Original Post — Direct link

https://preview.redd.it/seuce9ssl3481.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33994e2446ea3e85106d954929dc652c5db84345

ICYMI: Yesterday Ubisoft announced the new season 4 coming for Anno 1800 in 2022. Here are the key details from the announcement stream and corresponding devblog:

  • Season 4 will consist of three new DLC's arriving throught 2022
  • similiar to Season 3 there won't be an all-new session, but they rather focus on fleshing out the new world
  • they want to tackle building space issues in the new world
  • scenarios are making their return to the Anno franchise: they plan to release at least (!) one new scenario with each DLC
  • each DLC release will be accompanied by a free game update for all users
  • new cosmetic DLC's, first to debut in February 2022
  • more details about season 4 will be unveiled in March 2022

So, concept-wise you can pretty much expect Season 3 but focussed on the new world.

Now let's take a closer look at the teaser trailer shown at the end of the announcement stream. I gathered all your ideas and initial reactions from the other posts and comments to create some kind of info & speculation dump.

Anno 1800: Season 4 teaser trailer

The trailer consists of three segments representing the three different DLC's of season 4. Each DLC has it's own unique color theme (blue, goldish+green and copper):

0:03-0:15: DLC 1 (blue)

Juding by the renders, the first DLC is all about harbours (similiar to the Docklands DLC of season 3).

full harbour scene

The shown harbour buildings look pretty much identical to the existing ones. Maybe because they just got greenlight for their concept of season 4 and now start working on DLC 1 (remember: new info about season 4 won't be unveiled before March 2022). Or they plan on expanding their new skin system with more variations and skins of harbour buildings instead of entirely new building models?

canons

The most interesting part are the canons at 0:13 though. Could this be a hint at the first military/combat orientated DLC for Anno 1800? Personally, I thinks it's more likely they just emphasize the history of piracy in the Caribbean and introduce new fortifications for the harbour, maybe we'll get some new ships aswell.

0:15-0:27: DLC 2 (goldish+green)

https://preview.redd.it/7jz8gosgl3481.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=48f59e5d7239fca248f47c1b6aad5fcf2890e270

This DLC looks to be inspired by the bright harvest DLC of season 3. Interesting to note that they show the windmilll, which was originally introduced as a building for the old world. Maybe we'll get new items or quests to transition certain fertilites into the new world?

front view of airship

Apart from that, they prominently showed the construction and loading of an airship. This could hint at further optimizations of trade routes and the general interaction of the old vs new world.

airship is loaded with trade goods

0:27-0:34: DLC 3 (copper)

factories

This one is the most mysterious to me: Obviously we see different production buildings reminding me of rum distilleries and such. I'm not sure though what the scene at 0:33 is supposed to mean: We see buildings beeing placed on some kind of platform or framework. Could this hint at multiple building layers on top of each other? Or backfilling coastal regions in order to reclaim land from the sea?

building sets

Maybe this means nothing and is just due to the Game-of-Throne-like trailer aesthetics. Considering their announcement, that they wanna tackle building space issues, and the general verticality in South American architecture (thinking about favelas in Brazil) I think it's not out of question though. The last DLC of season 3 was about building upwards, too.

u/Takarazuka012 pointed out, that these building sets could indicate some kind of "mass moving tool" allowing to rellocate multiple different buildings at once. Another option would be new items allowing better usage of the exisiting space. New resident tiers for the new world and the introduction of electricity are likely aswell.

Conclusion

Overall, this looks like an interesting season, both aesthetically and gameplay-wise. After the release of the High Rise DLC I was pretty sceptical about any additional DLC's or even seasons. After season 3 the game felt so complete and it was hard to put the finger on, where they could further improve on. But I really like the idea of some kind of "season 3 for the New World" to bring it more on par with the fleshed out old world.

The folks at Ubisoft Blue Byte managed once again, to make the new DLC's look like a logic and organic addition to the core game. Let's see what else they have in store (curious about the other cosmetic DLC's!). Which features are you most excited about? Anything I missed in the trailer?

External link →
over 2 years ago - /u/Com_Raven - Direct link

Originally posted by Ezard94

scenarios are making their return to the Anno franchise: they plan to release at least (!) one new scenario with each DLC

If I'm not wrong, it's worth to precise that these new scenario will have the same "ecological game mode" than the one who will be out the 14 December. They will not have the classical anno 1800 gameplay.

That is not correct. Season 4’s DLCs are unrelated to “Eden Burning”.

over 2 years ago - /u/Com_Raven - Direct link

Originally posted by TbNewt

Thank you for this! Can I nitpick and point out the great work is done by the team at Blue Byte, not Ubisoft who as publishers have likely more a hand in e.g. marketing and distribution, not the ideas and development itself.

Well, we are all Ubisoft employees, and our studio is actually called “Ubisoft Mainz”, rather than Blue Byte :)

over 2 years ago - /u/Ubi-Thorlof - Direct link

Originally posted by Asciana

You'll always be Blue Byte to me <3

Which is funny, since we were only "Blue Byte" for about 5 years. "Related Designs" until 2014 and "Ubisoft Mainz" since 2019.

The original "Blue Byte" studio is the one in Düsseldorf.

over 2 years ago - /u/Com_Raven - Direct link

Originally posted by videki_man

Just realised that I've been playing Blue Byte games for almost 30 years now. I started with Settlers 1 in 1994 and Battle Isle 2 about the same time!

That's a while! My first ones were Settlers 2 and Battle Isle 3 :p