Mastering Anno 117 Production Ratios and Chains

Anno 117: Pax Romana keeps the classic Anno focus on complex production chains, but this time you’re running far-flung provinces of the Roman Empire. Understanding how many farms, workshops, and processing buildings you need for each good is the key to a stable economy. This guide walks through the logic behind production ratios, explains common chains, and offers practical layout tips so you can keep your citizens supplied without wasting resources.

Why Production Ratios Matter in Anno 117

Every economic system in Anno 117 rests on the idea of input and output per minute. Each building has a fixed processing time and produces a specific quantity of goods. If the upstream and downstream buildings are not aligned, you get either:

• Bottlenecks – workshops sitting idle because they lack input materials.
• Overproduction – goods piling up, using workforce and maintenance for no real benefit.

Efficient ratios ensure that, on average, goods move smoothly along the chain, storage doesn’t overflow, and your workforce is used effectively. Ubisoft’s official tips emphasize how critical timber and other early chains are to early game growth, and they highlight the importance of placing buildings within range of warehouses and trade posts so production cycles are not slowed by travel time.¹

How Production Chains Work in Anno 117

Most goods in Anno 117 follow a familiar pattern:

• Raw resource (e.g., fields, mines, plantations)
• Refined material (mills, smelters, presses)
• Finished product (workshops, bakeries, smiths)

Some goods use only one processing step (farm > workshop), while others combine multiple intermediate goods or require special locations, such as river slots or forested areas.

Core concepts behind ratios

When players talk about a “1:2” or “2:3” ratio, they are comparing the number of buildings at each stage of the chain. The aim is that, over time, the input and output per minute line up. Two key ideas underpin this:

• Cycle time – how long a building takes to complete one batch.
• Quantity per batch – how many tons (or units) are made each cycle.

If a farm produces 1 ton in 30 seconds and a workshop uses 1 ton in 60 seconds, one farm can support two workshops at 100% efficiency, not counting transport delays. Community calculators and official tools in past Anno games have used this math to suggest optimal setups, and similar tools already exist for Anno 117.^2,3

General Rules for Building Efficient Ratios

Even without memorizing exact numbers, you can plan strong production layouts with a few general rules.

1. Start from citizen needs, not from resources

Work backwards from what your residents demand. Check the consumer goods panel and see which items your current class needs, then:

1. Estimate how much of that good you need based on population and consumption.
2. See how many production buildings are required to meet that demand.
3. Only then build the supporting raw resource buildings.

This keeps you from overbuilding farms or mines that do not actually support your citizens or income.

2. Keep chains compact and connected

Ubisoft’s official guidance stresses that every building must connect to roads and a warehouse or trading post.¹ A perfect ratio on paper is meaningless if carts take too long to move goods. Compact layouts offer:

• Shorter travel times
• Fewer idle workshops
• Less need for multiple warehouses

Try to place farms around warehouses and position processing buildings close by. Reserve specialized slots (like river tiles) for production that absolutely requires them.

3. Slight overproduction is safer than perfection

In practice, travel times and road congestion make “perfect” ratios theoretical. Community creators and podcasters often recommend slightly overbuilding the raw resource side (e.g., 2.2 farms per mill rather than exactly 2) to account for cart travel and seasonal field distribution.⁴ In Anno 117, that can mean:

• One extra farm in a large chain
• Another charcoal burner or warehouse for busy production hubs

Overproduction of low-cost raw goods is usually cheaper than facing shortages in a crucial finished good like bread or clothing.

Foundational Chains: Timber, Tiles, and Basic Food

Early-game chains underpin everything else in Anno 117. They don’t just feed your populace; they also provide the construction materials that let your city expand.

Timber: The backbone of expansion

Almost all early buildings require timber, making it your first major production chain. Ubisoft’s beginner guide specifically instructs new players to start with a woodcutter (or equivalent logging building) and a sawmill, making sure both stand in dense forest and within range of a warehouse or trading post.¹

Since timber is used in almost every expansion project, it’s better to err on the side of multiple pairs of woodcutter + sawmill than to optimize too aggressively.

Tiles and bricks for construction

Once your city grows, you quickly unlock building materials beyond timber, such as tiles or bricks. These usually require:

• A raw material extraction building (e.g., a clay pit on a river)
• A fuel source (frequently charcoal or an equivalent)
• A processing building that produces the finished construction material

Commonly, the clay pit has a relatively fast cycle time compared to the tile workshop, meaning one pit can feed multiple workshops. Add a single fuel producer to support every few workshops, and cluster the entire chain near a warehouse and river slot. This approach mirrors how previous Anno titles balanced clay, bricks, and charcoal.²

Basic food chains: Grain to bread, fish, and porridge

Food is often your first major consumer chain and a constant source of demand. Typical early-game food options include:

• Fish or shellfish from coastal buildings
• Porridge or similar grain dishes from farms and simple kitchens
• Bread produced via multi-step chains (fields → mill → bakery)

A bread chain, for example, might follow a structure like:

1. Several grain farms supplying one mill.
2. The flour from the mill feeding multiple bakeries.
3. Enough warehouses and roads to keep carts running efficiently.

Fishing chains are simpler: one or more fisheries (or “scamper shacks”) feed directly into your warehouses. Because there is no intermediate processing stage, the main tuning levers are the number of boats and proximity to coastal deposits.

Clothing and Household Goods

Once your citizens climb a tier, they begin demanding more sophisticated goods like clothing, pottery, and household tools. These chains often mix raw agricultural input with lightweight processing.

Wool clothing and hats

Typical wool-based chains in Anno games revolve around:

• Sheep farms producing wool quickly.
• Tailors or hat makers taking longer to turn wool into garments.

Since farms tend to cycle faster, a common pattern is one farm supporting two or more clothing workshops. The exact ratio will vary depending on the game’s balancing, but the principle remains: faster raw production, slower processing. Placing the farm and workshops around the same warehouse dramatically reduces cart travel and smooths supply.

Simple pottery and basic household goods

Other basic needs, such as pottery or simple tools, follow a similar pattern. They may require multiple inputs:

• Clay or stone from specialized extraction buildings
• Fuel from charcoal burners or similar structures
• An artisan workshop to produce the final good

A good rule of thumb here is to:

1. Start with one extractor, one fuel producer, and one or two workshops.
2. Monitor storage levels for both intermediate and finished goods.
3. Add additional workshops if intermediates constantly overflow, or another extractor if workshops sit idle.

Advanced Chains: Luxury, Concrete, and Military Goods

Higher-tier citizens demand more complex goods, including luxuries, specialized construction materials, and military equipment. These chains can combine agricultural production, mining, and several processing steps.

Olive oil, wine, and other luxuries

Luxury chains often follow a “many farms, fewer processors” pattern. For example, an olive chain might look like:

• Several olive plantations producing raw olives at a moderate pace.
• Fewer olive presses with longer processing times converting them into oil.

Likewise, a wine chain could combine vineyards and vintners, sometimes with beekeeping or related support buildings contributing secondary goods. Because these chains are land-intensive, consider dedicating entire districts to them and connecting them via high-capacity roads or additional warehouses.

Concrete and advanced construction materials

Concrete or equivalent advanced construction materials usually sit at the top of the infrastructure pyramid. They often require:

• Mining of limestone or similar rock.
• Sand or silica gathered from specific deposits.
• Multiple mixers or kilns that combine these inputs into concrete.

In community guides for Anno 117, players often recommend a blend of several sand refineries, a few limestone quarries, and multiple concrete mixers to keep the processing buildings constantly supplied. The exact ratio depends on processing time, but the balanced pattern generally looks like a few extractors feeding a larger number of mixers.³

Military and armor chains

Arms production typically requires both mined ore and agricultural products. An armor chain might look like:

1. Iron mines and furnaces providing ingots.
2. Pig farms and tanneries producing leather.
3. Armor smiths combining metal and leather into finished equipment.

Because these chains are both workforce-intensive and maintenance-heavy, it is wise to:

• Align production with your current military needs rather than overproducing.
• Place them near warehouses and away from residential clusters to manage pollution or negative attractiveness, as previous Anno entries did.²

Practical Layout and Warehouse Tips

Numbers alone don’t guarantee efficiency. The way you lay out your island and position logistics buildings can make or break even mathematically perfect ratios.

Use warehouses to shorten travel time

Official tips emphasize that every production building should be in range of a warehouse, and that all roads must ultimately connect to a central trading post.¹ Community tools and podcasts note that farms placed at the edge of their radius can effectively have longer production cycles because of added cart travel time.⁴ To compensate:

• Place warehouses between farms and mills whenever possible.
• Add extra warehouses in high-traffic industrial zones.
• Consider slightly higher raw production ratios to buffer travel delays.

Cluster production by theme

Instead of scattering buildings all over the map, group chains by category:

• A dedicated food district (grain fields, bread, porridge, fish warehouses).
• A construction hub (timber, tiles, concrete, stone).
• A luxury and trade district (wine, olive oil, specialty goods).

This makes it easier to expand chains, add warehouses, and manage fire safety or desirability modifiers that might affect production buildings. Past Anno games have rewarded careful district planning with smoother logistics and fewer transport bottlenecks.²

Adjust as your population evolves

Early on, your citizens mainly consume food and basic goods. As you unlock higher tiers (e.g., higher Roman social classes), their consumption profile changes dramatically. Ubisoft’s official guidance notes that fulfilling needs not only stabilizes population but also increases income, while unfulfilled needs can throttle growth.¹ Periodically:

• Review your consumption statistics per good.
• Compare them to the output of your existing chains.
• Add or remove buildings to match new demand patterns.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I figure out exact ratios without memorizing every chain?

Watch storage levels: if input goods are constantly maxed out while workshops are running non-stop, you can add more processing buildings. If workshops sit idle waiting for materials, add more farms or extractors. As your settlement grows, you can also use community-made calculators for Anno 117 that list optimal building counts for each chain.^2,3

Do I need perfect ratios to succeed?

No. Slight overproduction on the raw side is usually fine and even recommended, because it cushions you against transport delays and sudden demand spikes. Focus on avoiding chronic shortages of critical goods such as food, clothing, and key building materials.

Why does a chain look balanced on paper but still stall in practice?

Travel time, congestion, and poor warehouse placement can extend effective production cycles. A farm that theoretically has a 60-second cycle might operate closer to 70 seconds if carts must travel a long distance to a warehouse, which then sends the goods to a distant workshop. Solve this by adding warehouses, improving road layouts, and tightening your production clusters.

How often should I rebuild or relocate my chains?

In the early game, it is normal to rebuild as you unlock new buildings and learn more efficient layouts. Once your infrastructure is stable, try to expand by replicating existing well-designed clusters instead of constantly moving core chains.

Are there any chains I should always overbuild?

Timber and basic construction materials are safe choices to overbuild slightly, because they gate many upgrades and expansions.¹ Food production is another good candidate, as shortages directly affect population stability and income.