Are you ready to turn your province into the envy of the world in Anno 117: Pax Romana? Ubisoft's longrunning city building and management franchise is back and this time, you have to deftly govern the sprawling Roman Empire. Whether constructing marbled roads in Latium or erecting defenses in Albion, the Romans have one advantage: Technology.

Our Anno 117: Pax Romana research guide takes a look at the best techs to prioritize during your playthrough. Many of these grant boons to further improve your territory’s economic growth, civic stability, and military expansion.

 

How to start researching techs in Anno 117: Pax Romana?

Before we discuss the best Anno 117: Pax Romana techs to research, let’s first talk about how to unlock the capability. You'll need to acquire 50 Knowledge to start researching new techs.

• Knowledge primarily comes from the Grammaticus building. It can be constructed once you’ve unlocked the second tier of citizens—either Plebeians in Latium or Mercators/Smiths in Albion.
• Each Grammaticus that you build costs 1,000x Denari, 5x Lumber, and 10x Tiles.
• You earn Knowledge based on how many buildings are within the Grammaticus’s area-of-effect. As such, you should place it in a location that’s surrounded by other fixtures and residences.

How to increase Knowledge via religion in Anno 117: Pax Romana?

Aside from the Grammaticus, you can also amass a lot of Knowledge in Anno 117: Pax Romana through religious beliefs. This is done via the Fanum or Sanctuary, which allows you to gain a resource called Devotion.

• Initially, you can only choose from patron gods like Ceres and Neptune. Later, once you unlock techs, you’ll be able to select Minerva as the patron god of an island.
• Minerva’s bonus trait, Divine Wisdom, grants additional Knowledge from all residences. As you accrue Devotion over time, the Knowledge boons increase from +1 to +3, +5, +7, and all the way to +9.
• Later, you can build Shrines dedicated to Minerva. Each Shrine gives +1 Knowledge from each affected building within its radius.

The research tree: Economic, Civic, and Military options

Upon unlocking the expansive Research tree, you’ll see the three main branches. They're fairly self-explanatory, but in short:

• Economic: Makes settlements more materially productive.
• Civic: Transforms the social fabric of your cities.
• Military: Helps you in matters of war.

Each branch also has several Inspirations that remain locked until you fulfill a particular task or requirement. For instance, Latin Research under the Economic branch requires that you first establish a trade route in Latium and generate at least 500 Knowledge. Once you’ve done that, you can select more techs as you keep advancing down the tree.

We detail the techs that had the most impact in our playthroughs below. Just note that you'll still need to unlock certain prerequisite nodes and accomplish Inspiration tasks along the way.

 

Best Economic techs in Anno 117: Pax Romana

Basic

• Trading Post Improvements: Adds more loading ramps in Trading Posts to avoid congestion and increases island storage capacity.
• Sewing Circles: +1 Knowledge from buildings near Spinners.
• Warehouse Organization: Adds more loading ramps to Warehouses.
• Paved Roads: Allows for faster transport of goods. You need to highlight a Dirt Road and click on the upgrade button.

Latin Research

• Villa Retinue: +25 Libertus workforce.
• Duct Irrigation: Increases the productivity of Farms via Aqueducts.
• Hurried Horrea: +25% loading and unloading speed at all Warehouses.
• Blind Faith: +50 Plebeian workforce.

Monumental Research

• Ulex & Agoge: +50% Gold Ore deposit.
• Extra Horsepower: +50 Equites workforce.
• Healthy Competition: Yields a random Legendary Specialist that focuses on Economy, Finance, or Nature.

Albionic Research

• Drainage: Enables the draining of Albion’s swampy marshes to create arable land.
• Albionic Loyalists: +25 Wader workforce.
• Blood of Terra: +50% Iron deposit.

Metallurgical Research

• Albionic Pillars: +25 Smith workforce and +25 Mercators workforce.
• Beneath Bedrock: +5% Mine productivity.

Wetland Research/Philogistic Research

• Trading Post Improvements: Allows you to further upgrade your Trading Posts.
• Warehouse Refinement: Allows you to further upgrade your Warehouses.
• Harbor Grandmastery: Lets you place buildings further away from the coast.

Cyclopedic Research

• Seaport Specification: When a good is specified in a Trading Post, only ships on Trade Routes for the specified good are allowed to load and unload there.

The above options are some of the best techs in Anno 117: Pax Romana. Several of these improve the throughput at your Trading Posts and Warehouses, decreasing congestion and ensuring that little time is wasted. Others grant additional people for your workforce pool, so that your farms, mines, and refineries continuously produce the goods that your citizens need.

 

Best Civic techs in Anno 117: Pax Romana

Basic

• Market Forces: +25% Market effect range.
• Wells: Increases Fire Safety in cities.
• Cult of Minerva: Unlocks Minerva as a patron god.
• Portitores: -20% workforce requirement and -10% upkeep cost for Warehouses.
• Hospitality: Allows you to build an additional Officium to accommodate more Specialists.

Municipal Research/Devotional Research

• Hazard Fighters: +1 Fire Safety from Vigiles.
• Cult of Cernunnos: Unlocks Cernunnos as a patron god.
• Cult of Mercury-Lugus: Unlocks Mercury-Lugus as a patron god.
• Legally Enshrine: Lets you build +1 Shrine on your islands.
• Lingua Romana: +20% Grammaticus effect range.
• Villa Visitation: +200 Prestige from your Governor Villa.

Concordance Research/Cognoscentic Research/Populist Research

• Alliance Treaty: Allows you to propose full military pacts.
• Fabulae Togatae: +20% Theater effect range.
• Aleatoria: Lets you build a Gambling House.
• Cult of Epona: Unlocks Epona as a patron god.
• Right to Repair: Vigiles will repair ruined buildings.
• Marble Roads: Ornamental roads that also grant Prestige.

Gubernatorial Research

• Solutio Ad Hominem: Reveals the preferences of Legendary Specialists and Captains.

Metropolitan Research

• Headhunting: Allows you to hire other governors as Specialists that serve you.
• Recruitment Drive: Yields a random Specialist that focuses on Culture, Religion, or Research.

Empyrean Research

• Cohabitive Collaboration: +1 Specialist slot per Officium.
• Pax Amicitia: Adds a positive reaction for multiple diplomatic acts.
• Shrine Staffing: Lets you build +1 Shrine on your islands.

As mentioned earlier, you need to choose Minerva as your patron god if you want to speed up your research. This arguably makes the Cult of Minerva the best tech in Anno 117: Pax Romana. Along with boosts to the Grammaticus’s range and additional Shrines that can be built, your empire should grow with the aid of deities that your people happily worship.

Note that you can construct any type of Shrine as long as you meet the global devotion requirement for that deity. This allows each city/island to worship a different patron god, while keeping various bonuses active.

 

Best Military techs in Anno 117: Pax Romana

Basic

• Provisional Casta: Lets you build Encampments for your troops.
• Armorsmithing: Unlocks the Armor Chain for troops.
• Slingers: Unlocks the Slinger unit type.
• Protective Entourage: +75 morale and +1 toughness for Auxilia troops.
• Repair Cranes: These structures will repair nearby ships.

Legionic Research

• Legionaries: Unlocks the Legionary unit type.
• Valetudinaria: +100% healing while encamped.
• Stone Walls: Unlocks Stone Walls, Stone Gates, and Stone Towers.
• Parabolics: +15% accuracy and +5% attack speed for Onagers.

Nautical Research

• Plated Hulls: Adds armored plating to your ships.
• Shipboard Scorpiones: Unlocks Scorpion siege engines for your ships.
• Cautious Greeting: Lets you place Towers in water.

Navarchal Research

• Catapult Carriers: Unlocks Catapults for your ships.
• Multi-task Menders: +1 simultaneous repair capability for Repair Cranes.
• Manor Invictus: +10% attack range, +1 ranged offense, and +25% attack speed for the Governor Villa.

Dominion Research

• Imperial Measures: +100% ship construction speed.

Legatic Research

• Rain of Pain: +1 Garrison Archer availability.
• Manipular Maneuvers: +100 morale, +1 toughness, and +1 shield protection for Legionaries.
• Encampment Errands: -30% maintenance cost while encamped.
• Praetorians: Unlocks the Praetorian Cavalry unit type.

Ordine Research

• Stone Wall Discount: Halves the construction cost for all Stone Walls and Stone Gates.
• Spathas: +50 morale, +1 melee offense, and +4 charge offense for Praetorian Cavalry.

Aegis Research

• Sword and Salt: Yields a random Legendary Specialist that focuses on Military, Seafaring, or Civics.

In our playthrough, we opted to conquer new lands with the Legionaries and Praetorians that comprised the backbone of our armies. That said, we also needed a means of defending our territories and repairing our damaged ships, so the above skills came in handy.

That does it for our guide on the best techs to research in Anno 117: Pax Romana. These are our suggestions based on how we progressed through the game. Of course, you’re free to prioritize discoveries based on your playstyle and whatever predicament is currently facing your burgeoning Roman Empire.

Anno 117: Pax Romana is available now in the Epic Games Store.