How in Anno 1800 do we get to artisans and then engineers?

Someone sent an email to question@anno.city the other day. They asked me this question:

"I am running a happy quaint town with farmers and workers. I need to progress. How in Anno do we get to artisans and then engineers?"

In this post, we shall dive in the journey from farmers to engineers, stopping at workers and artisans along the way.

Needs

To reach the next tiers, you'll need to provide all the needs of the previous tier.

To get to workers for instance, you provide your farmers with at least some fish and clothing and connect them to a marketplace. Those are their basic needs.

Maybe you even make sure they have ample supply of schnapps and access to a pub? Good for you! It's not needed, but they'll love (and pay) you for it.

Tiers not only require their own needs, but also those of the previous tier. So:

1. Farmers require marketplace, fish and clothing
2. Workers require marketplace, fish and clothing, as well as sausages, bread, soap and education
3. Artisans require sausages, bread, soap and education, as well as canned food, sewing machines, fur coats and university access. But no marketplace, fish nor clothing any more.

Some needs only unlock after a certain amount of people live in your city. You'll need 300 workers before they need soap and 750 workers before their kids go to school. 

Mind you, that's total amount of workers, not the available workforce.

Workers to Artisans

If you have at least 750 workers in your town and fulfil all of their needs, they will want to upgrade to artisans.

For instance, some of my workers are not ready to get an upgrade yet, because I don't provide them with enough sausages. This chap is happy enough, but you know what they say: the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

The most elaborate production chain for workers is soap or bread: you'll need pigs, a rendering works and soapmaker to make soap. Or grain farms, mills and bakeries for bread. So both of these chains require 3 buildings to make the final good for you.

Guys, again with the food!

Artisans to Engineers

Now, to get from artisans to engineers takes a lot of extra effort. Artisan's needs are more extensive (and expensive too) than those of workers. 

Artisanal production chains are simply longer. Sewing machines are made of wood and steel, which is made from iron and coal. 5 buildings. For canned food you'll need iron straight from the mine (for the tins) and goulash (to put inside the tin). Goulash is made of meat and peppers. Also 5 buildings.

Cotton Plantations and Mills can only be constructed in the New World

Artisans also want to look fancy and need fur coats. Fur coats are made of fur and cotton fabric, which is made from cotton. Only 4 buildings. But, cotton fertility is not available in the Old World. You'll need to import it from the New World.

New World

To get to the New World, you will have to complete the discovery expedition that brings you to the New World. The expedition is offered to you as soon as the first artisans move in, so don't worry about it if you don't see the expeditions just yet.

In the New World, you can produce cotton, turn that into cotton fabric and ship it back to your Old World island. From there, you can line furs with the fabric to make fur coats.

Of course, you can also set your harbours to buying fur coats using your trade agreements. One of the computer players usually sells a few fur coats. It probably won't be enough to sustain a whole population of artisans, but it might just be enough to upgrade to engineers.

Why don't workers want to upgrade?

There are only two reasons your workers might not be ready to move on to artisans.

1. Not all of their needs are met 100%. This means all of the 7 need-bars need to be green. Also the marketplace!
2. You don't have the requisite materials stocked in your city. Per worker residence, you need 6 wood, 2 bricks and 2 steel beams to upgrade.

Also, keep in mind it takes a few moments for your villagers to collect their goods from the market place. So dropping a load of soap in the harbour doesn't magically make all of your workers clean and ready for their fur coats. Give it a moment, wait until the blue bar fills up and turns green. Then you'll have the upgrade-button light up.

Conclusion

That's it! Just not in a "it's that simple" kind of way.

In essence, getting from farmers and workers to artisans and engineers is a matter of both growing your town to house a certain amount of people, while fully providing them with all of their needs.

Getting to artisans is easy enough, as all of the needed goods are readily available on your islands.

I personally always struggle to get from artisans to engineers. The jump to the New World, setting up new islands there, shipping the cotton fabric back home, it takes a bit of management.

On the other hand: it's definitely worth it. Workers only provide a meagre income of $45 per minute even when they're fully supplied with their needs and happiness goods. Artisans more than triple that to $146 per minute.

I hope you find this useful and your quaint town will prosper into a curious capital soon!

Do you have a question you need answering? Please don't be shy and send it to question@anno.city!