Anno 117: Pax Romana runs on a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet has been edited since launch. IGN’s wiki dates the game’s initial release to 13 November 2025; GamesRadar published its first ratio sheet five days later, and the Steam community’s chain guide is stamped “Guide Version: 1.0 – Patch 1.2”. Patch 2.0 then rebuilt the demand side of the bread economy outright. The chain ratios below still hold; the number of chains you need per citizen does not.
What this covers: the 1:1 ratios behind Anno 117’s core Latium and Albion chains — buildings per good, tier by tier, plus the raw build speeds those ratios assume. Why the numbers move: Patch 2.0 raised bread consumption by about 50%, shortened the Water Mill’s flour step, and made monument effects island-wide — so tables written at launch describe a different economy. Who should care: anyone planning a bread or luxury chain, anyone starting Albion, and anyone who has stared at a guide’s “0.5× Charcoal Burner” and wondered what half a building is.
How production ratios work in Anno 117
GamesRadar defines the term directly: “Production ratios or chains refer to the amount of time it takes to produce certain goods in your production chain.” Different buildings in a chain take different amounts of time, so the chain only runs flat if the counts compensate for the timings.
The starter chains are already balanced. GamesRadar lists the Oat Farm into the Porridge Stand as a 1:1 ratio, and says the same applies to the Hemp Farm into Tunics, the Woodcutter into the Sawmill for Timber, and the Cockle Picker and Eel Grabber. It gives the underlying reason as a timing match: “your Woodcutter and Sawmill both take 30 seconds each on production, so they run at the same production ratio.”
IGN’s wiki publishes the raw speeds those ratios are built on. This is the table to check a chain against when one building is starving:
| Building | Inputs | Cycle time | Output per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Mine | none | 30s | 2t |
| Pig Farm | none | 30s | 2t |
| Salt Ponds | none | 30s | 2t |
| Charcoal Burner | Trees in radius | 30s | 2t |
| Furnace | Iron Ore, Charcoal | 60s | 1t |
| Tannery | Pigs, Salt | 60s | 1t |
| Weaponsmith | Iron Ingots, Charcoal | 90s | 0.66t |
| Armourer | Iron Ingots, Leather, Charcoal | 90s | 0.66t |
| Sandal Maker | Leather | 120s | 0.5t |
Read that as a matching problem. A 30-second building produces twice as much per minute as a 60-second one, so each 60-second processor absorbs two 30-second suppliers — which is why IGN’s worked example builds two Furnaces behind one Iron Mine and two Tanneries behind one Pig Farm and one Salt Ponds.
The Steam guide (credited to DR. HARTMAN) states its figures as raw values: “All values are based on raw production speeds – without research, specialists, festivals, religion or any other boosts.” GamesRadar says the same of its list, adding that the perfect ratios “don’t take into the account the effects of specialists’ buffs or research technologies, which will in turn change the input and output timings.”
The Latium chains, tier by tier
Latium is the best-documented part of the game: two independent guides list the same building counts for Bread, Garum, Sandals, Soap, Amphorae, Olive Oil, Concrete, Wine and Togas. The rows below use the Steam guide’s figures and cover the chains you build first; both guides list further tiers, including Patrician luxuries beyond Mosaic and Albion’s Wigs and Hand Mirror chains.
| Good | Buildings for a 1:1 chain | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Timber / Boards | 1 Lumberjack + 1 Sawmill | Liberti |
| Porridge | 1 Oat Farm + 1 Porridge Stand | Liberti |
| Tunics | 1 Hemp Farm + 1 Spinner | Liberti |
| Tiles / Bricks | 1 Clay Pit + 2 Tilers + 0.5 Charcoal Burner | Plebeians |
| Weapons | 1 Iron Mine + 2 Furnaces + 3 Weaponsmiths + 1.25 Charcoal Burner | Plebeians |
| Armour | 1 Iron Mine + 2 Furnaces + 1 Pig Farm + 1 Salt Pans + 2 Tanneries + 3 Armoursmiths + 1.25 Charcoal Burner | Plebeians |
| Bread | 2 Wheat Farms + 1 Grain Mill + 2 Bakeries + 0.5 Charcoal Burner | Plebeians |
| Garum | 1 Salt Pans + 2 Mackerel Huts + 3 Garum Workshops | Plebeians |
| Sandals | 1 Pig Farm + 1 Salt Pans + 2 Tanneries + 4 Sandal Makers | Plebeians |
| Soap | 1 Pig Farm + 2 Tallow Boilers + 4 Lavendula Growers + 2 Soapmakers + 0.5 Charcoal Burner | Plebeians |
| Amphorae | 1 Clay Pit + 2 Resin Tappers + 2 Potters + 0.5 Charcoal Burner | Plebeians |
| Olive Oil | 4 Olive Growers + 3 Olive Presses | Plebeians |
| Concrete | 2 Limestone Quarries + 3 Sand Refineries + 6 Concrete Mixers | Equites |
| Marble | 2 Marble Quarries + 3 Marble Masons | Equites |
| Wine | 2 Vineyards + 1 Beehive + 1 Winemaker | Equites |
| Cheese | 1 Ox Farm + 2 Dairies (import possible) | Equites |
| Togas | 3 Flax Farms + 3 Snail Breeders + 4 Weavers + 4 Dye Workshops + 2 Loom Weaveries | Equites |
| Fine Glass | 3 Mineral Quarries + 4 Mineral Crushers + 3 Sand Refineries + 6 Glass Melters + 8 Glassblowers + 3.5 Charcoal Burners | Equites |
| Mosaic | 3 Mineral Quarries + 4 Mineral Crushers + 2 Clay Pits + 8 Mosaic Makers + 2 Charcoal Burners | Patricians |
The fractional Charcoal Burners are the most confusing thing in that table, and they are not a rounding error. The Steam guide writes shared buildings as fractions — 0.5× for a burner serving two chains at once, 1.25× or 3.5× for one serving several — because a single Burner’s 30-second cycle can feed more than one consumer. Read “0.5× Charcoal Burner” as half of this chain’s charcoal draw, not half a building you can place.
Two naming traps sit in that table: GamesRadar calls the Plebeian good “Tiles” where the Steam guide says “Bricks” — same Clay Pit, same Tilers, but GamesRadar writes one whole Charcoal Burner where the Steam guide writes a half-share — and GamesRadar’s “Scomber’s Shack” is the building the Steam guide calls “Mackerel Huts” in the Garum chain.
The Albion chains, and the path that changes them
Albion is not a second Latium with different art. It has its own chain set, its own tier names, and a branching citizen path that changes which chains your city needs.
The Steam guide describes Albion as having “two development paths (Celtic / Roman)” and lists Smiths as an alternative path alongside the Wanderers, Mercatores, Nobles and Elders tiers. GamesRadar labels its Albion list “dependent on Waders/Smiths”. Ubisoft’s own notes confirm the branch is real: Patch 1.5 fixed “an issue where the second citizen upgrade path in Albion would not correctly unlock after having reached the highest Tier of the other path.”
| Good | Buildings for a 1:1 chain | Tier / path |
|---|---|---|
| Mussels | 1 Mussel Collector | Wanderers |
| Tunics | 1 Hemp Farm + 1 Spinner | Wanderers |
| Bricks | 2 Mud Driers + 2 Tilers + 1 Charcoal Burner | Mercatores |
| Bread | 2 Wheat Farms + 2 Donkey Mills + 2 Bakeries + 1 Charcoal Burner | Mercatores |
| Wine | 2 Vineyards + 1 Beehive + 1 Winemaker | Nobles |
| Beer | 2 Barley Farms + 1 Malt House + 2 Breweries + 1 Charcoal Burner | Smiths |
| Ceremonial Shields | 1 Tin Mine + 1 Copper Mine + 4 Bronze Smelters + 2 Weld Plants + 1 Charcoal Burner + 3 Shield Makers | Smiths |
| Granite | 3 Granite Quarries + 8 Granite Cutters | Elders |
| Roast Beef | 2 Ox Farms + 3 Saltwort Pickers + 4 Earth Ovens + 1 Charcoal Burner | Elders |
| Fur Hats | 3 Saltwort Pickers + 2 Saltwort Burners + 3 Beaver Trappers + 4 Beaver Hatters + 0.5 Charcoal Burner | Elders |
The Elders rows come from GamesRadar’s shorter Albion list. Its counts match the Steam guide on Granite, Wine, Roast Beef and Fur Hats; the two differ on how many Horse Catchers the Chariot chain needs and on the Narcissium count in the Hand Mirror chain.
Then there is the import question. Some goods exist in only one province, which turns a ratio problem into a shipping problem. IGN’s wiki notes Cheese is “exclusively produced in Albion” while Latium’s fields suit Wine, and the Steam guide flags Albion’s Olive Oil chain as needing imports. That is the thinking our Anno 1800 old-world vs new-world efficiency comparison applies to a later game in the series, and the Anno 1800 Investor guide covers what happens when you solve it with trade unions and ship routes.
Slots, radius and warehouses: what breaks a ratio before the maths does
A correct ratio on paper can still starve. Three constraints do most of the damage, and all three are documented.
Placement slots. IGN warns that some buildings need a “River Slot” or “Mountain Slot” and that each island holds a limited number. Building a Clay Pit for Tiles consumes a River Slot, the bread chain’s Mill uses one too, and the Weaponsmith needs Iron Ore from a Mountain Slot.
Building radius and area effects. IGN gives the numbers: the Spinner gives nearby houses +1 Income, and with the right research +1 Knowledge, which makes it a building to place inside housing blocks. The Charcoal Burner applies −3 Health and −3 Happiness to nearby buildings, so it belongs far from housing. The Soap Maker lands in between at +1 Health and −1 Happiness. IGN also notes the Woodcutter needs 80 trees within its radius for maximum efficiency — a raw-resource counterpart to the slot problem.
Warehouse network. IGN describes warehouses as the release valve: goods in a warehouse are shared with every other warehouse on the same island, so buildings do not need to be directly connected to each other. An hourglass icon over a warehouse means too many buildings are requesting transport and all carriers are busy; the fix is a second warehouse or an upgrade.
| Upgrade | Cost | Technology needed |
|---|---|---|
| First warehouse upgrade | 250 Denarii, 25 Timber, 5 Tiles | Warehouse Organization |
| Second warehouse upgrade | 500 Denarii, 50 Timber, 15 Tiles, 5 Concrete | Warehouse Refinement |
IGN also shows how to stretch a scarce slot: a hybrid chain feeding one Clay Pit into a Charcoal Burner, a Resin Tapper, a Potter and a Tiler, producing Tiles and Amphorae from the same raw input. It presents its own defence-chain build as a second example, and is upfront that “this isn’t quite perfect efficiency but gets very close.”
Workforce tiers, and the priority list that feeds them
Ratios assume workers. Latium’s tiers run Liberti, Plebeians, Equites and Patricians; Albion runs Wanderers, Mercatores, Nobles and Elders, with Smiths as the alternative path. Goods belong to tiers, which is why a Plebeian-tier factory is worthless in a city that has not upgraded its housing that far.
Patch 1.5 added a workforce priority system to stop one shortage cascading. Ubisoft’s notes spell out the order: “Military > adding population > population area effect > income > income area effect.” Patch 2.0 then added field workers to farms and plantations, changing the staffing numbers those tier thresholds were balanced around.
What Patch 2.0 did to the bread economy
This is the part that makes launch-era ratio tables unreliable as demand curves. Anno Union published the Patch 2.0 notes on 18 August 2026 for a 20 August release alongside The Hippodrome DLC:
- “Bread consumption has been increased across the board by about 50%.”
- “To compensate, bread as a need now provides +3 population instead of +2.”
- “Water Mills now produce flour faster, 20sec instead of 30sec.”
- The reworked Amphitheatre adds bread as a need for Liberti at higher splendour levels, which the notes say “will impact bread consumption.”
- “Monument effects are now valid island-wide.”
The accompanying Anno Union highlights post explains the intent: “From our perspective, current bread consumption is too low. As a result, bread production chains have limited strategic importance, which undermines vision of Rome relying on bread and imports.” The consequence is spelled out too: “You may have to adjust your supply chains and build additional farms and bakeries to compensate for this change.”
Two things follow. The Bread chain’s internal ratio is unchanged, but the number of those chains your population consumes is not, because the need itself was rebalanced and the Amphitheatre can now add bread demand on top. And the Water Mill’s shortened cycle means the mill-to-bakery step no longer runs on the 30-second parity GamesRadar’s table describes — the Steam guide is stamped against Patch 1.2 and predates it entirely.
Patch 1.5 left a related mark on Albion’s bread chain, which runs on Donkey Mills rather than Water Mills. Those notes set the trade-off explicitly: “Water mill gets +1 knowledge, donkey mill –1 health as area effect”, with the stated reason that the Water Mill is more expensive because it needs a river slot. That patch also rebalanced passive trade downwards — rivals and traders now “only sell goods they actually have in stock”, rivals “pay the same price as traders now” and “goods have higher trade prices” — while noting “the old balancing is still available and remains active in existing savegames”. Importing what a province cannot make costs more than it did at launch.
None of that invalidates the tables above, but it does tell you which cells to trust: raw building counts and cycle times are stable, while the number of chains a city needs per resident is the part Ubisoft Mainz keeps tuning. For where Anno 117 sits in the wider series, see our launch coverage of Latium and Albion.