Cinis is supposed to be the largest Anno island ever. However, a detailed analysis shows that this likely isn’t true.
This is how Ubisoft described the massive new DLC island Cinis in the run-up to its release; it is now available in Anno 117 with the “Promise of the Volcano” expansion. Crown Falls from Sunken Treasures for Anno 1800 was previously the largest island ever featured in any installment of the series. Since Cinis was supposed to surpass that,the title of the largest island in Anno history automatically went to Cinis.
But is that even true?Fans quickly became skeptical after the island was first shown in detail. In the meantime, some have even conducted a rather extensive analysis and found that Cinis is actually no larger than Crown Falls.
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This is how big Cinis really is
To compare the two islands, fans used several different methods. They counted the buildable tiles on both islands one by one and compared the actual in-game models of the islands.
In both cases, it turned out that Cinis is by no means larger than Crown Falls—in fact, it’s even smaller than its counterpart from Anno 1800. According to fans, there are supposedly only 81,443 buildable tiles on Cinis, and this count already includes incomplete tiles at the edge of the map. That is stillsignificantly fewer than the 90,272 tiles that fans were able to cover with buildings in Crown Falls.
The actual buildable area of Cinis is therefore smaller than that of Crown Fallsand thus certainly not the largest island in Anno history. When the models of the two islands are compared in Blender, Cinis also fails to surpass its predecessor. According to fans, the two islands are roughly the same size, with Crown Falls still being a tiny bit larger here as well.
According to fan measurements, Cinis doesn’t even surpass Crown Falls when comparing areas outside of the buildable zone. On top of that, the geography of Cinis—with its river delta, numerous plateaus, and limited contiguous land—means that, in practice, cities on Cinis must always be built slightly smaller or at least more scattered than those in Crown Falls, according to fans.
Where does the 13 percent come from?
Fans are currently puzzled as to how Ubisoft arrived at the previously claimed 13 percent increase in land area. It is suspected that Ubisoft may be counting river tiles or theoretically buildable harbor areas. There may also have been a calculation error, or the marketing department may have received only a rough estimate from the developers.
The fact is that the buildable area is definitely smaller than in Anno 1800, and that alone is enough to make fans feel a bit misled. After all, it doesn’t make much difference to the game if the entire island is larger but only a smaller portion can be built upon.
We have asked Ubisoft for a statement and will add their response to this article as soon as it is available.
Overall, however, it must also be noted that the additional 13 percent was likely not a decisive factor for most fans when deciding to purchase the DLC. Cinis, like Crown Falls, is a massive island and certainly meets the need for more space. Most fans will likely never fill this area.
Nevertheless, it leaves a bitter aftertaste when such marketing claims turn out to be false in hindsight.
