Anno 1701 A.D.

For those who know the Tropico series, this is like a less complicated (not less deep) version of them, set in around the time period of the title. You start a game in an archipelago which contains X number of islands and usually have AI players too, controlling their own little "empire". There is a completely neutral trader who provides with goods all the players, for a price. There are mini missions/quests (bring me X amount of X good and you get a bonus), not needed to do them, but they can be very profitable. There are shipwrecks (goody huts) around the world which if you find and get with one of your ships you can earn a variety of goods/money/etc. You develop your colony on your starting island of choice, more or less as you do in the beginning of a game of Colonization, only that the island you land on is yours and yours alone, unless of course down the line someone invades you. You colony is made of your people and the buildings you construct. From places to live to farms, woodcutter huts, to other far more complicated structures. You try to provide whatever the people require, for starters food, then churches, specific goods, luxuries etc. When you manage to reach certain level of satisfaction (and any necessary goods to go with), your colony advances level, which allows your citizens to advance and become more profitable through taxes, but also more demanding. Advancing your colony provides access to more complicated structures and lines of production. Which provide specific goods, which help with making life easier and more profitable for you. At the same time you get access to better military units, which can be used to defend or attack others. No island is fully self sufficient, even if it lacks something which you don't need right now. You can trade with the free trader or any AI player. You can set auto trade routes or manually give orders (not advised) It's a beautiful deep fun strategy game which is hard to the newbie, but worth learning.

I have Mint 17.2 Cinnamon and this game works great with the latest Wine 1.7.49. So glad to have it DRM free. I used to spend hours playing this game.

If you loved Anno1404 AKA Dawn of Discovery for a number of reasons, great graphics, interesting combat, smooth gameplay, but couldn't stand the idea of switching between too factions, 1701 is the perfect balance. In 1701 you won't be required to manage the Orient and the Occident, instead you can rest easy, and manage your own colony. The resource management is a little different, utilizing the radius more than 1404 and 2070, but you'll get over it. I recommend this game is your a fan of the previous or newer Anno games. I'm actually a player from 2070 ,1404, and 1503.

I got into the Anno games within the past year or two. I started with 1404, then did 2070, and then 2205. I picked up 1701 in a GOG sale a while back and it sat there a bit. I think I assumed it would be a step down as it was released before the other Anno games I had tried. I finally started up 1701 recently, and I was quite surprised by how much I have enjoyed it. I am enjoying working through each of the missions while coming back to a continuous game I have going separately. Compared to the later Anno games (which I played first), I actually like that some of the resource chain process in 1701 is a little less complex. Of course, this is still an Anno game, so it is not simple by any means, but I have found 1701 a bit more relaxing to play. I enjoy the research tree element, which seems a bit more straightforward than iterations in the later Anno games. I also appreciate not having to manage the additional layer of occident / orient from 1404. I was not expecting much from the graphics given that this game is over 10 years old now, but with everything turned up to the max settings it is actually quite lovely. Final note: if you manage your GOG library through Galaxy without shortcuts on your desktop for each game (like I do), make sure you check the pulldown menu for Anno 1701 for the included expansion, "Sunken Dragon". I have not started the expansion yet, but it launches as a separate game and includes further missions and a campaign I am looking forward to trying.