Hippodrome — After Strategy

Anno 117 Update 2.0 and Hippodrome DLC: August 20 Brings Big Changes

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On August 20, Anno 117 receives its Update 2.0 and its second paid DLC at the same time. For mid-game players, the real question is not the photo mode: it is whether a monument covering the whole island can finally lift the Patricians’ satisfaction ceiling.

Update, October 26, 2026: Update 2.0 and The Hippodrome DLC did launch on August 20, 2026, as announced. The DLC is listed at €7.99 on Steam France, in line with the announced €8.

Update 2.0: New Features for Every Player

Update 2.0, rolled out to all Anno 117 owners, bundles several changes announced by Ubisoft Mainz on the Anno Union blog.

Photo mode. The postcard mode gives way to a free camera, with more angles, extra zoom, a time-of-day control and lens effects such as depth of field and tilt-shift. The developers call it a first version. Nothing gameplay-related, but if you spend time admiring your Roman colonies, the change is clear.

Note function. It returns at the community’s request. Notes can be dropped anywhere in the game world or attached to buildings and units, ships included, with timers that trigger a reminder. Pinning a reminder to a ship for its route or cargo priority is a real comfort in multi-island trade management.

Ubisoft Connect challenges. Rotating, time-limited challenges arrive on all platforms, PC and consoles, with Ubisoft XP and Fame point rewards. It is the first addition of this kind in Anno 117.

Field workers. Farms and plantations now show animated workers. The change is visual, but it makes farmland feel less static.

Heroic specialists. This is the addition that touches gameplay the most. Heroic specialists are a new rarity: each can exist only once per savegame, and their effects can cover the whole island. The blog cites Paldius, for example, whose bonuses involve cheese production. In the same spirit, the Amphitheatre’s buffs now apply island-wide instead of within a limited range.

The Hippodrome DLC at €8: What It Changes for Patricians

The Hippodrome is the first monument to fill your Patricians’ “Marvels” need. Its strategic difference from regular buildings: a single construction satisfies that need across the whole island, with no dependence on a local influence zone.

The monument also raises the attributes of affected buildings, with an effect that covers the whole island and grows with its Splendour level. Chariot races are the entertainment mechanic, fitting for the year 117 under Trajan. You pick a driver from your specialists, whose speed, stamina, sprint and reliability improve through racing. There are three race classes: amateur, classic quadriga and imperial. The bigger the race, the more it costs and the more Splendour points it earns.

The construction itself is heavy. Like other monuments, the Hippodrome is built in stages and demands a lot of granite, marble and mosaics.

For players stuck on Patrician satisfaction late in a game and looking for access through island monuments, the Hippodrome is worth watching. Weigh it more carefully if your game has not yet reached the Patricians’ second-tier needs: spending €8 on a monument you cannot build any time soon would be premature.

For the full context on the DLC and July’s patch 1.6.1, our analysis of the Hippodrome announcement still holds.

What to Watch Before August 20

The full patch notes will be published on August 18, two days before launch. That is where every balance change accompanying Update 2.0 will be detailed, such as production chains and population need balancing. Read them before deciding whether the DLC fits your current game.

Going further

Anno 117 Patch 1.6.1 Is Live — The Hippodrome Needs Albion Granite

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Six weeks before the Hippodrome, Ubisoft Mainz clears the decks

Anno 117: Pax Romana patch 1.6.1 landed today, July 9, 2026, without fanfare. Four targeted fixes, no new mechanics — and a clear signal that the runway is being cleared for the summer’s main event: the Hippodrome DLC, scheduled for mid-August alongside Update 2.0.

What patch 1.6.1 changes

Four fixes worth knowing:

Cinis expands: Earthquakes have unlocked additional building space on the volcanic island. The change is savegame-compatible — no restart required.
Crash fixed: A crash tied to resolving large incidents in late-game sessions is now gone.
Commerce exploit closed: A gamepad input trick allowed free goods from traders. The exploit is removed.
Vigiles repair fix (Prophecies of Ash): Vigiles now repair buildings destroyed by volcanic activity and tremors — a bug that had gone unaddressed since the DLC launched.

None of these are headline changes, but they clear out technical debt accumulated since Prophecies of Ash shipped.

The Hippodrome: Anno’s largest monument yet

The numbers frame the ambition: over 60 tiles long by roughly 25 tiles wide. That’s nearly twice the length of the Amphitheater, currently the only monument in Anno 117. The Circus Maximus held up to 250,000 spectators — the scale reference isn’t accidental.

The DLC lets you host chariot races inside your city. Two practical results:

Governor prestige increases, improving your diplomatic position and island bonuses.
New specialists become recruitable, providing production, happiness, or military efficiency buffs when placed in existing buildings.

Included in the Year 1 Pass, with a standalone purchase option for those without it.

The strategic catch: Albion granite

Here’s the detail the general roadmap didn’t emphasize: the Hippodrome can only be built in Latium, and it requires Albion granite — a resource exclusive to the Celtic province of Britannia.

The implication is direct. If your Anno 117 playthrough has been Latium-first with Albion on the back burner, you now need to:

Establish or expand your Albion presence to access granite quarries.
Build a maritime trade route to ship granite back to Latium.
Plan the footprint: 60 × 25 tiles of contiguous space in Latium takes serious urban planning.

With six weeks before the DLC drops, there’s enough time to adjust production chains without a crisis. A player who waits until the Hippodrome appears in the shop to start sourcing granite will spend multiple sessions on logistics before placing a single foundation tile.

Update 2.0 and the August schedule

The Hippodrome ships alongside Update 2.0, targeted for mid-August 2026. Ubisoft Mainz hasn’t detailed the full contents of that update yet — expect Anno Union posts in the coming weeks.

After the Hippodrome, the Year 1 Pass closes out with Dawn of the Delta in November 2026 — a full Egyptian province built around the Nile delta, introducing new populations, deities, and production chains.

For context on what came before, check our Prophecies of Ash review and full 2026 roadmap breakdown.

Start sourcing Albion granite now.

What matters is that the Hippodrome turns a prestige building into a logistics check. Players who secure Albion granite and Latium space beforehand will use the DLC immediately; everyone else will be building the supply chain first.

The August release itself, with the big changes of the update, is covered in Anno 117 Update 2.0 and the Hippodrome DLC.

Sources: Anno Union — Patch 1.6.1 · Ubisoft — Year 1 DLC Plans

Anno 117 Pax Romana: Full 2026 Year 1 Roadmap — Patch 1.6, Hippodrome and Dawn of the Delta

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Anno 117 Grows: Patch 1.6 Recap and What’s Coming in 2026

Anno 117: Pax Romana is delivering on its post-launch promise. Since its November 2025 release, Ubisoft Mainz’s Roman city-builder has attracted over 1.17 million players and maintained a steady stream of updates. Patch 1.6, released on June 18, 2026, sets the stage for the second half of the Year 1 content calendar — two major expansions are now locked in: the Hippodrome in August and the Egyptian province Dawn of the Delta in November.

Patch 1.6 — Blooming Cities Pack and bug fixes
The Hippodrome — chariot races arrive in August
Dawn of the Delta — Egypt comes to Anno in November
Going further

Patch 1.6 — Blooming Cities Pack and Prophecies of Ash Fixes

Released June 18, 2026, patch 1.6 accompanies the launch of the Blooming Cities Pack, Anno 117’s second cosmetic DLC. It introduces an organic system for placing flowers and trees throughout your islands, along with fountains, decorative walls, and the Temple of Flora as a grand centerpiece.

On the technical side, several bugs from Prophecies of Ash have been resolved:

Main Prophecies of Ash quest no longer fails to trigger for certain players.
Vulcan’s shrine buffs now correctly include gold and coal.
Construction grids no longer vanish unexpectedly during building phases.
Landscaping Patterns category added for all players with two free garden patterns (Ambrosian Forest, Celtic Forest) plus Albion and Latium-themed brushes.

Co-op players can now swap object skins to ones they own, even if the original skin belonged to another player in the session — a long-requested quality-of-life fix.

The Hippodrome — Summer 2026’s Signature Monument

The Year 1 Pass’s second major DLC arrives in August 2026: The Hippodrome, modeled after the Circus Maximus. Ubisoft describes it as the most impressive monument ever built in the Anno series, both in scale and in the gameplay mechanics it introduces.

The Hippodrome lets you host chariot races inside your Roman city, delivering:

Governor prestige gains, improving diplomatic standing and triggering island-wide bonuses.
New specialists that can be slotted into existing buildings to activate production boosts, happiness multipliers, or military efficiency upgrades.

The DLC is included in the Year 1 Pass and will also be sold separately. Pass holders get automatic access at launch.

Dawn of the Delta — Egypt Joins Anno in November 2026

The Year 1 Pass closes with its largest chapter in November 2026: Dawn of the Delta, a fully new province combining vast desert landscapes and a fertile river delta. This is the most ambitious piece of content in the first year of support.

Confirmed features so far:

New population tiers with distinct needs and beliefs, entirely separate from the Roman social ladder.
A Roman-Egyptian cultural balance to maintain: Roman imperial ambition must coexist with deep-rooted Egyptian tradition.
New deities to worship, extending the religious system already present in the base game.
New Egyptian military units to integrate into your forces.
Exclusive production chains tied to the region, unlocking resources and economic routes unavailable elsewhere.

Dawn of the Delta functions as a self-contained province — comparable in scope to Albion in the base game — but transporting your governor into the Egypt of Trajan’s era, 117 AD.

Going Further

Missed the volcanic island Cinis from the first DLC? Our full verdict is in our Prophecies of Ash DLC review. Anno 117’s 2026 roadmap confirms that Ubisoft Mainz is committed to substantial post-launch support — between regular patches, cosmetic DLC, and major expansions, Pax Romana has a lot more to offer before the year is out.

For the second 2026 DLC, see our preview of Dawn of the Delta and its Nile floods on November 5.

Sources: Anno Union — Patch 1.6 · Ubisoft — Year 1 DLC Plans