update to find out more!

GU 13, Green Game Jam & CDLC Vibrant Cities Pack

Save the date, Annoholics: on December 14th, Game Update 13 will be released! This free update will include several more quality of life improvements and bug fixes. You might be wondering: is that all there is? And the answer is, of course, no. Game Update 13 will also include a new game mode and there is our brand new Cosmetic DLC, Vibrant Cities Pack, releasing alongside it.

Vibrant Cities Pack is the second Skins Pack released for Anno 1800, and the third and last Cosmetic DLC for this year. The theme for this CDLC was chosen by the Anno Community during our Community Vote, together with the Pedestrian Zone Pack that was released back in September. Would you like to know more about the upcoming Cosmetic DLC? Fear not, Annoholics! Next week we will have a full DevBlog dedicated to it. Visit the Anno Union on December 2nd for a full overview!

Last, as you might already know, back in June we announced our participation in the Green Game Jam, and our “sustainable cities” concept ended up winning the UNEP Choice Award! If you would like to know more about this new mode, then do not miss our Green Game Jam Overview that we will share here on the Anno Union on December 6th.

And, of course, keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook channels if you do not want to miss some juicy teasers of the upcoming content!

End of the Year Livestream

Another date to add to your calendars: on December 6th we will be live on Twitch! This time to present you the Green Game Jam mode, the Cosmetic DLC Vibrant Cities Pack, and much more! Tune in if you do not want to miss our news and a chance to hang out with the Anno Team.

Community Spotlight

Finally, our favourite part of every Union Update – the Community Spotlight!

Our first pick is this glorious Megabuild Timelapse video by HappySheep242 shared on YouTube. Minecraft ft. Anno 1602? We do not need to add anything else, go check it out!

YouTube

YouTube has been deactivated. Do you accept the use of cookies to display and allow you to watch the video content?
Set Cookies

I acceppt Cookies

Another video, but this one is a great guide created by Itroo Twitch. It is a three-part guide that focuses on the Stores you get access to with The High Life DLC. We are sure many of you will find this super helpful!

YouTube

YouTube has been deactivated. Do you accept the use of cookies to display and allow you to watch the video content?
Set Cookies

I acceppt Cookies

SouthRefrigerator553 shared this amazing collection of screenshots dedicated to New York City – we are blown away by the beauty and accuracy of this creation. Bravo!

Finally, here is a celebratory post for vonWistalia who, after ten years, finally beat all maps with 3 stars on Anno 1701 on Nintendo DS. Congrats!

That is all for today’s Union Update. We hope you are excited as we are for our End of the Year plans. If you have any question, do not hesitate to ask them in the comments below.

Union Update: Ubi35 and this week’s DevBlog

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community, 

Let us share a few news in this week’s Union Update! 

 

Join the Ubi35 celebrations! 

Ubisoft is turning 35 this year! To celebrate the occasion, you can expect events, gifts and other celebrations for many of its brands. 

Keep an eye on the Ubisoft Store for sales on Anno 1800 and its DLC as well as the History Editions – and participate in the contest to win 1000€ worth in Ubisoft Wallet credit. 

You can also expect Free Weekends and giveaways for many Ubisoft titles over the following weeks. 

To find out more, head to the Ubi35 website! 

 

We’re additionally having our own anniversaries, with Anno 1701 and Ann 1503 celebrating last week. And with Anno 2205 and Anno 2070 we still have two futuristic candidates coming up!

Anno 1701 Ship Skin

And as part of those celebrations, we released an Anno 1701 themed skin for the Ship of the Line for Anno 1800 last Tuesday to celebrate the game’s 15th annoversary! Have a look at it below:

We have received some reports of the skin not unlocking for all players and are currently looking into this problem. Stay tuned for updates on this topic.

DevBlog: The Anno Engine

We have a special DevBlog this week where we’ll dive into the technical foundation of the game with two of our programmers: What is a game engine? Will the next Anno be a racing game? And how do we update our engine?

Stay tuned for Thursday!

Anno 2205 compatibility update

Finally, we want to let you know that on Thursday, November 4th, we will release a minor update for the Ubisoft+ version of Anno 2205 to provide compatibility with the latest Intel CPUs.
Just to prevent any confusion when you notice the download 😉

Let’s not forget, that Wednesday also marks the 6th annoversary of this futuristic Anno!

Union Update: Anno 1701 and a first small teaser

Posted on by Ubi-Thorlof

Anno 1701 Annoversary 

On Tuesday we celebrated a special anniversary for our studio: 15 years ago we released our very first Anno game: Anno 1701. 

With the previous two games developed by Austrian developer MAX Design, the opportunity to work on an existing series was an exciting one. Anno 1701 also marked the first 3D entry of the series and many probably remember it for its campaign (The Sunken Dragon) and the marketplace which portrayed not only the progress of your city, but also its mood. 

While we changed our studio’s name since 2006 from Related Designs to Ubisoft Blue Byte and now Ubisoft Mainz, we’re still happily developing Anno games. 

 

As a little surprise to celebrate the occasion, we released an Anno 1701 themed skin for your Ship of the Line in Anno 1800. It’s available for everyone, just select one of these ships and click the customize button. 

More Annoversary News 

Unfortunately, however, we have to cancel the Anno 1701 live stream planned for tomorrow (Friday). The streams for Anno 2205 (November 5th) and Anno 2070 (November 19th) are still happening as planned, and we will inform you of the precise times closer to these dates. 

 

Anno 1701 is not the only game celebrating its annoversary this week, however: On Sunday, Anno 1503 turns 19! It was the second game in the Anno series and probably famous for its hard initial difficulty and the use of individual market stalls to sell various products to your citizens. It also introduced different biomes on its map and added a large number of different scenarios for all kinds of playstyles. 

 

What was your first entry to the Anno series? 

“Vibrant Cities Pack” Teaser 

Following a “quest” from Reddit user Rooonaldooo99 we released a first small teaser for Cosmetic DLC #6 on Twitter earlier today. 

Of course we also want to share it here: 

You can expect more details on the Cosmetic DLC as well as our remaining content for this year in late November.