Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery)

[Venitius]

Well it's been out for a few weeks or so, what do you think of it (if you have it/the demo...)?

 

[drdoom151]

Yesterday I bought the game, and I played it for 6 hours straight. It's unbelievably addicitive and fun. A bit too detailed for me because it's typically Anno... when you have the 3rd stage (Patricians) you have to buy stuff from everywhere and need atleast 5 trade routes. The campaign is alot of fun though.

Sum up: Great game for some time

 

[Venitius]

The AI in Continuous is far to expansionistic in my view. Currently I'm trying to build a trading empire on easy with Md'A and I've got a city of around 800-900 patricians, 5 settlements and loads of trade routes. I've been forced to use warships and my flagship as emergency traders, not to mention that I've only got 10K gold left. The Campaign is fun too.

 

[drdoom151]

Sounds great have you got an Oriental settlement yet? Those are alot of fun in my oppinion.
Also, how do you manage to have a good overview of everything? How do you start off? do you build 1 settlement and wait till you got a decent city or do you build 3 settlements straight away to take some island that the AI can not take then.
I hate the advisor that the human player has. Lord Richard bla bla... his goods are so expensive!!

 

[Venitius]

Got 2 Orientals as trading-posts. I occupy 2 islands (as I use the non-default gold) by buying from Lord Richard "I'm the Privy Seal & Treasurer so my goods are expensive and random" Northbrough and set up 1 settlement as my capital, placing all my civilian stuff there, while the other is the powerhouse. Late game, I occupy other islands as trading posts or powerhouses.

Note on my terminology:
Powerhouse: Focuses entirely on resource gathering, no housing.
Trading Post: Basically a minor version of my capital, but focuses on trade.

 

[drdoom151]

Smart... smart... Gonna try that too
What's your main income anyways? Trading or tax? And do you have any army?
What do the items do that you can purchase? Like the small market stand. is it decoration or also for income.

Pretty noobish, I know

 

[Venitius]

No idea, I've only got 160 gems. My main income is tax, supported by trade. No standing army/navy (except 1 small battleship & flagship) due to:
a) Cannot afford.
b) No corsairs, and the other player's an ally.

Shame there are no cheats to get me out of a tight spot.
Who do you think is the most annoying NPC (excluding the leaders of the Free Ports and Neutral Settlements)?

 

[drdoom151]

What's so wrong about Al-Zahir?

Well the most annoying one is for certair Guy Forecas... He's such an arrogant fool.
And the one after him would  be Leif Jorgenson because of his endless poetries and his annoying 8-year old voice.

 

[Venitius]

Indeed, Forcas & Jorgenson are really annoying. (how on Earth did Leif become the leader of a faction with his endless poetry and not get deposed?). I actually agree with Northbrough: "That Guy Forcas is really obnoxious.....". I didn't vote for al-Zahir...

 

[Palos]

Off-topic: I've only played Anno 1503, is this sequel better than that one? 

 

[Venitius]

Well the military is simpler, and the graphics are better. There's a sandbox mode, and no cheats.

 

[Palos]

Heard it has a nasty DRM (only three installs allowed?), what the hell were they thinking?

 

[Venitius]

Yeah, it has that. Apparently it's meant for security.

 

[Palos]

Without a doubt the dumbest decision when it comes to sales, it feels like you've just bought a demo worth 40 euros. Everybody interested in this game is criticizing the aspect, which means Ubisoft can say goodbye to high revenues from this title, after ruining a high-selling franchise.

 

[Venitius]

The campaign can get ridiculously long.

 

[Elenmmare]

The Expansion Pack, Venice has been released. This now has multiplayer. Looks pretty exciting.

(Yes, this happened about a month ago but I just found out)