[Dev Diary] Christmas Event 2016

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Details about the upcoming Christmas Event 2016

Oh dear, it's that time of the year again! With a huge Christmas tree, Reindeer and snow on your island you can again help save Christmas (from the Croaker) and the villagers decorate their homes (in the Scenarios). Open all doors in the event calendar and gain one of three new generals from Anteria.

EVENT SCHEDULE

Event Start: 15th of December, ~00:01 GMT
Start of removal phase: 5th of January, ~00:01 GMT
Complete deactivation: 12th of January, ~00:01 GMT

Event Widget: The small widget icon always shows you the remaining event time
Resource conversions: Planned for CW 03 / CW 04 /2017
Minimum requirement: Level 16

QUICKLINKS TO FEATURE TOPICS

Santa brings you features from previous years, but also glittering new content.
New aspects & changes are highlighted in blue colour.

• Event basics
• Adventures
• Recipes
• Buildings
• Achievements
• Deactivation steps

Let the feedback bells ring in this dedicated discussion thread.

Let it snow & Hohoho!
BB_Nanuq

[BB_Nanuq]

Event Basics

Presents
The event resources can be used to acquire special items from the event shop.
Your presents are listed in the "Event" tab of your storehouses.
There are many opportunities to get event resources:

• Rewards for Christmas Scenarios (Buff Adventures)
• Two combat based Christmas Adventures (chance to get presents as additional reward)
• Special Christmas Daily Quests and Event Quest chain rewards
• Explorer treasure searches (chance to get presents on top)
• Conversion of the Christmas collectibles in the Major's House
• Event Calendar
• Trade with players
• Present packages in the Shop

The Christmas event brings with it again special event collectible items. Christmas collectibles spawn on your island until the removal phase of the event. Up to ten or sometimes even more (random) collectibles each containing one or two resource items spawn on your island with every collectible item refresh.
The Christmas collectible items can be converted into Presents in your Mayor's house until the complete deactivation removal phase of the event. Trading is possible until the complete deactivation removal phase of the event as well.

Gifts, gifts, gifts...even buildings are waiting for you in the famous Event Calendar again!
Accessing it is quite simple: Just click on the star icon floating next to your avatar.

4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOORS

After the event activation, you can open one door each day. There is a total of 21 doors.
The calendar shows you the remaining time to open the current day's door.
We removed the final reward. Instead, the calendar contains more valuable rewards in general.


Type: Regular door
Description: Can be opened on the specific date displayed or for gems afterward
Requirement: It doesn't matter if previous doors are still closed or not



Type: Buff Adventure door
Description: Can be opened anytime for free, once the respective date was reached
Requirement: It doesn't matter if previous doors are still closed or not



Type: Special bonus door
Description: Can be opened on the specific date displayed or for gems afterward.
Requirement: All previous doors need to be open



Type: Celebration day door
Description: Can be opened on the specific date displayed or for gems afterward.
Requirement: All previous doors need to be open
Rewards: Very special rewards

SPECIAL CALENDAR REWARDS

Instead of a final reward, this year's calendar provides more valuable rewards in general. But that's not all: Behind one of the special doors, one of Three new Anteria Generals can be chosen!

Name: Anslem
Description: Be aware of this warrior monk. He may call down lightning when being grumpy.
Skills: Attack weak first, Splash damage | Capacity / HP: 150 units / 150 HP
Trait: Dazzle - Reduces the accuracy of enemies to 0%.

Name: Nusala
Description: You don't want to mess with her extremely high archery skills.
Skills: Attack weak, first First strike, Splash damage | Capacity / HP: 165 units, 150 HP
Trait: Explosive Ammunition - Your Bowmen, Longbowmen, Crossbowmen, Marksmen and Armored Marksmen deal Splash Damage and attack the weakest targets first.

Name: Vargus
Description: This particularly strong mercenary but honourable man was betrayed by his brother.
Skills: First strike, Splash damage | Capacity / HP: 180 units, 200 HP
Trait: Intercept - Enemy units deal 5% less damage and cannot attack your weakest units first.

The rewards from last year are slightly different, but the Gingerbread house is still part of the calendar. An Arctic Iron Mine has been added to one of the doors, the special Gold mine was removed.

2 x Gingerbread House

• Description: Residence for 40 settlers.
• Upgrades: Can be upgraded to level 6 (see picture). Each upgrade increases the population space by 15 up to a total of 115.
• Recurring: Tearing it down will return it to your Star Menu.

The Arctic Iron Mine

• Description: The Arctic Iron Mine produces Iron Ore at the same rate as a Level 5 Iron Mine.
• Upgrades: Cannot be upgraded
• Recurring: Depletes when the deposit is empty, tearing it down destroys it.

You can get a huge variety of special items for presents in the event shop category.
The buildings available for presents are listed here, recipes are posted here.
All event shop offers are available until the final event deactivation.

*Specialist: Quartermaster Claus

Type: Transporter General - cannot fight, but transports up to 1000 units
Travel time: Reaches adventures in 2 minutes. Takes 90 minutes to return home.
Price: 695 Presents
Limit: 1

Name: Krampus
Effect: Use on a workyard producing coal (not epic one) to increase the output to 400%
Duration: 12 hours
Price: 40 Presents

Name: Grout (200)
Effect: Resource that is needed to upgrade buildings to level 6
Characteristics: Acquisition is not limited, item is not tradable, but the resource is tradable as usual
Price: 200 Presents

Name: Christmas feast
Effect: Speeds up the process of getting new settlers into your village to 600%
Duration: 2 hours
Price: 50 Presents

Name: Cookies
Effect: Boosts the production of a workyard up to 300%
Duration: 32 hours
Price: 80 Presents

Name: The fermentation accelerator
Effect: Boosts the production of a brewery up to 400%
Duration:24 hours
Price: 60 Presents

Name: Hot Lemon Tea
Effect: Boosts the speed of a village school up to 300%
Duration: 24 hours
Price: 60 Presents

Name: Winter Paint
Effect: Covers your island with a light coat of frost
Duration: 7 days
Price: 25 Presents

Name: A Thousand Snowflakes
Effect: Covers your island with snow
Duration: 7 days
Price: 50 Presents

Name: Granite transformation
Effect: Converts Presents and Marble into Granite
Minimum requirement: Level 7 (for Provision house)
Available in: Provision house(s)

New limit 2016, if you gathered this item last year, you can grab another one this year.

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Adventures

Presents: The adventures provide Christmas presents during the event until deactivation.
If you play them after the final event deactivation (see deactivation steps) they won't provide Presents anymore.

2 CHRISTMAS ADVENTURES (COMBAT)

Name: Save the Christmas feast
Minimum requirement: Level 26
Description: The Croaker has stolen all the presents. Defeat the Croaker and retrieve the missing presents.
Price: 95 Gems

Name: The stolen Sleigh
Minimum requirement: Level 36
Description: The Christmas Feast is in danger. The Croaker has stolen Santa’s sleigh. It is up to you to get it back.
Price: 95 Gems

Similar to last year, several Event Calendar doors contain special Christmas buff adventures.
The main task of the "Buff Adventures" is to play Santa by delivering gifts to houses on multiple islands.

The buff adventures are balanced for the following level groups which are checked once you open a door: 16-25, 26-35, 36+. There are 6 special adventure doors in the calendar. Similar to the special adventures you know from the "Summer event", camps on the map need to be "defeated" by using special buffs instead of troops.

UNIT TYPES
Special buffs are needed to spread joy which turns sad people into happy ones.

Unit name	Buff alternative 1	Buff alternative 2	Adventure level	Icon
Sad child	Simple toys	Simple decorations	16-25
Worried adult	Christmas sweets	Simple decorations	16-25
Upset child	Sophisticated toys	Special decorations	26-35
Grumpy adult	Gift wrapped beverage	Special decorations	26-35
Impatient child	Pony ride	Expensive toys	36+
Bitter adult	Art gift	Jewelry	36+

BUFF TYPES
You can produce the buffs needed in your Provision House(s).

Buff name	Resource 1	Resource 2	Icon
Simple toys	30 x Pinewood	20 x Stone
Christmas sweets	14 x Wheat	24 x Water
Simple decorations	10 x Marble	20 x Hardwood
Sophisticated toys	10 x Bronze	15 x Marble
Gift wrapped beverage	25 x Brew	20 x Simple paper
Special decorations	5 x Nib	2 x Gold ore
Pony ride	5 x Exotic wood	20 x Tools
Expensive toys	12 x Gold ore
Art gift	10 x Iron Ore	4 x Intermediate paper
Jewelry	12 x Gold ore

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Recipes unlock new permanent production options for your Rarity Provision House. Each recipe can only be acquired once.
During the event, all Recipes can be obtained with Presents. You simply need to apply a Recipe on your Rarity Provision House to unlock the new permanent production option.

Recipe name	Recipe description	Shop price	Blueprint	Production cost	Buff
Kitty lure	Area buff (4x4) for up to 4 (Impr.) Farms, (Impr.) Silos and Mills Production x2 for 24 hours	180 Presents		450 Fish 600 Meat 50 Wool
Forest Offerings	Area buff (4x4) for up to any 4 Woodcutters, Foresters and Sawmills Production x2 for 12 hours	90 Presents		200 Fish 150 Bread 75 Sausage
Grilled Steak	Production x2 for 48 hours	300 Presents		500 Meat
Aunt Irma's feast	Production x2 for 24 hours	60 Presents		150 Fish 100 Bread 50 Sausage
Enrollment campaign	Buff for the Combat Academy Production x2 for 6 hours	300 Presents		50 Coins 10 Banner
Double-time	Buff for the Combat Weaponsmith Production x2 for 6 hours	300 Presents		50 Coins 10 Kettle
Marble mountain (Marble refill buff)	Adds 50 to a non-depleted marble deposit	180 Presents		20 Herbs 20 Scarecrow
Paper mill	Convert: 250 simple paper to 50 intermediate paper	180 Presents		250 simple paper
Small glue	Speeds up the production of the bookbinder by 20%	90 Presents		5 Bronze Cauldron 100 Water 50 Flour
A trader's gift (Stone refill buff)	Adds 100 to a non-depleted stone deposit	120 Presents		5 Barrel
Stop Buff	Removes the current buff	120 Presents		100 Simple paper 100 Water

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*IMPROVED WATERMILL

Description: Generates water three times as fast as a normal watermill
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: 3 per player
Price: 595 presents
Tradable: Yes
Giftable: No

CHRISTMAS TREE (SMALL)

Description: A very nice Christmas tree that can be used to decorate your island!
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: Unlimited
Price: 40 presents
Tradable: Yes
Giftable: Yes

CHRISTMAS TREE (ANIMATED)

Description: If you would like to decorate your city a little bit more, you can use this animated Christmas tree!
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: Unlimited
Price: 60 presents
Tradable: Yes
Giftable: Yes

SNOWMAN

Description: Decoration item
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: Unlimited
Price: 40 presents
Tradable: Yes
Giftable: Yes

*DEERSTALKER HUT

Description: Produces unlimited meat without consuming any resources or deposits.
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: 2 per player (new limit)
Price: 495 presents
Tradable: Yes
Giftable: No

*RECYCLING MANUFACTORY

Description: Produces unlimited coal without consuming any resources or deposits.
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: 2 per player (new limit)
Price: 295 presents
Tradable: No
Giftable: No

ARCTIC IRON MINE

Description: Output like a level 5 level Iron Mine, doesn't use a building license. It needs to be placed on a free iron deposit.
Star Menu: The building does not go back to the Star menu when demolished/depleted.
Limit: Unlimited
Price: 295 presents
Tradable: Yes
Giftable: Yes

RARITY PROVISION HOUSE

Description: A new Provision House that allows you to produce special re-fillers and more.
Star Menu: Goes back to your Star Menu when demolished
Limit: 1 per player in total (if you already own one, you cannot buy another one)
Price: 995 presents
Tradable: No
Giftable: No

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Achievements

2016 Christmas event Achievements will become available with last year's tasks.
You can unlock them during this event only.
Presents are rewarded for successfully completing achievements.
The amount depends on the achievement's difficulty.



The Achievements deal with many aspects of the event:

• Finding presents during Explorer searches
• Succeeding in Christmas quests
• Crafting in your Mayor house
• Helping friends with buffs
• Opening Calendar doors

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WHAT HAPPENS AT THE START OF THE REMOVAL PHASE?
(5th of January ~00:01 GMT)

The core mechanisms of the Event are turned off with the start of the removal phase.

• Info Widget/Countdown
  The event countdown gets replaced by a new countdown.
  The new one indicates the remaining time of the removal phase until the event gets completely deactivated.
• Christmas adventures
  Event scenarios from the calendar are canceled and cannot be started.
  Event scenario buffs cannot be produced anymore and can be reimbursed on the Mayor house.
  You can still play the two shop Christmas adventures.
  If you finish an adventure before the event gets completely deactivated,
  special event related items like Presents are still rewarded.
• Quests & Achievements
  The event Quest chains and Achievements will be deactivated.
  New Christmas event related tasks will no longer be triggered.
  Only completed Christmas event achievements remain visible.
• Collectibles
  All event related collectibles stop spawning.
  Christmas collectibles spawned before the start of the removal phase can be collected.
  The respective resources (Bells, Candy, and Gingerbread) will be hidden from the storage and trade
  The resources get converted to gold coins later (see event resource conversion).
  The related Mayor house collection (Basket of Presents) will also be removed
• Treasure Search (Explorers)
  All treasure searches started before the start of the removal phase and returning before the deactivation have the chance to reward event currency. All treasure searches started during or after the start of the removal phase will not reward event currency anymore.
• Misc
  The option to convert Marble and Presents to Granite inside the Mayor's house is no longer available.
  The event shop remains active and Presents can be used to get special items until complete event deactivation.
  The event calendar will no longer be accessible.
  Event-related loading screen, Reindeer, UI skins, the giant Christmas tree and music will be removed / set to default.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE DEACTIVATION?
(12th of January, ~00:01 GMT)

• Trade
  New trade offers containing event currency or Christmas collectibles can't be set up anymore.
  Active trade offers containing event currency or Christmas collectibles are set to invisible.
• Shop/Event currency
  The Event shop category is not available anymore.
  Event currency is not visible in the Mayor's house anymore and will be converted into Coins later.
• Christmas Adventures & event buffs
  Event currency rewards from adventures are deactivated.
  • This applies to Christmas adventures from the shop. During the event, these adventures drop either buffs or Presents (on top of other loot). With complete deactivation, the chance to get Presents is removed from loot tables. As a result, buffs will always be chosen.
  • Christmas buff adventures from the Event Calendar are changed, too. They reward gold coins instead of Presents. With event resource conversion, the Christmas buff adventures will be deleted, because you cannot finish them anymore.
  • Buffs needed for Christmas buff adventures can no longer be produced.
    Remaining buffs can be applied on your Mayor's house for a full refund of production resources.

EVENT RESOURCE CONVERSION
(planned for calendar week 3 or 4 = with the first game update in January)

As usual, all event-related resources will be converted into gold coins.
No event resources are supposed to remain in-game.

A script will run during the game update downtime to replace all event resources (especially Presents) with gold coins.
The conversion applies to all items of that type, such as

• items in your warehouses and in your Star Menu
• items included in public trades and friend trades
• items attached to in-game mail like loot from adventures or explorer searches

Conversion rates: The final amount will be rounded up.
1 Present = 0.4 gold coins
1 event collectible = 0.04 gold coins


There is no action needed from your side, you will receive an in-game message with the corresponding amount of gold coins.
The Christmas Scenarios from the calendar will be deleted during the conversion.

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The following items can be obtained again from this year's Christmas Event if the player obtained them in the previous year's Christmas Event:

• Quartermaster Claus
• Improved Watermill
• Deerstalker Hut
• Recycling Manufactory

Regards,
BB_Nanuq

[BB_Nanuq]

Dear Settlers,

Thank you for spotting an information mismatch in the Dev's Diary. You were right, the amount of Christmas Collectibles that are being spawned on the home island is not always 9, and they do not always provide 2 resource items.

Having this in mind, the Dev's Diary has been adjusted, so it reflects the actual mechanic:
With each spawn of collectibles, you can find up to 10 (sometimes, even more random) Christmas Collectibles providing resource items.

We keep investigating this with upcoming events in mind.

Have a great weekend!
BB_Nanuq