Has anyone played the Anno series?
What are your thoughts on the games?
It seems to be the only game that takes the borrows mechanics from City Simulators, Manaagment/Tycoon games and RTS' and merges them all together.
I'm playing Anno 1404 and having a lot of fun.
settlers-lite
I loved the series until 2070 when I realized they weren't going to do anything more with it and would just keep rehashing the same shit with some curve balls thrown in and popular things cut and sold as DLC.
Don't get me wrong I loved the original games but you can play those right now and not miss anything from the newer games. So I'm not excited over them anymore. I've already played them to death.
Never played any of the Settlers games, how do they compare?
>I loved the series until 2070 when I realized they weren't going to do anything more with it and would just keep rehashing the same shit with some curve balls thrown in and popular things cut and sold as DLC.
Sadly this, and their decision to require always-online to play a single player game really pissed me off. There were several times when their servers were down for a day or more and I couldn't play properly.
Graphics are beautiful but the game is fucking tedious and annoying to play, placing buildings on a grid isn't fun
What new shit do you want to see in the series?
I'm with you 2070, 2205 didn't do much new except have new environments to settle, much like 1405 let you settle in the orient.
I don't have many ideas in terms of mechanics, but I would like to see set a game in the dawn of civilization. They're making a new game set in the 1800s and I have zero hype for it.
You can see the influence in terms of production chains and logistics management. I really only played Settlers 2.
It's one of the most highly praised games on Sup Forums. At least during USA hours.
They could either innovate and introduce radically different game mechanics or they could go hard into the complexity department and make the game require serious strategic decisions and planning.
I'd prefer they did the former but both are options. I haven't played the games in years so I'm not really in the mood to play idea guy. Something I always liked from the earlier games was trading. Maybe if they made more resources, larger maps, and required trading to progress I'd be interested. That's kinda both my opinions though. You'd have to increase the complexity AND introduce new mechanics.
1404 is amazing but just like other user said there is no reason to play others after this because it's all the same shit.
I want a reason for cities to not look like homogenous grids of the same house.
Its only made worse by the core game design encouraging it or else you're being wasteful. And if you're too wasteful you'll actually lose. So it's ugly ass optimal designs or bust. Ugly isn't really the right word but you know what I mean. You use the same design whenever you can because its the best so it just looks bleh.
I think I just want more Simcity elements like civilian transportation between cities, zoning residential/commercial areas instead of deciding what each building will be. Industrial buildings can be the same since that's what supplies the other areas. Also I'm not a fan of every warehouse on the island automatically having access to the same stockpile.
There is nothing wrong with grids. The game is about optimization and has more in common with Factorio than typical city builders.
I'm on board. I'd like them to dive further into the city management aspect of the game, rather than the traditional RTS style of manually placing every building on the map. I'm knd of down with them removing them removing the RTS aspect all together and just diving head fist into a city simulation/production line and economics management game.
Factorio is less about grids though because you're given so many logistics tools.
I played one of the future set ones. It was a pain to run, as Uplay back then was even worse than it is now and barely worked. It was the first and last ubisoft game I bought through stream not knowing uplay was a thing at the time.
Yeah, come to think of it I wouldn't miss any of the combat in Anno at all. If they just took Simcity's core gameplay and added resources/production chains it would be an insta-buy for me.
Also it was such a travesty that 2070's underwater cities were only factories, and not residential.
I pirate any game that uses steam/uplay/origin.
GOG is fine, I'll give them money.
Didn't 2205 change it up though, but people hated it?
Dunno, didn't play it. I ignored the series after 2070.
I love city builders, specially the old Impressions games like Caesar and Pharaoh, but I find the Anno games shallow and boring.
It seems that the main story is pretty short, with only a handful on missions where you can actually build all the stuff. And its always the same pattern. In the Impressions games, missions felt fresh because you had limited options every time, and timed events were there just to shake things a little bit.
Also, in 1404, it is quite evident that the muslisms are peace loving people that did nothing and the catholics are all either evil or naive as fuck.
Any essential mods for Anno 1404?
>Never played any of the Settlers games
I guess I am too old for this place...
Its the game I return to when I get saturated with EU4, Caesar 3 and Civ 4.
>playing the campaign in anno games
you're doing it wrong
Settlers 4 is the last "good" game
Pretty accurate for that time period.
In S2 there are no residential buildings, your city consists of the many many buildings required to harvest resources for your production chains. Also roads were very important since each warehouse had a separate goods stockpile, and goods were transported by workers stationed at each junction to/from the next flag. Instead of a large city centre surrounded by housing grids, you'd have your main HQ building surrounded by a large bustling industry.
The general goal of all that industry was to produce and arm soldiers and military buildings to expand your territory, until you meet/fight a rival faction.
It's fucking boring
Creating factory lines and building shit in Factorio is way more involved and interesting than optimising your mosiac copy paste 'cities' and hoping you can stake the resources you need (or just bully the dumbshit AI for them) in Anno
It's great up until you've reached the final stage of the production line and then there's nothing. But that can be 100+ hours of fun depending on your skill and difficulty setting. Once you've reached that stage though I don't see any reason for coming back.
They should merge with AoE somehow, making it possible to continue the production chain over the centuries from prehistoric era to space era.
so, which one is the best?
Anno 1602 was one of the first games I ever got and played. I've been playing them since that first game, however I haven't checked last one, because I heard it's really bad. I am really interested in new Anno, 1800.
1404, last game before they went syfy
Looking forward to 1800 though, maybe it gets fun/comfy again.
my only Anno game is 2205, its fun but it gets boring really fast. placing houses is just so.. every house is the same. it looks boring.
1404 and 2070 are the comfiest games ever, easy 10/10's. Unfortunately the triple layered DRM of 2070 was the worst bullshit i've ever seen so i pirated it and only bought it for 10 bucks on sale several years later.
2205 on the other hand is hot garbage and not even worth pirating, streamlining in simplifying management game is not something you should ever consider.
Looks like 1404 with steamboats
my first anno was 2070, and I thought 1404+venice was the best. I dont know If I'm missing anything if I dont play the others
What anno game should I start with?
Those two are objectively the best. Which one is more enjoyable depends largely on your personal preference about the setting.
either 1404 or 2070, depending on if you prefer near-future sci-fi or medieval setting
1602
1404 is pretty much the peak of the series. Every other just does not feel the same afterwards. If you have a buddy, you can even manage settlements co-op. Saddly my friends are not autistic enough to build island empires for hours, optimizing production chains and learning all of the shit required.
Cool thanks. 1404 gold edition is 4 eurobux on steam, wish me luck.
I'm actually pretty optimistic about 1800. In a dev interview they said they're going "back to classic Anno gameplay" and using 2205's engine, we hopefully we get nice graphics and a return to form gameplay wise.
>Also, in 1404, it is quite evident that the muslisms are peace loving people that did nothing and the catholics are all either evil or naive as fuck.
It is a fucking friendly city-builder with a goofy, cartoony artstyle. Calm your tits and dont bring politics into this you sperg.
There is only one efficient way to lay out your buildings so there's not much room for creativity.
thats anno though. the gameplay is all about making a trade network that runs like swiss watch and producing goods in the most efficient way possible so you maximize production on the land you have to work with to please the citizens so you can tax the fuck out of them. if you're looking for a creative type city builder then thats what skylines and modded sc4 is for. you dont HAVE to use super autismo layouts though, you can build nice cities and support it with non perfect manufacturing. its mainly citizen and patrician class goods you have to really min max and that's really only if you're trying to cram as many houses as possible on of the largest islands.
To be honest i wouldnt mind at all if it would be just a combination of best features of 1404/2070 in 1800s setting and some extra polish.
>There is only one efficient way
Luckily enough there is no competitive anno esports scene so you dont have to use the absolute best metagaming strategies to beat your opponents in the most efficient fashion. The map options are numerous and flexible so you can make the game VERY difficult to win and next to impossible to build 100% efficiently.
>The map options are numerous and flexible
this is one the main reasons i always come back to 1404. more games should learn from its expansive options. the long dark has really good sandbox options too.
It's been 3hours i'm seeing screenshots of Anno 1404 on Sup Forums, couldnt resist anymore.
Also what are the differences between regular and Venice ?
Is one objectively superior to the other or are they just different and both worth playing ?
venice is the expansion, dont get the original
if it's an expansion then you would need the base game as well to get all the content
I didnt notice it was sold as a standalone.
Not worth playing the regular ? Maybe for the campaign ?
if you got the gold version just run venice instead.
if you get the expansion it comes with the original game
probably my favorite strategy game
I wish they made remaster with the same isometric graphics, just higher quality pictures and animations, and multiplayer ofc
there was a 10th anniversary edition which updated the graphics
One of my dream ideas for a game would be a mix of Anno 1404 and sid meier's colonization where you have to settle a new region of islands full of magic and wonder and eventually have to breaks free from our original kingdom
I would love a rehash with some new additions, I love the Anno game series and just want a comfy timesink to chill and build up a massive empire. Unfortunately they went with the game and instead of improving the military and expansion aspect of the game which was always very poor and lacking they fucking made them into nonsensical cut off missions that just felt like a waste of time.
I.A.A.M
iaam1404.projectanno.de
It's fucking brilliant, tons of new buildings, production chains and products, LOTS of cosmetic stuff, greater flexibility in town layouts.
It becomes more of a Sim City like experience than the tightly regimented and linear experience Anno typically is.
I am not sure it OP is trolling or just so new to the genre that he thinks anno is special
>ctrl+F 1701
>0 results
That was the only one I played. Was it just not that memorable compared to the others? I asked for it on a whim at Target when I was little and my parents got it for me.
In the end it's a stupid game. There's only one way to do things and if you don't do them that way every time, you're not doing it optimally. Then you have to hear the same overly excited voice lines every time.
>tfw still waiting for some large sc4 modpack
I think Ubisoft has banned sale of the game, people can't have opinions on a game they can't play, because the developers want to silence dissenters before their next nu-game release.
comfy time
2070 was okay, I'm not sure if it's worth going back to.
I haven't tried the underwater expansion though
>play Anno 1404 with only simple AIs
>colonise many islands
>set up elaborate shipping routes between your ports
>sit back and watch your ships swim around
max comfy
Well that sucks. It doesn't work on my new computer either, so it's been awhile since I've played.
keep doing gods work user
Does this game even have combat? I swear I never fought anyone in the game, just did comfy building
There's naval combat against pirates, and for land combat there's some kinda fort building granting a radius of automatic defense thing iirc
I never bothered much with it though, the only fun part is building a fuckhueg navy and bullying the hapless pirates
yeah, I know, too bad they fell for the 3d meme
warfare sucks in this game
I wanted to buy the new ones but it has Ubisoft DRM. Fuck that shit.
>1404 doesnt work
Tried literally every possible solution. Windows 10 is a fucking meme
The campaign is just a tutorial
Which doesn't fit well at all with the game being so objetive-focused and such
Yep, couple of days ago the DRM servers went down and 2070 couldn't be played at all for days
Goddamn. The pirated version probably doesn't have this problem.