Herbs can only be grown on Northern islands with Herb fertility . If your island lacks this, you can purchase Herb seeds from Lord Richard Northburgh to enable it.
The Monastery Garden in Anno 1404 is a triumph of game design because it forces the player to break their own rules. It penalizes the grid; it rewards the organic. It demands space in a game where space is the scarcest resource.
: Ensure that all parts of the garden are easily accessible. Narrow paths might look quaint but can hinder movement.
On desert islands, a single Noria irrigates a diamond-shaped area (due to Manhattan distance). For a Noria placed at coordinates (0,0), all tiles (x,y) with |x| + |y| ≤ 10 are watered.
Even experienced players make these errors:
Each module requires if placed outside a natural green biome. On northern European islands (green, temperate), no irrigation is needed. On southern Oriental islands (dry, desert), modules must be within the radius of a Water Works powered by a Noria (water wheel). This paper focuses on the more challenging southern desert layout, as it imposes real constraints.
If the monastery is centered inside the Noria’s radius (e.g., its center at distance 5 from Noria), then all 24 possible modules might be watered. But if the monastery is near the edge, only 12–16 modules will be watered. Thus, pre-planning your monastery location before building Norias is critical.
This pattern (a hexagon rotated 45°) fits perfectly inside a Manhattan diamond of radius 6. Place your Noria 5 tiles south of the monastery’s center for full coverage.
Based on extensive testing (via the Anno 1404 community forums and my own simulations using the game’s map editor), three layouts dominate.
24/24 modules watered. Shape resembles a rounded diamond. Production: 24 herb gardens = 24 herbs/min; or 24 vineyards = 32 grapes/min (since vineyards produce faster). This is enough to supply medicine for 3,000 Noblemen or wine for 2,000 Noblemen.
Creating a monastery garden layout for Anno 1404 involves balancing aesthetic appeal with functional efficiency. Anno 1404, a city-building game set in the Renaissance era, challenges players to build and manage their own medieval town. A well-planned monastery garden can contribute significantly to the happiness and productivity of the monks residing there, as well as provide resources and architectural beauty to your town. Here’s a basic layout and some tips to help you design a harmonious and productive monastery garden:
Each garden costs 200 gold to build with a maintenance fee of 10 gold , plus 50 gold for each of the 8 fields, totaling 600 gold for a fully operational unit. Strategic Placement Tips
Most Anno buildings are rectangular. They fit together like Lego bricks. The Monastery Garden, however, functions on a radius. To maximize efficiency, a player must understand the circle-in-square problem.
