The scene is chaos. People are screaming,
and several buildings have caught fire. I
deploy the volunteer fire brigade to douse
the conflagration, but the local newspaper
pounceswithafrontpagestoryonmy
‘inadequate’ response to the potato farm
explosion. The one that occurred five
minutes ago and was the least
predictable event in history.
Icouldeditthepapertomake
myself look better, but as an
advocate of press freedom, I let the
rag publish. My city’s productivity
plummets, and with it my income. I spend
a while clawing my way back into the
black, all because of some surprise chips.
It’s elements like this that make
Anno 1800 such an intriguing city-builder.
It takes place on the cusp of the industrial
revolution, a time of great social, political
and economic upheaval. It’s mainly a
placid, enjoyable affair, but like those
radically changing times, there’s always a
sense that you’re one potato explosion
away from disaster.
It’s also a game of impressive
infrastructural depth. Your city evolves not
just in size but through time. You start out
building a glorified farming village. Then,gradually, your stone farmhouses are
converted into brick worker tenements,
and your infrastructure grows to
accommodate brickmakers, steelworks
and sausage factories.
The strategic side largely takes the
form of establishing production chains.
Goods need to go through multiple stages
of production, so it’s wise to build your
textile mills and sailmakers close to your
sheep farms, for example. All goods are
stored in a warehouse and sold at
markets, so it’s important to build plenty
of both building types.
Unlike the clean but cold Anno 2205,
Anno 1800 also has an eye for the human
side of city-building. Whether playing in
sandbox or the campaign, it’s up to you
how you treat your workforce. You can
prioritise happiness at the cost of a slower
production rate or grind the proles
beneath your millstone for greater profit.
Choosing the latter option comes at the
risk of civil unrest, however, as workers
can unionise and ultimately strike.
Other outside factors that can
influence your city’s progress include
trade, war and pollution. Anno 1800 also
has a maritime component, letting
you build fleets to explore the map
and trade with other city states which
are themed around different
nationalities. There’s no land combat
in Anno 1800, but fleets can fight each
other in 3D battles, in which pre-industrial
sailing vessels can trade cannon fire with
ironclad steamships.CATCHING FIRE
Anno 1800 feels like a richer, more lavish
and more human game than Anno 2205.
But there are a few concerns. Your citizens
don’t seem to interact with infrastructure
much, so it doesn’t matter where you
place different types of housing for
different kinds of workers, only that you
have sufficient housing. Also, economic
management is somewhat obscure. It’s
not hard to set up production chains, but if
you’re losing money, it can be difficult to
figure out where the problem lies.
With so many games due out in
February and March, Anno 1800 was
barely on my radar. But playing it has left
me with a hunger for more, as well as a
curious craving for crisps.
Rick LaneI
t was all going well until my potato farm
exploded. There I was, erecting a few
villager houses on the outskirts of my
burgeoning mill town, when suddenly,
ka-blam! Fire and mash everywhere. I’m still
somewhat mystified by this turn of events. I mean,
how do you blow up a potato farm?Blue Byte’s city-building series
takes on the industrial revolutionANNO 1800
YOU CAN PRIORITISE
HAPPINESS AT THE COST OF A
SLOWER PRODUCTION RATERELEASE
February 26, 2019DEVELOPER
Blue BytePUBLISHER
UbisoftLINK
http://www.bit.ly/ubianno1800NEED TO KNOW
PLAYED
ITFarms can be expanded
with additional plots.Anno 1800
PREVIEW