OpenFront Game Modes and Win Conditions
OpenFront 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.
The short version
- Win condition is 80% of the land — alone in FFA, combined in Teams
- Difficulty applies to AI Nations only, and Hard is exactly human terms
- Three player types — Player / Nation / Bot — shown as
Tribein game, 30% fewer losses to attack
The win condition is 80% of the land in both modes — alone in Free for All, combined in Teams. The difficulty setting does nothing to humans — it only changes AI Nations.
Two modes
| Mode | Win condition |
|---|---|
| Free for All (FFA) | 80% of the land |
| Teams | 80% combined |
The bar is the same, but a team fills it together. That sounds faster than FFA, yet in practice the other team grows alongside you and matches tend to run longer.
Teams reduce the diplomacy load but add a judgement call: when to send troops and gold to teammates. A teammate sitting at their cap is wasting production, so moving it is a net gain.
Three kinds of player
| Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| Player | A human |
| Nation | AI nation. Subject to the difficulty setting |
| Bot | Shown as Tribe in game. Unaffected by difficulty |
Attacking a bot costs 30% fewer troops (for Human and Nation attackers). Early on this is the single biggest factor in choosing a direction — expand toward bots.
Conversely, bots pay half as much as humans to take wilderness. That is why they appear to spread so quickly in the opening.
Difficulty — Nations only
This is the most misunderstood setting. Raising it does nothing to bots or to other humans. Only AI Nation stats change.
| Difficulty | Nation starting troops | Nation cap multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 12,500 | ×0.5 |
| Medium | 18,750 | ×0.75 |
| Hard | 25,000 | ×1.0 |
| Impossible | 31,250 | ×1.25 |
Hard is exactly human terms. Humans also start at 25,000 with a ×1.0 cap multiplier.
So Hard is the fair fight; Easy and Medium hand the AI a handicap; Impossible gives it a 25% higher cap than you.
Why starting troops matter so much is covered in The 1-Minute Build Order.
Public lobby modifiers
Public lobbies attach modifiers that vary per match. They are shown in the lobby list, so check before joining.
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 4min Peace | No player-versus-player attacks for the first four minutes |
| Random Spawn | Spawn positions assigned randomly |
| Crowded | More players than usual |
| Compact Map | Smaller map |
| Nukes Disabled | No nuclear weapons |
| SAMs Disabled | No SAM launchers |
| Ports Disabled | No ports |
| Alliances Disabled | No alliances |
| Hard Nations | Nations at raised difficulty |
| xN Gold Multiplier | Gold income multiplied |
| NM Starting Gold | Everyone starts with gold |
| Doomsday Clock | The required share rises, culling sides that fall behind → details |
| Water Nukes | Ground a nuke erases becomes permanent ocean → details |
| Overtime | From that mark the win threshold drops 2% per minute. Public FFA now runs it every game — team games never do |
| Alliance Duration | Alliance length in minutes; 0 disables alliances entirely |
Three of these change strategy sharply.
Ports Disabled removes trade income entirely. Gold gets tight, so lean harder on cities and factory rail income.
Alliances Disabled means everyone is an enemy. Defense posts get much more valuable and tidying your line comes before expanding.
4min Peace turns the opening into a pure expansion race. Holding a low attack ratio across several fronts matters even more, and the territory gap when peace ends usually decides the game.
Maps
Maps are grouped by category.
- Regions — World, Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania, Antarctica
- Other — Continental, Countries, Fictional, Arcade, Cosmic, Special, Tournament, New, Featured, Favourites
What actually matters is not the name but terrain and chokepoints.
- Plains-heavy maps — fast expansion, defense posts worth less
- Islands and peninsulas — ports and boats carry more weight
- Maps full of narrow necks — one defense post can decide the game
Press Space for the terrain view as soon as you load in. The rest of the keys are in Every Keybind.
Single-player only
- Pause (
P) - Game speed (
./,)
Both are blocked in public games. Practising a build order or checking a calculation is easiest in single-player at reduced speed.
More
- The Game Interface — panels and icons
- Every Keybind — all 36 defaults
- Opening simulator — compare early strategies