Ubisoft has released Prophecies of Ash for Anno 117: Pax Romana, giving governors a new volcanic island to settle and a fresh set of production problems to solve. The DLC is available now for the historical city-builder on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The headline addition is Cinis, a new continental island that expands Latium to the north. Ubisoft says it is the largest island in Anno 117 so far, with roughly twice the building space of the base game's previous largest island, plus more mountain slots, river slots, beaches and room for harbors and fisheries.
Players can reach Cinis by sailing there and building a Trading Post, or by starting a new game with the island selected as the starting region. Once established, they will also meet Caecelia, an oracle and local trader whose missions introduce the island's volcano systems and whose harbor supports bartering for obsidian and related goods.
Cinis turns eruptions into a city-building system
The island's volcano is not just background scenery. It moves through five phases: Calm, Prelude, Eruption, Volcanic Winter and Bloom. Tremors can damage nearby buildings, eruptions pause mountain-slot production and falling rocks can hit structures across Cinis. Afterward, volcanic winter reduces farm and fishery productivity while replenishing obsidian, before rain triggers a bloom phase that boosts farms and happiness.
Every eruption raises the island's soil level, increasing farm productivity and improving obsidian yield in mountain slots. The soil bonus is initially capped after three eruptions, though research can raise that cap to five.
Ubisoft is also giving players control over how disruptive the system becomes. The volcano phase can be switched off, removing the most destructive parts of the cycle, but soil levels and their farm productivity bonus will fall over time. Players can also adjust volcano difficulty to change how much damage tremors cause and how much obsidian is generated during each eruption cycle.
Obsidian, coal mines and Vulcun join the economy
Prophecies of Ash adds obsidian as a new resource produced through Cinis' volcano. Players can gather it as a byproduct from mines and quarries after eruptions, or collect rocks that fall during an eruption once the danger has passed. Obsidian can then be used to produce Statuettes and Latrunculi, or traded with Caecelia for new specialists.
Those specialists include Gisella, Wine Whisperer, who boosts grape fertility, Seasoned Snatcher, who improves sturgeon population and Caderina, of Extraordinary Prospects, who adds a full silver deposit to the mountain range and improves its productivity.
The DLC also adds Vulcun through the research tree. Worshipping the new deity increases mountain-slot production, provides extra workforce, improves fire safety, unlocks coal mines and adds strong area buffs for smelters. Coal mines can be built in any mountain slot and do not require specific island fertility, which should make them useful well beyond Cinis.
Alongside the DLC launch, Anno 117: Pax Romana now has a friend referral program running until May 17. Referring one, two or three friends grants 30, 50 or 90 Fame Points respectively, while friends who accept a referral receive 30 Fame Points. Fame Points can be spent in the Hall of Fame on cosmetics, music tracks and other unlocks.