Hey Anno Community, With the playtest for the “Annoversary Update” (previously: “Jubilee Patch”) having concluded – thank you to everyone who participated and wrote us their feedback! – let’s talk both about our learnings from the test as well as (of course) about the upcoming Game Update itself! [h2]So, what is the “Annoversary Update”?[/h2] The “Annoversary Update” is the last big free Game Update that we’re planning for Anno 1800 on PC (the update will not release for the Console Edition). It includes two larger new features, several quality-of-life improvements and a laaaarge number of bug fixes. As the name implies, it’s releasing just in time for the 25th Anniversary of the Anno series! That’s a quarter of a century full of Anno! Specifically, the release is planned for [b]April 4th[/b], and in addition to what we mentioned above, you can also look forward to a few surprises for the Annoversary in particular. We keep those for later. 😉 Instead, let’s take a look at the contents of the Update. [h2]The Creative Mode[/h2] [img]https://anno-union.com//content/uploads/2023/02/Jubilee_Overview_Creative_Mode.jpg[/img] The Creative Mode is a completely separate game mode, an alternative to campaign or sandbox mode. Important to note here also is, that this is NOT the intended way to play Anno 1800 since it does not simulate a regular game. Instead, it’s a mode targeted towards our beauty building community, making it easier to build the city (or industrial district) of your dreams! Accordingly, in Creative Mode, multiple core mechanics are disabled or changed, for example: [list] [*] Money is unlimited [*] The influence system is deactivated [*] You won’t have to worry about incidents [*] Buildings don’t need a street connection, don’t have construction costs, and don’t require input goods or workforce to function [/list] Basically, it allows you to build whatever you want and as much as you want and – it’s in the name – be creative! To further help with that, there are more special rules and changes compared to the regular game, like: [list] [*] Immediately place any type of residence building without needing to upgrade [*] Place unlimited numbers of decorative versions of all monuments [*] Place any of the Museum, Zoo or Botanical Garden exhibits freely without having to first acquire them [/list] The Creative Mode is intended as a playground to play around with and specifically for the beauty builders among you to have a less restrictive sandbox to build and design as you please. If you own any DLC or Cosmetic DLC, they will of course also be available in this mode. Even if you’re not so much into beauty building, the mode might still be interesting for you because of the second feature we’re adding. Introducing… [h2]The Stamp Feature[/h2] Yes, this certainly is something we have seen being requested a lot over the years: A way to save layouts and use them again later or even in a different savegame. And that’s exactly what the Stamp Feature does. Like with the copy tool, you can select a number of buildings, streets, ornaments etc. that are then saved as a “stamp” in a separate menu. You can rename each stamp and select an icon (from any of the buildings included in the stamp) and there are folders you can sort your stamps into. To make things much easier, you can organize and rename your folders and stamps also outside the game in the Windows File Explorer. Additionally, this allows you to share your stamps with other players, for example on Reddit or Discord. Be it a perfect production layout or a beautiful park for your city, we’re already looking forward to seeing your creations. If a Stamp includes content that is either limited to the Creative Mode or part of a DLC you don’t own, you can still place it, but the unavailable objects are placed as blueprints and cannot be upgraded (or, in the case of DLC content: not until you own it). [h2]More Quality-of-Life Improvements[/h2] In addition to these changes, there are also some smaller quality-of-life improvements in this update, a quick selection below: [list] [*] Roads can now be upgraded/downgraded via the upgrade tool, like regular buildings [*] You’ll be able to enable fully colored minimap islands (an improvement we took from the Console Edition) [*] In Warehouses and the expedition preparation menu you can now search for specific goods [*] We’ve reworked the Happiness calculation for residences to better factor in Hotels/Tourists that previously had too little impact [*] Some smaller improvements for our modding community [/list] [img]https://anno-union.com//content/uploads/2023/02/Jubilee_Overview_QoL_islands.jpg[/img] [h2]Learnings from the Playtest[/h2] The recent playtest in particular helped us identify a few key areas where the two new features need some more context or explanations (esp. when it came to the Stamp Feature and the folders), and we’ll soon start working on those to have them ready upon the update’s release. Additionally, our testers highlighted a few more bugs both with those new features, as well as in other areas, that they’d like us to tackle for the update, that we now have on our fix-list for the next weeks. Once more, a big thank you to everyone who participated in the playtest and provided us with reports and feedback! So… what’s left to say? The [b]“Annoversary Update” will release on April 4th[/b], and as usual we will have the full Release Notes ready for you closer to that date when we have finalized the version. In the coming weeks we’re getting ready for the launch of the Anno 1800 Console Edition which we’re very excited about. And at the end of March you can then expect news on the “Annoversary Update”. Stay tuned!