Release Delay & Free Update Highlights

Prepare for fire, smoke and ash: in just a few days, on April 30th, the “Prophecies of Ash” DLC releases on all platforms. Settle Cinis, the largest island in Anno’s history, turn it into your new capital in Latium – and endure the moods of the volcano, bringing both destruction as well as powerful buffs.Important: Due to a potentially savegame-breaking bug we decided to postpone the release of Prophecies of Ash and patch 1.5 from April 23rd by one week to April 30th. Alongside the DLC, we’re releasing Patch 1.5, again including a variety of changes, improvements and bug fixes. While the full patch notes will be released next week, today we walk you through some of the changes and quality-of-life improvements that are included in this update as well.Please keep the feedback coming – more adjustments and improvements are already planned for future updates, including (as mentioned previously) much-requested features like note-taking and the mod browser.Big ChangesWe’re starting with some larger changes that are worth providing some more details on:Passive Trade rebalance: was too powerful previously and now gets adjusted downwards a bit.Rivals/Traders only sell goods they actually have in stockRivals pay the same price as traders nowRivals/Traders have less budget for trading starting in mid-gameGoods have higher trade pricesImportant: the old balancing is still available, and all these options are now part of the game setup. While old savegames can migrate to the new balancing if you want, you can also pick and choose how you want to set up passive trade in your savegame.“Prophecies of Ash” DLC: during volcano phases, traders will not sell goods impacted by volcano phases (food, crops, fish, animals)Word filter adjusted in singleplayerWhile the filter is still in place (mandatory requirement), there’s no more censoring on client sideOther participants in a multiplayer match will still see ***** if a word another player used is affected by the filterVarious Trade Route screen improvementsAssign route to a group during creationGive trade route a name directly during creationHold shift to copy a good across all vacant slots of a shipTrade route lines are now displayed on the map on the right when hovering over a trade routeThe number of buildings producing a good is now displayed in addition to the stock level for each islandSome more improvements are still in discussion/in developmentSmall changesIn addition, plenty of smaller changes and improvements have been added, including (but not limited to) the following:It’s now possible to zoom & pan the mini-mapAmphitheatre events can now be run on multiple islands simultaneouslyWeather effects like rain in Albion or the volcanic ash rain from Prophecies of Ash can be disabled via the options menuDestroyed Officia remember slotted specialistsWe’ve added a “Favourite” category when using gamepadIt allows you to add ships, buildings as favourite for quick-accessYou can add both menu entries and your current selectionGameplay DLC can now be activated at any point while playingWhen loading a pre-DLC-release savegame, a prompt will appear, but the decision can be postponed to laterAdded a workforce priority system to help with avoiding negative spiralsThe priority now is: Military < adding population < population area effect < income < income area effectDefeating a pirate now gives positive emperor reputationWhen using mouse & keyboard, all pins at bottom of the screen can now be removed/replaced, the resource pins are not fixed anymoreWater mill gets +1 knowledge, donkey mill –1 health as area effectto better represent the water mill being more “expensive” due to requiring a river slotMany many visual quality improvements on the UI side, including:Ingame/pause menuSave & load menuBuilding menusGeneral HUDPatch Notes and releaseAgain, please note the list above is not exhaustive: these and other improvements will be added to the game on Thursday! Stay tuned for the full patch notes, to be published next week, for a list of all changes as well as bug fixes that are part of the update.This update will release alongside the “Prophecies of Ash” DLC for Anno 117: Pax Romana on April 30th.

Apr 23, 2026 - 17:16

Prepare for fire, smoke and ash: in just a few days, on April 30th, the “Prophecies of Ash” DLC releases on all platforms. Settle Cinis, the largest island in Anno’s history, turn it into your new capital in Latium – and endure the moods of the volcano, bringing both destruction as well as powerful buffs.

Important: Due to a potentially savegame-breaking bug we decided to postpone the release of Prophecies of Ash and patch 1.5 from April 23rd by one week to April 30th.

Alongside the DLC, we’re releasing Patch 1.5, again including a variety of changes, improvements and bug fixes. While the full patch notes will be released next week, today we walk you through some of the changes and quality-of-life improvements that are included in this update as well.

Please keep the feedback coming – more adjustments and improvements are already planned for future updates, including (as mentioned previously) much-requested features like note-taking and the mod browser.

Big Changes

We’re starting with some larger changes that are worth providing some more details on:

Passive Trade rebalance: was too powerful previously and now gets adjusted downwards a bit.
- Rivals/Traders only sell goods they actually have in stock
- Rivals pay the same price as traders now
- Rivals/Traders have less budget for trading starting in mid-game
- Goods have higher trade prices
- Important: the old balancing is still available, and all these options are now part of the game setup. While old savegames can migrate to the new balancing if you want, you can also pick and choose how you want to set up passive trade in your savegame.
- “Prophecies of Ash” DLC: during volcano phases, traders will not sell goods impacted by volcano phases (food, crops, fish, animals)
Word filter adjusted in singleplayer
- While the filter is still in place (mandatory requirement), there’s no more censoring on client side
- Other participants in a multiplayer match will still see ***** if a word another player used is affected by the filter
Various Trade Route screen improvements
- Assign route to a group during creation
- Give trade route a name directly during creation
- Hold shift to copy a good across all vacant slots of a ship
- Trade route lines are now displayed on the map on the right when hovering over a trade route
- The number of buildings producing a good is now displayed in addition to the stock level for each island
- Some more improvements are still in discussion/in development

Small changes

In addition, plenty of smaller changes and improvements have been added, including (but not limited to) the following:

It’s now possible to zoom & pan the mini-map
Amphitheatre events can now be run on multiple islands simultaneously
Weather effects like rain in Albion or the volcanic ash rain from Prophecies of Ash can be disabled via the options menu
Destroyed Officia remember slotted specialists
We’ve added a “Favourite” category when using gamepad
- It allows you to add ships, buildings as favourite for quick-access
- You can add both menu entries and your current selection
Gameplay DLC can now be activated at any point while playing
- When loading a pre-DLC-release savegame, a prompt will appear, but the decision can be postponed to later
Added a workforce priority system to help with avoiding negative spirals
- The priority now is: Military < adding population < population area effect < income < income area effect
Defeating a pirate now gives positive emperor reputation
When using mouse & keyboard, all pins at bottom of the screen can now be removed/replaced, the resource pins are not fixed anymore
Water mill gets +1 knowledge, donkey mill –1 health as area effect
- to better represent the water mill being more “expensive” due to requiring a river slot
Many many visual quality improvements on the UI side, including:
- Ingame/pause menu
- Save & load menu
- Building menus
- General HUD

Patch Notes and release

Again, please note the list above is not exhaustive: these and other improvements will be added to the game on Thursday! Stay tuned for the full patch notes, to be published next week, for a list of all changes as well as bug fixes that are part of the update.

This update will release alongside the “Prophecies of Ash” DLC for Anno 117: Pax Romana on April 30th.

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