Dev Diary: Anniversary Event

[BB_Sious]

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. It's been 25 years, a long and meaningful journey which we'd like to celebrate with a special...

ANNIVERSARY EVENT

Start: September 24, 2018 08:00 UTC
End: October 8, 2018 08:00 UTC *
*The Anniversary Event ends on October 8th, 08:00 UTC, however, you will have 1 additional day 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 24, 2018 08:00 UTC - October 1, 2018 08:00 UTC
Donation Phase 2: October 1, 2018 08:00 UTC - October 8, 2018 08:00 UTC

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 25 years of The Settlers!

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

[BB_Sious]



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

Once earned, balloons can be donated from the resources' context menu in any warehouse. 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 new 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 below level 51 and above 50 respectively.

If you're missing one of the two buffs, 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 4 to 1.

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 100 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 500 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

• 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 one day before the end of the event, allowing you to collect the reward of the 2nd phase during that day. Balloons can still be donated during that day.

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 donation

[BB_Sious]

One of the Anniversary Event rewards is the Field Medic General that you might remember from a previously published Sneak Peek. 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!

Click on the image for full view

Field Surgery: the General's special trait
Recovers 30% of lost units after every battle.

The Field Medic General is a personal milestone reward and will be available in the shop after the event, but earning it as part of the event counts against the purchase limit.

Apart from having a Specialist as Anniversary reward, the Event also grants buildings! The Settlers Headquarters will be available again (as a donation quest reward) and has been buffed to increase population by 220 instead of 20. This buff is retroactive - those who own this building from previous events may have already noticed their population cap increase!

The Scouting Post is a new building that will also be available as a reward in phase 2! The building will be available in the shop after the event as well, but earning it as part of the event counts against the purchase limit. Every additional Scouting Post increases cooldown speed by 100%.

Click on the image for full view
For more information on the Scouting Post, please check out our FAQ section.

The Scouting Post

The Scouting Post is the first culture building to provide buffs with increased XP rewards for playing adventures of various difficulty levels. Read more about its buffs below!

Name	Effect	Cost of production	Cooldown
Weak Combat Intel	Zone Effect: +20% combat experience on adventures started, while this buff is active. Target: Mission with difficulty 1 - 4 Duration: 2 hours Required level: 26	820 600	48h or skip for 499
Medium Combat Intel	Zone Effect: +20% combat experience on adventures started, while this buff is active. Target: Mission with difficulty 5 - 9 Duration: 2 hours Required level: 38	750 710	48h or skip for 499
Strong Combat Intel	Zone Effect: +20% combat experience on adventures started, while this buff is active. Target: Mission with difficulty 10 - 15 Duration: 2 hours Required level: 51	810 570	48h or skip for 499

The event features its own 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: Permanent retro well (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: Permanently gives one of your wells a retro look
Price: 199 Gems

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

[BB_Sious]

Event deactivation

Adventures

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

Quests and achievements

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

Goods

• Event collectibles 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 Coins per 1 removed Balloons.
• 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.

[BB_Sious]



Dear settlers,

We have received a lot of questions in regard to the Community Goal during the second phase of the event. Today we would like to shed some light on this matter:

• Once the Phase 1 goal has been met, players may continue to donate Balloons which will be counted towards over-capping the goal (e.g. 375kk/350kk). Once Phase 1 ends and Phase 2 begins, any Balloons that were donated past the previous goal will be subsequently added to the new goal!

• In addition, Balloons gathered during the 1st phase that was not donated during the 1st phase, are being taken into account during the 2nd phase objective calculation.

Happy Settling,
BB_Sious

[BB_Sious]

Dear Settlers,

Some questions about the Scouting Post have come up since we announced it and we would like to answer them:

Please note: the XP bonus from the Scouting Post is being increased from 20% to 50% in the next game version. We will edit this FAQ accordingly when the update is applied.

On which categories does the Scouting Post count?
The Scouting Post works on adventures, such as missions, mini-missions, co-op-missions and ventures.
It does not affect scenarios or expeditions, because no regular enemy units are defeated there.
The respective mission level must also be considered; you have to activate the buff for the correct level range.

Is the bonus also available in co-op adventures?
If the Player who activates the adventure has an activated Scouting Post, the bonus will affect all active participants if they defeat enemy units.
But keep in mind that you can only get experience for units that you defeat yourself.
In addition, there is no bonus in the adventure if someone is invited with an active Scouting Post because at the time of the invitation, the adventure is already running. The bonus can only be triggered by the starter of the adventure.

On which XP is the 20% 50% credited?
It only applies to defeated enemies. Camps that disappear after all boss camps in a sector have been defeated are not affected by the bonus, as they were not directly killed by your own units.

Is the duration of the adventure important, e.g. what happens if the adventure runs longer than the buff?
The buff works on all adventures that start after the buff from the Scouting Post was activated. How long an adventure runs is not important, but the buff must be active on your home zone during the start of the adventure.

When must adventures be started so that the promotion works?
The Experience bonus will be applied to any adventure in the noted difficulty, which is started after the buff of the Scouting Post is already active.
In short: First, activate the Scouting Post, then start an adventure. If you activate the Scouting Post AFTER the start of the adventure, it will not have any effect.

How are the XP gains calculated?
The bonuses are additive, so all active bonuses are added together (Fast Learner/ Mary / Scouting Post) and then applied to the base value.

Do level 75 players get 20% 50% more Star Coins instead of XP because they do not get XP anymore?
Yes

How is the XP displayed in the loot; is it separated like with Premium?
No, it gets directly added to the XP-Overview.

Does the 20% 50% bonus also get counted for kills with a Battle buff (ballista etc.) or just if a unit is killed with a General?
It is a combat XP modifier for Combat Generals; it does not affect units defeated with Battle Buffs.

[BB_Sious]

Dear settlers,

We have received a lot of questions in regard to availability of both the Scouting Post and Field Medic General in the shop, post-event:

• We plan on adding both the Scouting Post and Field Medic General to the shop in an upcoming game version in November. Thank you for your patience!

Happy Settling,
BB_Sious

[BB_Sious]

Dear Anniversary-Fans,

We received requests that some hard-working balloon scouts would like to see an overview of their work during this year's Anniversary Event!
We're happy to fulfil this wish; our annual balloon counter has recorded down everything diligently.

Overview

Donated balloons phase 1: 483.562.737
Donated balloons phase 2: 1.032.249.812

Both phases together: 1.515.812.549

Average donated balloons per Second: ~1.346


Overall donated balloons in the event*: 1.651.100.016 (95,9%)
*Also includes the donated balloons of the "additional" day.
Stored balloons: 71.067.418 (4,1%)

Amount of Cake Dough and Candles generated

Cake Dough: 134.417.948
Candles: 142.679.629
This does not include the conversion inside the provision houses.

Donation History

Please note that we will not publish the exact numbers for the worlds. However, it should be noted that this ranking was very close between worlds and on average a similar amount was shared. Good job everyone, all our worlds had extremely diligent balloon-traders.


Click on the image for a bigger version