In Anno 117: Pax Romana, you run a Roman province in 117 AD, starting from bare land. It's a city-building game set in the Roman Empire. You can start in Latium, the Roman heartland of rich plains and islands, or in Albion, a Celtic province of marshes. Each session turns empty land into a working city: you lay roads, since every building needs a road connection, then add production buildings and warehouses to make and store goods. The story campaign guides you through the basics and then opens into free building, and Endless mode lets you build at your own pace.
Residents move into the houses you build, and a house can't upgrade to the next tier until it has at least one need met from each of food, public services and fashion. Fulfilled residents pay income, and those on the next tier pay even more, which makes houses your main source of money. Roads and buildings drain money, though, and going broke leaves everyone unhappy, so you keep an eye on your balance.
Over time you grow into several islands, and in Albion each island picks a Celtic or Romanized path for its residents at the second tier. Some goods need supply chains that span several islands, so ships carry them along trade routes, where pirates can cause trouble. Each ship starts from a hull, a Penteconter with 2 module slots, a Trireme with 3, or a Quinquireme with 4, and you pick its modules before construction since they can't be changed once it's built. The Prophecies of Ash expansion adds the volcanic island Cinis, a volcano and the god Vulcan to Latium, and The Hippodrome adds chariot races along with Prestige and Splendour bonuses.
- Developer
- Ubisoft Mainz
- Publisher
- Ubisoft
- Release
- Worldwide: 2025-11-13
- Platforms
- Windows PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Game data
Buildings
Buildings are the core of Anno 117: Pax Romana, and nearly every part of your city depends on them. Residences house the workers and bring in income, production buildings make the goods your residents need, and public services, City Watch stations and shrines keep people healthy, safe and content. Monuments add prestige, military sites defend your islands, and special buildings such as the Grammaticus supply the Knowledge for research. Every building needs a road link to work, which is why roads and trading posts sit at the center of any city.
Military Units
Military units in Anno 117: Pax Romana are the land troops and siege engines you raise to defend your islands and invade rival ones. The Barracks trains the infantry and ranged troops, the Equitum Campus trains the cavalry, and the Siege Workshop builds the Onagers and Scorpios. Some units are limited to Latium or Albion, and each one adds to your recruiting costs and upkeep.
Captains
Captains are seafaring specialists that fill a ship's single captain slot, and each one boosts only that ship, such as its hull, speed, cargo handling or weapons. They come in five rarity tiers, from Common to Unique, and Legendary and Unique captains carry an extra boost that unlocks once a condition is met. Most are sold by traders, while others come from research, quests, contracts, certain characters, the Amphitheatre and the Hall of Fame.
Anno 117 gameplay tips
- Start your first game in Latium. Latium is the regular playthrough, with large, inviting islands that leave plenty of room to build. Albion is the more challenging province, since its marshes limit which buildings you can place and its residents split into two paths, so save it for a later playthrough.
- Keep a warehouse in range of every production building. Production buildings need a warehouse nearby to drop off and pick up goods, and your coastal Trading Post counts as one. A farm or workshop placed out of range sits idle no matter how well it's staffed.
- Staff your production buildings before adding more houses. Each production building needs a set number of workers of a specific tier to run. If your balance stays negative after every one is fully staffed, add houses, but don't build so many that you can't meet all their needs.
- Keep building new houses while you upgrade. Upgrading a house replaces its Liberti (Waders in Albion) with the next tier, which can cause a shortage of base workers. Adding new houses alongside your upgrades keeps your workforce from running short.
- Place Spinners in dense housing. A Spinner adds one income to every building within its area of effect, so it pays off most in the middle of a crowded residential area.