Anno 1800: Settlement Building Tips and Tricks

City Planning is Crucial

Just about the most crucial element to Anno 1800 is your settlement’s layout. Your citizens are very needy and need road access and proximity to all kinds of amenities and luxury goods, not to mention civil services and recreation. And as every structure you build has a maintenance cost, it behooves you to set things in the most efficient manner possible.

In this, I look to history for inspiration, which is fitting in this case. The Romans set out their cities with precision and care that can still be seen today in many European cities.

In short, this means perfect squares, with equal rows of housing. The central boulevard is reserved for public services such as police stations and fire stations, universities and civic centers.

Done correctly, this will allow for maximum coverage in the center, and can easily be replicated on the wings as your population grows and spills out of its original boundaries. Mercifully, Anno 1800 has a “copy” tool, located on the bottom part of the UI that makes replicating this a breeze.

As important as it is for your city to function well, it also needs to look good while doing it. This can be as simple as lining your roads with hedges, but I also like to leave gaps in my residential blocks for small parks. As not every civic building is the same size, there will be numerous areas in your city center that will need filling, so put apple trees and flower beds in wherever you can.

Pictured above is Adamstown, founded by yours truly. As marked by the yellow lines, I lay the streets out at right angles, leaving space for houses in blocks of 10. As outlined in red, the city center is reserved for amenities and public works, allowing maximum coverage over as many people as possible.

Happiness Matters

Speaking of which, monitoring the mental well-being of your population is something you should be doing constantly. Not only is good for your own peace of mind, but there are significant advantages to doing so as well.

Happy citizens are, surprisingly enough, less likely to riot. In fact, they won’t at all, unless the happiness meter hits a critical level. In addition, your citizens will volunteer to pay more taxes if they are happy, in what is probably the most unbelievable aspect of the entire game.

You can keep the happiness meter in the green by ensuring there are ample supplies of each class’s basic necessities. So, for Farmers, this means fish, brandy and work clothes, with Workers needing soap in addition, etc.

On top of that, people need to have road access to at least a market and a pub, with educational facilities becoming necessary later on as well. Try and spruce up your city with some decorations as well, like fountains and gardens.

This all adds to the overall beauty level of your city, which in turn increases the happiness of your population.

Just remember, you don’t need to build your houses near your industrial building. They can be on the opposite side of the island and will still function correctly. Also, being near dirty and smelly buildings is bad for property values, and no one wants that.

Diversify Your Portfolio

Anno 1800 is a game about exploration and settling new lands… so, you know, do that. It can be very easy to focus on your starting island, but it is actually really cheap to set up new outposts on neighboring islands.

Doing so is really important for a number of reasons. Firstly, each island has different fertility levels and is capable of producing different crops. As no island can produce everything, it makes sense to set up some inter-island commerce that will benefit the inhabitants of both.

Also, you can keep your new colonies fairly basic, say just at the first level or two of the citizenry. The taxes they pay will go a long way to developing your home island, and their own needs will be fairly basic.

On the harder difficulties, it is really important to have a fallback point, as some of the more aggressive AI opponents can and will invade your islands and destroy everything you have worked so hard to create. On that note, invest in some cannons. They are expensive, but you will be kicking yourself if you don’t have them when you need them.

Lastly, send out expeditions to discover new lands as soon as they become available, usually around when you unlock Artisans. Having a foreign colony can give you a huge leg up on the opposition, and is well worth the investment required.

Hopefully, these tips will help you in your endeavors and allow you to dominate your opposition. There is a lot of nuance to this game, and you will need to learn some hard lessons for yourself to really get your head around things like build order and priority

Be sure to check out our other Anno 1800 guides, like How to Buy Shares in a Rival Company, or How to Keep Your Citizens Happy.