Anno 117: Tips and Tricks for new players

Anno 117 – Pax Romana is a complex game where you build and manage a Roman colony. It can be challenging to learn, particularly if you’re new to the Anno series or strategy games in general. This guide offers some helpful tips to get you started and make your first few hours of gameplay smoother.

Start with the campaign mode

Anno 117 doesn’t offer a traditional tutorial. Instead, it introduces you to the game through its story campaign, which slowly increases the difficulty. The first part of the campaign is easygoing – the objectives are simple, there are no enemies to worry about, and you have plenty of money. In the second part, you’ll move to a new location, allowing you to start a new colony using everything you’ve learned.

Pay attention to the top of the screen

The very top of your screen displays key information about your colony, including your current funds, income, research progress, and workforce size. You’ll also see important city stats like health, happiness, and fire safety. This area provides a quick overview of what needs your attention. Occasionally, small tutorial tabs will appear in the top left corner. Be sure to click on these when they pop up, because you won’t be able to see them again without reloading an earlier save.

Regularly check the production chart

Clicking the info bar at the top of your screen opens a detailed menu that shows how much of each resource your colony is making. The arrow next to each resource tells you how production is going: a sideways arrow means you’re meeting demand perfectly, a green upward arrow means you’re making more than enough, and a red downward arrow means you’re not making enough to satisfy everyone. Check this production chart regularly to see how things are going. You can also sort the chart by surplus to quickly identify what you have extra of (and can sell) and what you need to get more of.

Connect all buildings with roads

Roads are essential for a functioning colony. Buildings won’t operate unless they’re connected to either a trading post or a villa via a road. Building roads requires some funds (and wood if you’re crossing a river). It doesn’t matter how a building is connected, just that it is connected. When placing buildings that rely on trees, like lumberjack huts, be mindful that road construction can clear nearby trees. Always leave extra trees around these buildings to ensure road building doesn’t hinder their output.

Pay attention to the area effects of buildings

Buildings often create special zones around themselves that affect nearby structures. These zones can have both helpful and harmful effects. A bakery, for instance, might increase the earnings of buildings around it, but also raise the chance of a fire. Some buildings, like coal factories, only have negative consequences. To maximize benefits, place homes near buildings with positive effects, and keep buildings with negative effects away from residential areas. Keep in mind that you won’t get extra benefit from building the same positive-effect building multiple times; a market and a tavern next to each other will both provide their bonuses, but two markets will only offer the benefit of one.

Build as many houses as possible

Houses are key to growing your economy and workforce, so building plenty of them is a good strategy. One production line can support a lot of families, making it worthwhile to keep adding residential buildings. More houses mean more income, more workers, and the ability to take advantage of helpful bonuses. Just be mindful when upgrading homes – while upgrades improve worker skill levels, you’ll still need people for basic jobs, and highly skilled workers can’t always fill those positions.

Remember about guard buildings

Guard buildings themselves don’t create resources, but they’re essential for keeping your city running smoothly. They significantly improve the health, happiness, and fire safety of nearby structures, making management much easier. Plus, during emergencies like plagues, riots, or fires, you can deploy guards to help restore order. For all these reasons, guard buildings are vital for a well-functioning city.

Choose the right gods for the island

After constructing a faith-generating building on your island, you can choose a patron god. Each god offers unique benefits that become more powerful as you gather more faith. It’s best to select a god that complements your island’s strengths – for example, worship Mars on a military-focused island or Neptune on a port island. You can switch gods whenever you like, but doing so will erase all your current faith progress.

Always do research

Building a research center on the island lets you unlock new technologies, improvements, and deities. Research is free, but how quickly it progresses depends on how much knowledge you’re producing. It’s always a good idea to have a research project going. You can start a new one immediately after finishing a current project, or queue up multiple projects to be completed one after another automatically.

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2025-11-13 17:33