Anno 117: Pax Romana News

[p]The Anno veterans among you will remember: back in 2009, Anno 1404 introduced the item mechanic for the first time to the series. Items are objects or people in the game that you slot into specific buildings or ships to modify some of their values, for example:[/p]

• [p]Increase the productivity of all sheep farms within a certain radius[/p]
• [p]Increase the happiness of all residence buildings near a market building[/p]
• [p]Increase the sailing speed of a ship[/p]
• [p]And many similar effects[/p]

[p]The idea behind the introduction of this mechanic back then was, to deepen the puzzle aspects of an Anno game by letting you boost certain productions further, specialize your fleet for e.g. higher speed, or simply get the most out of a densely packed city. They are a tool that provides more choice for you, the player, on how to tackle the challenges in the game.[/p][p]How items were handled differed a bit from game to game: Anno 1404 allowed slotting items in ships and your trading post, while Anno 1800 not only greatly expanded the number of items in the game but also added special buildings (Townhall, Harbor Master and Trade Union) where these items would be slotted to affect buildings in their vicinity.[/p][p]Following the release and throughout post-launch we eagerly followed the discussions around the item mechanic (and the sheer volume of different items) in Anno 1800 and decided to adjust it on some levels for our next game – but don’t worry item-lovers, there’s still plenty to tweak and puzzle.[/p][p][/p][p]Let’s take a look at how we’re tackling the topic in Anno 117: Pax Romana then.[/p][p]Firstly, we did a small renaming: “items” are called “specialists” in Anno 117: Pax Romana. The reason is that all items are now people who you invite to work for you and who provide their services and special skills to your cities – therefore: specialists![/p][p]The specialists can mainly be obtained via quests or by visiting traders – they usually have some specialists visiting who you can hire for a certain sum. Additionally, the Discovery Tree and the Hall of Fame also offer ways to obtain specialists.[/p][p]These specialists can then be slotted into either your villa and officia or your ships.[/p][p][/p][p]There are a total of 4 rarity categories for items. Higher rarity specialists have stronger effects but are – as their name suggests – harder to obtain. Specialists can affect residences, production buildings, public service buildings and ships.[/p][p][/p][p]We acquired a few specialists, let’s put them to good use and take a look at where you can employ them.[/p][h2]Villa[/h2][p]As probably the first places you will slot a specialist in, your governor villa is your home as a governor and – especially in Albion – a symbol of Roman power and prestige. It has a large effect radius for items slotted here and provides other benefits, for example allowing you to recruit some personal guard units to defend your city in case of war.[/p][p]It’s important to protect your own villa on each island, since capturing the villa is the way to overtake other player’s islands.[/p][p]A villa comes with several slots to put specialists in. The higher your Prestige attribute, the more slots you unlock. Prestige is earned via certain needs and public buildings, as well as your city status and ornaments (incl. the beautiful marble roads).[/p][p]If we look at two examples of specialists that you may want to employ in your villa, we’d have:[/p]

• [p]The Vesseler: Reduces the needed workforce (-25%) and upkeep cost (-50%) of taverns in range[/p]
• [p]Iain Thespis, Brightener of Days: Increases the Happiness of all residences in range by 1.8[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Officia[/h2][p]With the villa having a large but limited radius, the way to affect other parts of your islands with the buffs from specialists is by building Officia.[/p][p]An Officium is a smaller administrative building with a smaller radius and just two item slots (later three, when you've progressed far enough in the Discovery Tree). The radius of a villa and officium, or multiple officia, cannot overlap.[/p][p]How many officia you can build per island depends on how many “permits” you have acquired. Additional permits are unlocked via your island prestige, as well as the Discovery Tree.[/p][p][/p][h2]Ships[/h2][p]Some specialists are experts at guiding ships. These captains can only be slotted in naval vessel, with each ship having exactly one slot for such a specialist. Things are rather straightforward here, so, let’s also check out two such captains:[/p]

• [p]Thunderous Bolter: Increases the accuracy of ship scorpiones (+15%) and their attack speed (+20%)[/p]
• [p]Unburdener: Decreases trade prices (-5%) and reduces cargo weight slowdown (-25%)[/p]

[p][/p][p]How and to which degree you are going to make use of specialists is up to you. For us it was important to provide another mechanic for you to specialize your cities and fleet but also further boost production buildings or tax income and this way enabling you to squeeze the most out of the limited space you have on each island.[/p]

[p]Your deeds as governors do not go unnoticed! The fame you earn with your achievements, big and small, will make you known across the Empire. Accordingly, successful governors will be able to enter the Hall of Fame![/p][p]What they can find there… well, let’s take a look in today’s DevBlog.[/p][p][/p][h2]A famous tradition[/h2][p]The Hall of Fame in Anno 117: Pax Romana follows in the footsteps and combines the best aspects of similar features of past Anno games: the rewards you receive in Anno 1404 for fulfilling achievements, the Ark of Anno 2070 and the Grand Gallery with its Golden Tickets in Anno 1800.[/p][p]In brief, the Hall of Fame is a place where you spend “Fame” to unlock additional ornaments, player logos and more to use in your game. It’s a way to reward you for your achievements in your current game, and it all carries forward into all your future savegames. This means more ways to customize your player profile for your savegames – but also more ways to shape your gameplay experience with Anno 117: Pax Romana.[/p][p] [/p][p]In the following paragraphs we’ll talk about how to gain “Fame”, how the Hall of Fame works and what kind of content you can find there.[/p][p][/p][h2]Earning Fame[/h2][p]In your role as governor, you’ll surely achieve great things: monuments built, alliances negotiated and wars won. With every milestone reached, every achievement, you fame will increase.[/p][p]This fame, these “Fame Points” are the currency you use to unlock content in the Hall of Fame.[/p][p]Each in-game achievement (called “accolade”) for Anno 117: Pax Romana provides a certain number of Fame Points. All platform achievements (e.g. from Ubisoft Connect or PlayStation) have an in-game equivalent but to give you more ways to gain Fame, we’ve added a whole bunch of additional achievements only in-game.[/p][p]If you complete an “achievement set”, you gain a bonus. A set is always made up of 9 (hah!) achievements on a specific topic, e.g. “Insightful Sage” with a variety of achievements around both the research and the religion features.[/p][p]You can look up these information at any point directly in the game.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Exploring the Hall of Fame[/h2][p]Time to take a look at the Hall of Fame itself:[/p][p]It’s split into (currently) two large categories – one for Latium and one for Albion. Both categories are further split into multiple “tiers”, each containing various things to unlock. Unlocking any of the items will ultimately lead you to unlocking additional tiers and even more content.[/p][p]As you can see on the screenshot below, a tier can contain all kinds of different unlocks:[/p]

• [p]Ornaments and skins (e.g. for a ship or a residence)[/p]
• [p]Customization options (e.g. sigils and colours for your profile or variants of music tracks )[/p]
• [p]Gameplay shortcuts (e.g. items/specialists)[/p]

[p][/p][p]Shortcuts allow you to speed up the early game, especially if you’re an Anno expert already – and thereby increase replayability, since it gets you going much faster. It’s another way for you to customize your game the way you want.[/p][p]These unlocks are available account-wide and not tied to a specific savegame. This means, an unlocked ship skin can be used in every single one of your savegames without limit. The unlocks from the Hall of Fame can be disabled in the game settings if you don’t want to make use of them for a specific savegame.[/p][p][/p][p]Three proud ships flying the Moss-Bedecked, standard and Syrah’s Vassal skins.[/p][p][/p][h2]Q&A[/h2][p]Finally, let us give you some answers to questions you might be asking yourself after reading this blog.[/p][p]Q: Can the unlocked Hall of Fame content be used in multiplayer?[/p][p]A: Yes, if enabled by the host. Cosmetics, however, are always available.[/p][p] [/p][p]Q: Is the early unlock of discoveries and specialists not impacting the gameplay balancing?[/p][p]A: Yes, it is impacting the gameplay by speeding up some parts of the early game and allowing new strategies for experts to start a new game run. As mentioned earlier in this blog, making use of these unlocks is optional and can be disabled in the settings for each save.[/p][p] [/p][p]Q: Are you planning to monetize the Hall of Fame and offer “Fame” points for money?[/p][p]A: We’re following the Grand Gallery approach from Anno 1800 here. Therefore: no, all content will always remain unlockable for Fame only, and Fame will always remain a currency you gain exclusively via playing.[/p][p] [/p][p]Q: Are you planning to expand the Hall of Fame with more content in postlaunch?[/p][p]A: Yes, the Hall of Fame will be expanded upon after release.[/p][p] [/p][p]Q: Can I unlock everything in the Hall of Fame with the achievements included at release?[/p][p]A: While more sources to gain Fame are planned to be added to Anno 117: Pax Romana in postlaunch, the game currently already provides you with enough Fame to unlock everything in the Hall of Fame.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Hey Anno Community,[/p][p]with less than three weeks until release, there’s plenty of news to share and blogs and other announcements to come. Let’s give you an overview below so you don’t miss any of it.[/p][h2]Upcoming livestreams[/h2][p]We’ll have several more livestreams coming up in the next weeks![/p][p]We’re starting this Thursday, October 30th, with one focused on the work of our Art team with Marion, Senior Animator, and Rolf, Expert Artist. Tune in at 5PM CET | 12PM EDT on https://twitch.tv/annogame![/p][p]Afterwards, expect livestreams on:[/p]

• [p]November 4th[/p]
• [p]November 13th (release day!)[/p]
• [p]Somewhere between November 17th and 19th[/p]

[p]Always on our Twitch channel and always at the same time. Mark those days in your calendar![/p][p] [/p][h2]Reddit AMA[/h2][p]You have more questions and didn’t receive an answer during one of our livestreams? Don’t worry, we got just the thing:[/p][p]On November 5th, we’ll hold an official AMA on the Anno Subreddit. A dedicated thread will be opened the day before, allowing you to post your questions in advance.[/p][p]Alternatively, you can also post them during the AMA itself where several members of the dev team will be answering as many questions as we can from about 5PM CET to 7PM CET (11AM EST – 1PM EST).[/p][p]Join us and ask any questions about the game or game development you might have![/p][p][/p][h2]Upcoming DevBlogs[/h2][p]There are also a few more DevBlogs coming up in the next 2 weeks leading up to the release:[/p]

• [p]The Hall of Fame: unlock additional cosmetics or gameplay shortcuts via in-game achievements[/p]
• [p]Villa and Specialists: boost production chains and squeeze even more knowledge points out of your residences (October 31st)[/p]
• [p]Amphitheater: built the grand monument in Latium and host games for your people (week of November 3rd)[/p]
• [p]… and a few more topics.[/p]

[p]We don’t stop after release, however, since we really want to cover topics like music and sound, as well as some other aspects from the development of anno 117: Pax Romana that we didn’t get to shine a light on yet.[/p][p][/p][h2]Year 1 Content overview[/h2][p]Have a first look at the content that’s included in the Year 1 Pass for Anno 117: Pax Romana. You can expect three new pieces of content to launch in the first year of the game, which you’ll have instant access to upon their release with the Year 1 Pass. [/p][p] [/p][p]Prophecies of Ash [/p][p]In Prophecies of Ash you’ll discover a large, untamed island in Latium, perfect for building massive cities. A wild untamed land abundant with resources, unique cultural encounters, a new deity to worship, and plenty of strategic depth await. But be wary, as the island also features a towering volcano with a burning desire to erupt. [/p][p]The Hippodrome [/p][p]Inspired by the legendary Circus Maximus, one of the largest stadiums ever built in the ancient world, you’ll be able to construct your own arena and host thrilling chariot races to delight and excite your citizens, boosting your prestige and attracting elite specialists from across the Empire. [/p][p]Dawn of the Delta [/p][p]A new province, vast deserts, a mighty and fertile river – it all awaits you, along with a host of unfamiliar gods and a new culture. Journey to the distant Egyptian frontier to expand your reach and influence and establish a new foothold in this faraway land replete with new experiences, challenges, and unique needs. [/p][p][/p][h2]Collectors Edition unboxing[/h2][p]What’s in the Governor’s Edition? We received an early version here in the studio and filmed an unboxing video for you. Watch below when Brand Director Haye, Art Director Reiko and Creative Director Manuel unpack this collector’s edition for Anno 117: Pax Romana with Community Developer Oliver.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
[/p]

Hello Governors!
I come bearing glorious news directly from the Developers!
While exploring the developers’ chambers, I uncovered the ultimate video guide to becoming a legendary governor. And because I’m generous (and learning about this new electronic mail technology), I’m sharing it with you, future Governors.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I have just completed my second preview period for Anno 117: Pax Romana, and lo and behold, I am still not a pro. I am learning that the Anno series will humble those who deem themselves strategy or city-building aficionados. Ahead of the game’s November release, I have pumped another 10-15 hours into Anno 117: Pax Romana, and even though I still wouldn’t deem myself an expert, I can’t wait to dive into a hundred more hours.

First things first, I played this game both on my ROG Xbox Ally X in docked mode and on my PC with an NVIDIA GeForce 4080 GPU. I am still in awe of how truly stunning Anno 117: Pax Romana is. Even though the Xbox Ally X is not as powerful, the game is still beautiful, but jumping to PC for sandbox mode had me regularly zooming in to watch my little folks work away. It doesn’t run quite as smoothly on the handheld, but it was more than functional. If you can see Anno 117: Pax Romana at 4K, though, I highly recommend it.

I touched on some of the basics... Read more