Anno 1503 Gold is for sale on Gamersgate for I think it's £3 or £4 at the moment. I believe they have 1701 too for about £6.
And Pyoro, I do find that it makes a difference
Making a game more difficult just "because" and doing it in a way that runs contrary to common sense and reality, such as arbitrarily deciding that bog standard ordinary wheat and such can't grow on an island because it doesn't possess a magic bean, tends to ruffle my feathers. Yes, make the game challenging. The North and South island thing is a staple of Anno, they had even more types in 1503 but that was a tad overwhelming at first, and it makes sense. Grow cold climate stuff in the North, and warm tropically things in the South. So yes, by all means make sure I can't grow wheat in a desert, but randomly stopping me doing so for an arbitrary reason just to give me a n other supply route to protect is just annoying.
It's like someone not letting diesel trains run under OHLE on our fair game here. You ask "Hey why can't my diesels use electrified track?" and the answer "because!" is given. It's arbitrary, it makes no sense and it's apparently there just to make the game more harder because apparently difficulty = fun. (Although Nintendo did milk that concept for years!)
Also, if it had always been that way in the series it would make sense, but it seemed with 1404 that they had received complaints that 1701 was too samey compared to 1503 and 1602 and just started changing stuff just for the sake of it being different. Half-Life 3 is released, but now you can't jump. Why? Because difference that's why!
Changes to a games core concept can be good. But, changes for the sake of changes are just annoying. You ADD features, not remove them.