ANNO1777 is an online game that simulates an economic political and military system, like the real world. You are a citizen of the seventeenth century who fights on all levels to advance the social hierarchy. You can open businesses, become governor or you can build a military empire. Everything is up to you. Unlike other games of this type, the virtual money from ANNO1777 can be exchanged for real money and vice versa. In other words, a financial success in the virtual world of the game becomes a financial success in the real world. ANNO1777 can be played directly from a browser like Internet Explorer and requires no downloads.
“The product consumption increases your strength, and the increase of your strength means more money” – This phrase summarizes the mechanism behind the game. Before proceeding to a detailed discussion on how ANNO1777 works, the first step would be to understand the basics. strength is the most important indicator and based on it, the productivity is calculated, and also the wage that you are paid, bonuses and many other amounts of money you receive during the game. strength increases when consuming products, and decreases automatically every hour, when fighting or working. This chapter will explain indicators such as strength, Economic Score, Productivity or Military Score. Before moving on, we recommend that you learn the elements presented in the Chapter Mechanisms of the Game
Economy
The economy from ANNO1777 is very much like a real market economy. There are companies, shares, shareholders, stocks of raw materials and products, companies turn to advertising in order to increase sales and of course everyone relies on very good employees which pay accordingly. Markets are 100% free and the price depends on supply and demand. Everything is related to the player\’s activity. There are no companies which operate by themselves, and the employees are of course chosen between the players. All products from weapons to banking services are manufactured / supplied by companies owned and established by the players. In other words, it takes you to do that. You can continue to work at your job or you can start from only one company and in the end, have a holding consisting of dozens of companies. You will be the only one who establishes these limits. In order to deepen this very broad topic, we recommend that you review the chapter Game Economy
Banking & Finance
If you do not know yet, we will tell you a secret. A strong economy cannot exist without a strong financial system. In any market economy, finances are the backbone. When we say finances, we mean stock exchange, banks and insurance. ANNO1777 economy also has a financial system and as you might have suspected, the system is run 100% by players. When founding a company, 1,000 shares are issued, of which 900 are the owner\’s. The shares can then be traded on a free market. And if when you were little, you dreamt of becoming a banker, and have not succeeded yet, now you can do it because in ANNO1777 anyone can open a bank. Banks offer loans and attract money by deposits or current accounts. Banks collect fees for the operations undertaken, and the interest, along with the rest of charges are set free by the owners. To learn more about how to become a finance expert, read the chapter Banking & Finance.
The Press
Without a free press, any social system would sooner or later transform into a dictatorship. And that\’s exactly what we\’re trying to avoid in ANNO1777. Therefore we designed the press system based on the idea that anyone can freely express their opinion even if that opinion seems a little strange to others. And to give you some details, anyone can open a newspaper, which is nothing but a subtype of a company. In that newspaper you can publish articles on any topic you wish. And when we say \’any topic\’ we mean any article which does not violate any applicable law. In other words, hard language or pornography are permitted in any form as long as they do not violate any law in force in the real world, in the country where you live. Newspapers are companies and companies exist to make profit. Besides the revenues from the actual sales of newspapers, a publishing house earns also from advertising. And to make things more interesting, there are subscribers and subscriptions. If the war irritates you, and the economy and finances may seem boring, maybe writing articles will make you famous. You never know! However, all plans should start after reading the chapter Press
War & Slaves
In ANNO1777, war is present in all levels. Without the war, the consumption and production would not be stimulated, and the reason why you work and improve your overall health would not be so clearly defined. The war has two forms in the game. There is one war between players, where anyone can attack anyone, which ends with the capture of slaves, and a war between nations that ends with loss of regions. Every time you attack a player and you win, that player becomes your slave, and from that moment on, he will pay you taxes from all eligible cashing he has. The system was designed so that no one will be free. All players are slaves / owners of another player. The slaves are the most important source of income. They can also be bought and sold for gold. More information about wars, choosing targets and blocking slaves who bring profit, can be found in chapter War & Slaves
Politics & Elections
Politics is dirty. This is a line you hear everywhere. And neither politics, nor politicians from ANNO1777 will be otherwise. It brings you money, it gives you the strength that you dreamed of, and your decisions can influence thousands of players. Let\’s discuss some details. First, you should remember that in ANNO177 the players are placed in areas with a structure similar to the one from the real life. In other words, there are countries and regions with the same names as those found in the geographic atlas from school. When a player enters the game from real Austria, he will be placed in a virtual Austria, in a random region, and he can later move from there. Every month, in every country, elections are organized. Anyone can run for a position by filing a government program. Anyone can vote. The first candidate who has the highest number of votes becomes the president of the country. The following 20 candidates become governors. The Government decides everything, starting with the prize you\’ll get in fights, up to the VAT on virtual products. It may start wars, it may change taxes and it may offer dazzling prizes. Also it can transfer amounts from budgets to organizations and from there to anyone. Yes, there is a state budget and the governors have wages. Who sets their wages? They do that, of course. But they could set very high wages, someone may say … they could become corrupt and steal money from the budget, someone else might say …. Well, as we said, politics is dirty. Find out why in chapter Politics
Private Territories
Politicians from your country annoy you? Do you feel that they steal and do not care about you? In real life this could be a difficult problem to solve. But in ANNO1777 you can buy your own country which you can run by your own rules. Private territories are countries led by one single man. They have their own currency, local taxes and the government is appointed by the owner. Private territories have a correspondent in the real world, under the form of private islands (Maldive, Bahamas, etc. ….). Basically we have selected dozens of private islands from the real world and we introduced them in ANNO1777 under the form of Private Territories. Initially, these lands are purchased from the game but can subsequently be traded on a free market. In your island you always have the last word. Nobody can tell you what to do. You can set up your fees and taxes, or you can expel citizens, or censor the press if you don\’t like what you\’re seeing. All strength is concentrated in the hands of one man. You think it\’s too hard? You can form a government to take over some tasks. Of course the government is also appointed by you, and therefore the lack of discipline can be immediately punished. How do you make money? It\’s simple. You can always withdraw money from the state budget, which is practically yours. Hundreds of citizens from the island who pay fees and taxes to increase this budget will make you rich. If you like what you have so far read, you need to review the chapter Private Territories
Services
In any developed economy, the services are very well thought out and represent the engine of economic growth. There are thousands of services in the real world. We have selected only five types of companies to be implemented in the game, i.e. Organizations, Trading Companies, Lotteries, Bookmakers and Advertising Agencies. The organizations are extremely flexible and can be political parties, military units or anything else. Trading Companies can store any type of product and are the ideal support for those who want to buy goods from one place and sell them overseas at a double price. If you like gambling, Lotteries and Bookmakers are perfect for you, and Advertising Agencies can bring you earnings directly in EURO in minimum length of time. But to understand how each type of company works, you should make time to review the chapter Services
Advertising
Advertising is the soul of commerce. Everyone knows it. Without a serious advertising campaign no company would surpass the starting point. Since the rule is valid in the real world, it must be created in the virtual one too, i.e. in ANNO1777. There are three ways to make advertising and each one has different costs and impacts. The most strengthful one is advertising directly on the site. On every page of the game, on the right side there is a column with ads posted by the players. It is the method with the greatest impact, and the price reflects that. The second method by which you can make yourself known is by purchasing advertising in the pages of game magazines. At the end of each article, there are two advertising spaces that belong to magazine. You can buy these spaces for a predefined number of displays. The cheapest method is the players\’ signatures. But what is a signature? In short, every time you post a comment, at the bottom of the page you will see a text line with a link. Both the text and the link may be defined by you. Since everything is for sale, you can assign someone else to use the signature. In exchange for an amount of money, the one who buys your signature can define his own text and link. Each message posted by you will have the new signature inserted. You earn money and the buyer gains exposure. Does it seem fair to you? If the answer is yes, see chapter Advertising
Partnership Programs
Partnership programs are the easiest way to earn money with ANNO1777. Everyone has a personal link. If you bring new players who register through this link, they will automatically become your permanent slaves. Not only will they permanently pay you taxes, but they can be sold later on a free market. And because we wanted to make ANNO1777 a special game, we have introduced the possibility that players can actually buy a piece of ANNO1777 through the shares from the game. In a regular game, all the benefits bought by players are withdrawn automatically from the company which administrates the game. In ANNO1777, these amounts go into a special fund, called the fund of the game. The fund of the game has 10 000 shares available, of which 1000 are on sale. Any amount that the fund cashes is divided to the shareholders depending on the number of shares owned. There are reports in real time regarding cashing and fund balance, and the profit is guaranteed. In order to better understand how you can benefit from the partnership programs, you should review the chapter Affiliates & Partners right now
Social Interaction
ANNO1777 is a social game. The interaction of players is an important aspect. You can make friends with whom you can talk in real time, you can send messages to anyone and you can comment on articles in the press and also the Government decisions. It is an environment where you can easily make friends or new acquaintances. You will find all the details in the chapter Social Interaction.