The new big DLC from Season 4 of Anno 1800 has been officially revealed. We reveal all the information about the release, the post, the airships and the scenario.
Dear ladies and gentlemen, hold on to your hats and get on board! Welcome to the historically incorrect helium-powered airship called Empire of the Skies – the new major DLC of Anno 1800”s fourth season! But we can generously overlook this historical inaccuracy, as the developers have finally dropped plenty of new info on us.
A release date has also finally been set. Anno 1800: Empire of the Skies will be released on 20 September 2022. This means that the start of the DLC has been pushed back a little in order to gain “time for testing the DLC”, according to the developers. But now we would like to introduce you to all the new features that the DLC will bring with it, which will focus on airships, mail and trade.
How the new airships work
- (New Production Chains): The most important new production chain is of course the production of the airships in the new airship hangar. There are a total of five new airship types (fast airships and cargo airships) and of course the airships from The Passage. Depending on the type of airship, we need, for example, engines, helium and aluminium for construction – the latter is also important for the postal system explained in more detail below. We produce helium from industrial oil (fish oil, saltpetre) and clay. The helium factory, on the other hand, cannot be built everywhere, but can only be located at fixed places on the island – as we know it from the mines, for example.
- (New trade route menu): The airships get their own tab in the trade route menu. This works similarly to the setting of the ship routes, but also has some special features due to the new post system.
- (Battles): But our airships are not only good for peaceful trade. Equipped with weapons, they can also be used to fight aerial battles with our enemies. Although we can also attack enemy ports with our airship and new airship defence cannons fire from the sea, normal ships and airships at least don”t get directly in each other”s way.
- (Drops): For this, there are five different charges that we can drop from our airships. We drop water mines on the ship routes of our enemies, we attack ports with bombs, we extinguish fires from the air with water, flyers spread a mood of revolt on enemy islands and care packages increase the productivity of friends and allies.
- (Transfer Items): The new airship platform can be upgraded with several ornaments and modules. The airmail, the commuter quay and the warehouse. If we place special items there, we can transfer them to another island with an airship platform warehouse within a few seconds, without having to mess around with ships on the map for a long time.
- (Airships from the Artkis): The airships from The Passage remain in the game and are between the small and medium new cargo airship in terms of speed and loading capacity. For both the old and the new airships, we can choose to use the Arctic gas as well as the new helium for production. With the new DLC, the Arctic airships now also become attackable.
How the new postal system works
- (Lifestyle Needs): The new lifestyle needs in the free Game Update 15 are additional desires of our different social classes. We can turn these on or off per development level. If we fulfil them, they generate money among other things, but there is no disadvantage if we do not activate the needs. In the DLC, one of these lifestyle needs is the post office.
- (Deliver letters): The new post office building ensures that all residents in its radius generate mail as a resource. In addition, space-saving letter boxes (1×1 field in size) can be placed, but they also have a smaller radius. If we deliver the letters via airship to other regions, the mail is upgraded from local letters to regional letters or overseas letters.
- (New production chain): For the new letter boxes we need aluminium, wood and stone. We produce alumium with coal and the new ore bauxite.
Fight of the Couriers: This is the new scenario
The new DLC also contains another scenario that lets us master a special story challenge. In Battle of the Couriers, we compete in the “Grand Postal Derby”, a kind of postal championship in which we have to collect a series of stamps by delivering mail. We already start with a built-up island. The trick: Some islands on our map have no coasts and can only be reached via airships.
According to the developers, the scenario is primarily intended to promote relaxed exploration and bring along some exciting items and side tasks such as a beard championship.
This is what we already know about the free Game Update 15
More detailed info on the big free Game Update 15 will be available in the coming weeks. However, the developers have already revealed that there will be new defence towers, for example. The AI will also get a free update and when we buy content for our zoo or botanical garden in the future, a new icon in the menu will show us what we already own.
What do you think of the new DLC Empire of the Skies? What content are you looking forward to or what would you have liked differently? Tell us in the comments!
