The Settlers
The Settlers: New Allies is available now on PC and will launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch, Amazon Luna, and Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility on March 23. After a 13-year hiatus, The Settlers: New Allies returns with a fresh, updated take on the series’ signature real-time strategy formula. As you construct your first settlements across the game’s 13-mission campaign or test the waters in the game’s PvP Skirmish mode, you may notice a key difference from other build-up strategy games: the Carriers.
A common mechanic in real-time strategy games is the ability to establish a “worker unit” that can be sent on errands or given instructions, such as gathering materials or constructing buildings. The whole population of your town is on screen at all times in The Settlers: New Allies, with the most basic citizens functioning as robotic Carriers. All materials and supplies in The Settlers: New Allies must be transported from harvesting operations to your settlement’s warehouse, and then again from the warehouse to construction sites, trading harbours, or anywhere they are needed, in a visible, real-time fashion. As an example, if the stone quarry you’re constructing requires two employees to operate, you can permanently convert two Carriers into those positions. One of your Carriers will volunteer to be taught and changed into a soldier to battle or an Engineer to accomplish pretty much everything else.
The upshot is a city that never stops moving, where careful economic management is required (if you, say, turn too many Carriers into troops, the flow of products will slow to a crawl, which will delay any construction or harvesting attempts). If you haven’t paved enough roads leading out of your warehouse, a large work order could cause a backup as Carriers wait in line to shoulder supplies and transport them to their destination. (You can also help them along by constructing stone roads and donkey-drawn carts, draw in more people by constructing Houses, and track the location of your materials by selecting either your warehouse or the destination/harvesting activity in question.)
Those in the Fields of Engineering and Military Service
Without hammers made from the wood and stone gathered by Carriers, and without using those hammers to teach some Carriers to become Engineers, there would be nowhere for them to go. While Carriers operate completely autonomously, Engineers are civilian units under your command, capable of erecting structures, surveying mineral fields in search of mining discoveries, and extending your borders to allow for further expansion. Players can also interact with Landmarks such as abandoned mines and witches’ shacks, which reward the first one to reach them with valuable resources. If you can get an engineer near enough to an enemy without getting killed, they can steal from them.
Released today for PC, The Settlers: New Allies can be purchased through the Ubisoft Store and is also included in the Ubisoft+ membership tier. Players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Amazon Luna will be able to dive in on March 23 with full console controls and cross-play (as well as backwards compatibility on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S) support. Preorders for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Amazon Luna are live now, while preorders for the Switch will begin on March 15.
