Islands in Anno 2070 are a very major part of the gameplay, as they provide the building area for your Population to live on and your Production buildings to operate.
Overview[]
Every island has a set of Fertilities and Raw Material Deposits, as well as coastlines for Fisheries and other coastal buildings, but not every island contains River slots for buildings which need to be placed over a River, or Water Dam slots which is required to plant a Hydroelectric Dam on the island.
Note: while every island may have only one main Warehouse, other coastlines may be made accessible via the Port Authority.
Islands come in three sizes: small, medium and large. Generally it is worth placing Population settlements on large islands and Production plants on smaller islands. Fertility is not percievably affected by the size of an island, however especially in Single Missions and Global Events you can count on smaller islands having few (1-2) and large islands having more (3-4) fertilities.
Islands in Continuous Games may also have positive or negative Environmental conditions existing on them prior to colonization, such as the Automated Sewage Plant or the Damaged Nuclear Reactor,which give them a starting bonus of +150 or reduction of -200 Ecobalance, respectively.
Like in Anno 1404, island ownership is not exclusive and it is possible for both players and Computer Players to settle islands which have already been settled by someone else. Take note however, that NPCs will react differently to having another settlement colonized on their islands.
Note: Settled Islands may be renamed by clicking on the island's name on the main Warehouse panel in the top-right corner of the screen.
Underwater Plateaus[]
A unique feature to Anno 2070 are islands that exist under the sea, which are called Underwater Plateaus. Settling on an underwater plateau by building a Deep Sea Warehouse requires Submarines and access to Tech production. Furthermore, buildings constructed underwater require only the basic materials: Building Modules and Tools. Some of the Deep Ocean underwater buildings also cost carbon.
Underwater Plateaus may also contain Black Smokers, see Fertility.
Utilizing the limited space of underwater plateaus requires careful micro-management, even more so because underwater buildings tend to have higher upkeep costs than their land-based counterparts. See the relevant layouts for ideas on how to utilize space perfectly.