Well presented and user friendly micro-management
There is so much micro-management in Anno 1701 that we were initially overwhelmed with the amount of work that you have to do in order to build a successful village and maintain it. The comprehensive tutorial takes you through the basics of building market buildings, hunter’s lodges to gather wood, fishing hut’s to bring in food and sheep farms to produce wool. If you’re new to the franchise it’s worth investing some time understanding how to set up strategic trade routes between villages or preparing for the mass of buildings and the diplomatic choices that affect every aspect of your village. We struggled for a week or so playing Anno 1701 before Sunflowers sent us the instruction manual and we realised that by pressing the F1 key we could access the Annopedia online help function giving you detailed information on every aspect of building your community.
Click for larger imageIt’s going to be useful to anyone who’s new to the Anno franchise to become familiar with all of the icons on the screen which enable you to manage every aspect of your community. By hovering over the icons, a text bar is displayed that reveal the icon’s use and there can be over 30 icons around the perimeter of the screen at one time; because time means money, it will pay to learn them. The game screen is well presented, details of the resources collected sit at the top of the screen and a dial in the bottom left of the screen boasts 9 icons with which you can access the mini-map, building and diplomacy menus, research menus and any special actions. There is also a convenient trade menu allowing you to take part in passive trading, such as moving goods from your warehouses onto your ships (something you’ll be doing when you start trading between islands).
Click for larger imageThe single player mode offers numerous options, including continuous play which allows you to set the parameters of your game such as difficulty, how many raw materials are on the islands or island size and also gives you the option of choosing up to three computer controlled opponents along with your victory settings. The game is won when your chosen end point has been reached. We’ve set up a game where victory is won when we make 500,000 gold, but there are numerous options for setting up a victory point, including setting up a certain amount of trade assignments or even being the last survivor on the islands. The wealth of options available is absolutely huge ensuring that there are plenty of reasons to play Anno 1701 over and over again.
Click for larger imageOur favourite section is the single player scenarios, which build in difficulty as you progress. The first scenario we played was called ‘The Lost Ship’ and involved navigating our ship across the seas (simply by choosing a path and right clicking the mouse on the area) in search for the missing ship ‘The Barbara’ which is lost at sea and carries some of the island’s families. Once you find the ship you discover that it has been damaged and then have to travel back to the island, set up some fishing huts using wood as a resource and collect some food for the hungry people on board whilst they wait for their ship to be fixed. It’s then simply a case of using a trade tool to transfer the food onto the ship and then travel back to their location to drop it off. We won’t ruin the scenario for you, but you’ll then have to produce cloth to mend the ship’s sails by setting up a sheep farm and weaver’s hut and then construct pathways to the warehouse in order for workers to transport the goods in their carts.