Ultimate Flame Tower guide: Island defence in Anno 1800

This is the Flame Tower in Anno 1800. It is used to defend your islands from attack.

Flame Tower in Anno 1800

To build

  • Credits -$6000
  • Timber 15
  • Bricks 20
  • Steel beams 15
  • Weapons 25
  • Influence -15

Details

  • Unlocks at 1 Artisan
  • Area 4×4
  • Region New World and Old World
  • Maintenance -$120

Description

This is the Flame Tower in Anno 1800. It is used for island defence in your Anno 1800 world. The Flame Tower in Anno 1800 is a harbour defence weapon, and it is especially effective against the wooden‑hulled ships produced at the Sailing Shipyard. In particular, its damage output is far more impactful against early game vessels, making it a strong defensive option during the sailing‑ship era, making it a great asset in your harbour for island defence.

The Flame Tower has a short range, reaching a maximum of 70 tiles when firing at its target. In addition, it delivers very high damage against wooden ships and attacks at a rapid pace, although its own hit points remain relatively low when it comes under fire. However, as you progress into the later game and encounter steel‑hulled ships, the Flame Tower becomes far less effective, making it most valuable during the early and mid‑game stages.


Improvements

In this section we will look at what improvements can be added to the Flame Tower. The Flame Tower will need to be placed in the harbour areas of your islands. The placement of the Flame Tower in Anno 1800, will vary depending on what your harbour layouts are. The next thing that we will look at is what can be added to the Harbourmasters building to increase the efficiency of the Flame Tower. Lets take a look at these now.

Placement

As with all guns that are for harbour defence in Anno 1800 it is best to place these as far out in the harbour as possible. This will ensure that enemies are attacked at the earliest possible opportunity. You can also reinforce your defences by supporting the Flame Tower with guns from earlier tiers. In addition, combining these weapons helps cover its weaknesses and creates a more balanced harbour defence. This could be a Cannon Tower or a couple of Mounted Guns or a mixture of the two.

Harbourmasters office

The Harbourmasters office works similar to the Trade union and the Town hall in the fact that it gives productivity and efficiency to buildings in its influence range. The difference with the Harbourmasters office is that it gives benefits to buildings in the harbour area of your islands. Lets take a look at some of the items that can be paced in the Harbourmasters for your harbour buildings.

Item nameEffectsRarity/Notes
GunnerHitpoints: +200Common,
Expedition bonus –
+5 Force,
+15 Naval power
ArtillerywomanSelf-Repair: +300%Uncommon,
Expedition bonus –
+10 Force,
+25 Naval power
MegaphoneMorale +25%,
Duration:03:00,
Cooldown:20:00,
Maintenance Cost: +15%,
Uncommon,
Expedition bonus –
+10 Force
AuxetaphoneMorale +30%,
Duration:03:00,
Cooldown:20:00
Rare,
Expedition bonus –
+15 Force
CannoneerDamage per shot: +15%,
Hitpoints: +600
Rare,
Expedition bonus –
+15 Force,
+35 Naval power
Dynamic LoudspeakerAttack Speed +20%,
Morale +50%,
Duration:03:00,
Cooldown:20:00
Epic,
Expedition bonus –
+20 Force
Colonel BarzagliMaintenance Cost: -75%
Attack Speed: +20%
Epic,
Expedition bonus –
+20 Force,
+45 Naval power
Thundering Loudspeaker NetworkAttack Speed +30%.
Will of Steel.
Residences no longer lose happiness as a
result of morale loss during island wars.
Morale +100%,
Duration:03:00,
Cooldown:20:00
Legendary,
Expedition bonus –
+25 Force
General Ewing Thomson, Planter of FlagsAttack Range: +10%,
Unwavering,
Your military buildings deal increased damage
when their hitpoints are running low,
Damage from Ships: -25%,
Legendary,
Expedition bonus –
+25 Diplomacy,
+25 Force,
+55 Naval power

These are some of the best items that you can use to improve the Flame tower.


Layouts

Here we will look at what we can do with layouts to improve the Flame tower. As you will see from these layouts that the Flame tower is placed as far out into the harbour area as possible.

Option 1

In this layout we can see that we have a three block of Flame towers defending the harbour area from attack. This is the simplest way that you can utilise the Flame tower in your layouts.

Three Flame towers in the Harbour in Anno 1800

Option 2

Here we can see that the Flame tower is placed in the harbour area. Along with these we have also placed down three Cannon towers. Using this layout will give you much better island defence as the Cannon towers will fire first as they have a longer range than the Flame tower. When the enemy ships move in closer, the Flame Towers will then activate and finish the job. In addition, their short‑range burst damage makes them especially effective once targets enter their firing zone.

Flame towers with Cannon towers in your Harbour in Anno 1800