[Dev Diary] Anniversary Event 2021

[BB_Saqui]

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 wonderful 27 years on PC, a long, meaningful and nice journey which we'd like to celebrate with a special. In 2021 we also celebrate the 11th birthday of The Settlers Online, a full decade has passed and we got so many updates, expansions, new quests, new buildings. In the past 11 years, many of our settlers stayed with us and we are extremely proud of what you created together with us!!

ANNIVERSARY EVENT

Start: 06. September 2021 - 10:00 CEST
Removal: 20. September 2021 - 10:00 CEST *
Deactivation: 23. September 2021 - 10:00 CEST


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 ends on September 20th, 10:00 CEST, however, you will have 3 additional days to collect your potential reward(s).

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

Donation Phase 1: 06. September 2021 - 10:00 CEST - 13. September 2021 - 10:00 CEST
Donation Phase 2: 13. September 2021 - 10:00 CEST - 20. September 2021 - 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.

- New Celebration Questchain with great rewards for each stage for the 11th-year celebration
- Event duration has returned to the normal 2 weeks duration.
- Special 11th-anniversary Seasonal Event Bonus: 2x XP and 3x loot!
- New General "General Loudmouth"
- New Geologist "Sophisticated Geologist"
- New Explorer "Royal Explorer"
- New Balloon Market (Buff Producing Building)
- New Grout Factory
- New Oil Mill Tribute
- New Special Bookbinder Tribute
- Overhauled Shop
- Overhauled Event Calendar
- New/Returning Event Bundles

Ready to kick off the party?
Then join us in celebrating 28 years of The Settlers (Amiga), 27 years of The Settlers (PC) and 11 Years of "The Settlers Online"!

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

[BB_Saqui]

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 200,000,000 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 up to level 57 and from 58 upwards.

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!

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 16-57):
  

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

  
  
  Candles (Level 58-80):
  

  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.

Back on the 10th Anniversary, we added an additional Event Quest Chain!
This quest chain only starts after the anniversary tutorial main quest "Party Preparations" has been done.
A new quest will then appear every day during the event (14 days / 21 main quests). Every main quest got 3-5 subquests to enjoy. To start the next quest you just have to finish the preceding main quest; no longer do you need to wait for the next day!
The quests span 4 level ranges: 26-35 | 36-50 | 51-61 | 62+. Finishing a full main quest line will offer you balloons!

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.

Who says you cannot party while preparing for an even bigger party? Let's do a celebration Marathon - a Celebrathon - and see how many small parties we can do in the next weeks! A new repeatable Challenge Questchain "Celebration Marathon", split into 10 rounds with several subquests, was added as a Main Quest to the game. The first main quests starts after reaching level 16 and the next Main Quest will start after the previous one is finished.

Are you already overwhelmed with the news? Then let's sink in the rare numbers! For this Anniversary Event, you will be able to explore over 200 Quests, which will push the celebration spirit to a maximum!

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, during the 2nd one.

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 3 aspects of the event:

• Friends applying birthday cake buffs
• Balloon gathering and production
• Solving missions

[BB_Saqui]

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! Since we're going back to the usual 2-week duration, we've overhauled the Event Calendar and its rewards!

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

2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOORS

There is a total of 14 doors. You can open one door each day. Opening missed doors for gems 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: 12
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: 2
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

[BB_Saqui]

REMINDER: During the 11th Anniversary of "The Settlers Online" a seasonal Event Bonus with 2x XP and 3x loot will be active.

Cake dough and Candles are also obtainable within Ventures!

Valuable Intel
The Dragons Roost
Of Songs And Curses
El Chupacabra
Raid Of The Nords
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Snow White
Hansel and Gretel
The Fisherman and his Wife
The Lost City
Red Riding Hood
At the Foot of the Mountain
One Step Ahead
Unknown Regions
Mountain Labyrinth
The People Of The Mountain
A Giant Battle

While we enjoyed our time with the Misty Cake Adventure, it became quite apparent that many of you were running into trouble when attempting to tackle this retro nostalgia trip. After much deliberation, we've decided it's best to retire the adventure from this year's Anniversary and reallocate some of the reward potentials to other parts of the event. It may return in the future though!

[BB_Saqui]

[indent]

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:
Explorer will only bring back cake dough /candles if they are sent during the event (after the event started). In rare cases, explorers might bring back resources when directly sent before the Event starts, and returning after the Event started!

General Loudmouth is a legendary name that no foe wishes to face up against. On the battlefield, she can field an impressive show of arms, and her very presence is enough to make her enemies cower with intimidation; reducing their own combat prowess as they shiver in fear. Contrary to the popular saying, General Loudmouth's bark and bite is just as lethal as each other!

Name: General Loudmouth (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Specialist
Description: Travels twice as quickly to adventures. Recover 3x as quickly from defeat. 800 - 1100 dmg, 300 HP, 80% accuracy. First Strike / Can lead 170 Units.
Loudmouth: Enemy units deal 10% less damage and cannot attack your weakest units first.
Price: 1x Donation Quest, 4x 6999 Gems | per Event

The Royal Explorer rules. He's incredibly quick, and sometimes even finds tokens, which he loves to collect - but will always hand over to you. Eventually.

Name: Royal Explorer (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Specialist
Description: +300% task speed | Royal Collector: Has a chance to find Tokens on adventure searches.
Price: 1x Donation Quest, 1x Community Quest, 4x 4499 Gems | per Event

[t]

The Sophisticated Geologist is - surprise! - sophisticated. Sophisticated… and insanely fast. In fact, we’ve never seen a geologist so fast.


[COLOR="blue"][t][ifl]https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/0034/int/forum/pictures/icon_sophisticated_geologist_shop.png[/ifl][B]Name[/B]: Sophisticated Geologist (not tradable, not giftable)
[B]Type[/B]: Specialist
[B]Description[/B]: +200% Task Speed | "High Speed Geology!".
[B]Price[/B]: 6x 1699 Gems per Event, 1x Donation Quest[/t][/COLOR][/t]



[t][CENTER]

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He is as bold as his looks suggest. He absolutely loves to go on a treasure search and usually reaps in 50% more rewards due to his boldness. And whether on treasure or adventure searches, the rumor is he hasn't come home without a buff yet. Very impressive, isn't it?

[ifl]https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/0034/int/forum/pictures/2020_anniversary/devdiary/BoldExplorer.png[/ifl][B]Name[/B]: Bold Explorer (not tradable, not giftable)
[B]Type[/B]: Specialist
[B]Description[/B]: +150% task speed | Boldness: +50% rewards on treasure searches. Guaranteed to find a buff on treasure and adventure searches.
[B]Price[/B]: [COLOR="blue"]1x[/COLOR] 4199 Gems, 1x included in Bundle | per Event[/t]

[t][CENTER][/CENTER]

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As wise as long as his beard. He has never been the bravest or strongest among the ranks of the generals but makes up for it with his extraordinary sageness.

[ifl]https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/0034/int/forum/pictures/2020_anniversary/devdiary/TrembleBeardGeneral.png[/ifl][B]Name[/B]: General Tremble Beard (not tradable, not giftable)
[B]Type[/B]: Specialist
[B]Description[/B]: Travels twice as quickly to adventures. Recover 2x as quickly from defeat. 375 - 425 dmg, 1 HP, 90% accuracy. First Strike / Flanking / Can lead 160 Units / Splash Damage
Sageness: Increases XP gained from enemy units defeated by this army by 200%. Natural Bounty Hunter, does not stack with skill.
[B]Price[/B]: [COLOR="blue"]1x[/COLOR] 4599 Gems, 1x included in Bundle | per Event[/t]

[t][CENTER][/CENTER]


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Carefully looking in every nook and cranny the Diligent Geologist sometimes even finds the best-hidden treasures. Her passion began as a child when she accompanied her father on treasure hunts at the beach. She sure takes her time and enjoys the search more than her findings. She still remembers her father saying "if you are lucky once, you are always lucky twice". "Diligence always leads to success!" Needs 6 times as long for most searches, but has a chance to find two great treasures along the way.

[ifl]https://ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net/0034/int/forum/pictures/2020_anniversary/devdiary/DiligentGeologist.png[/ifl][B]Name[/B]: Diligent Geologist (not tradable, not giftable)
[B]Type[/B]: Specialist
[B]Description[/B]: Chance to find a deserved Bonus on search:Marble 25% | Iron 35% | Coal 50% | GoldOre 50% | Titanium 75% | Salpetre 75% | Granite 75% | If treasure is found, always 2 things are found.
[SPOILER]

[B]Tickets[/B]	[B][CENTER]Treasure[/CENTER][/B]
10	Ore Mining Guide
10	Rock Mining Guide
10	Zombie
10	Stadium snacks
10	Bag of rainbow snow
10	Elixir
10	Machine Oil
10	Gold Fever
10	Vicsous Drinking Chocolate
10	Chocolate Rabbit
10	Barazek
10	Bookbinder Hide Glue
10	Bookbinder Wilderwood Resin
10	Bookbinder Sugar Glue
10	Mr Myers
10	Training Overtime
10	Hugs & Kisses
10	Rain of Arrows
10	Rain of Flaming Arrows
10	Chocolate Arrows
10	Weak Point Potion
10	Ranged Support
10	Ballista
10	Small Catapult
10	Big Catapult
10	1 Manuscript
10	1 Tome
10	1 Codex
10	20 Oil
10	20 AdvancedTools
10	20 AdventureTale
10	2 Token
10	20 StarCoin
10	20 MagicBean
10	20 MagicBeanstalk
10	2 Gems
10	2 Crystal
10	20 Grout
10	20 ObsidianOre

[/SPOILER] [B]Price[/B]: [COLOR="blue"]1x[/COLOR] 1599 Gems, 1x included in Bundle | per Event[/t]

[/indent]

[BB_Saqui]

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

Your old buildings are looking a bit hard to the eyes? Why not give them a fresh coat of grout with a brand new Grout Factory.
"Get your hands dirty"

Name: Grout Factory (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Workyard, recurring
Description: Produces 1 Grout out of 20 Water and 8 Granite | Duration: 1 Hour | Size: 2x2
Price: 2x 12499 Gems, 1x Donation Quest | per Event

On the Balloon Market various wonderful balloons are on offer. There definitely will be something for everyone.

Name: Balloon Market (not tradable, not giftable)

Type: Provisioner, recurring
Description: Produces a variety of powerful and unique buffs. | Base Production Time: 26 Hours (Base production time can be reduced by additional buildings of the same type.) | Size: 3x3
Price: 2x 5999 Gems, 1x Community Quest | per Event

Name	Effects	Targets	Duration
Dog Balloon	+400% Output	Brewery Friary Friar Tribute	24h
Heart Balloon	+500% Output	Rabbit Retreat	4h
A Handful of Balloons	+500% Production Speed	Provision House Rarity Provision House	12h

A special tribute to all knowledge seekers. By putting this profession on a pedestal your Settlers are inspired to print their own books.

Name: Special Bookbinder Tribute (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Tribute Building, recurring
Description: Produces 1 Manuscript | Duration: 5 Days
Price: 6x 6299 Gems | per Event

A tribute to one of the most productive buildings, the Oil Mill.

Name: Oil Mill Tribute (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Tribute Building, recurring
Description: Produces 4 Oil | Duration: 20 Hours
Price: 1x 4799 Gems, 1x Donation Quest | per Event

Get 1 gift every day after the last collection, for every lookout placed. A group of tinkerers has secretly sat together to create this fantastic and a bit obscure building. To watch the 10th-anniversary celebration an idea was born to not just climb high, but even fly up in the sky to have the best possible view on all the festivities and fireworks. After months of preparation and testing, it would still not take off as the construction plans even included a space to celebrate and live. But with a little help from Sonya, the Celebrative Lookout was finally able to lift off.
"You can even see other islands!"

Name: Celebrative Lookout (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Special, recurring
Description: Reward items based on player level | Delay: 23 Hours | Size: 1x1
Price: 2x 3299 Gems, 1x in Bundle | per Event

The Oil Refinery enables 3 Productions:
Produces 4 Oil from...
(a) 2 Oil + 38 Fish in 45:00 minutes
(b) 2 Oil + 3 Gold in 25:00 minutes
(c) 2 Oil + 3 Magic Beanstalk in 17:30 minutes
Every further Oil Refinery reduces the production time.
Size:3x3

Name: Oil Refinery (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Building, recurring
Description: The Oil Refinery enables 3 Productions.
Price: 2x 10999 Gems, 1x in Bundle | per Event

Combines the function of TrainingGround and EliteTrainingGround

Name: Oldschool Barracks (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Expansion, recurring
Description: +50% recruitment speed for normal and elite units | Size: 2x2
Price: 1x Challenge Quest, 2x 6999 Gems, 1x in Bundle | per Event

produces 1 medipack every 14 days, production speed can be increased by +50% with further sickbays.
Base Production time 14 days.
Production time reduces by 50% with additional buildings.
Produces a Medipack out of:
- 10 Crystal, 1000 Flour, 1000 SimplePaper
- 50 Starcoin , 1000 Flour, 1000 SimplePaper
- 2 Token, 1000 Flour, 1000 SimplePaper

Name: Sickbay (Lazarett) (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Provisioner, recurring
Description: Allows production of Medipacks for resources| Size: 1x1
Price: 2x 2199 Gems, 1x in Bundle | per Event

An ancient blueprint for this very nostalgic residence was found.

Name: Thatched Cottage (not tradable, not giftable)
Type: Building, recurring
Description: Increases the population limit | +145 Population | Upgrades will increase the population by 25 | Can be upgraded 3 times.
Price: 2x 3199 Gems, 1x in Bundle | per Event

A noble tribute to education. Having great education draws in more settlers. Can be buffed with normal production buffs and Hot lemon Tea!
1x by achievement "Give me Ten" / 1x by achievement "Defense on Strike"
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. Can be obtained once during this event.

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 Celebration 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!
Wondrous Celebration Residence 1x in donation quest / 2x in bundle / 5x in shop

Wondrous 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 reward from the 1st weekly quest) 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

[BB_Saqui]

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: 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 (1 per Event) / 1x Bundle / 1x Challenge Quest

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, 1x Challenge Quest (Limit: 5 per Event)

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: Training Overtime (tradable, giftable)
Type: Buff
Description: +200% recruitment speed in Barracks and Elite Barracks for 12 hours (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: 199 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