Anno 117's new modular ship building system detailed, revealing deep customization

Anno 117: Pax Romana is already confirmed to introduce brand-new mechanics to the series, like diagonal roads and buildings. And now, it's taking aim at the trading powerhouses that have been in the series since its inception in 1998: Ships. Building on top of Anno 1800's item system, the next installment will let players build ships for specific purposes with custom parts.

"The idea of introducing modular ships to the Anno was going around already for a while. With the Roman setting we had the perfect platform to do it, since it is very true to how the Romans themselves built their ships," says Anno 117 game designer Markus. "In Anno 1800, we made good experiences with the ship items and wanted to build on the experience of customizing your ships to the specific tasks you had in mind for them and represent your choices also in the visuals of your ships this time."

The shipyard in Anno 117 will offer three sizes of Roman ships for building: Penteconter (2 modification slots), Trireme (3 modification slots), and Quinquireme (4 modification slots).

The following modules can be used for filling in the available slots prior to beginning construction, as long as the player has the required resources and isn't going above balance limitations:

• Mast: additional speed when sailing with the wind on long distances, reaching higher max speed and higher speed when sailing between regions
• Rows: additional speed, reaching higher minimum speed and acceleration, with smaller turn radius; it’s perfect for short ranges and combat
• Reinforced Hull: additional HP
• Archer Tower: shoots many small arrows in all directions on short range
• Scorpio: shoots high-precision spears and deals high damage mid-range, only on the sides
• Onager: Shoots rocks with high range and highest damage, but low accuracy and towards the front

"The construction and maintenance costs of the ships change depending on the installed modules," adds Ubisoft. "For example, rows will be more labour intensive than sails—this means they will require more workforce. Same thing for the Archer Tower compared to the Onager, as there are more soldiers involved."

As expected, using up available slots will reduce the amount of cargo a ship can carry, but even on a fully decked-out vessel, some cargo space will always be free for materials. The vessel-building plans players come up with can be saved for future use on the shipyards too.

Anno 117: Pax Romana is slated to hit Steam, Ubisoft Connect, Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 platforms sometime in 2025. Beta registrations for upcoming tests are currently open across all platforms too.

Source

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