How do you manage all regions of your Empire?

[Zigor]

I have always been turn based strategy enjoyer and anno become trully new and fun experience for me. But during first campaing, managing few regions was great challenge, I was barelly cope with old and new world, so after starting freeplay mode, I decided to concentrate on those regions and put Enbese, Trilony and Arctic expeditions for later. But after I finally decided to undertake its, I realized that rivals didnt wait and took over all regions exept one island on each.
So, is there any tips, or perhaps mods, that could help people like me enjoy all game content without being feeling like mouse in the wheel, that tries manage everything properly, but fails in the end.

[Chaosium]

No need for mods, just remove rivals, they bring nothing to the game except frustration and stress. If you're struggling with managing different regions already, there are zero reasons to play with them

[Zigor]

Originally posted by Chaosium:

No need for mods, just remove rivals, they bring nothing to the game except frustration and stress. If you're struggling with managing different regions already, there are zero reasons to play with them

True, I was thinking about it, but looking from the other side, without rivals there is no feels of competition, and game becomes extrimly easy, cuz you have everything, there is no sutuation like you have lack of some important resource and need to find a way ensure uninterrupted supply of it. And this game generate a lot of sutiation like this, which is very fun for me to solve it.

[kmmacman]

Originally posted by Chaosium:

No need for mods, just remove rivals, they bring nothing to the game except frustration and stress. If you're struggling with managing different regions already, there are zero reasons to play with them

I agree with this approach 100%. When first started with AI's I felt the same way as you do however when I decided I wanted to build my cities w/o interruption I quickly adapted to no AI's only NPC's and Pirates.
You can always set up a custom game with one AI just go with the easiest.
It all depends on the style of game you want to play. I personally am not into fast expansion and total conquest of other players islands I like to relax and enjoy the game.
After you play awhile you will get a grip on how to work the other regions more easily.
Also I am NOT a fan of the free play (creative) mode.
Have fun!

[Whispdragoon62]

Exactly. The AI is like notifications simulator 2000.

Once I proved I can wipe them all, all they do is slow down your early progress in sandbox.

ZZZZZZ

[GiovanniLeSheek]

I park warships outside the pirate coves so every time they try to resettle I destroy them lol. I only left Bente Jorgensen because I'm going to win her hand, and if not, I'll raze her islands to dust...I mean, what?

[Primigenia]

Being said that I never play with npc, I only use traders, I try to make the settlements self sufficient. I focus on one island at a time, and when it's stable and can go on without me managing it I colonize other islands. having to manage 3-4-5 cities at a time if they all require attention can be pretty challenging

[kmmacman]

To correct my previous response I meant to state I do not play with NPC's only the neutral traders and pirates. Sorry bout that.

[Whispdragoon62]

Originally posted by GiovanniLeSheek:

I park warships outside the pirate coves so every time they try to resettle I destroy them lol. I only left Bente Jorgensen because I'm going to win her hand, and if not, I'll raze her islands to dust...I mean, what?

You can cease fire, peace treaty, trade rights, and even form an alliance with the pirates.

They are actually most useful as a trader.

Stop parking $8000/minute of ships in their base.

[GiovanniLeSheek]

Originally posted by Whispdragoon62:

Originally posted by GiovanniLeSheek:

I park warships outside the pirate coves so every time they try to resettle I destroy them lol. I only left Bente Jorgensen because I'm going to win her hand, and if not, I'll raze her islands to dust...I mean, what?

You can cease fire, peace treaty, trade rights, and even form an alliance with the pirates.

They are actually most useful as a trader.

Stop parking $8000/minute of ships in their base.

Nah, it's late enough that I have like 40 million dollars so it's no biggie ;)

[sm303030]

Anno 1800 has gotten very large with DLC and and requires a lot of play time to truly get the mechanics down. I suggest playing 3 AI's all weakest difficulty. They wont open new regions, and in most cases well even ask you if they can take new islands. Learn the game mechanics in few play thoughts and then increase AI difficulty when its seems everything is a bit too trivial.

[Lynx-Eye]

At the moment, all AI are under my boot, I left only an island or two per theater for each one of them, so I am not totally alone. I am allied with both pirates lords from the old and new world. I started the game on default difficulty and I've been playing the same game for 530 hours. I continued playing after finishing the campaign and now I maxed out the money you can earn, which is 1 billion units. The campaign was the initial motivation to play, then after the campaign, the pesky AI that I kept chipping at island by island, either by conquest or buying them out. At the moment, I keep playing to optimize my building space and my trading routes. Also, all the dlc that I am working thru and that are bringing new mechanics to the game, forcing me to rearrange buildings, settle new island for resources and chase that elusive balance between demand and supply. I like to take my time and perfect the zoning, no little square goes unused. After all this game time, I feel like I have gone thru about 75% of the game content.