My first (beloved) computer game ANNO...
First of all, I must to admit that I have a huge soft spot for ANNO 1602. It was my very first PC game I bought in my life, turned out to be a perfect choice.
It,s a colonisation game. You have to choose the right island to start. And your choice matters. The biggest island on the map will be always most tempting, but remember - inconvenient placed mountains and rivers, fertility of crop, even jagged coastline could be really challenging, when you develop your small settlement into the most flourishing town of the archipelago. In return, smaller islands are usually very fertile, have more often iron ore or gold deposits,
This is a city builder too. Ok, maybe not SimCity, but still more than enough to be a match for Pharaoh , Zeus "Master of Olympus" or Ceasar 3.
But maybe this, which I like most in ANNO 1602, it's the mercantile system. With a handful of commodities and goods, it's simple & complex at the same time. You need to balance imports, exports, production, to achieve a constant trade surplus. Fortunately, when you are below the line, you can always count on the free traders, these cheapskates and swindlers ... . Oh, did I mention that I have been studing economics, back in the days? :)
In ANNO 1602, a cordial peace is generously rewarded. Because a trade with AI players is much more profitable than with the free traders. During the war, you're killing your best buyers. And a dead buyer is a buyer, who can't buy anymore! But, from time to time, you have (especially in some specific scenarios during the campaign) to crush your opponent and wipe him out.
I strongly recommend to go through the campaign first. The scenarios are well designed, gradually adding new features and increasing the level of difficulty. Really great!
And at the end, I humbly beg You : please please please play GERMAN version, cause its soundtrack and messages for the player are so climatic, unique and ... funny, especially if you are NOT german native speaker ;)