ANNO 1701 A.D. sends you out into the age of discovery with a ship, a few supplies and a mandate from the Queen. This is the entry where Related Designs carried the Anno series into full 3D, and it remains a favorite among city-builder fans for the way every warehouse, production chain and trade route feeds a living economy you can watch grow street by street. The Sunken Dragon expansion comes with it, adding an 11-mission campaign, new opponents and fresh ornaments to decorate your towns.
From a Single Warehouse to a Thriving Colony
Every settlement begins on an untouched island shore: a warehouse, a few fishing huts and timber cutters, and a handful of pioneers waiting for the basics. Meet their needs and they climb the social ladder toward aristocracy, each tier asking for more refined goods and rewarding you with grander homes and a larger population. Chocolate, perfume and colonial goods join the production chains, and supplying them means settling new islands whose fertility suits the crops you need. Your citizens let you know how you are doing, too: well-served neighborhoods visibly cheer, while neglected ones take to the streets in protest.
Taxes, Running Costs and the Queen's Favor
ANNO 1701 A.D. was the first Anno game to hand you direct control of the tax rate, and it sits at the heart of the economy. Taxes are your main income, but buildings, ships and troops all carry running costs, so every expansion has to pay its own way. Keep taxes low and your people stay content and more willing to rise socially; push them too high and you risk open revolt. Over it all sits the Queen, whose favor rises and falls with the choices you make in her name.
Five Cultures, One Crowded Sea
You are not alone out there. Foreign peoples hold islands of their own, each with something worth sailing for:
- Liang Wu's Asians
- Liang Wu's people trade in jade, one of the most prized goods on the map. Their island is worth charting early, since a friendly trading partner far from home can steady an economy that is starting to stretch.
- Poxacoatl's Aztecs
- The Aztecs under Poxacoatl deal in talismans, an exotic trade good that rewards careful relations. Approach them with patience and a distant island becomes a dependable stop on your trade routes.
- Amin Sahir's Indians
- Amin Sahir's Indians offer ivory, a luxury that justifies the long voyage. Their island adds another route to plan around as your fleet, and your ambitions, grow across the archipelago.
- Tetonka's Iroquois
- Tetonka leads the Iroquois, whose furs make them a natural trading partner. Like every culture here they keep to their own island and their own ways, so learning what they value pays off over time.
- Ramirez's Pirates
- Ramirez and his pirates raid when it suits them, yet they will also sell every colonial good there is. Whether they end up a threat or a supplier depends a great deal on how you choose to handle them.
Rivals, Warfare and Secret Diplomacy
Twelve computer opponents compete for the same islands, each with a distinct personality, preferences and difficulty, so no two rivalries play out quite the same way. When talks break down, you have options on land, at sea and behind closed doors:
- Naval warfare lets you strike where it hurts most, harrying a rival's trade routes until the goods stop arriving and the income behind their colony begins to falter.
- Land campaigns bring infantry, cavalry and artillery ashore by ship, and victory comes from destroying the enemy's market buildings, cutting a settlement off at its commercial heart.
- Secret diplomacy works in the shadows through sabotage, espionage and demagogy, giving you quieter ways to weaken a rival when an open war would cost more than it is worth.
Many Ways to Play
- The continuous game is open-ended and fully customizable: set the world size and island types, then decide whether Disasters, Plague, Pirates and Fire are part of the challenge.
- Ten scenarios climb steadily in difficulty, giving you a structured series of challenges once the fundamentals of colony building have become second nature.
- The Sunken Dragon campaign spans 11 missions with new opponents and new ornaments, extending the adventure well beyond the base game's scenarios.
- More than 100 optional sub-quests are woven dynamically into play with rewards for taking them on, while tornadoes, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes keep even a settled colony on its toes.
- Newcomers can lean on the Info mode and a simplified interface, and LAN multiplayer supports up to four players when you want to share the archipelago with friends.
If you have ever wanted to watch a bare island turn into a bustling port city through nothing but good planning, ANNO 1701 A.D. is a wonderful place to set sail. Load your first ship, pick your landing spot and see how far the Queen's trust can carry you.
