SOURCE-VERIFIED · commit
df9114eeOpenFront Guide
Troop caps · combat math · build orders
Every number here is pulled straight from the game's own repository — 76 of them — so the guides and the calculators never disagree.
- Guides
- 40
- Extracted constants
- 76
- Calculators
- 7
- Last verified
- 2026-09-18
Map image © OpenFront · CC BY-SA 4.0
Learning paths
Read them in order. However many guides pile up, there are still three paths.
1
Get started
9 · 38 min
- OpenFront in Five Minutes
- OpenFront Spawn Selection — How to Pick Your Start
- OpenFront Keybinds — All 36 Defaults
- OpenFront Interface — Panels and Icons
- OpenFront Game Modes and Win Conditions
- Ten Common OpenFront Mistakes
- Reading the OpenFront Bottom Bar
- Playing an OpenFront Public Lobby, In Order
- Measuring Distance in OpenFront — The M Grid
2
Understand the numbers
7 · 36 min
3
Play to win
22 · 91 min
- OpenFront 1-Minute Build Order
- OpenFront Attack Ratio — What Percent to Use
- OpenFront Defense Posts — Where to Place Them
- OpenFront Alliances — When Betrayal Is Worth It
- OpenFront Nukes — Cost, Blast Radius, SAM
- OpenFront Doomsday Clock — 150 Seconds From Skull to Gone
- Seven Named OpenFront Strategies
- OpenFront Team Play — The 80% Win Condition
- OpenFront on Hard — What Actually Works
- OpenFront Warships — 130-Tile Range
- OpenFront Amphibious Defense — Warships, Not Walls
- OpenFront World Map — Terrain, Coordinates, Port Distances
- OpenFront Sol Map — 85% Ocean, and What That Changes
- OpenFront Sierpinski Map — Where Terrain Does Nothing
- OpenFront Giant World Map — 107 Nations, Easy to Get Lost
- OpenFront Middle East Map — 89% Highland, the Biggest Map
- OpenFront Svalmel Map — Only Five Nations
- OpenFront China Map — Only 15% Water
- OpenFront Europe Map — 57% Plains, Cheap to Advance
- OpenFront Caribbean Map — Cheap to Push, All Islands
- OpenFront United States Map — 49 States, Balanced Terrain
- OpenFront More Than Luck Map — Half the Grid Is Wall
All guides by topicFull list →
Basics
- OpenFront in Five MinutesIntroWhat OpenFront is, how you win, and what every part of the screen means. The first thing to read if you have just started playing.
- OpenFront Spawn Selection — How to Pick Your StartIntroEvery OpenFront spawn gives you 52 tiles and 25,000 troops. Coast or inland, how many bots are nearby, and what terrain surrounds you decide the next five minutes.
- OpenFront Keybinds — All 36 DefaultsIntroThe complete OpenFront keybind list, taken straight from the game source. Build on 1-0, attack ratio on T/Y, terrain on Space, camera on WASD.
- OpenFront Interface — Panels and IconsIntroWhat every OpenFront panel and icon means. The crown, handshake, envelope and broken shield above player names, the control panel, event feed and radial menu.
- OpenFront Game Modes and Win ConditionsIntroOpenFront win conditions are 80% of the land in both FFA and Teams. Difficulty only affects AI Nations, and Hard puts them on exactly human terms.
- Ten Common OpenFront MistakesIntroThe mistakes OpenFront players repeat, each with the source-code reason it costs you: slider at 100%, hoarding troops, cities on the border.
- Reading the OpenFront Bottom BarIntroA line-by-line read of the OpenFront bottom bar: troop growth rate, the troops/cap pair, gold, the attack ratio slider, and the build slot numbers.
- Playing an OpenFront Public Lobby, In OrderCoreHow to run one OpenFront public game from spawn to endgame: expanding at 20%, the two-second click rhythm, ports first, and nuke timing.
- Measuring Distance in OpenFront — The M GridIntroOpenFront has no ruler but it does have ways to measure. What one M-grid cell is worth in tiles, and which buildings draw their own range circle.
Growth & Economy
- OpenFront Troop Cap and the 42.2% RuleCoreHow OpenFront troop growth actually works, straight from the game's source. The max troop formula, why 42.2% is the growth peak, and why cities beat land.
- OpenFront Buildings — Costs and PlacementCoreExact OpenFront building costs from the source: cities double to a 1M gold cap, defense posts cap at 250K. Ports and factories share one counter.
- OpenFront: How Many Cities Should You Build?MidEach city adds exactly +250,000 to your troop cap, but the price doubles every time. The first three are the prize — after that, land is the better buy.
- OpenFront Ports — 300 Tiles Is the HingeMidOpenFront trade income is a sigmoid in port distance. 200 tiles apart pays 13,557 gold per ship; 400 tiles pays 91,443. Close ports are near worthless.
- OpenFront Factories and Rail IncomeMidAn OpenFront factory only dispatches trains; the gold comes from cities and ports. Payout decays from the 11th stop, and splitting factory levels wins.
Combat
- OpenFront Combat — What Actually Kills Your TroopsCoreTerrain coefficients of 80/100/120, the attack ratio clamps, encirclement at zero loss, and the 25% retreat cost. Troops cut your loss only down to a factor of 0.6.
- OpenFront Attack Ratio — What Percent to UseMidWilderness advance speed in OpenFront caps at 6,600 troops on plains. Player attacks bottom out at 1.67x the defender's troops — straight from the source.
- OpenFront Defense Posts — Where to Place ThemMidA defense post multiplies attacker losses by 5 within 30 tiles, but they do not stack. Spacing, not count, decides how much border you actually cover.
- OpenFront Nukes — Cost, Blast Radius, SAMAdvancedAn OpenFront atom bomb costs 750,000 gold — six cities. Hydrogen bombs cost 5,000,000. Blast radii are 30 and 100 tiles. Early nukes rarely pay.
- OpenFront Water Nukes — The Land Becomes Sea, PermanentlyMidWith Water Nukes on, ground a nuke erases turns to permanent ocean instead of fallout. Fallout can be retaken; sea cannot. The blast shape changes too.
- OpenFront Warships — 130-Tile RangeMidOpenFront warship cost, health, range, shell damage and veterancy. Levels come from capturing 25 trade ships or sinking 10 transports, straight from the source.
- OpenFront Amphibious Defense — Warships, Not WallsMidLandings arrive anywhere on your coast and the landing tile is taken for free. Warships are the answer — they target transports ahead of everything else.
Play & Meta
- OpenFront 1-Minute Build OrderCoreA simulated OpenFront FFA opening: 10% slider, a click every 2 seconds, toward plains, in every direction. Bot hunting from 0:25, first city by 1:30.
- OpenFront Alliances — When Betrayal Is Worth ItAdvancedAlliances lapse on their own after 5 minutes. Break one early and you are a traitor for 30 seconds, hit by everyone at half losses — so waiting is usually cheaper.
- OpenFront Doomsday Clock — 150 Seconds From Skull to GoneMidOpenFront's Doomsday Clock sits at 0% for ten minutes, then raises the required territory share to 35%. Fall below and your territory is gone 150 seconds later.
- Seven Named OpenFront StrategiesMidThe recurring OpenFront strategies, named and backed by source values: Three Cities First, Spread Wide, Cork the Neck, Bot Hunting, Density Hunting.
- OpenFront Team Play — The 80% Win ConditionAdvancedOpenFront team games end at 80% territory across the team. Troop donation defaults to a third of your troops, and a teammate at cap is leaking value.
- OpenFront on Hard — What Actually WorksAdvancedWhat actually works on OpenFront single-player Hard: mountains as a shield, grinding a coast with small landings, and the AI betrayal trigger.
- OpenFront Numbers Worth Double-CheckingCoreFigures that circulate in OpenFront guides, set beside what the source code actually says: city troop cap, trade income, SAM reload, and one of ours.
- OpenFront World Map — Terrain, Coordinates, Port DistancesMidThe World map is 651,569 land tiles and only 34% plains — one of the more expensive maps to push through. Nation coordinates and which port pairs actually pay.
- OpenFront Sol Map — 85% Ocean, and What That ChangesMidThe Sol map is 85.7% water with only 7.8% land — the priciest map in the rotation to advance through. Its trade routes pay up to 269,550 gold.
- OpenFront Sierpinski Map — Where Terrain Does NothingMidSierpinski is 100% plains — loss magnitude 80.0, the theoretical floor. Nine symmetric nations named by compass direction, so only position matters.
- OpenFront Giant World Map — 107 Nations, Easy to Get LostMidGiant World Map has 2.34M land tiles and 107 nations — the most bots of any map, so early expansion is cheapest here. But a grid cell is 195 tiles, double World's.
- OpenFront Middle East Map — 89% Highland, the Biggest MapMidMiddle East is the largest map at 3.45M land tiles, and 89.4% of it is highland. With terrain that uniform, only position and scale are left to play with.
- OpenFront Svalmel Map — Only Five NationsMidSvalmel places just five nations, so the bot discount is rarely available and the opening costs more. In exchange, every port pairing clears the threshold.
- OpenFront China Map — Only 15% WaterMidChina is 15% water, so buildable port sites are scarce. With 1.48M impassable tiles, attack routes funnel through a handful of necks that decide the whole match.
- OpenFront Europe Map — 57% Plains, Cheap to AdvanceMidEurope is 56.6% plains for a magnitude of 91.3, making it one of the cheaper maps in rotation. England to Wales at 99 tiles is the classic port mistake here.
- OpenFront Caribbean Map — Cheap to Push, All IslandsMidCaribbean is 83.5% plains with zero mountain, making it one of the cheapest maps to advance through — but 86.3% water means the land is in fragments.
- OpenFront United States Map — 49 States, Balanced TerrainMidUnited States is the fifth most common map in public lobbies, with 49 states and 48.2% highland. Massachusetts to Rhode Island at 31 tiles is the port trap here.
- OpenFront More Than Luck Map — Half the Grid Is WallMidMore Than Luck is 47.8% impassable, so advances funnel through corridors. Coast is 0.6% of the land, so almost nobody gets a port.
- OpenFront on Steam — What Changes and What Does NotIntroOpenFront is heading to Steam Early Access. The browser version stays free and unchanged; the Steam client is ad-free and faster. No game rules or numbers change.
Calculators
Ported from the game's formulas. Everything runs in your browser.
Troop cap
2×(tiles^0.6×1000+50k)+cities×250kIncluding the 42.2% peakCombat loss0.6×ratio + 0.4×densityPer-tile losses and exchange ratioNuke damage(1 − hit/total)^5Troops killed, plus interceptionOpening timer0:00 → 1:30Keeps the 2-second click rhythmTrade ship incomegold ∝ distanceThe gold curve by port distanceBuilding costcost(n) cumulativeShared port/factory counterOpening simulator60s → tilesCompare slider % and click interval