A bit more than a year since release...

[Dr.Acula]

I played the Anno 1800 last year when it was released and in the end left disappointed.

Now a bit more than a year later I wanted to give it another chance and I must say that it's even more disappointing to see that basically nothing has changed. Ubisoft has released some DLC packs, but other than that the various core issues are still there.

1. Bad camera controls
2. Limitted zoom
3. No active pause (which was heavily discussed in the forums several times)
4. Problems with the ship controls
5. Expeditions being just plain terrible as a game play mechanic
6. Stressful and annoying game sessions due to multi map system (which could be reduced by an active pause system)

And let's not forget that Steam users are still basically second class citizens as the Anno 1800 is still not available here anymore and DLC packs are only available at full price.

I'm seriously asking myself what the devs have been doing over the last year. To me at least it seems like they were just adding more of the same to the game through DLC without caring what they could do to actually fix problems.

Why would I even want the arctic DLC when it just adds a third map to manage?

[Benavert]

I have to admit that I decided to turn off both pirates and Sunken Treasures most of the time just to be able to manage all the sessions going on, just so that I can have a bit of a relaxed game without min-maxing or moving my mouse around like a 2010 FPS YouTuber. I'd imagine that just adding a pauze button will fix *a lot* of issues, atleast it will allow people to take a breath and move to the area where the next problem has popped up instead of playing whack-a-mole in four different sessions.

I honestly don't think that the developers will be responding anytime soon, I've always found Ubisoft (and subsidiaries) to be very slow to respond to glaring issues.

[FluffyNo3]

1) Camera controls are fine imo, what would you like to be able to do with the camera that you can't do at the moment?
2) Zoom isn't super duper close but you can get pretty close, and you really should be playing zoomed out 99% of the time anyway
3) ya, has been discussed to death from both sides
4) I've never found ship controls to be bad, maybe they are a little bit derpy on the odd occasion but no real issues. Also take into account that the majority of your ships will be auto controlled on trade routes anyway so you shouldn't have to do much manual control. What issues have you had?
5) Expeditions are meh. Not amazing but not bad either. Why do you find then terrible?
6) More game sessions is what makes Anno Anno. You must remember that Anno is a resource management game first, and a city builder second. Especially as you get towards the later game it can get complicated with a lot going on. If you find that too stressful maybe this game isn't your style? But if you are having trouble then go slow and make sure you have fully fulfilled a good before moving onto your next task. In a SP game there is nothing wrong with building up slowly. Just disable pirates and NPCs and go at the speed you are comfortable with. The extra game sessions are really awesome and are totally worth it

"Steam users are basically second class" - yeah fair enough

"What have devs been doing" - fixing bugs, releasing new content, a whole bunch of great patches have come in since the release, and I don't really think many or any of the things you listed are actually an issue

"Why should i get arctic" - great new session, you can get lots of gold which you need late game for investors and you also get gas power which is so much better and easier to manage than oil power

[Dr.Acula]

Regarding 1 and 2:
It's not about zooming in but zooming out. I want to be able to see at least the whole island and in most cases I can't even do that for the smaller ones. Because of the current limitations I constantly have to fiddle around with the camera to see what I want to see...

Regarding 4:
Ships need way to much babysitting. Commands are sometimes ignored and sometimes the ships just do completely idiotic stuff
Example: Ship is supposed to attack an enemy ship. So I select my ship and right-click the enemy ship. The canons are on the side. What does my ship do? Going straight towards the enemy ship while the canons can't fire and my ship constantly takes fire.
I know how to work around it (moving the ship myself into the proper positions and let autofire handle it), but it is extremely annoying and means the ship controls are terrible.

Regarding 5:
Expeditions are complete and utter trash. First of all the game doesn't pause while you're in the menu to make decisions. Second - the stories are meh. Third - the % numbers regarding decisions seem irrelevant or at least it's not explained what exactly they do.
You get 2-3 choices on what to do and based on your equipment you get X%. What is this based on? Is there a 50% chance for choice A to be successfull? Is it more or is it less? Are the chances based on the overall chance of success with the ship? It's not even clear what the initial percentage represent when you outfit your ship. I guess it's chance of success for the mission but even here it seems arbitrary as I've had expeditions that went to complete **** at the first decision making part because I apparently constantly rolled negative outcomes.

Regarding 6:
No more "game sessions" (I guess you mean maps) doesn't make "Anno" into "Anno". Older entries in the series played on a single map and it was fine. You always had enough to do on a single map. Adding more maps to manage at the same time doesn't make the game better just more stressful.

When I start Anno 1800 and begin a new session it usually is okay right until the New World opens up. My motivation drops considerably I need to turn off the game within an hour as it's just not a relaxing gaming session anymore. I don't play Anno to become an RTS expert that can handle 5000 clicks per second. I'd like to build my islands and enjoy to see the result.

Adding another layer with the arctic DLC doesn't make it any better.

[deus]

Originally posted by Dr.Acula:

When I start Anno 1800 and begin a new session it usually is okay right until the New World opens up. My motivation drops considerably I need to turn off the game within an hour as it's just not a relaxing gaming session anymore. I don't play Anno to become an RTS expert that can handle 5000 clicks per second. I'd like to build my islands and enjoy to see the result.

Adding another layer with the arctic DLC doesn't make it any better.

Youre obviously exaggerating but it really isnt that bad with the New World. It really doesnt take a tremendous amount of focus in order to satisfy their needs.
(Good thing is, you dont need the Arctic or Cape Trelawny in order to reach investors, so thats just a case of if its too much for you you dont need to play it).

[Dr.Acula]

Well it's partially exaggerated. Still the New World is a pure motivation killer for me and I'm not the only one. Even if you look at Anno 1800 reviews here or on Metacritic you will find people that complain exactly about the same thing to then compare Anno 1800 with work instead of a game which I can completely relate to.

So as I said the multi-map format is not really a good format - especially without active pause...

[Bobywan]

I agree there is too many things happening at the same time.
If you lile a ressource, you want to concentrate on that but will have time limited quest happening, expeditoons pop up, war being declared on you etc and on 4 maps, that's a bit too much.

I also wish there were different scenario lile in anno 1404.

75% of dlc dont add much and should have been included in the base game. Like botanical garden ... by the time you are able to fill it you dont really need the bonus anymore.

[Warlord]

Best Anno to date with the best paid DLC to date.

Can't please everyone apparently. It's the internet, somebody will complain.

[Honyakusha]

Depends, for chill out games one map indeed a way to go. I very much enjoyed Old World map and time to time i even don't want to jump out new world at all.
But i also like hectic gameplay new maps offered. Trying to balance things out, cycle between maps, create a huge trade web and non-stop add or modify things. Depending on my mood :D

If i were them i would add an another trading mechanic which allow players to buy things from another continents. Make it a bit more pricey for balancing to build a whole new colony thing and done. If you want chill gameplay you can use your trade option, if you feel adventurous go ahead and colonized every island you desire.

[gmsh1964]

And for the 10,000th time, all would be good with the game if there was Active Pause.

[kmmacman]

Does anyone know anything about this Lion Country pending in the season 2 pass. If you look on the world map there appears to be another continent/Island in the lower RH corner - I'm thinking Africa. Any thoughts?