DevBlog: The Passage

Dearest Elaine,

I’ve few breaths left. I die never having found a Passage, but then no glory awaits any servant of Sir John. He was certain the ice would not thicken around us in Spring. Fate of expedition now rests on circumnavigation of Terrier Island by short, perilous west shore, or by long, open east channel— fear I know what Sir John will prefer.

Farewell my Elaine.

The frozen north, a final frontier many felt it was their

destiny to conquer, whether in the name of science, or for fame and riches. The

“Northwest Passage” was a fabled sea route through the Arctic that promised to connect

opposite sides of the Northern Hemisphere, conferring great wealth upon anyone brave

enough to take an expedition deep into the ice.

From lush jungles to

the frozen wastes – A chilling change of scenery

Our third and biggest Season Pass DLC, “The Passage,” tells a story of

bravery and hardship, inspired by the valiant souls who risked their life in

the name of progress, and tasks you to establish an outpost in the Arctic Circle.

The sight of the eerie and beautiful wilderness invites everyone to follow in

the footsteps of the Arctic explorers of the 19th century, while seasoned

Anno players can look forward to an exciting challenge with a worthy payoff at

the end.

The Arctic biome is a welcome change to the milder climate

of the Old World and the hot and humid islands in the New World. Frozen shores under

a dark sky, this barren wasteland allows us to tell a different kind of tale

than you might be used to in Anno 1800™, and the harsh weather conditions offer

interesting new gameplay elements. Our goal was that conquering the Arctic session

should be an exciting endeavor as it will require you to rethink your

strategies, away from raising big cities to carefully maintaining an outpost in

a seemingly hostile environment.

The new campaign chapter of The Passagewill send you on a rescue missionof an Arctic expedition. Inspired by the events of the Franklin

Expedition, searching for Sir John and his crew will unfold a dramatic series

of events with an unclear outcome.

We need to keep our

people warm – managing an Arctic outpost

With much potential for striking visuals and room for interesting gameplay

additions, we knew that the Arctic biome would be a perfect opportunity to play

around with new gameplay mechanics. The new region should be an exciting

adventure for everyone but a true challenge for achievers who want to conquer

the wasteland in order to reap significant rewards.

Harsh weather conditions are your dire enemy in the north and the new heating

mechanic will challenge you to rethink the way you used to create layouts in order

to keep your residents warm and healthy. The two new residential tiers,

explorers and technicians, are audacious adventurers who, in the name of

progress, turned their back to the amenities and comfort of the modern city life.

While their population needs reflect rather pragmatic

necessities, the wasteful luxury goods got replaced by the much more urgent

need for heat. Residential buildings as well as production facilities need to

be connected to a heat source to function properly, with the new category of goods

providing additional ways of keeping your residents warm and heathy.

The new heaters serve here as the foundation, radiators which allow you to

provide a basic level of heat for every building in the vicinity. Like the

electric power plant, it automatically places heat pipes along the street

network, and thus is relying on street distance rather than a radius. But as its

effectiveness is limited, maintaining and expanding your outpost becomes a

jigsaw puzzle of proper space and heat management.

The Northern Hemisphere is an icy wasteland, and construction space, as well as

basic resources, are sparse. Heaters operate by burning coal, which is hard to

come by and requires you to construct charcoal kilns in the sparsely populated

woods on islands located on the south or to import coal from the Old World all

the way back to your Arctic outpost.

New goods such as sleeping bags or parkas will provide an additional source of

comfort and thus let the heat meter rise. If you won’t be able to connect

buildings to a heater, or if your fuel support falters, goods can provide a

sufficient level of heat depending how well you can or want to supply your Arctic

residents.

But with decreasing temperatures, the risk for a dreaded disease rises: The

Arctic Flu.

Similar to the illness in the Old World at first glance, the Arctic Flu is a much

more dire opponent for your residents due to the harsh living conditions in the

North. It spreads faster, is more resilient and has the potential to not only paralyze

your fickle northern infrastructure but will also take its toll on your Arctic

population. So keep your toes warm to avoid a nasty surprise in the morning.

Adapted to the permafrost – new buildings and production chains

Other than constructing heaters,your outpost will give you access to several new buildings and production chains adapted to the life up north.

The Ranger Station will not only keep an eye out for fires in your outpost, it also provides medical support for your sick explorers, while the Canteen serves as a social gathering hub but also replaces the marketplace by issuing food and other goods. The Post Office is a new cultural need, allowing your researchers to stay in contact with their friends and families back home.

Population needs are as pragmatic as the fight against the freezing temperatures. To support your researchers with a steady supply of jerky, hunting cabins send out rangers to hunt for caribous, whale oil fuels your brass lamps and bear and seal pelts allow you to produce parkas and sleeping bags. But it is hard to survive up there without help from the Old World, and you will need to import canned food provisions and, as you can imagine, Arctic explorers don’t like if their schnapps flask runs dry.

To keep things going, your technicians found a new way of transportation for your snow-covered streets: the husky sled. Your trusty four-legged companions serve not only as a need for your technicians, they also provide satisfying visual feedback in your outpost.

Over time, your outpost will grow, and what seems like a barren wasteland for us is called home by others. The Inuit, a new third-party trader, are willing to trade when your stock runs low, as well as offer a variety of new items especially useful in the Northern Hemisphere.

As soon as you overcome the struggle and the daily life on the ice becomes

normality, you will find that the Arctic also has plenty to offer. The North can

become a profitable hunting ground for precious pelts

and there are some especially rich gold deposits, which promise a more

efficient supply of the rare metal than your mines in the New World. You will

also be able to collect new sets for your museum and your zoo to allow your

residents back home to get a grasp of this strange and wild place.

But you are not alone, as news about the natural resources

spread quickly and as such, second-party characters will follow you on your

path into the Passage to start their own settlements.

Conquering the sky – the Airship Hangar

For the ones overcoming the challenges of the hostile environment, a big

payoff awaits: the Airship!

Inspired by actual historical efforts to building zeppelins in the Arctic to

avoid the brash ice, the Airship Hangar is the new monument coming with The Passage.

Building this technical marvel will be a huge undertaking, as it requires you

to import a lot of construction material from your larger cities in the South in

order to finish the four construction stages of the monument. Once you finish

the Airship Hangar, of which you will be able to build one in every Arctic

settlement, you can start to construct your first airship.

Airships are the ultimate endgame vessel for your trade

routes, but they are costly to construct. It not only takes a long time to

build one, you also need a new resource to fill their balloons during

construction: gas. While your old companion Nate happily supports your first

prototype with a shipment of gas, the resource itself exists only in the

northern region of the Arctic: to be precise, on barren ice cliffs.

Without any real beach for ships to land, and missing any fundamental resources

to construct a settlement, these islands are out of reach for any traditional

vessel. If you dream of your own fleet of airships, you must claim the icy

cliffs and establish your mining outposts with the help of an airbridge.

Airships can safely avoid pirates, and can take direct

routes just over islands instead of slowly maneuvering around them. They have

also a total of 4 cargo and 2 item slots. However, they are also more strongly

affected by wind, and their unloading and loading process naturally takes more

time than with a traditional ship.

But airships are not the only new addition to optimize your

endgame logistics. Once transported into the Old World, the gas comes in handy

if you build one of the new progressive gas powerplants. More effective than

their oil-running cousins, the gas powerplant can operate without relying on

trains to constantly feed their burners. If you can establish a trade route

ensuring a steady supply of gas, the new powerplant can free up important space

in your metropolis. But beware: as the gas is a rare resource, you probably

must make tough decisions where it makes most sense to replace your old oil plants.

And while talking about technical progress, your scientific

endeavors inspired our old friend Nate to work in new inventions, which will

expand the crafting list for items you are not limited to use in the Arctic

session.

An adventure of epic proportion awaits

The Passage is not only our biggest DLC yet, it is also a true passion

project from the team. From the atmosphere, to the details to the amount of

content coming with the final Season Pass content, we are eager to see how you

like our adventure into the frozen wilds. With hundreds of Union members

playtesting the content, it is also a true community project and shows how much

influence you continue to have on Anno 1800 and its extended content.

Our third Season Pass DLC, The Passage, will release December 10th

along with Game Update 6. The Passage expands the content of Anno 1800 with:

– A new Arctic gameplay session

– Rescue Sir Johns crew in a new story chapter for Anno 1800

– 2 new Residential Tiers: the Explorers and the Technicians

– 32 new Buildings, 7 new production chains and 13 new production goods

– Over 60 new quests

– Fight the cold with the new heating systems

– Construct your airship trade fleet in the new Airship Hangar monument

Until next time, when we will share the full list of changes

and free content coming with Game Update 6!