Immediately after landing and setting up warehouse port, build three woodcutters around your warehouse port with roads to the warehouse port.Later you can build Harbor Master's Offices on the west, east, and north ends of your island to speed up deliveries from other occidental islands. Settle on the southern end of the island, the first goods deliveries will be coming from the South.

The perfect island should be large and flat, contain no lakes or major waste of land, be close to neutral port, be centrally located for ship travel time purposes, have Cider and Hemp fertilities, and have at least two deposits of Stone and Iron Ore each.Still, if an AI grabs the largest and best island before you do, it's highly recommended to restart the game, unless you want a challenge. Compared to other Anno games, in 1404 there is a moderate amount of time to find a good place to start since AI ships will take their time, often stopping in the open sea and in general won't rush for best islands like ships did in previous games. For a really aggressive start, sell (or dump and pick up later) the fish and buy all the tools you can as well. Purchase all the wood offered unless you've started with really low amounts of gold. If you picked to only start with a ship or ship with an escort, you start next to Lord Northburgh's Warehouse.The only difference is there aren't any story elements or special quests, although any present NPCs will offer a selection of quests randomly. Continuous game mechanics are basically the same as the Campaign or most Scenarios.

Anno 1404 complex route for ship