v1.03, 2 November 2003
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~_ || /.// '|_|' /_// _~ * Anno 1503
~_ |/ \_/ \_/ \_/ _~ * 1503 A.D.
~____________________________________~ * The New World
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Anno 1503/1503 AD - The New World
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ/Strategy Guide)
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CONTENTS
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1. Preface
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- 1.1 Notes
- 1.2 Credits and Legal
- 1.3 Version
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2. Introduction
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- 2.1 What is Anno 1503? What is 1503 AD?
- 2.2 Who developed the game?
- 2.3 What are the minimum requirements?
- 2.4 What has changed since Anno 1602?
- 2.5 Where can I download patches and demos?
- 2.6 What about the mobile phone game?
- 2.7 Is there an expansion pack?
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3. Gameplay
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3.1 Important Concepts
- 3.1.1 How do I explore?
- 3.1.2 How do I gain territory?
- 3.1.3 What are civilization levels?
- 3.1.4 How do I make money?
- 3.1.5 What operating costs are there?
- 3.1.6 How does the balance sheet work?
- 3.1.7 How do service areas work?
- 3.1.8 What is the significance of road access?
- 3.1.8 How does production occur?
- 3.1.10 Why should I colonize new islands and how?
3.2 Setup and Interface
- 3.2.1 What do the symbols, names and levels on the initial player menu mean?
- 3.2.2 How do I enable pirates?
- 3.2.3 Can you play as native races or pirates?
- 3.2.4 Can other players be made less aggressive?
- 3.2.5 Are the endless play mode maps random?
- 3.2.6 What are the differences between 'endless' level difficulties?
- 3.2.7 Which way is north?
- 3.2.8 Can I see the current objectives in-game?
- 3.2.9 Can I hide trees or buildings from view?
- 3.2.10 What can hotkeys be assigned to?
- 3.2.11 Is there a list of short-cut keys?
- 3.2.12 How does scoring work?
3.3 Climate and Resources
- 3.3.1 How many different climate zones are there?
- 3.3.2 What characterises each climate zone? Where can I find certain
resources?
- 3.3.3 How do I determine resources?
- 3.3.4 Why, after exploring, do no crop types show for the island?
- 3.3.5 How do you find other players and natives?
- 3.3.6 Where do I get Tools from?
- 3.3.7 How do I build and operate Quarries and Mines?
- 3.3.8 Do mines run out?
- 3.3.9 Can I turn Gold into coins?
- 3.3.10 Is Wine the same as Alcohol?
- 3.3.11 Where can I grow Hemp?
- 3.3.12 Can I change what type of trees I plant?
- 3.3.13 Do volcanoes erupt?
3.4 Roads and Storage
- 3.4.1 Is road access needed?
- 3.4.2 Are cobbled roads faster than dirt roads? What is the benefit of
Marketplace squares?
- 3.4.3 Do buildings have to face onto a street?
- 3.4.4 How do I build bridges?
- 3.4.5 How do I build roads along hills and mountainsides?
- 3.4.6 Can I have more than one Warehouse on the same island?
- 3.4.7 How do I increase the storage capacity on an island?
- 3.4.8 Why can't I build a warehouse?
- 3.4.9 What is the operating cost of Market Places and Warehouses?
- 3.4.10 Can I start an endless game without the first Warehouse placed?
3.5 Colony Buildings
- 3.5.1 How do can I build a ...? Why is a building 'greyed out' on the
construction menu?
- 3.5.2 What do wells do?
- 3.5.3 How do I determine what Small Farms grow?
- 3.5.4 Why doesn't my Whaler work?
- 3.5.5 Where should I build Fur Trappers?
- 3.5.6 What is the significance of sales stands' service areas?
- 3.5.7 Is the Tavern's service area important?
- 3.5.8 Do Churches replace Chapels? Universities replace Schools?
- 3.5.9 What are Gallows and Courthouses for?
- 3.5.10 What does the Pavilion's service area need to cover? What's a park?
- 3.5.11 What do Doctors do?
- 3.5.12 Where are the sewers?
- 3.5.13 Can I change the design of houses?
- 3.5.14 What rewards and statues are there? How do I get them?
- 3.5.15 Do I need ornaments? What do they do?
3.6 Colony Development and Events
- 3.6.1 What causes bankruptcy?
- 3.6.2 How do I delete buildings, roads and trees?
- 3.6.3 Is there a limit to the number of people on each island?
- 3.6.4 How do you stop your population using building materials?
- 3.6.5 Why don't Merchants upgrade to Aristocrats?
- 3.6.6 When I downgrade civilization levels, why am I told goods that are not
needed anymore are in shortage?
- 3.6.7 Why do my houses decay?
- 3.6.8 Occasionally my people die whilst walking around my city. What's
wrong?
- 3.6.9 What can I do about fires?
- 3.6.10 Can I prevent the Plague?
- 3.6.11 Can I change the prices my stalls sell things for?
- 3.6.12 Are people needed to work in buildings? Do I need houses on
production islands?
- 3.6.13 How much of ... will my population need?
- 3.6.14 What do the question marks over buildings mean?
- 3.6.15 What do the coloured bars that appear above farms during building
mean?
- 3.6.16 What does the "you founded an ancient graveyard" message mean?
- 3.6.17 What is the benefit of finding treasure?
3.7 Research
- 3.7.1 How do you research?
- 3.7.2 How do I research above a certain level of knowledge points?
- 3.7.3 Why can't I build cannon after researching them?
3.8 Trade and Diplomacy
- 3.8.1 How does external trade work?
- 3.8.2 Can I trade without being fired on or starting a war?
- 3.8.3 Where are the Venetians?
- 3.8.4 What do Venetians sell?
- 3.8.5 Why does my automatic trade route fail when I transport more than one
item?
- 3.8.6 Can I set my automatic trade route to wait for a full load?
- 3.8.7 Can I edit automatic trade route paths?
- 3.8.8 How do I demand tribute from other players?
- 3.8.9 What is a moratorium?
- 3.8.10 Do trade agreements cover player empires or specific cities?
- 3.8.11 How does the trade slider work? How do you set prices and volumes?
3.9 Pirates and Natives
- 3.9.1 What do native curses do?
- 3.9.2 How do I trade with natives on another island?
- 3.9.3 Do all native cultures appear in every game?
- 3.9.4 What do natives buy and sell?
- 3.9.5 How aggressive are natives? Can I ally with them? How do I attack?
- 3.9.6 Where do pirates come from?
3.10 Ships
- 3.10.1 What is the capacity of ships?
- 3.10.2 Why is my ship sold each time I build a new one?
- 3.10.3 How can I build ship cannons?
- 3.10.4 Where can I load cannon on my ships? How do I arm ships?
- 3.10.5 Why can I not repair a ship?
- 3.10.6 When should I repair ships?
- 3.10.7 Why does nobody buy my ship?
- 3.10.8 How does the white flag work?
- 3.10.9 My ship got stuck on land. Why?
- 3.10.10 Why don't my ships stay in formation? Can I order ships to protect
other ships?
3.11 Military Units
- 3.11.1 Are there limits on the number of units I may have?
- 3.11.2 What do the yellow stars and numbers above troops mean?
- 3.11.3 Can waypoints be set for scouts and other units?
- 3.11.4 Can units be set to patrol?
- 3.11.5 Can I select certain unit types from a group of units?
- 3.11.6 How do I retire units?
- 3.11.7 How do I heal injured units?
- 3.11.8 Can I capture enemy units?
- 3.11.9 What units can attack buildings?
- 3.11.10 What is the difference between ship and land cannon?
- 3.11.11 My scout/soldier got lost/stuck/disappeared/abandoned his mule/will
not come down from the mountain/has taken up scuba diving. What can I do?
- 3.11.12 Why don't my troops go up onto the walls?
- 3.11.13 How do I add/remove units from my towers?
3.12 Combat
- 3.12.1 How do I capture an enemy settlement?
- 3.12.2 Can I steal from the enemy's warehouse?
- 3.12.3 Do cannon towers fire?
- 3.12.4 Can I unload multiple units from ships at once?
- 3.12.5 Can I accidentally kill my own units in friendly fire during battles?
- 3.12.6 Must I assign specific targets for my troops?
- 3.12.7 Can I attack trees?
3.13 Multiplayer
- 3.13.1 Multiplayer?
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4. Campaigns and Scenarios
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4.1 Tutorials
- 4.1.1 Discovery and Settlement
- 4.1.2 Trade and Diplomacy
- 4.1.3 Combat Training
- 4.1.4 What now?
4.2 Campaign
4.2.1 Nova Fora
- 4.2.1.1 Introduction
- 4.2.1.2 Map
- 4.2.1.3 Objective: Found a city with 250+ Settlers
- 4.2.1.4 Why can't I settle an island?
- 4.2.1.5 Objective: Find Katherine von Breitenstein and return her to your
city
- 4.2.1.6 I lost Katherine von Breitenstein after rescuing here. Is that a
problem?
- 4.2.1.7 Objective: Find Mongols and trade 20t Salt
- 4.2.1.8 Why can I not find the Mongols with my ship?
- 4.2.1.9 Objective: Equip a fleet with 4 Archers, 4 Swordsmen, Scout, 50t
Wood, 100t Tools, 50t Food, and sail west
- 4.2.1.10 Suggested fleet
- 4.2.1.11 Why can't I train Archers and Swordsmen at my Fortress? How do I
get weapons?
- 4.2.1.12 Where is "Westward"? How do I finish?
4.2.2 Barbarrossas' Throne
- 4.2.2.1 Introduction
- 4.2.2.2 Map
- 4.2.2.3 Can I restart the mission from the menu?
- 4.2.2.4 Objectives: Build Citizen level city; Sell 25t Iron to Covana
- 4.2.2.5 Island choice
- 4.2.2.6 My Wood is in one ship and my Tools in another ship. How do I build
my first warehouse?
- 4.2.2.7 How do I stop Ramirez destroying my fleet?
- 4.2.2.8 How do I get Merchants and Aristocrats? Where is the Marble?
- 4.2.2.9 I accidentally insulted or attacked Covana, and now he will not
trade with me. What can I do?
- 4.2.2.10 Objectives: Covana's city must not be destroyed; Destroy both of
Ramirez's main cities
- 4.2.2.11 Naval strategy
- 4.2.2.12 Invasion strategy
4.2.3 Helter-Skelter
- 4.2.3.1 Introduction
- 4.2.3.2 Map
- 4.2.3.3 Objective: Positive balance sheet and at least 100 Citizens
- 4.2.3.4 Colony redesign strategy
- 4.2.3.5 Total demolition strategy
- 4.2.3.6 Objective: Get 20t Furs and 20t Medicinal Herbs and sail north with
them
- 4.2.3.7 Why can't I get the Scout to leave the city?
- 4.2.3.8 Why don't the Mongols sell me enough Furs?
4.2.4 Infernal Triad
- 4.2.4.1 Introduction
- 4.2.4.2 Map
- 4.2.4.3 Strategy overview
- 4.2.4.4 Objective: Hire O'Reilly
- 4.2.4.5 Objective: Hire Madrugada
- 4.2.4.6 Objective: Destroy Peles' fortress
- 4.2.4.7 Why does the mission not finish?
4.2.5 Pack-Ice
- 4.2.5.1 Introduction
- 4.2.5.2 Strategy overview
- 4.2.5.3 Objective: Fill your colony's warehouse with Food
- 4.2.5.4 Why can I not trade for enough Food?
- 4.2.5.5 Objective: Expand Ulfilla to population 80, build a ship
- 4.2.5.6 Objective: Trade 25t of Medicinal Herbs for Whale Blubber
4.2.6 Toguldur's Stone
- 4.2.6.1 Introduction
- 4.2.6.2 Objective: Find and claim Stone of Toguldur
- 4.2.6.3 Must I destroy the Mongols? How?
4.2.7 New Acquaintances
- 4.2.7.1 Introduction
- 4.2.7.2 Map
- 4.2.7.3 Objective: Destroy Galerius's colonies
- 4.2.7.4 Defeating invaders
- 4.2.7.5 Economy strategies
- 4.2.7.6 Immediate counter-attack strategy
- 4.2.7.7 Defeating Galerius
4.2.8 Resistance
- 4.2.8.1 Introduction
- 4.2.8.2 Objective: Conquer fortress and free bookkeeper
- 4.2.8.3 How do I capture the Fortress? Why do I fail the mission after
destroying the city?
4.2.9 Genesis
- 4.2.9.1 Introduction
- 4.2.9.2 Map
- 4.2.9.3 Objective: Build 700 Citizen city
- 4.2.9.4 Objective: Trade 20t Medicinal Herbs to Native Americans
- 4.2.9.5 Objective: Destroy all houses on the Isle of the Dead
- 4.2.9.6 Single-ship strategy
4.2.10 Revenge
- 4.2.10.1 Introduction
- 4.2.10.2 Map
- 4.2.10.3 Objective: Defeat de Freeren and destroy his city
4.2.11 Quentin's Reef
- 4.2.11.1 Introduction
- 4.2.11.2 Map
- 4.2.11.3 Objective: Prevent de Freeren's flagship from escaping and save
Katherine
- 4.2.11.4 Why does de Freeren's ship keep escaping?
4.2.12 Justice
- 4.2.12.1 Introduction
- 4.2.12.2 Map
- 4.2.12.3 Objective: Destroy von Breitenstein's palace
4.2.13 Good or Bad
- 4.2.13.1 Introduction
- 4.2.13.2 Map
- 4.2.13.3 Objective: Find the treasure
- 4.2.13.4 To be continued...
4.3 Scenarios
4.3.1 Hobson's Choice
- 4.3.1.1 Introduction
- 4.3.1.2 Map
- 4.3.1.3 Strategy overview
4.3.2 Ruthless Richard
- 4.3.2.1 Introduction
- 4.3.2.2 Map
- 4.3.2.3 Strategy overview
4.3.3 Friendly Neighbors
- 4.3.3.1 Introduction
- 4.3.3.2 Map
- 4.3.3.3 Strategy overview
4.3.4 The Bet
- 4.3.4.1 Introduction
- 4.3.4.2 Map
- 4.3.4.3 Strategy overview
4.3.5 Playing for Time
- 4.3.5.1 Introduction
- 4.3.5.2 Map
- 4.3.5.3 Strategy overview
- 4.3.5.4 Objective: Build 200 Pioneer settlement within 30 minutes
- 4.3.5.5 Objective: Build 350 Settler town within 30 minutes
- 4.3.5.6 Objective: Build 600 Citizen city within 80 minutes
- 4.3.5.7 Objective: Build 900 Merchant city within 80 minutes
4.3.6 Settlement Recipe
- 4.3.6.1 Introduction
- 4.3.6.2 Map
- 4.3.6.3 Strategy overview
4.3.7 The King of Ore
- 4.3.7.1 Introduction
- 4.3.7.2 Map
- 4.3.7.3 What does the objective mean? Must I mine Ore on 6 islands?
- 4.3.7.4 Strategy overview
- 4.3.7.5 How do I stock 170t - my warehouse only holds 50t?
4.3.8 Many Small Islands
- 4.3.8.1 Introduction
- 4.3.8.2 Map
- 4.3.8.3 Strategy overview
4.3.9 Negative Influence
- 4.3.9.1 Introduction
- 4.3.9.2 Map
- 4.3.9.3 Strategy overview
4.3.10 Siege
- 4.3.10.1 Introduction
- 4.3.10.2 Battle Map
- 4.3.10.3 Strategy overview
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5. Strategies
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5.1 Getting Started
- 5.1.1 Common mistakes
- 5.1.2 Initial colony building
- 5.1.3 Settlers
5.2 Colony Planning and Building
- 5.2.1 Island Choice
- 5.2.2 Colony territory
- 5.2.3 City design
- 5.2.4 Aristocrat cities
5.3 Industry Planning and Building
- 5.3.1 General industry/farm design strategies
- 5.3.2 Food production
- 5.3.3 Salt
- 5.3.4 Iron related production
- 5.3.5 Stone and Marble
- 5.3.6 Alcohol
- 5.3.7 Cloth
5.4 Colony Management and Research
- 5.4.1 General strategies
- 5.4.2 Balancing demands and development
- 5.4.3 Research
- 5.4.4 Automatic trade routes
5.5 Trade and Diplomacy
- 5.5.1 Mechanics of trade
- 5.5.2 Benefits of trade
- 5.5.3 Diplomacy
5.6 Pirates and Natives
- 5.6.1 Pirates
- 5.6.2 Natives
5.7 Military
- 5.7.1 AI players' troops are stupid
- 5.7.2 Ground unit choice
- 5.7.3 War preparation
- 5.7.4 Defense
- 5.7.5 Naval
- 5.7.6 Economic warfare
- 5.7.7 Invasions
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6. Cheating
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- 6.1 What are the cheat codes?
- 6.2 How do I edit a game?
- 6.3 Are there any trainers?
- 6.4 Can I skip campaign scenarios without completing them?
- 6.5 Are there other gameplay 'cheats'?
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7. Custom Scenarios
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- 7.1 Is there a campaign or scenario editor?
- 7.2 How do I install scenarios?
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8. Technical Issues
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- 8.1 How many bugs are there?
- 8.2 How do I take a screenshot?
- 8.3 Can I stop the statue video playing?
- 8.4 Can I play without the CD?
- 8.5 Why aren't sounds played at non-normal game speed?
- 8.6 Can I turn auto-save off?
- 8.7 Can I play save-games from other language versions?
- 8.8 Can I copy or rename save games?
- 8.9 Why don't the Moors have music?
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Appendices
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A. Building and Industry Data
B. Production Links
C. Production Efficiency
D. Military and Ship Data
E. Research Trees
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1. PREFACE
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1.1 Notes
This FAQ/guide should be applicable to all full versions of the Anno 1503,
including 1503 AD. It does not cover the mobile phone version - see What about
the mobile phone game? below. As released, the game contains many odd or
missing design features, which *may* be changed by future patches. Some could
radically change how the game is played - such as pirates becoming more of a
threat, Courthouses needing to be added to city designs, or ore deposits
running out. Consequently, you should use this guide with caution.
The game is not documented well, particularly when one considers the overall
level of complexity and steep learning curve for new players. Jochen Bauer,
one of the game's producers, wrote at the end of 2001: "Contrary to anything
you might have heard there will be a comprehensive handbook." Well, in my
opinion, the manual is just about sufficient to get you through the tutorial
before leaving you puzzled, while the in-game help is hard to digest. Although
not all versions have the same manual, as Vander comments: "The German manual
is a coloured 80 page manual. And there is a poster with the product chains
and a poster of ship on the box." I have a 44 page manual in greyscale with no
posters... Frieden adds: "The German manual contains special hints for 1602-
gamers only." I cannot find those either :-/ .
At the time of writing there are no known published strategy guides in
English, although there are two in German: an official one published by Future
Press, and an unofficial one by Katja Ti, published by X-Games. Neither has
been used directly in the creation of this FAQ.
Finally, consider the inscription on the upgraded school building in the game
(thanks to Renaud for pointing it out): "Non scholae sed vitae discimus",
which roughly translates from Latin as "not school but life we learn". It
occured to me that this is quite close to one of the underlying design
philosophies in 1503 - not to teach players how to play, but to let them learn
by playing. Some will find such an approach enjoyable; others will find it
excessively frustrating. Maybe this FAQ/guide will help those in the later
category get more out of the game.
Rest of FAQ is attached, please download...
