Anno Fans - Anno 1503: General Gameplay

Anno 1503 contains many interactive controls and sources of information. Learn to use them to your advantage.

Tutorials
The tutorials will help you get started.

Discovery & Settlement	Turn a desolate island into a bustling community
Trade & Diplomacy	Sell your surplus materials and buy desirable goods from other settlements
Combat Training	Put soldiers, warships and war machines through their paces

To start the first tutorial:
1. Click NEW GAME in the singleplayer menu
2. Select DISCOVERY & SETTLEMENT in the tutorial section and click OK
3. Select your city's pennant colour. The tutorial begins.

Game Screen

The game screen is far more than a simple display of your settlement. It is a complex and ever-changing tool for gathering information and interacting with the game.

Overview Map
View the world or zoom in on faraway lands.
To view a distant island, click on its image on the Overview Map.
To zoom in on the overview map, click the + and - buttons above the overview map.
To view the island from different angles, click the left and right arrows below the overview map.

Construction Menu
The construction menu is your key to constructing and expanding a settlement. With it you can build anything from a potato field to a fortress.

To Build a building
In the construction menu, click the icon of the building you wish to create. Your cursor becomes an image of the selected building.

Move your mouse to find a suitable location for the building.
Make sure you have enough money, tools and building materials to complete construction. Your total stockpile of money, tools and building materials appears on the left of the information bar. The selected building's requirements appear below the stockpile totals in blue. If you are lacking a required item these lower numbers blink red.

Use the fertility indicator, which appears above certain building images, to determin how well the building might function in a given location.

Make sure the building entrance is aligned with a street ir its items cannot be transported to a storage area. Green arrows radiating from the building on the information box indicate building entrances. To automatically align a building with an existing street during construction, press and hold CTRL.

Vlick the location you've chosen on the game screen to place the building.

To demolish a building, click the DEMOLISH icon in the construction menu, then click on the structure you wish to demolish.
If there are any enemy units nearby, no buildings can be constructed or demolished.

Player Menu

Interact with the other players, cities and ships using the Player Menu.

Player Info	View your balance sheet and other basic player information.
Diplomacy status	Make treaties, military alliances, trade alliances, tribute demands and declerations of war.
List of cities	View all cities you currently control.
List of ships	View all ships you currently control.

Info Mode

the info mode serves as a general-purpose interactive window for everything from ships to fortresses to roadside stands. Click on a ship and the info mode becomes the ship menu, revealing information about the ship and many interactive options for controlling it. similarly, any building you click on will display current information and production options in the info mode.

In Game Options Menu

You can save or load games and adjust several options from this menu.

To save a game, click the SAVE GAME tab. Select an existing game, or enter the name of a new game and press ENTER, then click the SAVE GAME icon. Your game is saved.

To load a game, click the LOAD GAME tab. Select the game you would like to load then click the LOAD icon. Your game is loaded.

To adjust sound options, click the MUSIC or SPEECH tabs to adjust the corresponding sounds. Turn sounds on or off by clicking the checkmark, and adjust the sound volume by dragging the slider.

Help

During gameplay, click on the Help icon to access details on any game topic.

To search help for a specific topic, click the INDEX tab and enter the topic. Select the topic heading from the resulting list.

Active Help

Active help icons appear on the left side of the game screen with suggestions and information pertinent to your game.

To see a text description of the game event that needs attention, click the active help icon. Doing so also centres your game screen on the location of the relevant event.

You receive help until the end of the second civilisation level is reached.

Icon Tiles
To display the text of a pictoral icon, move your mouse over the icon.

Information Bar

The information bar displays information pertinent to your current situation. As you select a menu item or draw near to an island, relevant information appears automatically in icon form.