Dev Diary: Anniversary Event 2019

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Dear Settlers,

In 1993, Blue Byte released the very first "The Settlers" game, launched for Amiga in Germany, and followed later with international releases after great reception and success. The first Settlers Game came out on PC in 1994 AND it is also the 9th Birthday of "The Settlers Online". It's been wonderful 25 years on PC, a long, meaningful and nice journey which we'd like to celebrate with a special...

ANNIVERSARY EVENT

Start: September 9th, 2019 10:00 CEST
End: September 23rd, 2019 10:00 CEST *
*The Anniversary Event ends on September 23rd, 10:00 CEST, however, you will have 2 additional days to collect your potential reward(s).

Level requirement: 16+

Note: General event features unlock at level 16. If you are below level 16, you still see the first quest of the quest chain, which tasks you to reach level 16.

However, if your level is below 26, you cannot go on missions and will not receive the mission-based quest chain before catching up. You will also lack access to one farmable source of Cake Dough.

The Anniversary Event lasts for 2 weeks and has 2 phases.

Donation Phase 1: September 9th, 2019 10:00 CEST - September 16th, 2019 10:00 CEST
Donation Phase 2: September 16th, 2019 10:00 CEST - September 23rd, 2019 10:00 CEST

The goal is to collect and donate as many balloons as possible. The main way to do so is to convert the resources available within your level range in a special event epic workyard, the Festival Hall.

You will be rewarded for donating certain totals of balloons. In addition, every week of the event features a special reward for everyone with level 16 and above if a certain total of balloons is donated worldwide.

Ready to kick off the party?
Then join us in celebrating 26 years of The Settlers (Amiga), 25 years of The Settlers (PC) and 9 Years of "The Settlers Online"!

You're invited to share a slice of your feedback > here <

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The Anniversary Event wouldn't be the epic celebration that it is without countless amounts of balloons; we'll need everyone to band together in order to make sure every island has enough as to furnish the proper festivities! Instead of serving as a currency, these balloons are donated to unlock personal and worldwide rewards in a predetermined order. Balloons can be earned in the following ways:

• Conversion:
  When converting level appropriate resources into balloons

• Event Quest Chain:
  Completing Event Quests

• In-game merchant:
  Balloons can be purchased from the in-game merchant

The first donation goal is set at 400.000.000 Balloons!
The second goal will be provided at a later time.

Once earned, balloons can be donated from the resources' context menu in any warehouse. Just click on the warehouse, click on the Balloons and there you find the "Donate"-Button. They serve no other purpose and can not be traded. The main way in which balloons are earned is through the Festival Hall; an epic workyard on the event isle that you can use during the event. It has three slots in which productions can be activated that convert different resources into balloons.

The Festival Hall

Blowing up balloons can be exhausting work, so when your Settlers are all out of puff you'll need to motivate them with the tastiest of treats: cake! The Petite Birthday Cake and the Enormous Birthday Cake are two buffs that can be produced in the Provision House. They are made from two event resources, Cake Dough and Birthday Candles, which can only be earned by players at level 50 or below and level 51 or above respectively.

If you're missing one of the two resources, feel free to trade with your friends! But if that's not your thing, you can always convert the resources into each other at a rate of 2 to 1 for Candles to Cake Dough or 3 to 1 for Cake Dough into Candles! Additionally to last year the amount of cake dough required to produce cakes was cut by 20%!

Name	Effect	Cost of production	Production time
Petite Birthday Cake	+50% output Festival Hall for 16 hours (24 hours on friend/guild member) Not giftable, not tradable, not deletable, not redeemable	100 Candles 80 Cake dough	Lvl. 1 Provision House: 20 minutes Rarity Provision House: 4 minutes
Enormous Birthday Cake	+100% output Festival Hall for 16 hours (24 hours on friend/guild member) Giftable via in-game merchant interface, not tradable, not deletable, not redeemable	500 Candles 400 Cake dough	Lvl. 1 Provision House: 40 minutes Rarity Provision House: 8 minutes

And if you're wondering how to get Cake Dough and Candles in the first place, here are some tips:

• Collectibles:

  Up to 10 collectible objects per cycle
  Each Cake Dough collected from the map will grant 2-3 resources
  Each Candles object collected from the map will grant 2 resources

• Treasure Search
  Cake Dough (Levels 1-50):
  

  Search	Small amount	Big amount
  Short	3	6
  Medium	6	9
  Long	9	12
  Very long	12	18
  Prolonged	15	24

  
  
  Candles (Level 51-75):
  

  Search	Small amount	Big amount
  Short	1	2
  Medium	2	3
  Long	3	4
  Very long	4	6
  Prolonged	5	8

  
  

• Adventure Loot
  

As soon as the event starts, you will receive a quest chain if the level requirement is met. The first quests guide you through the event mechanics, whereas the next ones task you to complete the event.


The Donation Quests are a means of rewarding you for the balloon donations - they can also help you take a peek at what rewards await you! If you are level 16 or higher, you will immediately receive this main quest and all milestone subquests. After completing all of them, a looping quest will reward further donations with consumables.

The quest for the 1st phase will not be removed during the second phase in order to allow you to collect the reward of the 1st phase during the 2nd one.

The 2nd phase ends two days before the end of the event, allowing you to collect the reward of the 2nd phase during those days. Balloons can still be donated during those days.

Completing event-related achievements is a means of earning balloons. The achievements do not contribute to the overall achievement score and the ones that have not been earned by the end of the event will be hidden from the achievement menu.

The achievements deal with 2 aspects of the event:

• Friends applying birthday cake buffs
• Balloon gathering and production

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A quest chain will guide you through the mechanics of the event, regarding the collection of cake and dough, the production of birthday cakes, donation of balloons and the specific missions you have to solve. Additionally, a Calendar is present in which you should open the doors daily!

To access the Calendar, just click on the icon next to your avatar.

2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOORS

There is a total of 16 doors. You can open one door each day. Opening missed doors for gems has will cost 100 gems for normal doors and 300 gems for special doors due to a very high value in the calendar.

Don't forget to open the doors daily and also remind your friends to do so!

Type: Regular door
Amount: 13
Description: Can be opened on the specific date displayed or for 100 gems afterwards
Requirement: It doesn't matter if previous doors are still closed or not
Rewards: Provides basic rewards (such as resources), sometimes chosen randomly

Type: Special door
Amount: 3
Description: Can be opened on the specific date displayed or for 300 gems afterwards.
Requirement: All previous doors need to be open
Rewards: Most special doors offer a choice between several rewards when opened

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The following entries will show a detailed list of the new* specialists and their talents.
*new Content in this event is marked in blue

Explorer behaviour during the Event:
Explorers send and returning during the event time will bring back Event resources

As the elder twin he aimed to surpass his father General Log by being able to lead a larger army, with success. Even more kind-hearted as his father, he recovers 20% of lost units after every battle and can lead 280 Units. Travels twice as quickly to adventures. Recover 3x as quickly from defeat and has the advantages of First Strike, Flanking and Splash Damage.

The reward for the 15000 ballons quest (1 per Event)

A clear goal and not wasting any time results in tripled loot from treasure searches. Period. Let's get to it! She has a +100% task speed.

The reward for the 1. week goal and Reward for the 12000 ballons quest (2 per Event)

With Teutonic thoroughness every bit of useful resources are found. But this takes its time.
Insisting on never leaving any stone unturned, he needs three times longer for all deposit searches. But thanks to his thoroughness he also finds three times bigger deposits: -200% task speed, +200% deposit size found.

Reward for the 2. week goal and Reward for the 7500 ballons quest (2 per Event)

One of the Anniversary Event rewards is the Field Medic General that you might remember from the previous event. The Field Medic General has the combat stats of a tavern general, but what makes him special is his trait: an enhanced version of the First Aid skill! Field Surgery is his special trait and recovers 30% of lost units after every battle.

1x as reward for 2. week goal and 1x in bundle

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The following entries will show a detailed list of the new* buildings and their special traits.
*new Content in this event is marked in blue

A noble tribute to education. Having great education draws in more settlers. It can not be traded or gifted and can be obtained 2 times, while finishing achievements (1x during this event)! Can be buffed with normal production buffs and Hot lemon Tea!
Effect: Produces 1 Population every 2 hours

Education Tribute


Let's hear it for education! A good education draws more Settlers to your island.

This majestic building allows to produce books in a queue!
It requires your Settlers to write down the fantastical stories they experience during their adventures.
Cannot be buffed or upgraded.
Is a reward for the second week community goal.

Adventure Bookbinder


Every further Adventure Bookbinder reduces the production time.

Name	Effects	Costs	Duration
Short Adventure Story	Produces 1 Manuscript Level: 15	590 Simple Paper 470 Nib 24 Coin 10 Adventure Tale	24h
Middle Adventure Story	Produces 1 Tome Level: 25	605 Intermed. Paper 415 Letter 48 Coin 20 Adventure Tale	48h
Long Adventure Story	Produces 1 Codex Level: 40	560 Advanced Paper 400 Bookfitting 72 Coin 40 Adventure Tale	96h

The Wondrous Residence creates a festive ambiente on your island and increases the Population greatly. It is very small and only requires a 2x2 square of place!


1x as reward for completing calendar (last door)
1x in bundle
1x in shop // 2 per Event (+1 in bundle, +1 alone in shop, see below)

Woundrous Residence

Festively redecorated, the Wondrous Residence shines in a new light to celebrate all Settlers. Not requiring any special resources to upgrade this building is a gift in itself!

Level	Costs	Population	Constr. Time
1	-	140	5 min
2	Coin 350 Marble 300	+30 (170)	10 min
3	Coin 900 Hardwood Planks 1000	+30 (200)	30 min
4	Coin 1100 Granite 1000	+35 (235)	1 hours
5	Coin 1500 Exotic wood Planks 1000	+35 (270)	2 hours
6	Grout 1500 Granite 2500	+40 (310)	3 hours
7	Coin 4000 Mahogany Planks 5000	+40 (350)	6 hours
8	Grout 2500 Granite 5000	+50 (400)	1 days
9	Coin 5000 Granite 7500	+50 (450)	3 days
10	Grout 5000 Granite 12500	+50 (500)	4 days
11	Magic Beanstalks 10000 Granite 12500	+50 (550)	7 days
12	Grout 10000 Coin 15000	+100 (650)	7 days

Apart from having Specialists as Anniversary rewards, the Event also grants buildings! The Settlers Headquarters will be available again (as a donation quest reward) and will increase population by 220.

Click on the image for full view

>

Level	Costs	Population	Constr. Time
1	-	220	01:30 min
2	46 Tokens	+30 (250)	24:00 hours
3	55 Tokens	+30 (280)	36:00 hours
4	65 Tokens	+30 (310)	48:00 hours
5	75 Tokens	+30 (340)	72:00 hours

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The event features a dedicated shop category. Unlike other seasonal events, there is no event currency. Most of these items can be purchased for gems only and many of them are intended to assist with the event.

Name: Fun-sized Pack of Balloons (tradable, giftable)
Type: Resource
Description: 1,000 Balloons
Price: 799 Gems

Name: Large Pack of Balloons (tradable, giftable)
Type: Resource
Description: 5,000 Balloons
Price: 3,995 Gems

Name: Enormous Birthday Cake (not tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: +100% output on Festival Hall for 16 hours (24 hours on friend/guild member)
Price: 285 Gems

Name: Grout (tradable, giftable)
Type: Resource
Description: 200 Grout
Price: 450 Gems (25% discount)

Name: Training Overtime (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: +200% recruitment speed in Barracks and Elite Barracks for 12 hour (18 hours on friend/guild member)
Price: 185 Gems

Name: Ballista (not tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Use on any enemy camp to remove 1 random boss stack from it
Price: 299 Gems

Name: Festival Fireworks (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Replaces buff sparkles with fireworks for 7 days (10.5 days on friend/guild member)
Price: 69 Gems

Name: Change Skin: retro woodcutter (15 days) (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives one of your woodcutters a retro look for 15 days
Price: 5 Gems (50% discount)

Name: Change Skin: retro forester (15 days) (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives one of your foresters a retro look for 15 days
Price: 5 Gems (50% discount)

Name: Change Skin: retro farm (15 days) (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives one of your farms a retro look for 15 days
Price: 5 Gems (50% discount)

Name: Change Skin: retro mason (15 days) (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives one of your masons a retro look for 15 days
Price: 5 Gems (50% discount)

Name: Change Skin: retro well (15 days) (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives one of your wells a retro look for 15 days
Price: 5 Gems (50% discount)

Name: Change Skin: Permanent retro woodcutter (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives one of your woodcutters a retro look
Price: 199 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Permanent retro forester (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives one of your foresters a retro look
Price: 199 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Permanent retro farm (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives one of your farms a retro look
Price: 199 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Permanent retro mason (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives one of your masons a retro look
Price: 199 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Nostalgic Level 1 Mayor's House (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives your Mayor's House a nostalgic look for 15 days
Price: 75 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Nostalgic Level 2 Mayor's House (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives your Mayor's House a different nostalgic look for 15 days
Price: 75 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Sinister Mayor's House (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Gives your Mayor's House a sinister look for 15 days
Price: 75 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Permanent Nostalgic Level 1 Mayor's House (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives your Mayor's House a nostalgic look
Price: 1495 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Permanent Nostalgic Level 2 Mayor's House (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives your Mayor's House a different nostalgic look
Price: 1495 Gems

Name: Change Skin: Permanent Sinister Mayor's House (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives your Mayor's House a sinister look
Price: 1495 Gems

Name: Rain of Flaming Arrows (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: A defined amount of random units between 100 and 200 units in the camp will be defeated and removed. Roughly twice as strong as Rain of Arrows. Can only be used once on an enemy camp.
Price: 399 Gems

Name: Improved Floating Residence (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Building
Description: An improved version of the floating residence, granting more space for settlers impervious to seasickness!
Price: 2499 Gems (Limit: 1 per Event)

Name: Small Celebratory Bundle (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Bundle
Description: Gaze in astonishment on the content of this time-limited package:

Spoiler

• 1x Intrepid Explorer
• 1x Training Grounds
• 1x Enormous Birthday Cake
• 7 Premium Days (split into 2x 3days,1x 1day)
• 5x Rain of Flaming Arrows
• 1x Premium Friend Buff
• 1x Recruitment Guide
• 1x Weapon Crafting Guide
• 1x Paperwork Guide
• 1x Mining Guide
• 1x Farming & Hunting Guide
• 1x Rock Mining Guide
• 1x Wood Cutting Guide

Price: 5999 Gems (Limit: 1 per Player)

Name: Celebratory Bundle (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Bundle
Description: Gaze in astonishment on the content of this time-limited package:

Spoiler

• 1x Wondrous Celebration Residence
• 1x Improved Floating Residence
• 1x Storage Tower
• 1x Candid Explorer
• 1x Field Medic General
• 1x Versed Geologist
• 3x Enormous Birthday Cake
• 7 Premium Days (split into 2x 3days,1x 1day)
• 2x Medipack
• 1x Premium Friend Buff
• 5x Hugs and Kisses
• 5x Fairy Fire
• 5x Fairy Light
• 2x Sack of Omniseeds
• 5x Assassin
• 5x Big Catapult
• 5x Rain of Arrows
• 5x Rain of Flaming Arrows
• 5x Ballista
• 1x Recruitment Guide
• 1x Weapon Crafting Guide
• 1x Paperwork Guide
• 1x Mining Guide
• 1x Farming & Hunting Guide
• 1x Rock Mining Guide
• 1x Wood Cutting Guide

Price: 14999 Gems (Limit: 1 per Player)

Name: Wondrous Anniversary Residence (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Building
Description: Festively redecorated, the Wondrous Residence shines in a new light to celebrate all Settlers.
Price: 9999 Gems (Limit: 1 per Event)

Name: Third Eye (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Use on a building to cancel a permanent "Change Skin" buff affecting it
Price: 1 Fish

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Event deactivation

Adventures

• Adventures completed after the event deactivation end do not include event resources in their loot.
• Event scenarios are cancelled.
• Event scenarios cannot be started and become deletable.

Quests and achievements

• All event quests are cancelled.
• No new event daily quests are issued.
• Event achievements cannot be earned.

Goods

• Event collectables stop spawning.
• Treasure searches finishing after the event deactivation yield no event resources.
• Balloons, Candles and Cake Dough resources are hidden from the storage and star menu.
• Trade offers involving Candles and Cake Dough resources cannot be initiated. Already existing ones are hidden until they run out.
• The Festival Hall disappears from the event isle. It won't be possible to produce balloons anymore.

Merchant

• The event shop category disappears.

Miscellaneous

• The event bridge disappears.

Post-event Resource Conversion

• Balloons are removed from the star menu, all storages and mail attachments.
• Affected players receive a mail with an attachment of 1 Coin per 1 removed Balloon.
• Petite Birthday Cake buffs are removed from the star menu and are compensated with 1 Chant of Focus for each 1 Petite Birthday Cake.
• Enormous Birthday Cake buffs are removed from the star menu and are compensated with 1 Fruits of Hardship for each 2 Enormous Birthday Cakes.
• Cake Dough & Candles will not be converted.
• Event scenarios are removed from the star menu.

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Dear settlers,

We have an Update for the developers diary:

• We noted previously in the Dev Diary that there was a limitation of 1 for "Wondrous Anniversary Residence" and "Improved floating residence".
• We've decided to change the limitation and make the buildings limitless for this Event only!

Name: Wondrous Anniversary Residence (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Building
Description: Festively redecorated, the Wondrous Residence shines in a new light to celebrate all Settlers.
Price: 9999 Gems (Limit: No Limit)

Name: Improved Floating Residence (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Building
Description: An improved version of the floating residence, granting more space for settlers impervious to seasickness!
Price: 2499 Gems (Limit: No Limit)

Happy settling,
BB_Sious

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Dear Settlers,

The first Community Goal was reached on Saturday! Yippie and Good Job everyone!

We are also aware that a small group of players received the first Community Goal quest twice, which allowed them to claim double rewards for it.

Next steps:

We are currently investigating the cause of this. More details will follow in the near future (most likely after the Anniversary Event is finished).

What we know for now:

• We will not take any items away.
• It is not considered as an exploit.
• The problem occurred on a random basis and was caused by factors outside the control of the affected players.

Happy Settling,
BB_Sious

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Dear Anniversary-Fans,

This year we again received some wishes that hard-working balloon scouts would like to see an overview of their work during this year's Anniversary Event! We're happy to fulfill this wish; our annual balloon counter has recorded down everything diligently and in addition our most beloved Balloon-Statistic-Collector: BigBang36 created a picture-table.

Overview

Donated balloons phase 1: 504.026.600
Donated balloons phase 2: 933.317.302

Both phases together: 1.437.343.902

Average donated balloons per Second: ~1.188


Overall donated balloons in the event*: 1.637.529.757 (95.3%)
*Also includes the donated balloons of the "additional" day.
Stored balloons: 80.552.994 (4.7%)

Image provided by BigBang36 - Germany