- Anno 1800
- Cosmetic DLC
- Union Talk
- Voting
Union Talk – Cosmetic DLC and current Voting
- 12.04.2021
Marcel and Oliver used one of those rare occasions they’re at the office at the same time to sit down and talk about Anno 1800’s Cosmetic DLC and their personal favourites of the current voting in this new Union Talk.
But hey, what are Union Talks again?
Since it has been over a year since the last episode, during which a lot of new players have joined the Anno community, it is worth reintroducing our Union Talk videos to you all.
Unlike our tightly scripted and focused trailers, Union Talks are not intended to deliver breaking news about upcoming content, but instead, take a longer format to take you behind the scenes of Anno development and to explain how and why we do things we way we do.
Do you have any questions about the topic of Cosmetic DLC or are there any topics you’d like us to cover in a Union Talk? If there’s something you have always been curious about regarding the development of the Anno games or the inner workings of our team, let us know in the comments, and maybe we can cover it in a future episode!
And now: Grab a coffee or some hibiscus tea and watch the two ramble on.
(Also: Who watched the full 27min?)
Will there ever be a way to start your sandbox session in Kap Trelawney?
Ich bin auch für alllle Packs. Schönbauer wo seid ihr?!
some adds: pretty WRONG that anno is not on fantasy at all !
=> look at anno 1701 eyes of the dragon !!!!! this was a monster in term of lore and “light” fantasy setting !!!!!
this was perfect !
ahoy !
anno 1800 covered century is also an era of mysticism and strange thought, florence morel NPC vote with gothic cosmetic pack (= making more NPC pack !!!!!) would add a lot of variety in game and exploring new areas !
having also more variety of NPC would had even more interactions and “living content” ! and more variety in NPC styles !
please make it happens ! florence morel wa sthe 3rd most voted NPC and would be pretty unique with gothic pack style !
have fun !
I think it would be more logical to have this Union Talk before you could vote. Now you give us a little more insight what people can expect with the different options but a lot of people have already voted.
There is a massive unexplored potential of sports in this period. 19th century was the time whe modern football, cricket, tennis, rugby and horse racing started to become more and more prominent.
Voted for New World pack since it is feels very neglected. You don’t even need to colonize it anymore as Docklands is way too unbalanced.
good point! Sport’s been neglected a little. I believe some football or rugby fields would fit in perfectly.
I would LOVE a sports pack 🙂
From similar comments on Reddit and the forums, the expectations when it comes to sport-related content seems very much go in the direction of rather large ornaments, e.g. stadium for football, tennis court, racing course, …
This does not quite fit to our Cosmetic DLC philosophy so far which is all about creating a mix of bigger and smaller ornaments.
Additionally, ornaments of this size are a lot of work, especially if you keep in mind that we’d also need entirely new “feedback units” (i.e. the citizens walking around your cities) since the existing ones wouldn’t fit both with their look and their set of animations.
Hello,
I also watched the full stream. I like those behind the scene talk. You should do more of them.
Seeing the results of the vote at this moment I came at the following idea.
Maybe instead of an “Eldritch Pack” as a cosmetic DLC it can be an idea to have an extra DLC – Pack as a stand alone pack.
“The Occultist Pack” with :
– an extra character Florence Morel
– a new monument like “a Cathedral” build in several stages.
– a modular cemetery.
– and the “Eldritch Pack”
After all Season Pass 9 is still a long way to go. 😀
Cheers,
Katje-Katrien
The two that I personally wanted are the two that are going to win. But some ornaments for the new world can be in an update. I also buy every DLC that comes out. This is the best game ever
As I understand it, the Eldritch Pack theme did not pass. ((( And so I wanted nostalgia for Anno 1404. (((Okay, I’ll support the majority.
This is my thoughts:
Vibrant Cities:
Yes please! I don’t care much for the look of public buildings, except maybe the market place which looks a little out of place next to the high tier buildings, but if we could get some new skins for the residential buildings I’m all for it! I really hope there will be new models and not just new textures and colors of old modules (like there was with the ships). Mostly I hope for more “suburban” farmer houses, if that make sense. The “concept art” looks just like what I want! I think the current beige farmer houses looks so weird next to a grown city with cobblestone roads.
I give it 10/10.
New World:
I don’t really have the space to put ornaments in the new world, but if we could place the ornaments in the old world too, it would be perfect! Just imagine a botanical garden in your main city with a palm tree avenue and exotic looking fountains.
I give it 9/10.
Pedestrian Zone:
I like the idea! I’m always welcoming of ornaments that are more “practical” than beautiful. However, overpasses and underpasses doesn’t really make sense in a game where the pedestrians are walking wherever anyway. The overpass ornament we already have is by far the least useful of the bunch. I voted for this pack by mistake, because I hadn’t thought it through yet. If it wins, I hope it will at least contain some new pavement textures, since the white plaza we have so far doesn’t really fit anywhere except next to the investor’s residences.
I give it 6/10.
Eldritch:
I know many annoholics are excited about this pack. I however doesn’t think it matches the theme of Anno 1800. The “gothic” architecture makes more sense in a game like Anno 1404, and I get what you’re saying about the whole goth subculture during the 19th century (like Edgar Allen Poe and so on), but the feel of the game so far has been light and idyllic . I’m not sure a dark “Jack the Ripper –backstreet” has a place in my utopia.
I give it 4/10.
Big Top:
We already have zoos, amusement parks and Christmas carousels. Do we really need another pack like that? My city is starting to look like a big theme park only made for tourists. Although, I will say I prefer a circus over an amusement park in a 19th century city.
I give it 5/10.
Great talk! I’d be happy with any of the front-runners! I really like the idea of more residential variety with vibrant cities. After all, it’s true, houses are the most common thing we build!
I’m not sure if new models are in scope (I know its very expensive/time consuming concepting/developing). But in case they are one point I’d like to raise is that cities in the 19th century (aside from Haussmann’s Paris) were very eclectic. There wasn’t architectural uniformity, with Neo-Classical, Renaissance Revival, Gothic Revival, and older vernacular styles, all next to each other so rapid was urbanisation. I think it would be nice if you included a more neglected style in-game – personally neo-classical/palladian (see Bath, England or Nancy, France) – would look nice, and could double for the country homes/chateaus for Investors some are asking for.
If I had another suggestion it would be to include a tenement/brick terrace style for artisans. These were notorious in the 19th Century for poor living conditions, but were cheap and built in rapidly industrialising cities in Great Britain, Europe, and the United States. The latter especially, I think, synergises well with the upcoming High Life!
That said, if it’s just a retexture pack, I still think lots can be done. e.g. the worker residences are in the Georgian style, these could be retextured quite effectively as white painted wooden houses (think colonial America).
As a final note – I think it would be really nice to tie in some of the new skins with the AI. For example, Von Malching’s cities would feature tenements instead of the current artisan buildings. Or, Gasparov would favour the grander neo-classical style to the current Investor houses. Or George Smith, would have a more American feeling with colonial style houses.
All exciting stuff! Can’t wait till the results!
I watched the 27min complete with my brother, then we fought over what would be the best cosmetic dlc. I like the “Eldritch Pack” and he the “New World Pack”, at least we agree with the second option of the “Vibrant Cities Pack”.
When can we expect Tourist Season DLC?
This Spring- so anytime between now, and the beginning of Summer on June 21 🙂
Great to hear – thanks!
Would you ever consider updating the Amusement Park pack so items could be placed on a pier? Amusement piers were a big thing in the 19th century and I think it would fit the game, although having a wooden pier model/flooring would probably be necessary to make it look good. So maybe an Amusements 2.0?
While I like the idea, it’s not very likely at the moment that we’ll make adjustments like this to previously released Cosmetic DLC.
Eldritch Pack? Yes Please!
New voices for the ships, especially the Scavenger? Yes please! At least new English ones. Or the ability to mod our own or use the German ones. Nails scratching chalk boards? I’ll even take that. Anything would be better.
Thank you for the talk! Always nice to hear more about your thoughts and behind the scenes of the development.
Regarding what you said about each cosmetic DLC from the voting and regarding my feedback about potential winners:
Vibrant Cities Pack (potential winner!)
Just like you said, we have lots of residences in our cities, especially given that most people aim for having as many investors as possible, we end up with lots of investor residences in comparison to houses of other tiers. Therefore having some visual variety to those residences would be very nice instead of always having a ‘sea of green roofs of investors residences’. That’s why I hope that skins/models for residences will be the biggest focus of this cosmetic DLC.
However, there are a couple more buildings which could use some improvements and some more visual variety:
– Town Halls – in not so distant future we will have the ability to construct skyscrapers, to apply boosts to investor residences we’ll probably need to place town halls among them, unless you have some cool plans for the Empire Tower being sort of a replacement of a Town Hall for skyscrapers. But either way town halls look rather poor and not prestigious at all when placed next to many investor residences
– Emergency Services – buildings such as fire stations, police stations and hospitals – would be great if they could fit better with all residential tiers. For example a fire station or a police station are not that great looking among investors. On the other hand, a hospital looks very weird in a farming villages on the outskirts of Crown Falls. Appropriate model changes for those buildings to be able to make them fit better with all tiers would be great.
Disclaimer: Yes, I know you said skins for buildings so I don’t expect completely new models for buildings, I expect only skins, though feel free to positively surprise me. I’m just saying what I would love to see, and that I’m worried how some buildings will look like in our cities especially once we soon start constructing skyscrapers. I hope you’ll take this into consideration.
Pedestrian Zone Pack (potential winner!)
Yes, I’m all for over- and underpasses which fit into investor areas and the bustling metropolitan city 🙂
And pleeeaaase, some magnificent and big trees within the plaza tiles, so that I can make a magnificent plaza area for pedestrians while keeping some greenery in it. There are some smaller green ornaments within the plaza tiles, they look neat but are rather minimalistic, I’d love something more… if that makes sense.
New World Pack
Adding Old World ornaments to the New World is definitely very helpful already. Some ornaments dedicated to New World would be great, especially given how Docklands DLC sort of lowered the significance of the New World and you could assign more space in New World for beautification purposes. Definitely would be great to see some better park ornaments which celebrate the local exotic flora, full of different colours etc. But also just kind of plaza ornaments which just fit better with the architecture of New World.
Big Top Pack
Well, the circus is definitely not the best suggestion in my opinion, as stated previously. Seems like you’re not very fond of the circus too so I think we’re on the same page in this case.
Eldritch Pack
As sort of a continuation of my conversation with Marcel on discord…
I totally get where you’re coming from with the idea for the pack, I understand that fully, that occultism and some of those “horror elements” were a part of 19th century culture, the gothic architecture etc. However, I feel like at the moment the base game with all the DLCs lacks such occult, horror atmosphere. That’s the main reason why I dislike the idea of the Eldritch Pack. There are some fantastic and occultism-related things in expedition events, for example. But they aren’t that prominent in the game, the game also lacks the gothic architecture which you have mentioned. I just feel such a pack would feel out of place in comparison to the rest of the contents of the game. If the game already had more occultism, horror and gothic elements, some buildings designed in gothic architecture etc., if there was more of it in the game, I would totally understand the idea for such a cosmetic pack.
Marcel, on discord you mentioned that there was also no content related to Africa or Amusements Park before you added those to the game. In case of Africa it was always a somewhat reasonable thing to have in such a game as Anno. Now it is an important DLC, well integrated with other parts of the game. Having zoos, museums and botanical gardens etc. you just want more content from other parts of the world, you want the exotic goods etc. which totally justifies adding Africa inspired content to the game. However, Eldritch Pack is supposed to be just ornaments without any gameplay value except for adding attractiveness just like any other ornaments. Land of Lions DLC is a big DLC and was integrated well into the game on its own, it was possible because it was a gameplay DLC. Eldritch, however, will be just ornaments. For me there’s not enough connection between what was already in the game and what the idea behind the pack is to justify making such a cosmetic DLC for Anno 1800. There’s no such element in my cities which would match the idea for that pack. If there were at least quite a few buildings of gothic architecture in the game, making such a pack would be a good idea, because it would compliment what already was in the game.
You said in the discord that previously you had nothing related to Amusements Park in the game before you added Amusements. I can’t agree with that. Amusements Park is related to how you spend your free time, leisure activities, it is like a pub which is the luxury need of farmers and workers; or like variety theatre. People want some places were they could rest after hard work in factories, or they want a place where they could have some fun and spend time if I decide that they don’t have to work that hard in my factories. I find the Amusements Park to be tied rather well with the general theme of the game and with content of the game that already existed. It also fits with tourism well cause such a park is also a good place for tourists where they can have fun.
I’m not saying that there would be no tourists in 19th century that wouldn’t enjoy seeing ornaments which Eldritch Pack would bring. But for me it would be the only thing that could justify the Eldritch Pack.
I simply feel like there is not enough occultism or horror included in the game. You could say that there were pyrphorians in the game but I struggle to see them as part of occultism or anything like that. There are elements of it, but they are only in the campaign, and after you completed it, they are completely gone, you might forget about their existence altogether.
That’s why I just find there is not enough connection to justify having an Eldritch Pack in the game. If there were already some more prominent elements of horror or occultism in the game or gothic architecture, in the main aspects of the game, then I wouldn’t see the Eldritch Pack as the odd one out.
I probably still wouldn’t vote for it because I am not sure if I’d like horror elements in my city, I want my cities to bring happiness and joy and be prestigious beautiful cities, and such ornaments simply wouldn’t fit my vision. However, at the moment it’s not just my personal preference and vision, it’s also this lack of reason and lack of sense which I see in putting such ornaments into the game.
Your Ubisoft Companion,
banan1996.1996
you bring up good points on eldritch. if Florence mabel had won the npc contest then im sure most of this would not apply. but alas the people spoke for the visionary and the anarachist instead of the oculist so those gameplay integration and matching does not happen just like you have said. . that being said still eldritch pack 100%!
How about a commuter rail pack or expansion?
Have it give a modest bonus for track length, residential coverage, stations, etc. that requires steam engines, coal and plenty of money for operating costs, steel beams and timber for the tracks, 3×3, 4×4, 5×5 sized blocks of curving tracks as an alternative to the right angled track corners. Coal stations, water towers, etc. – and a random supply of random goods based on the industries and festivals going on on an island.
Train lengths and/or train numbers based on the island population size…
It probably won’t work for the Arctic, but all the other regions…
To be completely honest, we currently have no plans regarding another rail system for Anno 1800.
I’d also imagine it being tricky to plan in even more rail tracks and support building throughout your islands and cities.
If you want ideas for vibrant cities, you could get a skin for the inverstor which represents a manor/mansion like design.
As a supporter of the Circus pack. Would love to see you make it. I can imagine putting it on an open field. You can focus on a big tent where we can go inside and you can sit then watch a full show like 10 minutes. Would be lovely.
hurray for the love of the eldritch pack!