You won't get far in Anno 117 without trade routes. This is how you establish profitable merchant routes

Trade routes are one of the most important mechanics in Anno 117. They become crucial when you start managing multiple islands at once, allowing for automated transport of resources between cities. In this text, you will learn how trade routes work.

How do trade routes work?

You can manage trade routes from a separate tab, available on the left side of the screen. Trade routes function like automated deliveries – you can assign a ship that will sail between the islands you set, continuously delivering and receiving the resources you choose. The more cargo slots a ship has, the more goods it can carry. Thanks to trade routes, you can compensate for production shortages on one island by delivering the required resources from another. For example, if a specific island lacks metal deposits that you need, you can import it from another island where such deposits are present.

After assigning a ship to a trade route, you can select the islands the ship should visit, set the order of their visits, and choose the products it should pick up or drop off upon reaching an island. You can also mark several additional options at each port – depending on these, the ship may wait for a specified amount of goods to be produced if there are too few on the island, wait for space to be freed up in the warehouse, or discard them if there is no place to unload the goods it has brought. Upon reaching the end of the route, the ship will return to the starting point and start over.

Trading goods between your controlled islands is free of charge. However, you can also use the routes to trade with allied or neutral islands. First, you need to sign a trade agreement with them, which you can do in the diplomacy menu. These islands offer only specific goods for sale, and acquiring them will cost you money. Delivering your goods, on the other hand, will earn you money. Each of these islands also has several needs, meaning goods for which they will pay you extra.

Anno 117: Pax Romana

November 12, 2025

Rate It!

• Overview
• Review

• Ubisoft
• RTS
• Anno (series)