New Anno 117 details promises historical correctness - but with liberties

Ubisoft has not yet revealed any game play for their newest title in the Anno series, Anno 117: Pax Romana.

They did announce they will be releasing a series of articles on the development of the game over the course of time until the release.

In their latest episode, Senior Game Writer Matt Cook explains the historic setting of Anno 117 and the liberties that have to be taken with history. 

Not only that, he also reveals some pretty interesting details...

You can read the full article at Anno-union.com, but here's what we think!

• Historically correct, but with liberties
• Game revelations
  • Regions
  • Inter regional trading required
  • Land combat
• Patience

Historically correct, but with liberties

In 117 AD, the Roman Empire was mostly at peace. Of course, skirmishes and revolts were still a daily occurrence. But the Roman Empire was at its height of the expansion when Hadrian ascended the throne in August of that year and would sit there for the next 21 years.

Now, the Roman Empire is huge. Like, massive. And, as we know, a lot of land. 

Anno, on the other hand, is a game that has since its inception always revolved around islands. 

So far, that hasn't been an issue at all. While always leaning on historical advancements and themes, there's never been a connection to real historical people, places or time. 

With Pax Romana, that will change. The name itself signals a clear relation to the Roman Empire. But it won't mean the game play will change completely just because of this. 

To quote Matt: "We need to cherry-pick and take liberties with the history to keep the game FUN." He goes on to describe the games as "a parallel universe that does not necessarily have to follow the rules of our own world – while still feeling real!"

That makes sense. And with that news, a lot of artistic choices and historical deviations are justified. 

As an example, the game writer mentions the role of women in the game. While in our history, those times were mainly patriarchal, in Anno 117 women will also play important roles. 

Game revelations

Now, Cook goes on to outline the 2 provinces of Latium and Albion.

Latium being a "forgotten treasure of a province, deserted for old superstition".

Albion, a "marsh-ridden land" with the crafty and warlike Celts, a province full of exportable goods. 

A few things can be deducted from the article if we read between the lines and set our imagination loose. 

Regions

Now, Latium is a region in central Italy, which would have been part of the Roman Empire from the start. Albion on the other hand is the original name of England, mainly the southern parts of England. 

Geographically, these two regions are over a thousand miles apart. That means that bringing them together in one game of Anno, could signal the use of separate regions like in Anno 1800.

If you read the descriptions, especially the Latium part is interesting.

Sentences like "Superficially, it’s paradise", "fields of wheat and lavender" and "the perfect retreat for the wealthy of Rome" signal relatively easy islands to settle and explore. A bit like the regular old world and Cape Trelawny in Anno 1800, where Farmers, Workers and (partly) Artisans are all very much satisfied by the goods available on this side of the world.

The wealthy of Rome is also a distinct clue to the return of population tiers, but that can't be a surprise. After all, it's still Anno.

Inter regional trading required

Albion, albeit far away, is still going to be important for Anno's Roman Empire. 

Inter region trading is most definitely going to return, signalled by things like "Expeditions to Albion are like mythic quests" and "exports of strange culinary delicacies becoming ever more popular back home".

Also, the Celts offer "education, warm baths and best of all…wine", which could indicate a Scholars type situation like the Land of Lions DLC added to Anno 1800.

We can assume that some degree of exporting/importing between regions is going to be required. 'Delicacies' point to a certain class of people, which will most likely not be the plebs. That would mean they will rely on imported goods from other regions. 

Land combat

Now, a sentence that does have curiosity peaked, is this one: "mysterious forces operate below the surface here, that may at first go unnoticed."

Forces below the surface? It doesn't sound like they're talking about the volcano that erupted in this province years ago. What could this mean? Are we getting to explore the mines we build on the surface level? Does that mean we're not only getting regions, but also region layers? 

Or does it mean our enemies will hide on the islands themselves, rather than on other islands? That would open up the way for guerrilla tactics and land combat with foot soldiers which we haven't seen since Anno 1404.

Patience...

For now, our imagination can run as wild as it wants, but it won't be satisfied. 

Ubisoft hasn't announced anything about a release yet. It hasn't even released game play footage. This means it's either not there yet (unlikely) or not happy with it (possible) or just not willing to share it to fuel up the hype train (likely). 

We'll just have to wait and see what the next devblog update will bring!