Anno 1800: Complete City-Builder Guide

A guide to Anno 1800: your opening, the Old World production chains, the population tiers, reaching the New World, and managing trade, influence and items. It also covers the DLC sessions and the mistakes that stall most first cities.

Researched September 2026. Anno 1800's content is complete: four DLC seasons, with New World Rising as the last major DLC, and Ubisoft's current Anno is Anno 117: Pax Romana (released 13 November 2025). Check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. Use a Sandbox game for learning. The campaign is fine, but a relaxed Sandbox with easier settings lets you learn chains without pressure.
2. Needs drive everything. Houses upgrade when their basic needs are met. Upgraded residents pay more tax and unlock new buildings, and they also supply the workforce your factories need.
3. Balance your production chains. Check how many producers feed each factory (hover over a building to see its productivity) and build to that ratio.
4. Watch your balance, not just your gold. A small positive income per minute is fine. A negative one will bankrupt you.
5. Plan for space. Cities need room to grow, and later tiers need big factories. Leave space and use roads carefully.
6. Every factory needs workers. Each building needs a certain tier of workforce (Farmers, Workers, and so on). If you upgrade every house, you can run out of lower-tier workers.
7. Get to the New World once you have Artisans' needs coming up. Products like sugar, coffee and cotton only grow there.
8. Items and Trade Unions are huge. Slotting the right items into Trade Unions, Town Halls and Harbourmaster's Offices can double production or remove needs.

Population Tiers (Old World)

Other sessions add their own residents: Jornaleros and Obreros (New World), Explorers and Technicians (The Arctic, The Passage), Shepherds and Elders (Enbesa, Land of Lions), and Scholars (Research Institute).

Core Production Chains (Old World)

These are the chains you'll build in every game:

Ratios: buildings run at different speeds, so one processor often needs several producers. Instead of memorising numbers, check each building's productivity. If a processor sits below 100% because it's waiting on inputs, add a producer.

Warehouses and roads: farms and factories only work if carts can reach a warehouse or the next building. Keep chains compact and near a warehouse, and upgrade to paved roads for speed where you can.

Your First Hours: Opening Build

1. Place a Warehouse near the coast and build Farmer Residences around a Marketplace.
2. Add a Fishery, then Sheep Farms and Framework Knitters for Work Clothes.
3. Build Lumberjack's Huts and a Sawmill. Timber is needed for almost everything.
4. Add Potato Farms and a Schnapps Distillery, plus a Pub. These are Farmer luxury needs: they aren't required to upgrade, but they raise happiness and tax income. The upgrade to Workers needs the basic needs (Marketplace, Fish, Work Clothes) covered.
5. Upgrade some houses to Workers and build Clay Pits and a Brick Factory.
6. Put Pig Farms, a Slaughterhouse and a Bakery chain in place for Worker needs.
7. Take a second island for more farm land and resources, and link it with a trade route.
8. Push into Steel for Steel Beams and upgrades, then start preparing for Artisans.

Tip: keep a couple of blocks of Farmers even late in the game. Their workforce runs your farms.

Trade, Ships and Other Sessions

• Trade routes automate moving goods between your islands and sessions. Set up routes for raw goods and finished products as soon as you have two islands.
• Ship upgrades: bigger and faster ships carry more between sessions. Keep a few spare cargo slots for emergencies.
• Neutral traders (like Archibald Blake in the Old World) buy and sell goods and items. Check their stock for useful items regularly.
• Pirates (Anne Harlow and Jean La Fortune) can raid you. Pay them off, defend with warships and harbor defenses, or keep a friendly relationship.
• The New World grows sugar cane, cotton, coffee, cocoa and more, with its own residents and needs. Keep its residents happy so the plantations stay staffed.
• DLC sessions (The Arctic, Enbesa) each have their own mechanics. For example, the Arctic uses heat and airships.

Influence, Workforce and Expeditions

• Influence points go up with your population and let you claim more islands, run bigger trade routes and use certain features. If you run out, you'll be blocked from expanding.
• Workforce comes from resident tiers. Mixed-tier cities keep factories running.
• Expeditions send a ship crewed with items on narrated journeys. They reward items and specialists. Put items that match the expedition's needed attributes on the crew.

Items and Specialists

• Trade Unions buff nearby production buildings with specialist items: more productivity, fewer workers, or extra goods.
• Town Halls buff residents with items that can remove needs, boost income, or make houses more attractive.
• Harbourmaster's Office items improve ships and harbors.
• Buy items from traders, the auction house and expeditions, or get them from quests. Build your city around a few very strong items.

DLC Overview (Seasons 1–4)

Highlights: The Passage (the Arctic), Land of Lions (Enbesa), Docklands (an import/export trade hub), Bright Harvest (farm machinery such as tractors and silos), Seat of Power (the Palace and ministries), The High Life (skyscrapers for the upper tiers), and Empire of the Skies (airship content).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Upgrading every house. You'll lose the lower-tier workers your farms need.
• Building chains far from warehouses. Productivity drops from long walks.
• Ignoring your balance. Build income (upgrades, trade, luxury needs) before big expansions.
• Forgetting fire, riot and illness risks. Build Fire Stations, Police Stations and Hospitals as your city grows.
• Running out of influence from grabbing too many islands too early.
• Neglecting the New World once you've settled it. Its residents need their own goods.
• Using dirt roads forever. Paved roads speed up your carts.

Advanced Tips

• Blueprint mode lets you lay out a whole city before building. Use it to plan grids around the Market, Pub, Church and School radiuses.
• Specialise islands: one for residences, another for heavy industry. Industry lowers attractiveness and happiness, so keep factories away from homes.
• Electricity (Engineers era) greatly boosts factories. Plan your power plants and oil supply early.
• Docklands lets you trade large amounts of goods for others, which can replace whole chains.
• Palace and ministry buffs (Seat of Power) work like a super-sized Town Hall/Trade Union layer. Read each option's tooltip and aim them at your biggest bottleneck chain.
• Save before big changes. Replacing an established district can knock out a chain for hours.

FAQ

Is Anno 1800 still getting updates? No new content has been announced. The four seasons are complete, and Ubisoft moved on to Anno 117: Pax Romana (13 November 2025).

Do I need all the DLC? No. The base game is complete. Land of Lions, The Passage and Seat of Power are good first picks for extra content.

Why is my population not upgrading? Check the house's missing needs (hover over it). Also check that the goods reach it, since the house must be within the Market and service radiuses.

Why are my factories stuck at low productivity? Missing inputs, missing workforce, or no road link to a warehouse. Hover over the factory for the reason.

How do I get more influence? Grow your population. Influence rises with your resident count and tiers.

What's the best first expansion? A second Old World island with fertile land and clay/iron, then the New World once you hit Artisans.

Sources

• Anno 1800 on Steam
• Anno 1800 Steam news
• Anno 1800 on Wikipedia
• Anno 117: Pax Romana on Steam