I found that recently on reddit - A post describing well all the cut content. It is a "must see" as this game from 2019 was nearly done before it went to be completely build different. Here is the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Settlers/comments/s9hu4z/list_of_things_that_seem_to_have_been_cut_from/

So... Using https://web.archive.org/: (https://web.archive.org/) and the links in the posts listed here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Settlers/comments/s9dmrx/what_happened_to_all_the_news_posts_that/
I looked at all the things in those blogs and comparing with the beta, here is my list of things that were removed from the game, in no particular order:

1. Many resources, from the minting blog we can see there were 3 types of coins (copper, silver and gold) and it's also said that those would be resources around the map (in mines). Lots of food types, and many processed goods. Also, 2 types of wood, hardwood and softwood, and 2 types of stone: stone and limestone...

2) Buildings: harbour was gonna be different, there was going to be a town hall, a lot of classic military buildings like a fortress for your frontier, some resource buildings... all cut out.

3) Building levels: many buildings were able to level up, there were 3 levels, like the woodcutter who will level up and get more workers (like in S6) also, others would get different resources (mint would first produce copper coins and then silver and gold).

4) Population growth: settlers would be recruited via expeditions started in the harbour, and coins could be used to bribe them.

5) Cooking recipes: residence levels would unlock recipes (apart from the extra space) so Settlers would create food with different ingredients. One mentioned is "meat with corn" which suggests corn was a resource. This also ties to the next point...

6) Stamina: mentioned in the population one blog post too, settlers would get tired and would need to rest and recover stamina, for that, food is also required. More complex food will give more energy to them.

7) Market stalls: how would food be distributed? Market stalls. I think this is kind of the shop stalls in Settlers 6 but in a separate location from the production facility. Some resources are mentioned: meat from farms vs meat from the hunt, eggs, 3 types of forage, corn, and vegetables.

The engineer tasks were divided into more specialists: frontier would be expanded by buildings, like classic games, and geologists were a thing. Builders would be trained and depending on their tier would be able to build more advanced stuff.

9) Not all settlers were the same, while carriers may be standard, workers needed to be trained (it's not mentioned if as a general thing or for specific jobs).

10) All the military stuff, I'll keep it short: There were more units that could be upgraded. It is mentioned that you would need different training grounds for units that use hammers and spears or units that use swords and axes. Walls were a thing and some units may be able to siege them (with stairs and maybe siege weapons). There was armour production, a tannery is described in a post, and it could be lightweight and surely heavy armour was a type of resource too. Also, many more types of weapons were available. Heroes existed but unlike S5, they seem not to be unique and could die. You would recruit them via tournaments.

You can find some videos of the 2019 version still on youtube up to this day:

As the forum has been wiped clean - here are my thought:
Ubisoft can keep both versions of the game the 2019 for an endless settler mode in the singleplayer section (should not be difficult to restore this version as the game was completed thus most of the assessts, graphics, animations and mechanics are already done) and the never version as competitive multiplayer RTS.

Of course some changes need to be made- my suggestions: Units should have unique recruitement goods (e.g. Horse-Rider needs a weapon, food, coins and a horse => would solve the issue of having not enought production chains) - also the production chains should not be streamlined and worked out better. Unique units for each faction (e.g. Elari crossbow unit should need iron to produce crossbow but Maru bow units only needs woods, etc.)

Now that the beta is over or coming to an end there surely is enough information for Ubisoft about the game. So, when can we suspect an official response from Ubisoft about the current state of the game? What will be done to improve the game? Will they add features from the 2019 version back into the game? To which conclusion has Ubisoft come after reviewing the feedback from the beta? Will Ubisoft once again seek contact to the players (like the anno union or former settlers alliance) to improve the settlers?

Summary about the beta and feedback - the current state of the game:
Oh Ubisoft, that has been a rough start in the year already... The response of the vast majority of players is overwhelmingly negative (Well, that was suspected to be honest: After all you delayed the release for 3 years and nothing of the original game was left, so many features have been cut out from 219 compared to 2022 - not only that, the streams where you could see the game how it was back than and the settlers alliance simply do not exist anymore (only through the archive. Why?). My prognosis of the game: Dead on arrival! Maybe some players will pick it up because of its name, play for while and then come to realization that this is not even a bad settlers game but a bad game overall and stop playing.

Maybe it is time to put the cards on the table and tell us what your plans are because otherwise you just throw all this potential the game has had away - for no apparent reason damaging only you in the long run, because we players will find other games to play. And as soon as an other company creates a settlers-like game and fill that niche - it will be a hard comeback.
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The message to take away:
You had a fantastic earlier version of the game in 2019 (the alpha-tester gave it a score of 4.8 out of 5) - the game was and still is highly anticipated. So why don't reconstruct this version of the game in a singleplayer sandbox mode? Even when it is not fully completed after its release when you keep working and improving the game settlers was ment to be back in 2019 the players are more likely to play and pay for it than the current version. You do not have to throw the skirmishes completely away - but keep than in its own dedicated multiplayer skirmish section and keep improving on them based on the feedback which has been given to you.

@editorial @Ubi-Barbalatu Thank you for making this decision. It might not have been easy to do but it was the right call - Now please listen to feedback and bring long awaited features back from the build shown back in 2019 and you will have a good game you can support for years to come. Please if we may ask for an additional favor: please update the community from time to time.

@zombee003 That's a very good point. Settlers always was a nice title - and in that a so called ever-green niche. That means that when they would have stayed in their respective need (and listen to player as you mentioned) they could have made more sells than with a AoE4-Wanne-Be. However, I highly doubt that because of a market analysis they changed the game- I think it was more like: What is popular at the moment in gaming? Oh, every one is talking about AoE4... How about we make a game like this? This is also seen in the 3 races catering to Esports (just look at Starcraft 2 - 3 races except Starcraft is a phenomenal RTS with the races being fundamentally different. And the focus stayed on military not economy).

At this point Ubisoft just should break the silence and come clear with its community: Admitting that it was a mistake and restoring the Settlers to Volker Wertichs Vision and the version from 2019. This would also earn them the respect back from the player community. Not over night but after time passes they will be resprected again, especially when they give Settlers the Anno 1800 treatment. And they would also earn more money - classical win-win Situation for Ubisoft: Players are happy => more sells => Ubisoft is happy (Law of reciprocity)

@editorial To see that the game is still being worked on is great - although the changes so far are only minor and it seems the big elephant in the room is still not getting adressed by Ubisoft which is that the game is far more RTS (AoE-like) than an actuall settlers title. For the future I hope that this concerns will be adressed and we see a return of features announced in the version showed in 2019. The overall game should be to make the settlers a city-building game with a strong economic simulation - the focus of a settlers game is not RTS. As an RTS it can simply not compete with other titles of this genre like AoE4 or Starcraft 2.

There is a survey but will that benough? Do not get me wrong, it is a good first step by Ubisoft, but the current version has so many issues that the 2019 version did not have. And just adding a well or supplying grain to the pig farm will not change the underlying issues:

Progress - In 2019 you had the town hall that unlocked more buildings (and could also be upgraded), buildings had different levels (houses up to tier 4 - at least tier 3, you could see 3 different elvels in the videos). At some point you switched from iron to steel and that was also shown in the troops as they got better equipment (the barracks alo had 6 different types and by upgrading the barracks you unlocked them). There were more than just 2 types of road: you had a dirt road, a stone road and one that looks paved each level speeding up the transport of goods.

Variety - Back then the maps were randomized and there were 3 different ways to win (and while you may not want them all in one game - they could still give you the option to disable the unwanted instad of getting rid of them). The maps were also larger and not so compact - you could build the huge arena (there were 3 from small to big) and still ahd room for a adjacent settlement and training grounds.

More military options - Adding to the different types of troops you had walls that could be garrisoned, towers (one for defense you could add to the wall and another one for expanding the area), a huge bastion and all could be upgraded - from a wooden wall to a stone wall.

More production chains - There was e.g. a tanner, the cart maler alsp had a wheel maker as requirement not jsut donkey, and so on. Fields and enclosures for animals were not attached directly to the building instead the area where these should be created was determined by you. There ware more resources in general.

Food and Market Stalls - Food was not jsut there for boosting, settlers needed food or they would gone on strike. There were market stalls distributing that food which your settlers cooked. They were essential - furthermore settlemens formed more organic around key buildings like market stalls or town halls instead of balling as much as possible together in one group to get +1 bonus.

Graphics - The game looked better back then: compare the mines alone! In 2019 mines were not build on a grey parking lot in the middle of a meadow, but on mountains and on the rocks on top of the mountain you could even see what kind of ores you could expect (I strongly recommend wathcing a video of the 2019 version)

Geologist, Pioneers & Builders - The engineer was then divided into geologists, builders and pioneers. The pioneers were assigned to a tower (so you do not have to keep track on them), which expands the borders and the tower also was used to determine the area to be expanded. Builders were automated. Only the carriers did not have to be trained, but even these could be upgraded with a donkey cart.

More buildings. Not only in production or in military, but there were also smaller storage spots specialized in one resource (which were also not as huge as the warehouse - only 1 field was required, so you could fill in gaps next to buildings better). You could build a wood storage next to a wheel maker to speed up proction as they do not need to transport wood from a central warehouse rather than an adjacent storage spot. Settlers also had gathering places (1 field large) so you could let them gather right next to training grounds.

@ubi-barbalatu At this point it is unfortunately rather obvious that Ubisoft does not care about their community anymore. Two weeks have passed and there has been no official statement (and it is about the for an official statement) about the upcoming settlers although the direction in which to go is rather obvious just by watching comments on forum or old videos - Bring back the old version form 2019/2020 as visioned by Volker Wertich. Furthermore Ubisoft is just repeating the old mistakes again: Simply ignoring their customers again! Its the same pattern as back then when the game got (unjustifiably) indefinitely delayed to reappear as game nobody asks for and nobody wants.

At this point it is also clear that Ubisoft does not care about anything including their own employees. You could say that they have only profit in mind but the way they treat their products and customers would suggest otherwise. Ubisoft tries to push their future direction more and more into E-Sports and NFTs - Just look at recent news: Ubisoft wants to hold on NFTs although overwhelming negatively critics - they even say; well now the response is negative but we now better in time the customers will realise how good NFTs are (altough by just looking into the settlers development they have no clue what they are doing - it is just mind-boogling how they could ruin one of their most anticipated game releases and come up with a project which seems it has been quickly made by some college students over the weekend so that they do not fail their task on monday).
They got even to the point where they try to convince their own developers about NFTs... I am seriously flabbergasted about their recent decisions. Also their direction to push games into E-Sports and Microtransactions is disturbing: They will sacrifice their games to push them into a framework fitting for E-Sports thus creating a game devoyed of everything. Seriously just compare the Settlers as it is now with Starcraft 2 and ask yourself: Who will play a dumb down copy of a wannabe RTS when they can have one of the best RTS out their (In South Korea Starcraft 2 is comparably as big as Football/Soccer in other countries). Who ever made this decision about their games especially Settlers should be fired and if that is to "mean" for you than here is a different appraoch: Promote him to customer! Ubisofts bad decision making about their game is also seen in their stock which is falling! Additionally there is a mass exodus as employees are quiting in masses.

In conclusion:
Everything Ubisoft has to know has been said multiple times now - Bring back the old and if you still want to keep the new then give it its own skirmish mode in multiplayer and keep improving it BUT give as the sandbox mod as envisioned by Volker Wertich. I will not buy the game in its current state and I believe I am not alone with this opinion.

@editorial @ChrisGansler @Ubi-Barbalatu @Ubi-Ciel

Are there any plans to release the version of 2019 as standalone settlers game?

@editorial It is good to see that the Settlers is still being worked on. About the changes they look promising and much more advanced that what has been shown in the beginning of the year. However questions about tactical depth and economic complexity are as of now unanswered. For example, will walls make a return, for now you rebranded the scarecrow as decoy as you did the with the rocket-ox who became now the elementalist - but both fulfill the same role as they did in the beta even though they are now not feeling out of play as their precursors. There was a great suggestions in of the posts to give the elementalist the ability to enchance the arrows of nearby units with fire damage.

@Ubi-Barbalatu Even though you have read the following under a lot of comments I will ask again: Will features of the alpha version of 2019 make a return? Will we see wall, gates and towers for fortifying your position? Will we see fortresses and great bastions in the future? Will the economy see an overhaul to fit more with the settlers DNS? Will goods and their respective production chains return?

I saw in this video - even in january - they they do not show actual gameplay from the campaign or at least i think so. They only mention that it will be the Elari looking for a new home and coming to new shores by ship => which was exactly the same situation like in the version of 2019. Even later in the video at around 4:20 minutes you can see "acts" but this acts could be the scenario as they show all 3 civilizations with the same starting conditions.

So to my question:
What has the game in store for singleplayer? We just saw the skirmish mode which made me wonder if the original concept of the game shown in the version from 2019 will be in the singelplayer. With all the complexity and features promised back then. They cannot really argument with play flow, players falling behind or to much complexity when talking about an endless sandbox mode for singleplayer - as this is the argumentation for the skirmish (multiplayer) mode.



When the original concept is still included in the game this will be a huge gamechanger for the game as you know have a good settlers with all the strengths of the former titles combined, all the features we saw in 2019 included and the uniqueness which made settlers such a cult classic: the mixture between strong economic play with strategy elements.

If not and the campaign is just like the skirmish mode just with some objectives sprinkled in between - then there is truly nothing worth mentioning about this version of the settlers and thus not worth the 60 bucks it is sold at.

My recommendation to Ubisoft:
Treat the singleplayer not like the multiplayer - to make it short: Keep the singleplayer aligned with the version from 2019. And after the release there is enough room to expand on this concepts with DLCs (like with Anno 1800) @Ubi-Barbalatu

@editorial Why did to put your product - btw a finished product as this game should have been released in 2020 - through development hell when you know try to figure out the very basics? The fundamental parts of the game and how it should work have been established with the very first settlers title and since settlers 5 you try to reinvent the wheel. Just stop! You try to sell someone a cow who wants a horse. Your cow will never be a horse! Your unwillingness to listen just makes everyone still willing to give this game a chance jump the ship. Under every post the community tells you what they want - and it is not like they contradict each other - so it should really not be a hustle to figure out where this project should be heaed now.

I just can join the two posts above me: Where is the singleplayer? Where are the features from 2019? When are we getting infos worth out attention and time? Where are the teased surprises which should sway us over?

For now all you do is trying to sell us something we do not want!

@editorial I like the Mini-Update so far. It is good to see that Ubisoft listens to feedback and makes hope for the future of the game. Even though not much is said especially regarding details about the changes in the research tree. We will have to see what the surprises (as @Ubi-Barbalatu told us about in the food update) Ubisoft got for us in store are as they could be the turning point for many people to buy the game.

I personally want to see updates about returning buildings and production chains as well as upgradable buildings and units with different tiers as they have been included in the alpha version from 2019. Maybe these will be the surprises.


Suggestion:
Treat Multiplayer and Singleplayer differently: Multiplayer are all fair game BUT for Sigleplayer just planning some basic mission would be fatal - instead it would be the best option to treat the Singleplayer as endless sandbox mode like shown in 2019 (like e.g. Anno 1800). This would also leave room for future DLCs to expand on it.

@Ubi-Barbalatu Thank you for the fast response. However the Team has to understand that our mistrust is not misplaced and it needs a lot more to win back our Trust.

What I wonder is how many many feautures, production and buildings cut off the Version from 2019 will make a return. And let's see if this surprises really are suprises. This remains to be seen.

I want to conclude this Post with a thank you: Thank you for not abandoning this project and let's hope you will return it to greatness.

Recommendation: When you still have the technology for random map Generation why not add a Mode like you showed in 2019 with the settlers arriving in an uncharted Island waiting to be explored and build a civilization on it in an endless Mode? This would add some longevity to the game and will be a nice change from Multiplayer match-making.

@Ubi-Barbalatu I cannot believe what Ubisoft is doing here? What the hell is going on? Everytime something new is posted here it feels like a mockery. Everything fun and unique is cut out of the game to desperately funnel it into a pure RTS.

We cannot do the farm fields extra because the maps are to small. - Although you could in 2019
We cannot have randomly generated maps because it will disturb the 1v1 experience. - Although this was possible in 2019

=> Summarized: We cannot have a fun settler because it needs to be an RTS - Although we could have had this in 2019

This game gets so streamlined, so cut out with Features, so formulaic and lacking, devoid of any creativity and fun for no reason other than the Developers wanting to push out an Ubisoft Original RTS to not compete with Anno. But what they fail to see is for once the community not wanting another formulaic Ubisoft game and that there will be an Anno-fatigue and they could counter it with a good settlers - both series are different enough not only to coexist but for someone who has Settlers will propably try out Anno after a while and vice-versa.

I want to end this post with a post under one of Ubisoft's games - afterall the posters in the Forum prove everyday that Ubisoft does not listen (there are even posts in the Forum yet they still cling to the current version of the game one about players yearning for the version of 2019 and that Ubisoft does not listen)

The post was something like : "Ubisoft's games are like frozen pizza. Having one from time to time is ok. But games from Ubisoft feel like you have had 12 frozen Pizza and although you cannot go on the reason you continue is that you have paid for it."

@TomK1888 "It is not completely down bad after all the version back than had shown the potential which could be easily expanded with a season pass. And that is why there is still hope for the game - when they would have not shown the version from 2020 and just the one from 2022 everyone would have moved on by now."

This is exactly the point. It feels like the game is has this spark of potential that the current version has not tabbed in yet. Something the version from 2020 by Volker Wertich had. I still hope for a return of these features. Settlers was never meant to be a fast rush RTS like Starcraft 2 and it never can be competetive to Starcraft or AoE. The special part about the settlers is the mix between RTS component and city-building/planning like Spellforce is between RTS and RPG.

When the game got postponed again - due to the game having major issues leaving the game unable to be enjoyed and additionally the community does not like to see "The Settlers" to be turned into a pure RTS - the official response was to work closer with the community. That is nothing new because Ubisoft has created the "Settlers Alliance" comparable to the "Anno Union" to listen to Feedback and develop a game for the community. Unfortunately, Ubisoft decided to discontinue and delete posts from the "Settlers Alliance" thus effectively cancelling their close work with the community which explains their sudden change in direction of the game. At this point we can only guess why as the feedback of the "Settlers Alliance" was positive for the new "The Settlers" introduced by Volker Wertich and people were excited for the release.

And as of this day Ubisoft still strongly holds on to their plans to release "The Settlers" as RTS with almost none of the features presented back in the alpha version from 2019. Why is this the case? Ubisoft already had an attempt at a "The Settlers" game with "Champions of Anteria" which was rejected by the community. The interesting part is that what happened now happened during the development of "Champions of Anteria": Trying to push features which are popular into a game envisioned for a different audience - back than it was MOBA now it is RTS. Should Ubisoft still continue the course they are on now it will be the second "The Settlers" game they ruined in a row. Quite an achievement, unfortunately!

However this title is not completely lost as an older version (which video presentation they have deleted from the twitch archieve) had shown which features they have to implement to make it fun again. And I can not stress this enough how important it will be to bring back features once promised as the costumer will grow resentful when they see how the game could have been years ago compared to now. This is not even a drastic redirection as the basics are already implemented they just have to revert the RTS focus back a bit and focus on storn economic gameplay with upgradable buildings and production chains - no complete redesign might be required.

It is not like Ubisoft is unable to do so - they have proven with Anno 1800 that they can do it! And that there is no interest in this kind of game is proven wrong by "Farthest Frontier" a title more like the alpha version of "The Settlers" back from 2019.

So TLDR:
Revert the course the game is going to from pure RTS to city-building economic gameplay with RTS components. Bring back the promised features and develop complexity for the game. Maybe you could consider asking the Anno 1800 development team for help to develop or bring back features? Why not bring back the alpha version from 2019 which the community was celebrating and improve on that?

@Vanillekeks1509 Looks like the Community (once again) has to step in and do what Ubisoft is incapable of. I hope that Volker Wertich gets enough support to give as "The Settlers" as shown in 2019 - because most of the community will not buy a RTS-focused "The Settlers".