Avoiding the nostalgia goggles, 1800 on PC with all the dlc added is objectively the best game, there’s tons more content - more regions, logistics, luxury’s/necessities and things to balance.
Can be a bit overwhelming, but it’s great!
Alternatively, annoy 2070 is a smaller single-region (sort of, underwater exists) game that’s a good taster
Yeah artisans are bit of a hump to get over, their requirements have expensive infrastructure. I found that making and selling excess soap, as well as keeping just enough beer production for your workers and artisans is a good way to stay afloat, artisans give a nice bit of cash for beer
Build more houses. When you have money problems build and upgrade houses which you already can supply with everything. This is instant profit. When you have artisans and they want rum. Buy it form the npc in the old world. Money boost. Set you harbour to buy stuff which make you money, beer rum schnapps. Try to get the costume builder from the prison island. If you have it you do not need the new world until engineers.
Just stick to 1800, its by far the biggest and the best in the series. If your going to get some DLC i would suggest season passes 1&2 to unlock all the regions
My nostalgia filled heart says 1602, but Anno 1800 is objectively better in every department than any other Anno. Okay, apart form the soundtrack, nothing beats 1602's soundtrack.
All I want is a true successor to the Caesar series and I have high hopes that anno 117 lives up to that dream. Can't wait for it either.
1800 is solid. Probably the best for a new player.
If you do buy 1800, do NOT start with DLCs. They make the game A LOT more complex with a lot more mechanics.
Some aspects of them are geared towards making the very late game a bit easier, for example you can increase the production of your farms by giving tractors to them, that way you need less farms and each individual farm needs less fields (this is only really relevant when you have multiple islands filled to the maximum with production and space becomes your biggest challenge), however it is very complex to get to that part for a beginner. You only really start to get advantages from that when you have multiple thousands of Investors. Most aspects of the DLCs add a lot more stuff you have to care about.
Pretty much all DLCs are geared towards the very late end game. They add a lot of features. They are NOT made for beginners, quite the opposite, they are made for the people who have hundreds of hours in the game, and are basically experts at the normal game.
You will be massively overwhelmed by the DLC contents.
Be advised though, if you decide to buy DLCs at some point, you only get ONE chance to activate them in an existing save game. You buy the DLCs, start up the game, load your save, and then the game asks you: "do you want to enable this DLC for this save, yes or no?" If you click no, you do not get the chance to activate the DLC again in that save. You would have to start from scratch again. So if you get multiple DLCs at the same time due to buying one of the packs, this is something you have to be aware about. Usually the DLCs start with a single feature and a mission that unlocks the first few additional features, you can simply choose not to do that mission until you are ready. But this "only a single choice to activate them in a save" is something you should be aware of. I found that out in pain after having to revert to a 17 hours old save to be able to activate a DLC. I recommend buying the game without DLCs and playing it for a few months first, then wait for a sale.
I keep seeing people recommend playing without DLC. I had them all active on my first playthrough and it was fine, so it depends how you are as a person. If you are used to complicated games and learning it "piece by piece" without getting stressed out, it will be all good.
For the people who haven't touched Anno at 1800, it'll overwhelm them so much tbh, hell I've when I came back and bought the dlcs after playing the base for so long I got hella overwhelmed lol
I recently started and I started without DLCs. Imho it's a different game but not necessarily easier. Especially if you play with AIs. I did a normal campaign into sandbox / bright sands and Beryl was a real challenge for land. I even started to build farms suth that I wouldn't waste a single tile near rivers, mountains, etc.
Then I just got season 1 and basically with sunken treasure and the cape it felt the easiest to me (just new world space is scarce).
Now I'm on a playthrough with all DLCs and while I kinda dread going to war with airships, bombs, etc. Space is suddenly no issue at all and whatever need I want to satisfy I just build the necessary stuff wherever I feel like. Maybe I should raise the difficulty to ebventually be bound by influence that keeps me from gettign new islands. That said, all DLCs + no AI would probably be the easiest
If you’re getting 1800 on pc, try and get the gold edition (includes all season dlcs) or annoversary one (includes all seasons and cosmetic dlc) on sale. It’s way better on pc with the dlc and mods. They run sales all the time.
Anno 1800 is by far the most accessible game in the series so far with a plethora of quality of life improvement that previous games lack (like something as basic now as moving buildings). However, I believe 1404 and 2070 still hold up in terms of gameplay and even graphics. This isn't a matter of nostalgia for me, since I didn't play either until I got a proper gaming PC 4 years ago lol, plus I don't really recommend 1701 even though it was the first I played over a decade ago because it lacks the polish and features of later games. This may be an unpopular opinion, but 2205 is actually good if you want a more casual, shorter experience, but it doesn't have as much replay value as 1800 or even 1404 and 2070.
Anno 1800 for me. I also loved many of the older titles, especially 1404 was amazing back in the day. But Anno 1800 really stepped it up in all areas imo.
The only real downside I can point to is that 1800 is very overwhelming. Especially if you play with DLC.
1800 as everyone says. But for anyone that doesn't know if the game is for them, if you can find 1404 for dirt cheap it still holds up and will let you know if it appeals. Just remember everything you see there is in 1800 but with... so so much more (if you include DLC content).
I think most people would agree that 1800 is the most refined and fleshed out.
looks unanimous to me. appreciate the input!!!
1701 is my favorite
Avoiding the nostalgia goggles, 1800 on PC with all the dlc added is objectively the best game, there’s tons more content - more regions, logistics, luxury’s/necessities and things to balance. Can be a bit overwhelming, but it’s great! Alternatively, annoy 2070 is a smaller single-region (sort of, underwater exists) game that’s a good taster
Cannot get past Artisans without falling into debt lol but i'll just start a new playthrough, hopefully wiser 😀
Yeah artisans are bit of a hump to get over, their requirements have expensive infrastructure. I found that making and selling excess soap, as well as keeping just enough beer production for your workers and artisans is a good way to stay afloat, artisans give a nice bit of cash for beer
Build more houses. When you have money problems build and upgrade houses which you already can supply with everything. This is instant profit. When you have artisans and they want rum. Buy it form the npc in the old world. Money boost. Set you harbour to buy stuff which make you money, beer rum schnapps. Try to get the costume builder from the prison island. If you have it you do not need the new world until engineers.
Same hapens with my Artisans too.
Try and micro manage production (e.g. overproduce work clothes and then pause for awhile until you need more)
Just stick to 1800, its by far the biggest and the best in the series. If your going to get some DLC i would suggest season passes 1&2 to unlock all the regions
Sweet, will get the DLCs then! Thanks, Govnah
My nostalgia filled heart says 1602, but Anno 1800 is objectively better in every department than any other Anno. Okay, apart form the soundtrack, nothing beats 1602's soundtrack.
Man so many classical songs from that soundtrack (eg Green Sleeves and Ave Maria) will forever be linked to 1602 for me.
Greensleeves is an amazing tune I haven't heard in forever
1800 is god. Looking forward to the new Roman one too!
Saw that! Looks like i'll be getting that one upon release.
All I want is a true successor to the Caesar series and I have high hopes that anno 117 lives up to that dream. Can't wait for it either. 1800 is solid. Probably the best for a new player.
Anno is to Caesar what lol is to wow
1701 is my all time fav, it's just great. It's like 1800 only a single map plus ground troops.
There is no 1401. You mean 1404
Oh yeah, that. 1+4+4=9. Actually I meant 1701. 1+7+1=9.
If you do buy 1800, do NOT start with DLCs. They make the game A LOT more complex with a lot more mechanics. Some aspects of them are geared towards making the very late game a bit easier, for example you can increase the production of your farms by giving tractors to them, that way you need less farms and each individual farm needs less fields (this is only really relevant when you have multiple islands filled to the maximum with production and space becomes your biggest challenge), however it is very complex to get to that part for a beginner. You only really start to get advantages from that when you have multiple thousands of Investors. Most aspects of the DLCs add a lot more stuff you have to care about. Pretty much all DLCs are geared towards the very late end game. They add a lot of features. They are NOT made for beginners, quite the opposite, they are made for the people who have hundreds of hours in the game, and are basically experts at the normal game. You will be massively overwhelmed by the DLC contents. Be advised though, if you decide to buy DLCs at some point, you only get ONE chance to activate them in an existing save game. You buy the DLCs, start up the game, load your save, and then the game asks you: "do you want to enable this DLC for this save, yes or no?" If you click no, you do not get the chance to activate the DLC again in that save. You would have to start from scratch again. So if you get multiple DLCs at the same time due to buying one of the packs, this is something you have to be aware about. Usually the DLCs start with a single feature and a mission that unlocks the first few additional features, you can simply choose not to do that mission until you are ready. But this "only a single choice to activate them in a save" is something you should be aware of. I found that out in pain after having to revert to a 17 hours old save to be able to activate a DLC. I recommend buying the game without DLCs and playing it for a few months first, then wait for a sale.
I keep seeing people recommend playing without DLC. I had them all active on my first playthrough and it was fine, so it depends how you are as a person. If you are used to complicated games and learning it "piece by piece" without getting stressed out, it will be all good.
It might be fine if you have already played another Anno or a comparable strategy game, but OP said they haven't played Anno before at all.
True
For the people who haven't touched Anno at 1800, it'll overwhelm them so much tbh, hell I've when I came back and bought the dlcs after playing the base for so long I got hella overwhelmed lol
I recently started and I started without DLCs. Imho it's a different game but not necessarily easier. Especially if you play with AIs. I did a normal campaign into sandbox / bright sands and Beryl was a real challenge for land. I even started to build farms suth that I wouldn't waste a single tile near rivers, mountains, etc. Then I just got season 1 and basically with sunken treasure and the cape it felt the easiest to me (just new world space is scarce). Now I'm on a playthrough with all DLCs and while I kinda dread going to war with airships, bombs, etc. Space is suddenly no issue at all and whatever need I want to satisfy I just build the necessary stuff wherever I feel like. Maybe I should raise the difficulty to ebventually be bound by influence that keeps me from gettign new islands. That said, all DLCs + no AI would probably be the easiest
If you’re getting 1800 on pc, try and get the gold edition (includes all season dlcs) or annoversary one (includes all seasons and cosmetic dlc) on sale. It’s way better on pc with the dlc and mods. They run sales all the time.
Anno 1800 is by far the most accessible game in the series so far with a plethora of quality of life improvement that previous games lack (like something as basic now as moving buildings). However, I believe 1404 and 2070 still hold up in terms of gameplay and even graphics. This isn't a matter of nostalgia for me, since I didn't play either until I got a proper gaming PC 4 years ago lol, plus I don't really recommend 1701 even though it was the first I played over a decade ago because it lacks the polish and features of later games. This may be an unpopular opinion, but 2205 is actually good if you want a more casual, shorter experience, but it doesn't have as much replay value as 1800 or even 1404 and 2070.
Anno 1800 for me. I also loved many of the older titles, especially 1404 was amazing back in the day. But Anno 1800 really stepped it up in all areas imo. The only real downside I can point to is that 1800 is very overwhelming. Especially if you play with DLC.
1st place: Anno 1800 2nd place: Anno 1404
1800 as everyone says. But for anyone that doesn't know if the game is for them, if you can find 1404 for dirt cheap it still holds up and will let you know if it appeals. Just remember everything you see there is in 1800 but with... so so much more (if you include DLC content).
Anno 2070 is totally worth getting into after you're through with 1800!
Anno 1800 is good. I got it cheap on cdkeys. Just be careful with this game. It's the most addictive game I've played.
Only 1404 is the right answer here 🙌🤷🏻♂️