The following article describes the facts that can be pulled from the PC-Game article (and Videos):
Recently, some folks from a German gamer magazine were invited by Related Design (lead programmers of Anno1701) to see a working demo of the software.
The report shows some screenshots of a demo island. It seems that at no time were the folks actually sitting at the keyboard and "playing the game".
All screenshots were limited to this demo island with a pioneer/settler village.
(For news, as they emerge, see end of article)
1. Building a city
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Building a city requires the steps:
a) Exploring an island (including its resources) with a ship (the scout does not exist anymore).
b) Build a port that automatically unloads the ship.
(Graphically, the places to land are now more easily detectable than in Anno1503, but may be scarcer). Every player can build exactly one harbour per island.
c) Build a village/city centre.
d) Expand the city range using market houses or more village centres.
Market houses can be placed on the island if their range of influence collide with an already existing market house (it is no longer necessary to place the new market house within the range of influence of an already existing market house. The overlap is a sufficient prerequisite).
e) Build one or more mooring area(s)
The mooring area allows loading/unloading of materials, increases the the capacity of the warehouses and can be used as loading/unloading dock for ships (just as a harbour).
2. Size of a city
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a) Houses need a square of 3 by 3 units.
b) The village centre has a size of 12 by 12 units.
It consists of a grid of 3 by 3 units:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
In all screenshots, the centre consists of (pioneer/settler status):
Position 1 can be a storage area
Position 2 is a statue
Position 3 is a sheep farm
Positions 4 and 6 are empty
Position 5 can be empty, a market hut/shop or a triple tent (circus?)
Positions 7 and 9 contain market shop/house
Position 8 is empty
The range of influence of the centre extends at least over 20 units across the island. The centre develops when the city status increases, e.g. going from pioneer to settler status, the market huts turn into market shops. The kind and look of the statue reflects the development and satisfaction status of the city. The behaviour of the people demonstrates the satisfaction level in the city.
b) There are no freely placeable market huts (size 1 by 1) anymore, only the village/city centre.
3. Factories
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Positively identifyable are the following units:
-Chiseller
-Smithy
-Fisher
-Hunter
-Sheep farm
-Wool maker
-Lumberjack
-Small church
-Large church (Video)
-iron ore mine
-Market/warehouse (Video, shows a house with barrels and flags in front).
Probably a market house in order to implement the market trollies. The range of influence seems to be equal to a market house in Anno1503.
All factories seem to be one-man-units.
-the fur hunter does not exist anymore
The settler village does not seem to have a pub. No alcohol-producing units are visible in any screenshot. Therefore it seems to be possible to upgrade from pioneer to settler status without alcohol.
4. Flora and fauna
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The demo island contains considerable fewer free-roaming animals than a 1503 island.
5. Where does the money come from?
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The simple taxing system of Anno1602 is reintroduced.
Contentment of a city is considerably reduced as compared to 1503 and no longer depends on each individual house. There is only one shopping area, the city centre.
6. Visible as conceptual drawings in the video:
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-Cavallery
-Mortar
-Cannon
-Musketeer
-Pikeneer
-A soldier that is throwing something
-A group of workers that seem to harvest sugar cane
-A group of merchants
7. Not to be seen in the article/video
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No information is available on:
-Pirates
-Venecians
-Computer villages
-Additional farms (Spice, silk, etc)
-Look and feel of southern-type islands
-Catastrophs (Fire, pest, etc)
-The unspeakable statistics screen of Anno1503
-Multiplayer
-Scripting system
8. Products removed from the game:
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The list contains elements from 1503 which have been removed in 1701:
-Spice
-Silk, Indigo plantations, clothes
-Salt
-Tannery
-Clothing
-Wine
-Dual production sites, like small farm
-Hemp, Ropemaker
-Fur hunter
9. New facts
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-There are no "ingame movies" in endless games anymore. Particularly, the dreaded "statue video" is gone. (In larger worlds with many cities, gameplay would be interrupted every other minute by a video telling you are great and that you can build a statue now, sometimes messing up the graphics in some unpredictable way).
-There is a built-in "idiot-mode" which fortunately can be switched off for more experienced players. In this mode, a queen will help you out if you are in trouble (for example giving you money if you are close to bancruptcy).
-There are over 150 possible trading tasks built into the game (a screenshot shows a "men overboard" situation. Most likely your task would be to save the men from drowning). Tasks get more difficult as the player gaines experience.
-There are considerably less production chains in Anno1701 than in Anno1503/1602.
-Houses must be connected with streets to the doctor/fire brigade/?? otherwise the inhabitants won't be healed/the fires won't be quenched/??.
-Autodevelopment of houses on an island can be disabled. You can then choose which houses will develop to the next stages. Autodevelopment of churches does not take place. The various churches have different ranges of influence and require different amounts of building ground on the map.
-There are 12 levels of KI player behaviour, from extremely friendly to extremely brutal. According to RD, the KI for computer players has been significantly rethought.
Major bummer: A maximum of only 3 Computer players are possible in a game
-There are 7 new raw materials:
Ivory: available from free traders or the Indians
Jade: available from free traders or the Asians
Fur: available from free traders or the Iroquois
Talisman: available from free traders or Aztecs
(Native people behave like normal traders now, you pay for their stuff, they pay you for your stuff).
Cocoa: Cocoa plantations on southern islands return from Anno1602
Honey: Honey can be harvested on northern-type islands.
Flowers: used for perfumes
Cocoa and honey can be processed to chocolates with a chocolatier, a new item required by merchants (and Aristocrats).
-The military consists of three groups, an infantry, cavallery and an artillery unit. Each group is upgradable once by researching at the university. Soldiers are no longer controled as single units, but in groups.
-It is no longer possible to board an enemy ship.
-A maximum of 20 ship trading routes can be (pre-)defined (with a maximum of 4 stops each). Any ship can be (re-)assigned to those autoroutes at any time, and can (un-)load or buy/sell a maximum of 4 items at each stop.
Dieser Beitrag wurde bereits 20 mal editiert, zuletzt von »drkohler« (25. Juli 2006, 13:00)
