Anno 1800

Anno 1800 is a new game in the real-time management strategy series Anno. The events unfold at the dawn of the industrial age, during the times of great discoveries, diplomacy, and industrialization. You will be able to test your skills as a ruler, as you will need to create vast metropolises, plan efficient logistics networks, explore and settle new lands, and dominate your opponents through diplomacy, trade, and warfare.

Anno has returned to its roots — you need to gather and process resources; build complex production chains and trade routes; meet the needs of the inhabitants by advancing them to the next level of development and forming a class society. However, the developers of Anno 1800 have gathered the best ideas from all previous games in the series and presented them in an excellent composition.

Planning has been significantly improved and simplified. First, immediately after loading, you can lay a network of roads across the entire island. Second, you can place layouts of future buildings (including those for which there are currently no resources) in the necessary locations.

The layouts look like a transparent shadow of themselves. You will be able to convert a layout into a building as soon as the time comes or the necessary resources appear, so the player does not need to keep their positions in mind.

A number of innovations Anno 2205, which casualized the gameplay, have been discarded, and some simplifications have been reworked. Urban centers are no longer limited by a frame, allowing you to place residential houses anywhere, not just around themselves. Fields at farms are now defined by a flexible frame, while pastures and other work zones at farms are created by placing ready-made elements.

The coastline will provide new opportunities for construction and storage, so it makes sense to pave it to the level of the port area. The employment system has been preserved, and residential quarters should be located closer to farms and productions so that labor resources can reach them.

All games in Anno 1800, except for the story ones, take place on procedurally generated maps. As usual, there are many settings available — the number and area of islands, starting resources, the amount and types of resources on the map, the number of traders and opponents, victory conditions, and so on.

If you played Anno 1701 or Anno 1404, you will remember that there were several climatic zones on one map. Now each belt has its own region, with its own islands, NPCs, raw materials, and resources.

At the time of release, there were two biomes — continental Europe and the tropical islands of the Caribbean. In subsequent expansions, biomes of Africa and Greenland appeared, each with its own opportunities and needs.

Regions operate simultaneously and can be switched between instantly. To enable development, trade routes must be established. For example, rum is produced only in the warm climate of South America, while steel is made in Europe.

There are also cross opportunities, where raw materials are in one region and the final processing is in another. For instance, cotton for furs is sourced in the New World, while the furs themselves are made in the Old World, combining cotton with fur.

The world is designed at a very high level. Each island has a simulation of wildlife, corresponding to its biome. In a normal climate, for instance, you can see deer and goats grazing, wolves hunting them, and a bear coming out to stretch.

The visualization of buildings and interactions between them is at an unprecedented level in the series' history — there are many more people, they are busy in fields, tending to livestock, and working in factories; they participate in demonstrations and strikes; carts transport goods and nobility; shopkeepers trade; a priest grants absolution; and musicians and performers entertain onlookers.

As always, each map offers a limited set of resources. Finding what is missing for production and consumption can be aided by other islands — some can be settled, while others can serve as raw material appendages, exporting the most valuable goods to the metropolis.

Anno 1800 offers a single-player campaign consisting of four acts with a total duration of 10 hours and three difficulty levels. Starting in the north, the player embarks on an exciting journey southward. Accordingly, the conditions and demands of the inhabitants will change. By completing the campaign fully, even a novice in economic strategies will master all the game's functions.

In addition, the authors present an engaging story featuring many well-voiced and animated characters. The set of tasks and unique quests in the campaign is maximized, greatly diversifying the economic and strategic routine. The quests include moral aspects and various ways to solve problems.

The era of the Great Industrial Revolution is reflected in the overall spectrum of situations for late game. Workers begin to strike and rally, demanding better working conditions and stating other social demands. All of this must be addressed, or they will oust the unworthy ruler.

After completing the campaign, the game will offer to test your skills in a sandbox — against the computer or other players. Here, you can unleash your talent as a manager and logistician, building complex production and trade chains involving dozens of islands, hundreds of ships, and thousands of people.

At the beginning of the scenario, you can set starting parameters and victory conditions (or disable them). There are many possibilities – building enthusiasts can disable opponents to fully occupy all islands with constructions and earn solid money from trading on the global market. Those wishing to fight are entitled to add several competitors (AI or humans), and then build frigates, cruisers, and battleships to dominate over rivals.