What could be more Roman than the amphitheatre? Well, that’s what we thought, at least, and started working on the monument for Anno 117: Pax Romana. Let’s go over the history of monuments in Anno games – and then dive into the amphitheatre and its effects on your gameplay.

Monuments across Anno games

In Anno games, monuments are large projects that serve as prestigious landmarks and offer gameplay benefits. They are typically late-game buildings that require significant investment in terms of resources, workforce, logistics and, most importantly, time: it is important to keep in mind is that monuments are multi-phase construction projects. This means that monuments are built in stages, each requiring specific materials and/or conditions (e.g. being connected to your electricity grid).

Another important characteristic of monuments in Anno games is their uniqueness: they can only be built once per island, which emphasises the importance of their strategic placement.

Clearly, they are not the easiest projects to take on, especially when managing your already complex cities. However, monuments do not just simply exist in your cities, they also have rewarding effects: they boost city attractiveness, unlock special items or events, fulfil resident needs or even provide unique production capabilities.

That can be the huge cathedral in Anno 1404 that also plays a big role in the campaign, making you race against Cardinal Lucius: who can finish the cathedral first?

It can also be Leisure Center and Corporate Headquarters in Anno 2070 (with a third monument, the Science Forum, added with the Deep Ocean expansion), showing either your allegiance to one of the three groups – or your commitment to support multiple of them.

Anno 1800 then has the World’s Fair, hosting exhibitions that reward rare items, the Skyline Tower housing an enormous number of residents (added with the High Life DLC) and the Airship Hangar (added with Empire of Skies DLC) – and those were just some examples.

Anno 117: Pax Romana of course follows in these footsteps (otherwise we wouldn’t be writing this DevBlog) and has you build the great amphitheatre. Let’s take a closer look.

The Amphitheatre

When we think of Ancient Rome – or present Rome even, we might say – there is one thing that immediately pops in our minds: the Colosseum. So, let’s be honest: it wouldn’t be a game inspired by the Roman Empire if there wasn’t an Amphitheatre in it to invoke that very fantasy.

The Colosseum in Rome of course wasn’t the only amphitheatre in Roman times: many large cities had such arenas, varying in size, and their remains can still be seen today in many places (e.g. in Lyon, France, or in El Jem, Tunisia).

These amphitheatres could host crowds numbering in the tens of thousandth and were usually used for gladiatorial games.

This is also their purpose in Anno 117: Pax Romana – but first, you will have to build it!

How to build

When you have reached the fourth and highest population tier in Latium, Patricians, you can start the construction of the monument. The great amphitheatre is the biggest monument we have ever created for an Anno game, so, make sure to leave some space on your island! Each island can support one such arena.

There are four building stages to be completed by you before you can host any games in the amphitheatre. It all starts with the foundation:

Afterwards, there are stage two and three to complete, each requiring large amounts of increasingly more expensive resources – and workforce, of course. Each time you progress, the monument also changes visually: we highly recommend zooming in to discover all the details we put into this building.

And then, finally, the monument is finished: marvel at the arena with people training and preparing the next show, the rows upon rows of seats just waiting for audience, special lounges for the important people and the convenient sun covers (the velarium, as the Romans called it).

Effects

Right after construction finished, it’s time for a festival: parades will march through your city and people celebrate. Additionally, your architectural marvel will further increase your prestige, earning the respect of even the grumpiest of rival governors.

In a large area, the amphitheatre increases population (+3), happiness (+3) and prestige (+7). This will cover most large islands when placed strategically (but won’t cover the entirety of the huge island of DLC 1 – Prophecies of Ash – just in case you wondered).

It doesn’t stop there, of course: it’s only the beginning! You can now host different events in this arena to entertain your population. Different types of gladiator battles or even a naumachia – ship battles right in the arena. Let’s take a closer look at these events.

Events

There are three, to be precise, from small to large: the local gladiator games, grand gladiator games and the great naumachia.

Accordingly, the required resources to start such an event increase: requiring later not just weapon and equipment for the gladiators and some food for the nobles in the audience but also luxury goods and – for the naumachia – access to a nearby aqueduct cistern. Larger events also cost more money and require more Patrician workforce.

After a preparation phase where these goods have to be transported to the amphitheatre, the games start. There’s something to gain from these investments, of course!

Hosting events will make your population happy and boost the productivity of different parts of your economy, buffs various attributes, provides bonuses to military units and at its highest stage even prevents uprisings and increases the frequency of festivals. Repeating the same event will unlock the respective higher rewards of its category the next time around.

These rewards slowly time out and can be reactivated by hosting another such event.

With an event ongoing, you can watch the ranks getting filled with people from your city: a huge crowd is watching the events in the arena. Simulating crowds of this size was no easy undertaking for us – that’s maybe a topic for its own DevBlog.

There will also be the occasional side quest or story event happening during these events that require your attention.

“Why is there no monument in Albion?” we have seen asked here and there in the past. Our colleague Gabriel gave a more extensive answer in the Reddit AMA yesterday, but we want to pick up the topic here briefly as well: ultimately, as with many aspects of game development it comes down to development efforts. And monuments are significant efforts across multiple departments, as they are not “just” a public service building but have significant gameplay attached to it. That said, Albion does have two huge public buildings for the Celtic path (even if they’re not multi-stage monuments) which are strong visual anchors on your islands up in Albion.

And for the future… working on some more monuments for a DLC sounds like fun!

With that, we’ve reached the end of today’s blog post. How long will it take you to construct your own amphitheatre? We’re looking forward to watching you race to its completion – as we have done already for the World’s Fair in Anno 1800.

And for everyone who likes to take it slow: find a great place for this monument on your island, maybe build a park nearby? Rebuild the historical area around the Colosseum? We’re curious with what you come up with!

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:

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

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.

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.

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.

Hiring Specialists

Let’s take a look at how we’re tackling the topic in Anno 117: Pax Romana then.

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!

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.

These specialists can then be slotted into either your villa and officia or your ships.

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.

Employing specialists

We acquired a few specialists, let’s put them to good use and take a look at where you can employ them.

Villa

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.

It’s important to protect your own villa on each island, since capturing the villa is the way to overtake other player’s islands.

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).

If we look at two examples of specialists that you may want to employ in your villa, we’d have:

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

Officia

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.

An Officium is a smaller administrative building with a smaller radius and just two item slots (later three, if you progressed very far in the Discovery Tree). The radius of a villa and officium, or multiple officia, cannot overlap.

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.

Ships

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:

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

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.

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!

What they can find there… well, let’s take a look in today’s DevBlog.

A famous tradition

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.

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.

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.

Earning Fame

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.

This fame, these “Fame Points” are the currency you use to unlock content in the Hall of Fame.

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.

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.

You can look up these information at any point directly in the game.

Exploring the Hall of Fame

Time to take a look at the Hall of Fame itself:

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.

As you can see on the screenshot below, a tier can contain all kinds of different unlocks:

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

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.

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.

Three proud ships flying the Moss-Bedecked, standard and Syrah’s Vassal skins.

Q&A

Finally, let us give you some answers to questions you might be asking yourself after reading this blog.

Q: Can the unlocked Hall of Fame content be used in multiplayer?

A: Yes, if enabled by the host. Cosmetics, however, are always available.

Q: Is the early unlock of discoveries and specialists not impacting the gameplay balancing?

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.

Q: Are you planning to monetize the Hall of Fame and offer “Fame” points for money?

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.

Q: Are you planning to expand the Hall of Fame with more content in postlaunch?

A: Yes, the Hall of Fame will be expanded upon after release.

Q: Can I unlock everything in the Hall of Fame with the achievements included at release?

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.

Hey Anno Community,

In today’s DevBlog we would like to focus on the Campaign and the story of Anno 117: Pax Romana – your path as Roman Governor, the characters you will meet along the way and the obstacles you will encounter.

Just a little disclaimer for this blog post: mild spoilers for the first part of the campaign ahead! So, if you want to go into the Anno 117: Pax Romana campaign completely blind, then we would recommend skipping this DevBlog – and while you wait for the next one to be published, feel free to check last week’s DevBlogs on diplomacy and rivals, and the one on multiplayer!

A story and its purpose

If you played previous Anno titles, then you probably already know roughly what to expect from the campaign mode: it provides the context of the world you are building – whether it’s industrial revolution, futuristic reconstruction or a colony on the moon.

You will follow a protagonist through a series of challenges and discoveries: in this way, the campaign act as a tutorial or onboarding experience, as it gradually introduces game mechanics like needs fulfilment, resource management, diplomacy and so on.

In the campaign, your city doesn’t just grow – it evolves alongside the story. As you hit certain narrative milestones, new parts of your city’s development open up. These moments aren’t just story beats, they also shape how your sandbox experience unfolds, making the whole journey feel more connected and alive.

How this applies to Anno 117: Pax Romana? Let’s have a look together.

“When the Emperors call, we mortals answer”

You should all know by now what’s the general setting of Anno 117: Pax Romana: it is the year 117, time of the Pax Romana (= “Roman peace”), an era of relative stability in the Empire; you will take on the role of a Roman governor, explore the provinces of Latium and Albion, build and manage cities and productions.

The campaign in Anno 117: Pax Romana is split into two main parts, which are then further divided into different chapters. Just like in Anno 1800’s campaign, you will see your empire grow and expand while you play the campaign; to ensure that you can keep playing in this world as much as you want, the campaign turns into a sandbox game once you finish the final chapter.

But who are you in Anno 117: Pax Romana, exactly? Well, for the first time in an Anno game, you will be taking the role of a specific character. Right at the beginning of Campaign Mode, you will face your first choice between two siblings: will you play as Marcus, Ninth Son of Decimus of the Delta, or Marcia, Eligible Daughter of Decimus of the Delta?

Marcus Naukratius

He is the youngest son of Decimus, Governor of Lower Kemet and the Delta. Tired of his son’s erratic behaviour, Decimus put him to work in the imperial granaries, supervising the monthly grain tally. One day, Marcus is summoned by Emperor Lucius and asked to take the role of Governor of a forgotten senatorial province in Latium – not too far from the heart of the empire, Rome.

Marcia Tertia

As her name suggests, she is the third Marcia (Tertia = third) born to the wealthy household at Naukratia – she is a quiet and observant daughter. Like most girls her age, Marcia is expected to marry but has little say in the matter. Soon she must leave home behind to join her future husband, a Roman governor: little does she know what part she will have to play.

Welcome to Juliana, Governor!

After a long voyage, your character finally arrives on an almost-empty island not too far from the heart of the Empire: here you will be welcomed by Emperor Lucius and his beloved wife Julia. To put it bluntly, whether you choose Marcus or Marcia, you will feel like a fish out of the water. Growing up you never thought you would end up governing your own island, so feeling very much out of your depth is on the cards. Despite your inexperience as leader, you will get to know your role and slowly adjust to the new challenges, especially thanks to Ben Baalion, your trusted advisor: expert slave of the imperial court, he will accompany you along your journey, through all the ups and downs.

The first thing you might spot on the island along the overgrown vegetation and the local fauna roaming free, is ruins. On this island there once was a lively city named Ambrosia. A terrible eruption of the nearby volcano, Old Occasus, destroyed the great city of Ambrosia. Your first duty as a governor (or his wife, in Marcia’s case) is to rebuild it anew as Juliana – named after Julia, the wife of the Emperor.

After trial and error, things start falling into place. Being a Governor is not so bad after all, isn’t it? Well… Sorry to inform you, but this balance is soon disrupted by a sudden and tragic event – but we won’t mention here today because… spoilers. Let’s just say that a new character enters the scene, Calidus – who we can safely describe him as a “difficult character”. Calidus forces seize the Senate, and he declares himself Emperor.

If you thought things were complicated for you in the beginning, then we have not-so-great-news for you: they get worse. Suspicious of all people to close to the previous Emperor, he exiles you to the North of the Empire, where no civilised Roman wants to be – Albion.

Your mission here is “simple”:  bring stability to these new lands, that have recently been conquered by the Empire. Here you will learn what it really means to be a Governor with all the difficult decisions and responsibilities it entails.

A whole new world of decisions and responsibilities

While we don’t want to dive too much into the second part of the story as we don’t want to spoil it, it’s important to talk about the main theme. Here, you will learn how to transform this exile into an opportunity: it is the time to show the Emperor and the other characters what you are capable of.

You will understand what type of Roman Governor you really are through the decisions you make here. As you already know, when arriving in Albion, you won’t be arriving in an empty world: the Celts have made this wild land their home; they thrive in a place you perceive as alien, by taking advantage of the marshlands and the harsh weather.

If you’re curious about Albion and its environment, feel free to check our devblog dedicated to the province and its choices here, plus an extra one on its deities, military options and discoveries.

Emperors

As we mentioned earlier, at the end of the second part of the campaign, the game will turn into sandbox. This means you’ll be able to play in the world that you’ve built as much as you want.

We have talked about choices a lot in this blog (and previous ones). Not only do they affect the way your cities will grow, but they will also affect your relationship with the Emperor – he’s watching your action closely.

Once in sandbox mode, if you decide to go against the Emperor, then another choice will come your way: pick a different Emperor or keep Calidus – it’s up to you. The other option is having Julia as Empress.

When starting a sandbox game, during game setup, you get to choose which Emperor you want to start the game with.

Calidus

Your loyalty to Roman customs doesn’t go unnoticed with Calidus. Uphold them, and you’ll earn his respect. But ignore tradition or decline his requests, and his reputation with him will suffer. His favourite deity? Mars, of course. Considering he was born and raised in military camps, it should not be a surprise. After all, he thinks that the only way to defeat enemies is to use force against them.

Julia

Unlike Calidus, Julia is not a fan of force: she prefers negotiation to overcome enemies. Embracing Celtic tradition and choosing the Romano-Celtic path will not provoke backlash from her, on the contrary.

She is a political animal and – being nobility herself – is largely oblivious to the needs and troubles of the lower classes.

Each Emperor will reward different behaviour by you and may react negatively to some others of your actions.

We hope you enjoyed this DevBlog on the story mode and campaign in Anno 117: Pax Romana! If you enjoyed it and would like to dive into more details about it, a reminder that previews of the game are now out – so make sure to check out what your trusted gaming website or Anno creator says!

You don’t have to play Anno 117: Pax Romana all by yourself, if you don’t want to. You can invite friends or family to build and settle with you – or in direct competition with you. Let’s talk about the multiplayer mode in the game.

Multiplayer Game Modes

As is Anno tradition by now, we offer you a few options:

Play PvP with up to three other governors competing with you. These three slots can be filled by human or AI opponents, so you can, e.g., play against two friends and fill the fourth slot with dear Concordia. Grab the best islands before your friends do, forge treaties and alliances or engage in warfare, fighting on sea and land.

You can also play co-op, meaning you and up to three other (human) players play as the same governor. You share resources, money and islands and have to coordinate your actions. The further you progress, the more you’ll appreciate sharing responsibilities: why not let your buddy take over the management of Albion why you take care of Latium? The mode is also ideal to onboard friends or family members who are new to Anno 117: Pax Romana.

And finally, you can mix both: Play as a group of four friends against three AI opponents! Or go crazy and create a 4v4v4v4 match: 16 players across four teams battling it out.

While previous Anno games restricted multiplayer to sandbox mode, there’s one significant change in Anno 117: Pax Romana: The campaign can be played in co-op with up to three friends.

Game Setup

Setting up a multiplayer game is more flexible than in the past: We do not distinguish between singleplayer and multiplayer as strongly anymore. The game setup screen allows you to set it up as you want, by inviting only AI opponents, only human players, a mix of both or none at all (for a peaceful game). Multiplayer is invite-only, i.e. other players need to be on your friends-list. If you tick the “Friend Game” option during setup, friends can join your game without being invited first.

Each group (or individual players) can decide in which province to start. If you’re playing in co-op, the respective “group leader” takes this decision for the entire co-op group.

Similar to how you can fill empty slots with AI rivals even during the game (as mentioned in the Diplomacy DevBlog), the same is possible with human players. You can invite friends to turn a singleplayer game into a co-op one or fill empty slots with human opponents at any time.

Special Settings

There’s one new system here as well, however: co-op live savegames. This option has to be activated by the host in the setup screen. Live savegames are stored in the cloud and only ever store the latest state of the savegame, not keeping any savegame history.

This allows you and any other player from that savegame to continue the co-op game on your own, and then (re-)invite your friend (or any other friend) later: you don’t have to be online at the same time to play the co-op savegame together.

If your team mate is currently playing, you can simply join by loading the latest save – no need to coordinate a fixed time for everyone to be in the lobby for the game to start.

Anno 117: Pax Romana allows for cross-platform matches if the option is enabled. If your friends are playing on a different platform, that’s no longer a problem in Anno 117: Pax Romana thanks to cross-play.

Trade and alliances or war and conquest – how are you interacting with your partners in multiplayer?

Q&A

Let’s answer a few questions we’ve already seen online here at the end of the blog.

Q: Are there multiplayer speed settings in Anno 117: Pax Romana?

A: No, speed controls are limited to singleplayer. We are, however, open to looking into this topic again in postlaunch, should there be high demand by our community. The active pause functionality is available and can be activated by the host.

Q: Can I use mods in multiplayer?

A: Yes, but it requires all players to activate the same mods.

Q: Will all players require to own a certain DLC in order to use it in a multiplayer match?

A: Yes, similar to mods, all players will need to own/use the same gameplay DLC content in order to play together. These are selected while setting up the game.

Q: Can I select my avatar player logo (“sigil”) and name?

A: Names can be fully customized or chosen from a random selection. Additionally, each player (or group leader) can pick an avatar, logo/sigil and player colour. The same options are true in singleplayer, of course.

Q: Is the day/night cycle available in multiplayer?

A: Yes, since the feature is cosmetic-only, each player can select their preferred time of day individually.

Q: Is there a text or voice chat in the game?

A: Anno 117: Pax Romana does not feature text or voice chat functionality.

So much on the topic of multiplayer for today, we hope we answered all questions on the topic with the blog, but do not hesitate to let us know if there are any burning questions left!

We mentioned the campaign already in today’s blog and that’s where we continue soon: with a closer look at Anno 117: Pax Romana’s campaign and story. Stay tuned!

You’re not alone in the world of Anno 117: Pax Romana! In additional to neutral traders and (not so neutral) raiders, other governors are also settling islands in the name of the Empire.

As is tradition in Anno, multiple different characters make up the ensemble of rivals and it’s up to you while setting up your game which ones you want to play with (or none at all).

And even if you plan to ultimately subjugate or conquer them, it never hurts to know the rules and possibilities of Diplomacy! In the following paragraphs, we’ll take a closer look at the diplomacy system of Anno 117: Pax Romana: who are you interacting with, what information can be found on the diplomacy screen, what are your diplomatic options and… what about the Emperor?

If you prefer a more audio-visual overview, don’t miss out on our past livestream (click here) with Lead Game Designer Andrea, Game Designer Dominik and Gameplay Programmer Jannik on the topic.

Meet your rivals!

Rivals general

When setting up your game, you can choose up to three rival governors to settle the world alongside you. These other governors come in different “flavours”, as in: some are more peaceful or overall easier to handle, others are aggressive expansionists and yet again others may even prefer to just settle in only one of the provinces.

A quick look at the overview screen can tell you a lot about their character and their playstyle: even a advanced-difficulty rival might not be a warmonger but excel in economic and diplomatic matters.

Today, we’re taking a look at three of them to use them as examples.

Some characters from Latium

Dorian is an athlete, a popular one at that, with statues made after his likeness. He appreciates governors who – like him – emphasize health and cleanliness for their people and construct places of art and competitions, like the theatre or (even better) the giant amphitheater.

He’s not the biggest fan of war and would much rather be friends. Importantly, Dorian will only settle in Latium and not expand to the province of Albion. Accordingly, he also isn’t interested in which choices you take on the topic of Romanization.

Tarragon is a military veteran of many campaigns, even if now – aged – he really only wants a peaceful retirement: tending fields, taking naps below olive trees and maybe teaching a young governor a thing or two. This makes also one of the easier rivals.

While generally a friendly neighbour, if you get on Tarragon’s bad side, he’ll show you that his years in the Praetorian Guard very much still count for something.

Concordia is a former vestal virgin, devoted to the Roman gods and therefore places a heavy emphasis on religion and Roman virtues. She’s keen on expanding her already not insignificant influence further while championing her ideals which she would prefer other governors to adapt as well. Excess and luxury as well foreign traditions like those practised by the locals in Albion are a thorn in Concordia’s side.

One other character we have already introduced a few weeks ago: Athr, an ambitious Celtic ruler in Albion. Check out this blog to learn more about him.

Generally, you can find out much more about each rival by interacting with them, listening to their comments and following each of their story lines.

Interaction – Diplomacy Screen

Alright, you have found Concordia’s or Dorian’s island, time to open the Diplomacy Menu. Here all governors (and raiders, if present) are listed, as is their current diplomatic status (at war, peace, defensive treaty, …) with you. Upon clicking on one of them, the panel on the right offers you additional information:

• Currently signed treaties
• Your power balance (military, economic, prestige, …)
• The character’s lore
• The character’s difficulty and traits
• The effects you gain when allying or subjugating the rival

Interactions

We don’t just want to learn about Dorian’s upbringing, of course, but enter negotiations. This leads us to a new screen that gives you an overview of all available diplomatic options.

The screen is separate into available actions at the top and potential but not (yet) available actions at the bottom. These range from treaties over asking for a loan or offering a loan to declaring war.

Hovering over each action gives you a clear breakdown of which reasons influence the character to accept the action, or why it’s not available yet. These reasons are a mix of:

• Personal preferences (e.g. high hygiene for Dorian, high belief points for Concordia)
• Recent events (e.g. a recent war or you having declined an offered treaty)
• Already signed treaties (e.g. a trade treaty)
• Character traits
• Prestige, which is used for most calculations related to diplomacy
• Your military power

Here we wanted to provide you with more transparency than in the past to better understand why some actions are possible and others aren’t. The reasons also give a good indication of what to do to improve the relations with a specific rival.

If you want to go deeper into their reasons, click the button of the actions (the non-greyed-out ones) to get a more detailed list before committing to a treaty, for example.

Treaties are a way to not only improve relations but also secure yourself and ultimately even come out on top the diplomatic way. Trade treaties to buy or sell goods at their harbours, defensive pacts to assure the peace of protect yourself against another governor and alliances to confirm your friendship and assure each other of long-lasting support no matter what.

Some diplomatic options first have to be researched (e.g. Large Gifts or Alliances) or are tied to other systems, like your standing with the Emperor. One such option is appointing a rival governor as specialist.

Appointing rivals as specialists

You have proven to be not just a competent, but the strongest, most able and certainly also most beautiful governor – so much so, that other governors would bend their knee to you. Let’s take a look at subjugating rivals.

To subjugate a rival governor and make them become your vassal you will need to either:

• Have an alliance with the rival in question (finishing their personal quest chain does help a lot) and be stronger than them, or
• Hold the title of (pro-)consul, bestowed by the Emperor (more on that later), be stronger than the rival and have a significant sum of money ready.

If you fulfil the requirements, subjugating a rival will turn them in your vassal: all their islands become vassal cities, you can then either take over or demolish, their ships become yours and the respective rival joins your entourage as a unique powerful specialist who you can slot into your villa.

War – the continuation of policy with other means

You want to not just subjugate your opponents but remove them from the map? Take over their islands? – Well, there is always war, of course.

While the details of waging war are a topic for a different DevBlog (check out this article on land combat), the declaration of it is very much a diplomatic topic.

Upon entering the “war declaration” screen for poor Dorian here, we’re not only presented with a comparison of our military might and potential allies that would join each side, we can also choose between two types of war.

All-Out War is exactly that: everything from ships over civilian buildings and of course entire islands is free game. If your goal is to remove an opponent from the map or at least greatly reduce their influence, this is the way to go.

The Emperor, however, doesn’t look too favourably on large scale warfare within his domain and may at some point intervene.

A Limited War is useful when it’s just about taking an island that your opponent has settled before you had a chance or if its location is just too strategically vital. Civilian buildings and ships can’t be attacked (meaning your trade routes should be safe) when this option is selected.

Whichever option you choose, it comes with a cost: depending on a few factors like the number of islands you already own, your reputation with the emperor and your overall prestige, declaring war will cost reputation with the Emperor. The lower your reputation following this war declaration, the more likely the Emperor will intervene on your opponent’s behalf and order you to put an end to hostilities.

The Emperor?

You are, after all, a governor as are the likes of Dorian or Concordia – and above you, the Emperor is watching your actions. He’s therefore also always visible in the Diplomacy menu, as is your reputation with him.

Of course, he doesn’t care about minor things like the production chains you set up, or individual houses placed and ships built. He cares about governors keeping the imperial peace and adhering to Roman traditions.

Emperor Calidus was born and made in the military camp. Hell-bent on change, he is a champion of ordinary Romans everywhere.

Although ruthless, tough and pragmatic, he is also gregarious, down-to-earth, honest and good-humoured.

Break treaties and wage war (see previous chapter) and he might feel the need to send a stern remark. Stray too far from Roman traditions in Albion and your reputation with him will also suffer. On the other hand, fulfil one of his occasional demands and he’ll look more favourable on you.

Your overall reputation with him brings bonuses or disadvantages, e.g. lower costs when settling new islands – or trade embargoes with neutral imperial traders.

Get on his bad side, be branded a rebel and deal with the consequences which involve the might of the imperial fleet and army. If you manage to stand your ground, he’ll begrudgingly name you pro-consul (note: it’s not possible to usurp the Emperor or “leave” the Empire).

Alternatively, become his most trusted advisor and be given the title of consul. Each title comes with additional bonuses that make your life as a governor significantly easier – for example, the Emperor himself will send his army to your aid should anyone dare declare war on the (pro-)consul of Rome!

Outro

And what if you launched a new game without any NPC (or pirates) – or defeated all of them already – and start feeling a bit lonely in the world of Anno 117: Pax Romana? Well, don’t worry, at any time in the game you can invite any NPC of your choice to your game assuming you have open slots left. If you defeated them once, you can’t bring them back, however. Yes, we saw you using the “AI Shipyard” mod for Anno 1800 😉

For today, that’s the overview of the diplomacy system of Anno 117: Pax Romana. A roster of different rivals with their own goals and reasons to act in certain ways, as well as the diplomatic actions to form treaties with them, subjugate rivals to make them your vassal or wage war in order to establish dominance.

There are a few other rival governors, as you have seen on a screenshot earlier in the blog, and we’ll introduce them to you in the coming weeks. Any questions left unanswered? Let us know in the comments or reach out to us on any of the other channels.