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''Anno 1701'', also marketed as ''1701 A.D.'', is a
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
and city building video game, part of the ''Anno'' series. It is developed by Related Designs and published by Sunflowers Interactive Entertainment Software. It revolves around building and maintaining an 18th-century colony in the "New World". With a budget of €10 million, it was the most expensive German game ever produced by 2006. It is the sequel to ''
Anno 1602 ''Anno 1602: Creation of a New World'', entitled ''1602 A.D.'' in North America, is a 1998 construction and management video game developed by Max Design and published by Sunflowers Interactive. Set in the early modern period, it requires the p ...
'' and ''
Anno 1503 ''Anno 1503: The New World'' (released as ''1503 A.D.: The New World'' in North America) is a 2002 construction and management simulation video game developed by Austrian developer Max Design and published by Sunflowers Interactive. Part of the ' ...
'' and was followed by ''
Anno 1404 ''Anno 1404'', known as ''Dawn of Discovery'' in North America, is a city-building and economic simulation game with real-time strategy elements, part of the ''Anno'' series. Released in 2009, it was developed by Related Designs, produced by ...
''.


Gameplay

''Anno 1701'', like the previous ''Anno'' games, is a game based mainly on the economics of the settlement created by the player. The more skilled a player is at maintaining a balanced economy the more successful their settlement will be. There are two main game modes in ''Anno 1701'': continuous play, representing an open-ended session, and ten scenarios with certain tasks, which gradually increase in level of difficulty. The continuous play offers free customization options for the start of the game. Similar to ''
Civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...
'' series, the players can decide on the size of the world in advance, determine the island types and toggle the advanced options such as "Disasters", "Plague", "Pirates", "Fire", and others. All twelve computer controlled opponents have their own personalities, preferences and difficulty levels. The player starts with an unnamed country that has to colonize and expand in the world. During those activities, other rivals are also strengthening. As the player progresses through the game, players have access to lodge activities and troops which allow them to invade and ultimately to defeat other players. Now, players are settling the island world in the queen's name. Thus, she expects subservience and respect. At some point, she will demand the tributes, giving an offer to pay gold coins, or being attacked by her royal fleet. Either option will eventually lead to independence. Different opponents have different relationships with the queen, and they will react according to the player's choices. The game is divided into five social stages: Pioneer, Settler, Citizen, Merchant, and Aristocrat. At the start of the game, all of a player's citizens are pioneers. They pay little amounts of taxes, and require only food and a town center. As a player's empire develops, so does their population. They begin upgrading (provided they have sufficient goods), paying more taxes, but also requiring more goods, such as tobacco products, perfume, lamp oil, and much more. It is crucial for a player to develop quickly, as not much profit is attained until reaching the merchant stage. Players can trade with other opponents settling under the Queen's name, or with foreign cultures. All foreign cultures are on small or medium islands, and cannot leave their island. Liang Wu and his Asians are found on islands in the north of the island world. They trade the colonial good Jade, and purchase food. Poxacoatl and his Aztecs live on islands in the southern zone, are few in number and believe in the infinite power of the gods. They trade the colonial goods Talismans, and purchase cloth and horses. Amin Sahir and his Indians have a small settlement on one of the islands in the southern end of the island world. Their Indian Ivory is a desirable colonial good. Tetonka and his Iroquois are situated in a dense forest on one of the islands in the northern zone of the island world. The Iroquois trade furs, and purchase tobacco products and weapons. Ramirez and his Pirates take refuge in expertly concealed hideouts in the southern zone of the island world. Due to their aggressive nature they take rich rewards from raids, therefore they can offer all colonial goods. The Free Trader, a neutral merchant who sails his fleet around the world to trade, can offer players opportunities to assist him in matters. The assignments are optional, but the reward is immense, and sometimes crucial to financial success. In some assignments, players have to deliver select goods, while in others, players have to destroy ships. Traveling dignitaries can now visit your city and enhance the quality and power of a player's empire. For example, when the smith arrives, he replenishes tool supplies. The entertainers can brighten the moods of the populace, leading to increased tax revenue. Guests of honor come at random times during each social stage of the game, and can also be called to visit once the senate is unlocked. Unlike the previous game in the series, the players can choose how much to tax their people. Low taxes are required for a social upgrade and please the people, while higher taxes lead to revolt and a lower population. The new goods available include chocolate, perfume, and colonial goods (Ivory, Jade, Talismans, Furs). Also, goods can now be purchased in a ''village center'', instead of at individual stands that had to be built individually in previous Anno games. Lodge activities are accessed at the beginning of the game, although only the spy is available for use. All the other lodge activities are researched throughout the game at either a school or a university. Some of the very powerful activities available to players include the deployment of the poisoner (who introduces the plague to an opponent's settlement) or the demagogue (who can rally workers to walk away from their jobs). Players are now subject to Mother Nature's wrath. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions all have the power to destroy settlements. Diseases are also rampant in the 1701 AD world, specifically the plague, which can wipe out hundreds, or even thousands, of people. The plague of rats can ruin tons of goods as well.


Development

In December 2003, a spin-off of the ''
Anno Anno may refer to: People *Anno of Saint Gall (died 954), Anti-Abbot of St. Gall *Anno II (Archbishop of Cologne) ( 1010–1075), Archbishop of Cologne from 1056 to 1075 * Anno (surname) * Anno Birkin (1980–2001), English musician *Hideaki Anno ...
'' franchise was announced under the title of ''Anno War''. Unlike previous entries in the series, it was developed by Mainz-based Related Designs, and the idea was to make the game more combat based. The team increased their number of employees from 10 to 25, with an active support from Sunflowers Interactive. The game was put on hold. Related Designs instead focused their efforts on a sequel to ''
Anno 1503 ''Anno 1503: The New World'' (released as ''1503 A.D.: The New World'' in North America) is a 2002 construction and management simulation video game developed by Austrian developer Max Design and published by Sunflowers Interactive. Part of the ' ...
''. The new installment was initially codenamed ''Anno 3''. Due to a dispute between Sunflowers and the developer of the first ''Anno'' games,
Max Design Max Design GesMBH was an Austrian video game developer based in Schladming, founded in 1991 by Wilfried Reiter Albert and Martin Lasser. The company is best known for creating the Anno (series), ''Anno'' series. The company was closed down in 2004 ...
, Related Designs was not able to access the program code for ''Anno 1503'', and thus had no technical basis. Therefore, the studio had to develop the new title from scratch. During the development, Anno's creator and one of the
Max Design Max Design GesMBH was an Austrian video game developer based in Schladming, founded in 1991 by Wilfried Reiter Albert and Martin Lasser. The company is best known for creating the Anno (series), ''Anno'' series. The company was closed down in 2004 ...
's founders, Wilfried Reiter, joined the team in an advisory capacity. In September 2004, a first prototype of the game was shown. The focus of the presentation was on the new
3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
, partly based on an earlier title of Related Designs, ''
No Man's Land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...
'', with which the game separated itself from its predecessors. The graphic artists were inspired by the architecture and art of medieval epochs, such as
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
or
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
. Sunflowers instructed all developers to play previous Anno games, and commissioned an "annolysis"; a survey spanning more than 5,000 players. The results were used to develop the game with the players and their wishes in mind, which prompted the return of the tax system, and introduced camera align and a look behind the buildings. On May 9, 2005, Sunflowers officially made the game's title as ''Anno 1701'' and released in late 2006. The game was presented along with ParaWorld on the Sunflowers' booth at E3 2006. In August, the release date was marked as October 26, 2006 for the Germany, while the game went gold in early October. A multi-core processors support was added to the engine's implementation to improve the efficiency. In addition, numerous shaders were built into the game in order to achieve a better performance on as many hardware configurations as possible. ''Anno 1701'' was the most expensive German game ever made at the time of its release, with a budget of €10 million.


Reception

''Anno 1701'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to the aggregate review site Metacritic.


Sales

As ''
Anno 1602 ''Anno 1602: Creation of a New World'', entitled ''1602 A.D.'' in North America, is a 1998 construction and management video game developed by Max Design and published by Sunflowers Interactive. Set in the early modern period, it requires the p ...
'' and ''
Anno 1503 ''Anno 1503: The New World'' (released as ''1503 A.D.: The New World'' in North America) is a 2002 construction and management simulation video game developed by Austrian developer Max Design and published by Sunflowers Interactive. Part of the ' ...
'' had been commercial hits, together totaling 4.5 million units sold worldwide, pre-release sales estimates for ''Anno 1701'' were high. Retailers purchased 450,000 units in Germany in preparation for the game's launch; worldwide pre-orders from stores reached roughly 1 million copies. According to ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', the game and its predecessors were aimed at mainstream casual players who "buy a game once a year and spend weeks with it", a goal reflected in the new title's pre-release television advertising. Publisher Sunflowers Interactive noted a high percentage of female players among the ''Anno'' series' fanbase, and they were a target demographic for ''Anno 1701''. Upon release, ''Anno 1701'' broke sales records to become the fastest-selling German computer game ever, with more than 200,000 units sold in German-speaking countries during its debut two weeks. In response, Sunflowers forecast 500,000 sales by the end of 2006. It ultimately finished the year with sales of 320,000 copies in the German market alone, for revenues of €12.7 million. This placed it second for 2006, behind ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azer ...
'' at 345,000 units.


''The Sunken Dragon''

In March 2007,
Sunflowers ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...
released an add-on called ''Anno 1701: The Sunken Dragon''. It includes new features, new missions, and a
map editor In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...
. The add-on has an Asiatic look, as well as a campaign with 11 missions centered on the new player profiles.Anno 1701: Der Fluch des Drachen , Teaser Webseite , Ubisoft
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References


External links

* {{Authority control 2006 video games City-building games Real-time strategy video games Video games developed in Germany Video games set in the 18th century Video games with expansion packs Windows games Windows-only games Anno (series) Age of Discovery video games Deep Silver games Multiplayer and single-player video games