To generate more money in Anno 117: Pax Romana, the first thing you need is people — but there’s more to it than that. Losing money, also known as “denarii,” is quite normal at the start of a new game, but you’ve got to turn the financial tide as soon as possible; if you don’t provide the right needs for your citizens, or overlook your buildings’ area effects, even a seemingly thriving town can run a negative balance.
From a basic economy setup to trading tips, here’s how to get money in Anno 117: Pax Romana.
How to make money in Anno 117: Pax Romana
Before you try to increase your income in Anno 117, it’s important to understand how money works. Most buildings in Anno 117 don’t actually require any money to be placed; instead, you only need a certain amount of resources (timber, in early-game) to complete the construction.
However, almost every production, military, and service building has a maintenance cost: bakeries, barracks, shipyards, warehouses, and pig farms all require constant upkeep. If you click on such a building, you can see the upkeep requirements in the pop-up panel. The cost can vary greatly, but as a rule of thumb, more luxurious end products tend to cost more. For example, the upkeep of an olive press is 16 denarii, while the upkeep of an oat farm is only four denarii.
But if every production-type building costs money, how do you pay for them? That’s where the citizens come in: residential buildings are the main source of income in Anno 117. The people who live there will automatically generate money, but only if they receive an income buff from nearby goods and services. Beware that not all goods and services generate income; some will generate knowledge, happiness, or population growth, for example.
How to generate income on a new island in Anno 117: Pax Romana
Be careful; it’s entirely possible to create a fledgling town in Anno 117 that only costs money and generates none. The town pictured below, for example, is quickly depleting its coffers because it has fulfilled its citizens’ “food” requirement through the oat farm and a porridge stand — nothing wrong with that, but a porridge stand only generates +2 population growth. All this player needs to do to start making money is place a fishing hut, which not only generates +1 population, but also +1 income.
A good next step would then be to add a market, which also adds +1 income and +1 population, and fulfills the “public service” need, but beware that such buildings usually have a limited range of service. As you can see in the picture below, only the residential houses on the right side of town fall within the market’s area of effect and will generate +1 income.
It’s usually best to place buildings with area effects in the middle of a town, but in this example, the player might also consider adding a second marketplace to buff the remaining residential buildings — but beware that buffs from the same building don’t stack, so placing two markets right next to each other would be a waste of maintenance money.
How to check your finances in Anno 117: Pax Romana
Once you’ve taken the steps mentioned above, your negative financial balance will soon transform into a positive one, but it’s important to keep an eye on it throughout the game. To quickly check how your empire is faring financially, hover over the “balance” tab at the top of the screen, the second from the left. If the balance is negative, be sure to get additional income buffs or remove high-maintenance buildings.
The “island income” tab on the right side of the player icon will show you where the money is coming from, but it’s best to check the more detailed “governance – income” menu by clicking on the player icon. This menu will tell you exactly which buildings are generating you a lot of money and which ones aren’t.
Finally, it can be incredibly useful to check a residence’s active effects. To do so, select a residence and click on the arrow below their character portrait, which we’ve shown in the image below. The building’s total income is shown at the bottom, and you can see the source of every buff by hovering over each needs and attributes icons.
How to maximize profits in Anno 117: Pax Romana
Once you’ve got a thriving, albeit tiny, economy, there are a few more things you can do to maximize profit.
Deploy specialists
Once you’ve built your first villas, including the Governor Villa and Officium, you can place Specialists in a governance building’s equipment slots. This will activate the Specialists’ bonuses within a certain radius around that building.
Specialists can be obtained from quests and bought from traders. To turn them into money-making machines, find the ones that boost income or reduce maintenance costs, and be sure to place them in a governance building right in the middle of a town.
Research new ways to generate income
Some research projects can greatly boost your income. If you have a bunch of fishing huts, for example, you can research the “Fish Markets” node in the economic part of the research tree, which will improve the fishing huts’ income effect by +3.
Sometimes, research nodes can boost your Anno 117 income indirectly. “Market Forces,” one of the first nodes on the civic research tree, boosts the effect range of markets by 25%. Since markets generate +1 income on buildings within range, expanding that range is an amazing way to get more coin.
Sell the surplus
Producing more goods than your citizens need? That’s great, because that means you can sell them to traders. There are various ways to sell surplus goods in Anno 117:
- Automatically sell your surplus to trading partners —Click on the Trading Post (the first harbor building in every new settlement) and select the product you wish to sell. Next, click the “sell” button and drag the “minimum stock” bar to the right. Every item above that threshold is up for sale, and trade partners will automatically buy them over time.
- Complete contracts —Every leader or representative of the emperor can provide randomized contracts. These are one-time opportunities to make some extra money. For example, another leader can ask for 25 garum, which will easily net a few thousand denarii. To find contracts, click on the lighthouse building in the rival leader’s harbor.
- Set up trade routes — If you have at least one ship and trade partner, open the trade routes menu in the left side bar and select two islands (yours and the trade partner’s) to set up a route. In the example below, sardines are loaded on Capua Nova and sold to Villa Augusta.
More tips to generate income in Anno 117: Pax Romana
As you further expand your thriving economy in Anno 117, keep the following tips in mind.
- Wait until you’ve set up a proper, island-wide economy before building any ship- and military-related buildings. As mentioned earlier, most buildings don’t require money for construction, but most ships and military buildings are the exception to that rule. On top of that, they still have a hefty upkeep requirement and typically claim a part of your workforce, which stops them from generating income.
- Avoid overlapping area effects. Placing a market to improve the income of its surrounding buildings is an excellent idea, but don’t place a second market too close to the first one: Area effects from the same building do not stack, so you’ll only rack up maintenance costs without reaping the benefits. To be clear, income-generating buffs from different sources do stack; a single residential building can receive income buffs from both the fishing hut and market at the same time.
- A rival leader may give you money. This occasionally happens following an action this leader approves of, such as building a Grammaticus if that leader favors knowledge. Just accept the gift in the pop-up screen to receive the extra money.
- In early game, tunics and garum provide the highest income bonuses (+2 income each).
- Watch out for negative side effects. Bread, for example, provides tons of money once you’ve reached tier two in the Latium region. But although you gain +1 income from bread needs and +2 from the bakery’s area effect, it also reduces fire safety by -2. You might want to place a well or city watch near the bakery to prevent great fires.
- Damaged buildings can’t provide buffs, so if your garum producer falls victim to a great fire, you’ll have to restore the building to reactivate the income bonus.
- You can take out a loan in the diplomacy menu. This isn’t charity, though; a rival leader may give you a loan, but you’ll have to pay interest. It’s therefore not the best way to boost your economy.
