Historically, middle-of-the-season DLC in Anno games tends to be weaker than what you'd get at the start or end. It's something for later expansions to build on, not necessarily an exciting addition in itself. So I had measured expectations for Anno 117: Pax Romana's Hippodrome DLC, and that was shortsighted of me. Sure, it's just one monument-class building. But this thing's great.

The gist of the DLC is that it unlocks a new research branch that lets you build the Hippodrome. Historically in Byzantium and Rome, these buildings had immense, multi-layered political significance. Nobles and commoners would be in the same space for the same purpose (watching chariot races). The emperor would frequently use the location for ceremonies, executions, and other big state events. Anno 117's Hippodrome DLC doesn't add executions, so this one's just for chariot racing. Well, not just for chariot racing, but I'll get to that shortly. The pomp surrounding it is just as important as the real historical thing, though.

Some context for those who haven't bothered with Giant Buildings yet. Construction of marvels is splendidly chaotic. It happens in phases, and each phase requires a gargantuan amount of resources. It takes hundreds of tons of timber and concrete, which, okay, those aren't too hard to source, and then hundreds more of marble and mosaics. Depending on which difficulty setting you chose and how cruel the world generation was when it decided which islands could provide what resources, you probably don't have that many ways of getting marble or the pigments necessary for mosaics.

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