[Dev Diary] Christmas Event 2017

[BB_Sious]

Details about the upcoming Christmas Event 2017

Deer Settlers, Elves and Grinches,

With the festive season just around the corner, now is the right time for your settlers to start the preparations on your island: A Thousand Snowflakes buff - check!, Event Calendar - check!, Cookies buff for Santa - check!, Presents for those in need - check!, brand new Christmas General - che... wait a minute, brand new General? That's right, among other new features, this Christmas Event brings along a gorgeous General that you might recall from a previously published Sneak Peek! Aren't we forgetting something? There is no Christmas event without a Christmas Tree glowing in the middle of your island!

Let the festivities begin!

EVENT SCHEDULE

Event Start: 12th of December, 09:00 GMT
Start of removal phase: 2nd of January, 09:00 GMT
Complete deactivation: 9th of January, 09:00 GMT

Event Widget: The small widget icon always shows you the remaining event time
Resource conversion: planned for one of the future game updates (January or February)
Minimum requirement: Level 16+

CHRISTMAS 2017 CHANGES

• A new general has been added to the event shop: Mary Christmas
• A new mysterious box has been added to the event shop: "Improved" Christmas Surprise
• The old mysterious box is now giftable
• Two recipes have been added to the Christmas merchant: Efficient Traps and Platinum Horseshoes.
• The doors of the event calendar have been shuffled around relative to the event's starting date in order to match the holidays
  

QUICKLINKS TO FEATURE TOPICS

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

Take a ride in our feedback sleigh across our scenic forums.

Stay cosy and enjoy!
BB_Sious (Santa's Secret Elf)

[BB_Sious]

Event Basics

Presents
Presents represent the event resource. They 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 of normal loot)
• Conversion of the Christmas collectibles in the Mayor's House
• Event Calendar
• Trade with players
• Present packages in the Shop

Bells, Candy canes and Gingerbread. Did you miss them? These Christmas collectibles will spawn on your island until the removal phase of the event. Nine collectibles will spawn with every spawn cycle, randomly chosen between bells, candy canes and gingerbread. All of them reward exactly 2 resources when clicked. Please be aware that for the full number of collectibles to spawn, the whole (main) island has to be claimed.

The Christmas collectible items can be converted into Presents in your Mayor's house until the removal phase of the event. Trading is possible until the removal phase of the event as well.

What makes Christmas Event so special? Why... the Event Calendar, of course! Isn't it nice to receive a gift each day, just by clicking on a door? To open the Event Calendar interface, simply access the Shooting Star icon next to your avatar.

4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOORS

You can open a door each day. In total, there are 21 of them.
The calendar will display the time left to open the current day's door.



Type: Regular door
Description: Can be opened on the specific date displayed or for gems afterwards
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 afterwards
Requirement: All previous doors need to be open



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

SPECIAL CALENDAR REWARDS

While the last special door will remain a mystery until you get to open it, you can peek through the keyhole of a few select doors and see what precious presents await on the other side!

Introduced for the first time in December 2015, the ginger biscuit residence that everyone loves (to eat) is already a regular appearance within the Christmas calendar: you can get not one, but two Gingerbread Houses by opening a particular Calendar door.

But that's not all: the Arctic Iron Mine is also part of the Calendar - get that cold icy look for your island, which happens to be a great source of iron ore as well! As the saying goes, have nothing on your island that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful; fortunately, the Arctic Iron Mine is both.

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.

This year's Merchant brings along a new specialist to our islands: Mary Christmas, Santa's fierce wife! Oh no, don't let that old looking granny fool you; Mary is offering special "treats" to unwelcome guests - her special trait, Have a treat, increases the XP gained from enemy units by 100%.

Name: Mary Christmas (Limit: 1)
Description: Santa's wife as a general
Her special trait increases the XP gained from enemy units defeated by her army by 100%.
Price: 995 Presents

Name: Quartermaster Claus (Limit: 1)*
Description: Transporter General - cannot fight, but transports up to 1000 units
Reaches adventures in 2 minutes. Takes 90 minutes to return home.
Price: 695 Presents

*New limit 2017: if you gathered this item last year, you can grab another one this year.

The Event category at the merchant offers a broad variety of special items: the buildings available for presents are listed here, and the recipes are posted here. All event shop offers are available until the final event deactivation.

Name: Platinum Horseshoes Recipe
Type: Recipe for the Rarity Provision house
Cost: 325 Presents
Effect: Increases movement speed of generals in the zone by 20%.

Name: Efficient traps
Type: Recipe for the Rarity Provision house
Cost: 225 Presents
Description: Buff area Effect: +200% output on the Hunter, Deerstalker Hut, Improved Deerstalker Hut
for 12 hours on a 2 squares radius

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)

Name: Presents
Description: Contains 30 presents
Tradable: yes
Price: 90 gems

Name: Large Presents
Description: Contains 100 presents
Tradable: yes
Price: 300 gems

Name: Christmas Surprise Package
Description: A mysterious box providing randomly chosen buildings
Tradable: no
Price: 350 gems

Name: "Improved" Christmas Surprise
Description: A mysterious box providing randomly chosen improved buildings
Tradable: no
Price: 1,399 gems

Make sure to have a look at our brand new "Improved" Christmas Surprise! Wondering why it is called that way? This mysterious box provides a randomly chosen improved building, such as an Improved Storehouse or an Improved Silo!

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Adventures

Presents: While the buff adventures will provide you with Presents during the event until deactivation, the two Combat Christmas Specific Adventures will only have a chance of providing you with Presents.
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

It's now custom for Christmas buff adventures to be hidden behind certain Event Calendar doors. Before you redeem them, make sure you're in good holiday spirits; you'll be helping Santa out 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 and you needn't use a General, for this Christmas buff adventures require certain types of 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 to your Rarity Provision House to unlock the new permanent production option.

Recipe name	Recipe description	Shop price	Blueprint	Production cost	Buff
Platinum Horseshoes	Increases movement speed of generals in the zone by 20%.	325 Presents		400 Platinum 1,200 Coal
Efficient traps	Area buff with a 2-square radius. Buffs hunters, deerstalkers and improved deerstalkers in the vicinity x3 for 12 hours	225 Presents		50 Iron 150 Bronze 300 Fish
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 Armory 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 second 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

*New limit 2017: if you gathered this item last year, you can grab another one this year.

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Achievements



The Christmas Achievements are here once more to offer you an extra source of presents. 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's house
• Helping friends with buffs
• Opening Calendar doors

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WHAT HAPPENS AT THE START OF THE REMOVAL PHASE?
(2nd of January 09:00 GMT)

The core mechanisms of the Event are turned off at 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?
(9th of January, 09:00 GMT)

• Trade
  New trade offers containing event currency can't be set up anymore.
  Active trade offers containing event currency 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 to your Mayor's house for a full refund of production resources.

EVENT RESOURCE CONVERSION
(planned for one of the future game updates: January or February)

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