Anno 1800 How to Make Money: Four Ways to Maximize the Profits of Ships and Trades

In Anno 1800, how to make money is a question closely related to the sections of building ships and conducting trades. While growing the population is a passive way of generating income for the islands, ships and trades are another critical part that can enable players to generate money actively! Players can bring in a substantial amount of income by selling ships, sending ships for trading, and conducting passive trading. This post offers a comprehensive guide on how to make money in Anno 1800 out of ships and trades!

Selling Ships: A No-Brainer Way of Making Thousands

The first indispensable method of making money in Anno 1800 is to build and sell ships. This crucial way of making money will not be unlocked until players have workers. Building ships requires a Sailing Shipyard. Once the sailing shipyard is constructed, players can start to build ships with timber, sails, and weapons.

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After any ship is built, if players wish to sell it for money, they can direct the ship to a harbour that is willing to buy anything being offered (such as Sir Archibald Blake’s harbour or Madame Kahina’s harbour), and click the “$” icon of the ship’s panel to sell the ship. There will be a pop-up window at the upper right corner to conclude this trade.

All in all, selling ships makes a considerable amount of net profit, considering the raw material costs and the time spent on building a ship. The way that NPCs will pay a lump sum for the ships also makes the transaction simpler and more straightforward than goods trading.

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Passive Trading: Get Income Even When Doing Nothing

Passive trading is another convenient way of letting money trickle in. Compared to quest completion and ship selling, passive trading does not come in with a huge lump sum, but the income accumulates over time.

To set a passive trade, players simply need to click on the trading post. There are buttons for buying and selling for each good. From there, players can set the amount of selling, so if the goods in the stock exceed this certain amount, the rest of it will be sold to the trading ships that come by. Players do not need to do anything other than set the amount for each good they wish to sell. The trading ships come by the trading post automatically.

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Players can also check how much money they have earned from each passive trade by checking:

Statistics ➡️ All Goods ➡️Passive Trade

Each trade history is displayed on the page, and the total income from each trading partner is also shown there.

As mentioned before, passive trade brings in money little by little, because the trading ships come by pretty often, and usually players will not have a large amount of excessive goods during the tight timeframe. However, it turns the goods that players do not want into income directly, which is a convenient way to consume the unwanted stock and maintain a steady income stream.

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Trade Route: Make Use of the Price Gap

Setting profitable trade routes takes some efforts, but players can haul substantial amounts of income from this.

Each NPC requires different goods and offers different goods, and the requests and offers are subject to changes over time. Players need to keep an eye on the changes and figure out a profitable route to conduct it. When moving the cursor to the green “🔄” icon, the pop-up panel shows what the island requests and offers. And if players click on that island’s trading post, it shows the purchase price and selling price for each good.

To expand the trade route partners, players can “Request Trade Rights” in the diplomacy page. Once the NPC accepts the players’ request, players can start setting trade routes to that NPC’s island. However, NPCs will usually require players to pay a certain amount of money for the trade rights.

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A Profitable Trade Route Example

On the other hand, there are some fixed trade routes that players can consider, because some NPCs request infinite amounts of certain items:

1. Eli Bleakworth: Requests an infinite amount of potatoes and soaps.
2. Sir Archibald Blake: Requests an infinite amount of coal.

Therefore, players can set the trade route as:

Sell soaps (or potatoes) to Eli Bleakworth and buy coals from Bleakworth ➡️ Sell coals to Sir Archibald Blake

While other trade routes are subject to changes, players can always rely on this route to generate stable revenue. Eli Bleakworth’s island provides a large amount of coal at a low price that can be sold to Sir Archibald Blake’s island, which offers a high price for coal. Moreover, selling soaps to Eli Bleakworth is also the most profitable because he offers a very high price for soaps.

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Completing Quests: Run Errands to Earn Thousands and Reputation

Once players have ships at their disposal, running errands for NPCs is another viable way of earning thousands and a good reputation.

Players can look for a “⭐” icon on the mini-map at the lower left corner. The icon tells players which location has quests that players can accept. Players need to send a ship to that location and accept the quest.

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Moreover, players can also open the diplomacy page and click on any NPC to “Ask for Quest”. Sometimes, NPCs have quests to offer, and sometimes they don’t. Either way, it does not hurt to try it out.

Each quest usually offers rewards between $3,000 and $10,000, as well as the reputation gains with those NPCs and their allies. However, failing to finish the quest in time also costs the loss of reputation. All in all, players can consider the content of the quest and decide whether to undertake it or not.

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Conclusion: Anno 1800 How to Make Money

In Anno 1800, how to make money is a question closely related to the island population, as well as ships and trading. While the island population brings in tax to cover the cost of the development, ships and trading are another important sector that players can actively make an effort on. Selling ships and passive trading are simpler ways of earning revenue, while setting trade routes and completing quests require more actions and calculation from the players. All in all, mastering all these four ways can maximize the ship resources and give players a great advantage in staying out of the red in Anno 1800!