Start selling your ships in Anno 1800 NOW!

In Anno 1800, you rely on ships a lot of the time. Not only they carry your goods between islands or even between worlds, they also keep your trade routes secured with their cannons. 

So, why would you need to sell those hard working sailors to the highest bidder?

Who to sell to

Selling your ships is as easy as sailing them up to an NPC's harbour and clicking the dollar sign. Not just any NPC though, it needs to be aristocratic Archibald Blake in the old world or the beautiful Isabel Sarmento in the new world. If you have the Sunken Treasures extension, Old Nate will take them off your hands in Cape Trelawny too.

They will not only sell you their ships on occasion (for a hefty sum, of course), but also buy your excess ships from you for a decent (albeit slightly less filled) bag of money.

Ships don't cost money to build, only resources.

Buying their ships can be a quick way of building up a tradefleet. Or, if needed, buying Archie's frigates could just tip the edge in your defence against Anne Harlow's pirates for instance. 

But, selling your own ships can definitely have it's advantages too!

Which ships to sell

You might be wondering why I'm telling you to sell your ships, even though ships play such an important role in your Anno 1800-successes. It's quite simple actually and there are only 2 rules to follow.

First off: Don't sell the ships you still need!

Yeah, I thought you might have guessed that one already. Keep the ships you've assigned to trade routes, ships on patrol and ships escorting your fleet. They keep your company afloat and people safe. 

If you do want to sell a ship assigned to one of these groups, make sure their roles are replaced by a newer (bigger, badder) ship. 

As soon as you get access to the sailing shipyard (either by having at least 150 workers in sandbox or by getting your debts pay off in campaign mode) you can start building your own ships. And this is where the fun starts.

Ships don't cost money to build, they only cost resources and temporary workforce. That means that producing ships is virtually free!

As long as you don't have a Cannon Foundry yet, you are limited to building Schooners and Clippers. Still, you can build more than you need to be able to supply Archie's fleet with your sails.

Don't sell the ships you still need!

Whatever you do, don't sell Frigates for profit! That's rule no.2 and I'll explain why in the table below.

Calculated profits

So far, we've learned that selling ships can give a decent boost to your balance, they don't cost money to produce and you shouldn't sell ships that are currently in use. 

Now, let's talk MONEY! It's all good and fun claiming profits, but how much gold are we talking about here!?

Disclaimer: In these calculations, I've used the buying prices for the goods needed when purchasing all goods from NPC traders. You're most likely to have a stockpile of wood and might even produce your own sails, so the profit should technically be even higher.

Prices used:

• Timber: 10
• Sails: 86
• Cannons: 570

Sailing Ships

Early on, the sailing shipyard is the only place you can build ships. It is able to produce 5 different types of ships. 2 of those only need timber and sails, the three warships need some cannons as well.

From the sailing ships, the Clipper is the most profitable ship to produce to sell. It's profit margin is the 2nd highest, just 200 lower than the majestic Ship of the Line.

But, the Clipper only takes 6 minutes to produce, a ship of the line double that time. So in the 12 minutes you need to build 1 SotL, you will have built 2 Clippers for a whopping profit of 9.040.

Also, don't sell Frigates. Unless you're really strapped for cash or you have plenty of timber, sails and cannons lying around. Otherwise you won't make as much profit as you'd like.

Steam Ships

Once you hit Engineers, a Steam shipyard will become available. Gone are the days of sailing against (and cursing at) the wind. We ARE the wind! 

You'll need more advanced materials to build them, with motors needing Kumquatsh from the new world and advanced weapons needing TNT. Their costs will be higher, but so will the selling price.

Buying a Battle Cruiser from our good friend Archie will set you back $800.000, but if you don't feel like investing in all that heavy machinery... don't let me stop you from ruling the seas!

A more detailed post on Steam ships is on the way, so stay tuned for the next update. In the mean time, have fun building Clippers!

We'll break down the costs and profits in another post soon.