History VideoGame / AnnoDomini

* ThemeNaming: All titles consist of "Anno" followed by a year, of which the sum is always 9 (''1602'', ''1503'', ''1701'', ''1404'', ''2070'', ''2205'' and ''1800'').

* {{Transhuman}}: The Tech faction appears to be heading in this direction. Lower tier tech populations are unmodified humans, but in the ''Deep Ocean'' expansion, as they go up into the Genius population class, their material goods needs begin to encompass things like neuroimplants, immune system enhancing drugs, and bionic exoskeletons which preempt or satisfy physical demands of the body. One Genius quote says that thanks to "neuro-optimization", he requires 68% less sleep than normal.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: He may be the BigBad, but "Virgil Drake" is a pretty badass name regardless.

* TooDumbToLive:
** In the campaign, you help the tech faction come into possession of what is described as an intelligent virus. So far, it sunk the prototype of the city-ship arks and may have been responsible for several minor near-disasters. So... let's [[spoiler:plug it into F.A.T.H.E.R., the A.I. that rules the tech faction and administrates its city. What's the worst that could happen? Hint: You spend the rest of the campaign finding out.]] It gets worse. [[spoiler:First of all, C.O.R.E. is on an ''island''. Why in God's name does F.A.T.H.E.R. need a complete Ark to house his systems, complete with '''engines'''? He's been built into the harbor for crying out loud! Second, why does F.A.T.H.E.R. have ''complete'' control over C.O.R.E.'s systems? The airborne drones are perhaps understandable, but you'd think that the ''shore batteries'' would need some kind of manual intervention to fire, or at least have an entirely-mechanical analog safety mechanism that could be thrown to prevent F.A.T.H.E.R. from shooting up the city in the event he turned into an insane artificial intelligence. Thirdly, who in their '''right mind''' would equip an AI, which is intended to be a fixed installation, not only with an entire ARK capable of carrying him out to sea from a cold start, ripping its way through the seawall to do so, but with the facilities to then create ''entirely'' automated armed sailing ships. Is F.A.T.H.E.R. commanding some kind of insane faction of humans who are manning his ships that we never hear about, or are they really that dumb that they either build their ships completely automated, or provided F.A.T.H.E.R. with humanoid drones capable of operating the equipment, performing maintenance and refueling etcetera? It's never explained.]]
** Strindberg, again. First he breaks the dam, and when he rejoins you later, he wants to beat you to the punch of building up a strong fleet... only to focus exclusively on ships that are helpless against submarines. Guess what happens to his fleet... and then he seems to go downright rogue, only to be easily captured. In continuous games, he's also the only AI reckless enough about his ecobalance to cause tornadoes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Anno 1404}}'' (released in 2009), known as ''Dawn of Discovery'' in North America

* ''VideoGame/{{Anno 1800}}'' (released in 2019)

Each game has a 'Continuous Mode' wherein you can play as long as you want, competing with A.I. players (or other humans over multiplayer) for territory and resources, and a number of scenarios, often-times with several arranged to form a storyline. Players begin with a ship (or in some scenarios, a warehouse on an island) and a negative income. You have to build houses to collect taxes, but then your peasants want fish, and then they want something to occupy them and so on.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The central villain of the ''2070'' campaign is the Super AI F.A.T.H.E.R. going rogue after a computer virus corrupts it. After the campaign, however, the Techs repair F.A.T.H.E.R. and continue to use him without incident.
* AnachronismStew: A recurring element:
** In ''1701'', the doctor travels around on a dandy horse (invented in 1817), and the whaling ship uses a harpoon gun (invented in the mid-19th century). To a lesser extent, both armoured pikemen and masked plague doctors were already fairly outdated (though still in living memory) by the late 17th century.
** ''1404'' occasionally delves fairly deep into 16th century renaissance in its aesthetics (such as its depiction of Venice).
** ''1800'' gets increasingly far from its stated time period as one advances through the tech tree, starting with steam trains (first prominent in the 1830s), which are used to transfer oil to power plants, to power shipyards that make ironclads (1850s) armed with dynamite-based weaponry (1860). The most powerful ship type is a dreadnought-style battleship (1890s). Once you electrify your cities (1880s onward), you will get a fleet of electric lorries to take over transport duties (golden age: 1890s-1920s).
* AnEntrepreneurIsYou: The goal of the game.

* TheArk: These serve as flagships in ''2070.'' Specifically, they're mobile bases that serve as the major factions' centers of operations.
* ArtificialStupidity: The AI can appear to not think at all; for example you just built a massive fleet, blocked the enemy habour, razed the whole island to the ground and after all that offer peace and trading, to which the AI promptly accepts without a care.
** Subverted, in that few would be stupid enough to take such an offer after being burned to the ground. On the other hand, one may be desperate enough.
** Vehicles in ''2205'' have horrible pathfinding and even worse combat AI. Your frontline warships operate on NoRangeLikePointBlankRange despite being armed with torpedoes (which is incredibly annoying whenever a swarm of [[ActionBomb Bomb Drones]] shows up), and your whole fleet has apparently never been taught what a sea mine is and that one should stay away from them. They also don't move a millimeter from their position even when the ship right next to them is under attack, forcing you to issue attack orders on pretty much any single target you want destroyed. And don't even think about assigning target priorization; your ships mostly shoot whatever they they currently feel like shooting regardless of its actual threat level. Nothing like all your heavy hitters concentrating their fire on some harmless submarine while one of the abovementioned Bomb Drone swarms is rapidly closing in from another direction.
* AttackDrone: Employed by ''2070'''s Viper (an anti-submarine warship), and a SocketedEquipment version can be installed in most other ships as well -- though they're often inferior to the Viper's drone. Both kinds are quite handy though, since they can usually attack all targets such as aircraft, not just enemy ships.
** SurveillanceDrone: Of the submersible variety for collecting samples and retrieving objects from the sea floor, also installable in certain vehicles.
** The Orbital Watch in ''2205'' employs swarms of unmanned [[ActionBomb Bomb Drones]] armed with powerful warheads for {{Suicide Attack}}s on your fleet. They're small and comparatively fragile, but their speed, numbers and sheer damage output make them more dangerous than most actual warships.
* AwesomeMcCoolName: He may be his game's BigBad, but "Virgil Drake" is a pretty badass name regardless.
* BadBoss:
** In ''2070'', Thor Strindberg is more interested in going ahead with the "Two Year Plan" than listening to his chief scientist say the hydroelectric dam will come crashing down if they try to install the new turbine and run it at full speed straight away instead of running tests. [[ForegoneConclusion Guess what happens next]].
** Averted by Thor's own superior, Mr. Thorne. While he does want the Two-Year Plan to progress on schedule, he recognizes that Thor is responsible for the dam breaking and demotes him, listens to Engineer Peterson's requests, and promotes the player to take Strindberg's place at Warhouse 13 once the former proves to be an effective leader.
** Surprisingly averted by Virgil Drake of ''2205''. Destroying one of his Eradicator dreadnoughts (gigantic warships that essentially serve as boss battles) will often prompt him to say that "the ship meant nothing, but the crew... for them, you will pay".
* BaldOfEvil: Virgil Drake, BigBad of ''2205'', comes with a shiny plate as part of his ObviouslyEvil deluxe package.
* BourgeoisBohemian: The Eden Initiative in ''Anno 2070'' is an entire society of them. Lots of nature-lovers who at the same time benefit from and enjoy advanced technology, most of which is built with inefficient but sustainable methods. But strangely their drink of choice is tea rather than coffee.
** Artisans in ''1800''. Befitting the real-life Arts and Crafts movement, these foppish middle-class citizens express a lifestyle yearning for traditional revival and counter-cultural living. Mixed with the modernising innovations of the era.
* BraggingRightsReward:
** The Corporate HQ from ''2205'' is this game's sole monument, a ridiculously expensive building with incredibly high upkeep costs that covers all citizen tiers' logistics needs to a small degree, but doesn't do anything otherwise except look cool. It basically exists to show off how wealthy you are, with the achievement for building it aptly named "[[LampshadeHanging Because I Can]]".
** Also from ''2205'', the Madrigal Islands sector project requires unbelievable amounts of resources for a reward that is pretty much useless (see the That One Sidequest entry on the YMMV page for details). Chances are you'll complete it once for the achievement and won't ever touch it again in subsequent campaigns.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: There are times where you can finally have the resources needed to expand to your first oriental island while your AI opponent has already settled 2.
* CompanyTown: Your settlements in ''1800'' are this. Instead of paying taxes, income comes from your workers buying essentials from you.
* TheConspiracy: Many of the campaign modes centre around them, ''1404'' and ''1800'' in particular.
* ContinuityNod:
** Every game since ''1701'' has had a Jorgensen. ''1701'' has Henrik Jorgensen, and ''1404'' has Leif Jorgensen. Their personalities and appearance are similar enough that one can assume that they are somehow related. ''2070'' continues with Tilda Jorgensen, who even notes that she comes from the lineage of the "great explorer" Leif Jorgensen. ''2205'' then continues with Ville Jorgensen. In Anno 1800 Bente Jorgenson makes an appearance
** One of the first major bonus missions in ''2205'' involves salvaging an "ancient A.I." that is recognizably an ARK from ''2070''. Other sector projects reveal that Global Trust has gone bankrupt in the intervening years, its assets and territory now controlled by the [[MegaCorp Big Five]]. The Eden Initiative pops up with the Tundra DLC installed; they set up the compromised seed vaults in the sector that you need to restore as part of the local project. While Trenchcoat's floating base can be found in another.
** The Support Fleet ability in ''2205'' summons a small fleet of allied Seal-type submarines that look exactly like the dual-mode player ship/submarine from ''2070''.
** One of the possible events during an expedition in ''1800'' involves hunting for the Treasure of Hassan Ben Sahid, who was the pirate king from ''1404''.
* CoolBoat:
** Several of the ship designs in ''2070'' fit this trope. Special mention goes to the Colossus and Keto's ''Anaconda.''
** ''2205'' lets the player control a whole fleet of them, from ChainLightning-shooting {{Glass Cannon}}s to the MacrossMissileMassacre-dispensing command ship. The Orbital Watch counters with their own fleets spearheaded by giant Eradicator dreadnoughts.
* CoolButInefficient: The Greentide Archipelago sector project in ''2205'' unlocks [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Synthetics]], a fifth citizen tier above even the formerly top-level Investors. Completing the project is no mean feat to begin with, and upgrading Investor residential complexes to Synthetic complexes requires three rare materials instead of standard construction materials, making Synths a significant investment both in time and resources. What you get are buildings that supply 5,000 workers each (twice the amount Investors offer), but don't generate any revenue whatsoever. Considering how Synths can only settle in temperate regions where manpower is by far the most abundant resource anyway, losing the Investors' massive income boost for more workers you won't need is impractical, to say the least. The only benefit the Synths' higher numbers might offer is a bump in your corporate level, but that doesn't do a whole lot overall, so sticking with the Investors remains the better choice regardless.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive:
** ''2070'' has an entire faction of them. The tycoons of Global Trust primarily care about the bottom line and have several unique technologies that let them take advantage of not giving one flaming shit about the environment, like strip-mining coal anywhere instead of wasting one of your precious mining slots for a coal mine. Factory Farming and fertilizers mean they have to spend very little space on agriculture as well and their populace doesn't care about a negative eco-balance. This may come to bite them in the backside when the natural disasters start hitting...
** Thor Strindberg is the worst of the lot though. More ecologically-minded members of Global Trust ''do'' have some fairly solid eco-balancing buildings available to them later on though, such as the Soil De-acidifier, which restores up to ''90'' points of eco-balance if it has no overlap with other De-acidifiers.
*** It's less ecologically-minded as "we have to get rid of these penalties before they choke us to death." Global Trust Ecobalance buildings can only ''restore'' ecobalance to 0, whereas Eden Initiative Ecobalance buildings can send it skyrocketing into positive numbers, which grants bonuses to agriculture and population opinion. Amusingly, this means that if you have a mix of both Trust and Initiative buildings, you can get away with using the Trust's compact, more efficient technology, and plonk down a few Ozone Creators to still have a positive ecobalance. Yana would probably have a heart attack if she saw one of her sky whales floating over an open pit coal mine, desperately counteracting its effects.
** ''2205'' shows that Global Trust paid dearly for this culture in the long run. They're no longer a MegaCorp, in fact they're long since defunct and held as an example of how not to conduct business.
** Cassian industries is full of these according to its rep, Adian Barhgava,
** The ''Big Five'' DLC gives the player the freedom to be one by hiring insiders to infiltrate rivals and perform acts like siphoning rival bank accounts and under-the-table patent exchanges.
* {{Cyberpunk}}: While cybertech is downplayed in ''Anno 2070'' (besides AIs), Global Trust definitely has this kind of aesthetic. ''2205'' mixes this with {{Biopunk}}, with [[MegaCorp MegaCorps]] staffed with executives working in shiny corporate towers who use all kinds of neuro-implants and biotech to look good and perform better.
* DamageIsFire:
** Played straight with ships, but not so much with buildings - where fire from riots, invasion, or disasters ''damages'' buildings.
** Completely averted in ''2205''. Anything that can be damaged [[CriticalExistenceFailure looks exactly the same until it explodes]].
* DeflectorShields:
** In 2070, they can be developed as a prototype modules.
** Crisis intervention missions in ''2205'' give you access to a range of support abilities for your ships, one of which utilizes energy shielding to make your fleet temporarily invulnerable. A fairly easy-to-acquire upgrade available through the Orbit DLC cuts the [[{{Mana}} fuel cost]] of this ability in half, enabling you to NoSell almost any damage coming your way.
** Also in ''2205'', settling the Moon is only possible under the cover of shield domes that protect your buildings from the frequent meteorite impacts pummeling Luna's surface. The masts that project these shields have a small footprint while their domes cover a large area, so it's mostly an atmospheric condition for added flair that has little to no actual impact on gameplay.
* DoubleUnlock: Nested example in ''2205''. Opening up room for expansion first requires buying out another corporation's sector, which usually drains most or even all of your cash reserves. Once the sector is yours, you need to pay again to construct a warehouse on an island of your choosing. The first warehouse in each sectors is always comparatively cheap, but then the prices increase steadily for each subsequent one until eventually a simple warehouse costs more than what you paid for the entire sector it's in. Would be annoying enough if it was only about money, but warehouse construction also requires rare materials in increasingly insane quantities, which makes late-game expansion a real chore.
* DualWorldGameplay: In ''Anno 2070'' you can build submarines which allow you to explore and colonize the deep sea.
** In ''2205'' you have to balance temperate, arctic, and lunar facilities together in harmony, with tundra assets thrown into the mix if the eponymous DLC is installed.
** ''1800'' divides a standard playthough into a European-style "Old World" and a South American style "New World". ''The Passage'' add an Arctic zone to the mix and ''Land of the Lions'' expands into the Horn of Africa-styled Enbesa.
* EarthThatUsedToBeBetter:
** Rising ocean levels in ''2070'' have flooded the continents and devastated every previous world government, leaving only {{Mega Corp}}s to manage the remaining habitable land. Though the ecosystem on virgin lands is still fertile, thrashing it through careless strip-mining and cheap factories will have harsh and immediate (on a climatological scale) consequences.
** By the time of ''2205'', the world political stage has stabilized, but the majority of habitable zones are still choked with pollution, and fresh temperate regions are at a premium. Meanwhile, the ice caps have been returned to a healthy state, thanks to the dogged efforts of a corp of hard-nosed scientists who are staunchly unforgiving of any unauthorized development. The overall situation has become bad enough that building settlements on the moon, despite the tremendous expense, starts to look reasonable.
* EasyLogistics:
** Naval combat consists almost entirely of two ships pulling up beside each other and trading shots until one has sunk.
** Otherwise [[AvertedTrope averted]]. Logistics is the game's primary challenge, getting goods produced at point A to be processed at point B so they can be distributed at point C, if not more steps than that! Juggling all of these so that nothing bottlenecks, the flow of goods is efficient and reliable, and the total amount of income exceeds the total amount of maintenance paid is where most of the game difficulty lies.
* EmptyQuiver: The first world event in 2070, aptly named "Atomic Terror", deals with a pirate group called the Neo Skullz seizing a number of warheads and threatening to launch them at populated areas [[ForTheEvulz because their leader wants to watch the world burn]].
* EndlessGame: A staple of the series. Rumor has it there is also a campaign and scenarios.
* EnemyMine: A good way to earn positive influence with Strindberg, who normally hates your guts, is to go beat up on a certain doctor.
* EvilChancellor:
** Completely averted in ''1404'', Grand Vizier Al Zahir is an honourable, caring, almost grandfatherly figure to everyone around him, and is not only loyal to the Sultan but also deeply grateful for his appointment as the Grand Vizier.
** Played straight with Cardinal Lucius who orders the Crusade during the ''unfortunate sickness'' of the Emperor.
** Played straight with Margret Hunt in ''1800''. Who sits on the Queen's Royal Council who is difficult to please and keen to destroy any other opposition on the map one weak piece at a time. [[spoiler: And heavily indicated to be behind the Pyphorian cult threatening to topple the Empire.]]
* FalseCameraEffects: In ''2070'' when you zoom into the underwater view the screen is briefly filled with bubbles, as if you had dropped a camera underwater. When you zoom back out, water droplets stream down the screen.
* FloodedFutureWorld: ''Anno 2070'' is set in a post-sea rise Earth to justify the franchise's core gameplay concept of settling remote islands within a futuristic setting.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Dr. Howard Young, boss of the Arctic Custodians in ''2205'', is hilariously unpopular among his contemporaries despite leading the most important environmental protection agency on the planet. Ville Jorgensen, the arctic trader, outright tells you to ignore him, the Tundra trader sometimes bites your head off when you load her sector because she thought you were Young, and the rest of the [=NPCs=] makes no effort to hide their dislike of the man, either. Some even apologize to your for his actions despite no responsibilities on their part. He's also in the running for the title of ''2205'''s least popular NPC among the players, mainly because he constantly gives you shit over pretty much anything while being utterly incompetent at his own job.
* GimmickLevel: Settling the Arctic and the Moon in ''2205'' imposes some unique building restrictions on the player that have little precedence in previous games[[note]]''1404'' had something similar for building farms on oriental islands, but that was on a much smaller scale[[/note]]. Arctic residences require heat as an additional resource, something that is supplied by production facilities in a limited radius around them, which radically changes the way you can set up your settlements. Lunar construction can only be done under the cover of DeflectorShields, but these have large diameters and therefore, ironically, give you much more leeway than the Arctic does. Both examples fall short of qualifying as an UnexpectedGameplayChange because the general rules for setting up a viable sector economy remain the same regardless.
* GlobalCurrency: Gold, which is, of course, TruthInTelevision. By ''2070'', the world will have switched to [[WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture Credits]].
* GlobalWarming: In ''2070'' the polar ice caps have melted and the world's climate has been altered, hence many locations that were once barren are now fertile. Developing these locations is where you come in.
* GreenAesop:
** ''2070'' has elements of this.
** The Eden Initiative is all about this. Global Trust doesn't care much about pollution, but they can end up paying dearly for it when a nuclear reactor goes boom.
* GuideDangIt: The Expedition feature in ''1800'' doesn't tell you a whole lot about how it works even with extended tooltips enabled. New players will find themselves particularly stumped by the question of what goods they need to load on their ship in order to satisfy the various category requirements for hunting, medicine, force and so on. For instance, bringing along some tons of coal to improve your chances during hunting forays isn't exactly a logical correlation.
* HotSubOnSubAction: ''2070'' introduced submarines into the gameplay.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: Karl Leonard von Malching in ''1800'', whose family had lost all their land and titles by the time he was a teenager. A non-sympathetic example as he treats pretty much every non-aristocrat around him like dirt and rightfully his to boss around.
** Anne Harlow used to be a member of a prestigious family before her father was condemned for treason. She considers herself the [[LastOfHisKind Last Of Her Kind]], taking up piracy in an effort to keep her family legacy alive.

** Not so much in the first two games, where stone and gold were always infinite, and iron had to be mined with an upgraded mine to get everything, which, depending on the map, could be finite or infinite.
** ''2070'' mostly has finite supplies of ore, coal, oil and sand (and lobster, for some reason), but certain items that can be built by the tech faction or bought from AI players can refill the supplies for a hefty sum. Underwater plateaus have infinite supplies for everything but oil.
** In ''2205'' even traditionally non-renewable resources like metals can be mined indefinitely.
** ''1800'' continued this trend as well.
* LuckBasedMission: Expeditions in ''1800'' are entirely this. You can improve your chances of success by bringing along a well-chosen assortment of goods and items, but even then you only have a (higher, but still fallible) probability to succeed in the random events that pop up several times per expedition. If your ship finally makes it to its destination, or achieves its goal, you're faced with another dice roll to determine how many, and exactly which, rewards you receive.

** One mission in ''1701'' involves you helping McCrane to retrieve an ArtifactOfDoom from a volcanic island, despite protests from the natives. But as soon as you remove the treasure, the island erupts in flames and earthquakes, and for the rest of the mission, you must help the native tribal leader prepare an appropriate sacrifice to AppeaseTheVolcanoGod.
** There are multiple random events during expeditions in ''1800'' that blur the line with the supernatural. Cursed temples, ghost ships, bizarre flora, mad preachers and more. Successful choices on these events often involve dispelling the magic behind these strange events. Failing these checks however will conversely leave the mystery solidly intact and the crew convinced they had a genuine brush with the supernatural
* MegaCorp:
** The Tycoons from ''2070.'' If you choose to side with them you play as a subsidiary of Global Trust, the world's largest energy supplier.
** Every player controls one in ''2205'', and contends against others in the global council. Meanwhile, Global Trust has gone ''bankrupt'' in the interim between ''2070'' and ''2205''.
* MoneyForNothing: The late game can easily turn into this.
* MustHaveCaffeine: The basic beverage for S.A.A.T. employees in ''2070'' is "Functional Drink", which is made of equal parts coffee and sugar.
** Engineers and Investors in ''1800'' require it as a non-luxury drink of choice. If [[https://www.reddit.com/r/anno/comments/beshgn/each_unit_of_food_ingame_is_one_ton_so_i_took_the/ a chart made by a Reddit user]] is anything to go by, coffee is more significant to their diet than any kind of solid food.
* {{Nerf}}: ''1800'' nerfed emergency services and defence buildings by giving them a lengthy "training period" upon construction or relocation, probably to counter the common player tactic of planting these buildings only when necessary to save on upkeep. If you do this now, half the neighborhood will be burned down / infected / rioting by the time your fire station / hospital / police station gets going, and hostile ships will annihilate your coastal buildings before your defence turrets even have a chance to return fire. The civilian examples are also much heavier on micromanagement: they provide additional forces if your average citizen happiness is high enough, but these have to be dispatched manually in case of an emergency instead of rushing out on their own. The ability to activate these reinforcements also has a cooldown itself, although disasters normally happen with enough time between them to make this a non-issue at least.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In ''Anno 2070'', Leon Moreau is a computer player character affiliated with the Eden Initiative who prioritizes maintaining perfect ecobalance on all islands, and fiercely opposes anyone harvesting and using large quantities of oil. The computer player character Vadim Sokow is his ArchEnemy for his focus on the fossil fuel trade, and Leon will attack any of Vadim's oil tankers every chance he gets. Destroyed oil tankers release oil spills, drastically reducing the ecobalance of any island the tide carries them into. [[SarcasmMode Way to protect the environment, Leon]].

* NukeEm:
** ''2070'' includes nuclear weapons. A World Event involves a group of [[RuthlessModernPirates pirates]] getting a hold of a bunch of them and threatening to blow everyone to hell. It's also a big part of the campaign. The second chapter ends with finding out that the Super AI mentioned above has been stealing, among other things, the materials needed for nukes. The third chapter deals with the aftermath, with the area heavily impacted by radiation.
** Subverted in ''2205''. Using the Missile Barrage ability in crisis intervention missions has the AI announce "nuclear missile launched", but what actually happens is a normal ballistic artillery strike pounding the target area for a few seconds. Nothing nuclear about it at all.
* OceanPunk: ''2070'' contains elements of it.
* OneNationUnderCopyright: The Global Trust in ''2070'' is effectively this, having been forged from various corporations and taken the place of many national governments that went under during the upheavals.
* PaletteSwap: The Tundra DLC to ''2205'' reuses a great many assets from the arctic and temperate regions, with most buildings being recolored copies hailing from one or the other.

* PlayEveryDay: ''2070'' has daily quests which can be undertaken for the faction of the player's choice, earning 50 career points with that faction. There are also periodic elections which grant career points for anyone who votes. These constitute the main ways to earn career advancement in the game.
* {{Plunder}}: Enemy ships drop all of their cargo (in later games) when destroyed, so of course this is in full force. AI ships can also drop special items that can be 'sold' to other AIs in exchange for research/tech 'licenses' as well.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: In ''1800'', the death of the their father back in the Old World is what triggers the NonEntityGeneral's return there, which in turn kicks off the campaign.
* {{Prequel}}: ''1503'' and ''1404'', naturally.
* TheProfessor: Ibn al Hakim in ''1404''.
** AbsentMindedProfessor: Izmir in ''1404'', Salman Devi in ''2070''.
* PropagandaMachine: In ''1800'', your local newspaper will publish issues that have various effects on your island's population. These effects are generally tied to events that have happened since the last publication date, and can be either positive or negative, depending on how those events were handled (i.e. a fire that was quickly put down with an efficient fire response with minimal damage will be positive, while a sluggish fire response that allowed several buildings to burn down will have a negative impact.) The player can, by spending influence, "convince" the publisher to edit those articles before publication, replacing them with something more "optimistic" or at least distracting.
* RealIsBrown: In ''2070'', this can happen when the eco-balance level in your island drops at 25 negative and lower. This turns the land and coast around it to turn darker and browner, getting progressively worse as the number goes down. At around 200 negative and lower, your island can turn into a desolate looking wasteland. If your eco-balance is far below acceptable levels, you run the risk of creating a tornado in your map, and there's no way to curb it when it appears. This happens as a result of putting too many buildings that pollute the environment, especially coal plants and resource mines, or having oil spills. However, certain modules can be either bought from your neighbors or researched at your Academy to help curb pollution and maintaining the eco-balance on your islands. Additionally, there are certain buildings that serve the same purpose that modules do at the expense of increased costs and power consumption.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Emperor and Sultan - as well as their advisors, are like this in 1404.
** Rufus Thorne sort-of takes this role in ''2070'' despite his potentially ominous name, recognizing that Strindberg is almost entirely at fault for the [[BigDamPlot dam catastrophe]] and commending the player's role in containing the situation and helping control the other disasters that strike shortly after. He's not too happy if you side with the Eden Initiative, but he doesn't make any blatant threats like Strindberg. Indeed, his main complaint about you using wind power is its inefficiency. While Strindberg is panicking and raving on about all the money he is going to loose, Thorne directs you to rescue trapped workers, straight out saying they are more valuable than recovering goods and facilities. Thus, his main character trait appears to be a fairly positive form of pragmatism, causing him to value competenct and efficient subordinates greatly.
*** All the faction leaders in general. They don't like each other, but will work together at the drop of a hat if there's an outside threat they consider significant.
* RecycledInSpace: ''2205'' has you colonizing and mining the ''Moon''.
* RedHerring: The introduction video for 2070 has EVE say twice, in her MachineMonotone, "You can trust me, implicitly". Despite setting off every SpeculativeFiction [[AIIsACrapshoot red flag]] in the book, she's telling the truth: she's as stalwart as any of the right-hand man characters in other games.
* RefiningResources: A major component of the series.
* RidiculouslyFastConstruction; More like ''instant'' construction. Inverted with Monuments, which can take hours to complete.
* SchmuckBait: In ''2205'' crisis intervention missions, quite a few of the destructible resource deposits along the coastlines are guarded by hidden ships (mostly submarines) that surface when your ships get close.
* ScunthorpeProblem: "Essex" is a banned city name in 1800. Some of the games own default ship names, such as "Puff Adder" can actually trigger its profanity filter. All this in a single player game
* SettlingTheFrontier: The entire point of the games is that there are these islands full of resources that need a colonizing. ''2205'' changes the setting from the ocean to the moon.
* ShoutOut: ''2070'' has shoutouts to practically everything [[http://anno2070.wikia.com/wiki/Achievements in its achievement names]]. [[ShoutOut/AnnoDomini Add them here if you must]].
** In ''1503'', your ship's commanders will occasionally reply to your orders with "Captain! My Captain!", echoing the famous Walt Whitman poem. Debatable whether it's also AnachronismStew.
** In ''1404'', wanna-be minstrel Leif Jorgensen will hum a hilarious 're-imagining' of the famous ''Reichston'' poem by the real-life German minstrel Walther von der Vogelweide.
--> "I sat upon a stone, and was stretching my legs.
--> Then I raised my arm, and suddenly I felt... ''warm''!" [[note]]"Ich saß auf einem Steine, und streckte mir die Beine. Dann hob ich meinen Arm, und plötzlich war mir... warm."[[/note]]
** One of the Tycoon buildings in ''2070'' is called the [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Ministry of Truth]].
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The games' campaigns lean toward the idealistic side of the scale, ending with peaceful coexistence of all parties. The Sunken Dragon campaign is an exception, as both Grace Bonnet is probably dead although no body was found, and Diego del Torro is captured by Madame Nadasky.
** ''2205'' is also generally optimistic. Earth in general is enough of a disaster area that lunar colonization is considered tenable, but the ice caps are kept frozen with technology, organic food is still available, and ''all'' technology has been refined to the point that even mining no longer harms the remaining environment.
* SocketedEquipment:
** ''2070'' has ''Vehicle Upgrades'', ''Island Upgrades'', and ''Ark Upgrades''. Most vehicles hold at least one upgrade slot, some as many as three. Whilst they're mostly used for 'permanent' effects (increased speed, firepower, shields, etc.), these slots are also used for consumables like the BoardingParty or even [[ActionBomb Detonators]]. Islands can have three upgrades that can work on only that island. Ark Upgrades have an influence on ''the entire map'' and come in three tiers, but three of your slots are locked until you reach certain Career levels in each faction.
** After ''2205'' offered nothing of the sort, ''1800'' went back to it in full force. Now there are socketed upgrades for ships, harbor buildings, inland production buildings, animal enclosures for the zoo, and more. Most of these have limited range though, making them much less powerful than the Island or Ark Upgrades from ''2070'' were.
* SolarPunk: The Eden Initiative in ''Anno 2070'' is basically this in a nutshell
* SpaceElevator: One of the tasks in ''Anno 2205'' is to build such a device in order to facilitate transportation of goods between your earthbound sectors and the Moon. Each sector must be equipped with a separate one if you plan on making full use of their capabilities.
* SpeakingSimlish: Most of the soundtrack, especially in ''1404''.
* StoneWall: Combining this with DamageSpongeBoss to some extent, Orbital Watch Eradicator dreadnoughts in ''2205'' have ludicrously high health but deal surprisingly low damage for something of that size and with so many weapons. It's compounded by their inability to fire their numerous missile batteries at more than a single target at once. [[DrawAggro Goading them]] into attacking one of your heavily armored torpedo cruisers is basically the "you win" button in any encounter with them, assuming you got rid of any other Watch fleets in the area beforehand.
* TerroristsWithoutACause:
** Among the enemy factions in ''2070'', most of whom are just opportunistic pirates, there are groups like the Neo Skullz, who steal nuclear warheads and threaten cities with them, apparently just [[ForTheEvulz because they like spreading mayhem]].
** The [[BigBad Orbital Watch]] from ''2205'' often comes across like this. The only motivation they divulge about why they're so hellbent on destroying you is that they claim the Moon belongs to the First Wave (AKA themselves), and that the Second Wave (AKA you) has no business being there. They never care to mention what exactly their beef is with you or Earth in general, though, but then the Orbital Watch as a whole is a trash-talking PlotHole to begin with, so it's kind of fitting (in a weird way) that their cause remains just as unclear as everything else about them.

* TooDumbToLive: In the campaign of ''2070'', you help the tech faction come into possession of what is described as an intelligent virus. So far, it sunk the prototype of the city-ship arks and may have been responsible for several minor near-disasters. So... let's [[spoiler:plug it into F.A.T.H.E.R., the A.I. that rules the tech faction and administrates its city. What's the worst that could happen? Hint: You spend the rest of the campaign finding out.]]
** It gets worse. [[spoiler:First of all, C.O.R.E. is on an ''island''. Why in God's name does F.A.T.H.E.R. need a complete Ark to house his systems, complete with '''engines'''? He's been built into the harbor for crying out loud! Second, why does F.A.T.H.E.R. have ''complete'' control over C.O.R.E.'s systems? The airborne drones are perhaps understandable, but you'd think that the ''shore batteries'' would need some kind of manual intervention to fire, or at least have an entirely-mechanical analog safety mechanism that could be thrown to prevent F.A.T.H.E.R. from shooting up the city in the event he turned into an insane artificial intelligence. Thirdly, who in their '''right mind''' would equip an AI, which is intended to be a fixed installation, not only with an entire ARK capable of carrying him out to sea from a cold start, ripping its way through the seawall to do so, but with the facilities to then create ''entirely'' automated armed sailing ships. Is F.A.T.H.E.R. commanding some kind of insane faction of humans who are manning his ships that we never hear about, or are they really that dumb that they either build their ships completely automated, or provided F.A.T.H.E.R. with humanoid drones capable of operating the equipment, performing maintenance and refueling etcetera? It's never explained.]]
** Strindberg, again. First he breaks the dam, and when he rejoins you later, he wants to beat you to the punch of building up a strong fleet... only to focus exclusively on ships that are helpless against submarines. Guess what happens to his fleet... and then he seems to go downright rogue, only to be easily captured.
*** In continuous games, he's also the only AI reckless enough about his ecobalance to cause tornadoes.
*** on the Virus front, to be Fair, until that point, [[spoiler:Both your ark's EVE unit and F.A.T.H.E.R had recognised, and fought off, the Virus's attempts to gain access to their systems, and giving how disturbingly SMART it was acting (likely containing an AI component itself), they were trying to lock down its source on the assumption that there may be OTHER events caused by similar attacks.]]
* TorchesAndPitchforks:
** In the third installment, the population can go nuts for three reasons;
*** Either when being roused by a revolutionary,
*** When the taxes get too high,
*** Or when your tiny island(s) run out of vital resources, such as clothing, basic nutrition, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking alcohol, tobacco, or chocolates]].
*** Then they will get out their torches, pitchforks and placards (with nothing written on them) and rampage through your towns, to lapidate statues of yourself, and to burn down all buildings they encounter, including vital public institutions, firms, and their own houses. While the [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy Fire Brigade never intervenes]]. After the crisis is settled, they start revolting, because vital public institutions, firms, and their own houses(!) are amiss ''[[SarcasmMode all of a sudden]]''. It should be noted, that the higher your population is in the public order, the more they are prone to revolt. While Citizens, Merchants and [[AristocratsAreEvil Aristocrats]] are the most aggressive, the Pioneers and Settlers are almost always content.
** In ''Anno 1503'', a mob might sometimes attempt to topple your reign. However, they can be beaten down by your soldiers.
** Meanwhile in ''2070'', the pitchforks and torches are replaced with protest signs, as citizens may make demands in the form of an ''Ultimatum'' mission. Failure to comply results in fairly peaceful rioting compared to earlier games -- you're not going to see anything burning down except the amount of money in your wallet, since you're also losing any tax income... and you're looking at dealing with mass emigration due to unhappiness.
*** Most of them can also be avoided entirely fairly easily if you know what triggers them. For instance, citizens may complain about a lack of electricity even if you have a surplus. But keep it above 50 or so and they'll never complain. Same with ecobalance for ecos, and income for tycoons.
** ''2205'' does away with this mechanic completely. Each citizen class provides a specific amount of income and manpower for each of its needs that you fulfil. Make them happy and both values increase accordingly. Fail to meet their demands and they drop back to their "specific need unfulfilled" level, but that's about it. The only way to lose all income and manpower is to not supply ''anything'', which mostly happens if residences have no traffic connection, not enough heat in the Arctic, or incomplete DeflectorShields coverage on the Moon. Riots simply don't happen anymore no matter how miffed your population might be; they just leave for greener pastures.
** In ''1800.'' Workplaces will shut down and crowds will gather to riot in enormous mobs that wave placards, hang banners of revolution and march furiously though your streets. The ''Anarchist'' DLC reintroduces ultimatum, where citizens will present a task you need to solve (from supplying a need for everyone of a specific class to tracking down anarchists in your city) you must fulfil or the people will riot.
* {{Transhuman}}: The Tech faction in ''2070'' appears to be heading in this direction. Lower tier tech populations are unmodified humans, but in the ''Deep Ocean'' expansion as they go up into the Genius population class, their material goods needs begin to encompass things like neuroimplants, immune system enhancing drugs, and bionic exoskeletons which preempt or satisfy physical demands of the body. One Genius quote says that thanks to "neuro-optimization", he requires 68% less sleep than normal.
** This continues in ''2205'', although interestingly it hasn't progressed any further. Cyber-eye implants are universally needed for anyone in advanced fields, but instead of replacing body parts, high-ranking scientists and executives wear computerised Intelli-clothing.
* WanderingMinstrel: Leif Jorgensen is a wannabe bard, but his singing is terrible.

* WeHaveReserves: In ''2205'', Virgil Drake will often boast about this when you destroy Orbital Watch buildings ([[AFatherToHisMen but not ships]]). Seeing how it only takes a few minutes for a new Crisis Intervention mission to spawn after you completed the last, there's weight to his claims.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: The [[BigBad Orbital Watch]] from ''2205'' is ostensibly a violent lunar nationalist movement that wants to keep the Moon free of outside interference. The only problem is that there's no water on the Moon, so in order to maintain ''Anno'''s focus on naval warfare, any real battles against the Watch take place on Earth, and their fleets and bases are both highly advanced and absolutely ''massive'' in size. It's never mentioned where all this materiel is coming from, especially in light of how suddenly the guys appeared on Earth's radar. One [[DoNotAdjustYourSet ominous video manifesto]] out of the blue, and suddenly Earth is being overrun by an endless supply of high-tech warships operating out of enormous, heavily fortified harbor bases.

** ''1701'' has Henrik Jorgensen, and ''1404'' has Leif Jorgensen. Their personalities and appearance are similar enough that one can assume that they are somehow related. ''2070'' continues with Tilda Jorgensen, who even notes that she comes from the lineage of the "great explorer" Leif Jorgensen. ''2205'' then continues with Ville Jorgensen. In Anno 1800 Bente Jorgenson makes an appearance
** One of the first major bonus missions in ''2205'' involves salvaging an "ancient A.I." that is recognizably an ARK from ''2070''. Other sector projects reveal that Global Trust has gone bankrupt in the intervening years, its assets and territory now controlled by the [[MegaCorp Big Five]]. The Eden Initiative pops up with the Tundra DLC installed; they set up the compromised seed vaults in the sector that you need to restore as part of the local project.

** ''1800'' divides a standard playthough into a European-style "Old World" and a South American style "New World". ''The Passage'' is set to add an Arctic zone to the mix.

* ClimateChange: In ''2070'' the polar ice caps have melted and the world's climate has been altered, hence many locations that were once barren are now fertile. Developing these locations is where you come in.

** ''1404'' occasionally delves fairly deep into 15th century renaissance in its aesthetics (such as its depiction of Venice).

* GlobalWarming: In ''2070'' the polar ice caps have melted and the world's climate has been altered, hence many locations that were once barren are now fertile. Developing these locations is where you come in.
* GreenAesop: ''2070'' has elements of this.

** ''1800'' gets increasingly far from its stated time period as one advances through the tech tree, starting with steam trains (first prominent in the 1830s), which are used to transfer oil to power plants, to power shipyards that make ironclads (1850s) armed with dynamite-based weaponry (1860). The most powerful ship type is a dreadnought-style battleship (1890s).

** In ''1701'', the doctor travels around on a dandy horse (invented in 1817), and the whaling ship uses a harpoon gun (invented in the mid-19th century). To a lesser extent, both pikemen and plague doctors were already fairly outdated (though still in living memory) by the late 17th century.

* AnachronismStew: ''1800'' gets increasingly far from its stated time period as one advances through the tech tree, starting with steam trains (first prominent in the 1830s), which are used to transfer oil to power plants, to power shipyards that make ironclads (1850s) armed with dynamite-based weaponry (1860). The most powerful ship type is a dreadnought-style battleship (1890s).

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''2205'' is significantly more forgiving than any other title that came before. Even the most advanced production chains are easy to set up and balance, naval combat only happens on separate maps that don't affect your territory at all[[note]]the Frontiers DLC introduced the option to have hostile fleets invade your sectors from time to time, but that can be turned off entirely if you don't want it[[/note]], natural resources are infinite, citizens never riot, natural disasters don't exist[[note]]in the base game at least[[/note]], and there's no meaningful competition with AI players whatsoever. It's just you, your exceedingly well-behaved settlers, and vast stretches of beautiful nature just waiting to share their wealth with you.
* SequelDifficultySpike: Contrasting the above, the next title, ''1800'', went back to the vastly more complex gameplay of earlier entries like ''1503'' or ''1404'', making it considerably more challenging than ''2205''. Even setting up nothing but a running economy has become a real effort, and that's without factoring in rival AI players or pirates. That the economic interfaces have been dumbed down significantly in terms of easy accessibility doesn't help the matter.

* AnachronismStew: ''1800'' gets increasingly far from its stated time period as one advances through the tech tree, starting with steam trains (first prominent in the 1830s), which are used to transfer oil to power plants, to power shipyards that make ironclads (1850s) armed with dynamite-based weaponry (1860). The most powerful ship type is a steampunk rendition of a battleship.

** Artisans in ''1800''. Befitting the real-life Arts and Crafts movement, these foppish middle-class citizens express a lifestyle filled with traditional revival and counter-cultural living. Mixed with the modernising innovations of the era.

** One of the possible events during an expedition in ''1800'' involves hunting for the Treasure of Hassan Ben Sahid, who was the pirate player from ''1404''

** In ''1800.'' Workplaces will shut down and crowds will gather to riot in enormous mobs that wave placards, hang benners of revolution and march furiously though your streets. The ''Anarchist'' DLC reintroduces ultimatum, where citizens will present a task you need to solve (from supplying a need for everyone of a specific class to tracking down anarchists in your city) you must fulfil or the people will riot.

* ''Anno 1800'' (released in 2019)

Most of the games offer a way to trade with the AI, whether other Empires or civilian trade ships. Due to general scarcity of certain critical ressources until those can be produced, the latter has to be relied on to buy those ressources, though other ressources can be sold as well. TechnologyLevels ensure a progression from simple pioneers and settlers to citizens and even aristocrats, each with their own set of demands and power to pay taxes in return.