Anno 1800 vs Victoria 3 (and current state of multiplayer)

[Altonu]

Thinking of getting either Anno 1800 or Victoria 3 on the steam sale (might cross-post to Victoria 3 forum too depending on level of response here).

I know the focus of each is different (city builder vs empire simulator), and their primary similarity is the time period and focus on economics, but those are the two factors that interest me most, so hoping to get some feedback from those that have played both.

Both games look like they do a great job of capturing the aesthetic of the period, so on that side it seems like neither has a clear advantage, but does one have a better immersive feel to you (ie, feeling like a city planner or a government council etc)

As for the economic side, is one clearly better (in your opinion) on that side of things, or are the both good/average/disappointing etc at the aspect of the economy their are aiming to model?

Am I correct in gathering that both can be played at a slow/casual pace, and is that also true of multiplayer (I've played (and hated) MP real-time games where slow mode was disabled for MP).

What is the current state of multiplayer for Anno 1800 (assuming a friend and I both get a copy and only want to play vs each other)? The last UbiSoft game I tried to do Multi Player on was Heroes 7, and that was a nightmare for stability, so if UbiSoft is involved, then I really wanna know the state of MP before I make any decisions where it is a factor. :)

[Lokieys ★]

Stay far away from Victoria 3. Don't touch it with a two hundred foot pole. As for anno, its actually worth it. there are occasional desyncs but its mostly functional whereas victoria 3 is not functional at all.

[Dray Prescot]

Unless there has been a major change, in ALL ANNO games, you can not PAUSE the game and still look at things and give orders while the game is paused. If you want to give orders in ANNO games, they have to be moving forward in time.

This is why I REFUSE to Play ANNO games. At least in Paradox games (and some other games, and in turn based games), you can pause the game and still give orders to the game.

If ANNO games change to allow games to be paused and still give orders, I will try playing them again. The Anno 1800 group looks interesting, if I could pause the game.

[Degenerate Trap]

I play both games, and right now I recommend Anno 1800 more than Victoria 3 which only capture you for 3-6 games at max, then everything else feel the same. I'm sure over time, given development, Victoria 3 will be better in its own charm with flavour packs. But for now Anno 1800 is a bigger game.

[Altonu]

Thanks for the feedback. The lack of ability to pause and give orders is an annoyance, but not a deal breaker (assuming the default pace is slow enough). Glad to know the MP issues sound minimal for Anno 1800 - probably wont jump into that for a while anyway, but its a long term concern.

I will probably get both eventually, but it does sound like Victoria 3 could still use a few more patches and/or content (and hopefully a deeper discount by then too :))

[The Renderer]

Keep in mind though that Anno, while it has the look of this time period, is still a city builder that is in no way "realistic". So if you are looking for a more historical vibe of the times, the politics etc., you should go with Victoria. That said, Victoria is still rather new and Paradox is notorious for needing at least(!) a year to get their games into a playable state.

[Altonu]

Thanks, yeah, that fairly much matches my expectations of each.

The time period appeals to me on aspects of architecture and style (thus strong interest in Anno 1800), and its role in the scope of history as a whole (where I expect Victoria 3 to shine, but the the changing role of the city in society that occurred in the industrial era is also a very important part of history as a whole).

I worked for several years in a civil engineering office, so I've long since given up ont he idea of any city builder feeling realistic from that perspective, but the things I've heard about the supply chain aspect of Anno 1800 sound like they will be engaging gameplay elements.

I play a lot of board games which have historical themes, and some of them link the theme and gameplay better than others, but I still enjoy plenty where the theme is only loosely tied to the gameplay.

Very true about Paradox needing time (and often expansions) to make their games shine. When CK3 came out, I was a subscriber to MS Game Pass, so I played it on there and had fun with it for a day or two, but had an undeniable "something feels like its missing, but cant articulate it" feeling. Picked it up on steam sale a while back and keep telling myself I need to give it another try now that its had a year or two of patches and should be in a more polished state.