OpenFront Keybinds — All 36 Defaults
The 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.
The short version
- Build with
1–0, attack ratio onT/Y, terrain view onSpace, camera onWASD - Learn three first —
Space(terrain),T/Y(ratio),1(city) - All 36 defaults are rebindable in settings
Buildings are on the number row 1–0, attack ratio is T/Y, terrain view is Space, and the camera is WASD. Below is every default, and all of them can be changed.
If you only learn three, make them Space (terrain view), T/Y (attack ratio) and 1 (city). Those three decide more early games than anything else.
Building — the number row
You can place without opening the build menu. A preview follows your cursor and Enter confirms.
| Key | Building |
|---|---|
1 | City |
2 | Factory |
3 | Port |
4 | Defense Post |
5 | Missile Silo |
6 | SAM Launcher |
7 | Warship |
8 | Atom Bomb |
9 | Hydrogen Bomb |
0 | MIRV |
The order matches the build menu. Remember that city is 1 and the rest follow the menu.
Attacking
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
T | Decrease attack ratio |
Y | Increase attack ratio |
G | Ground attack |
B | Boat (transport ship) attack |
Shift+R | Retaliate |
U | Swap bomb arc direction |
Get T/Y into your fingers. It is far faster than dragging the slider, and changing the ratio by situation is the core of this game. What value to use is covered in What Attack Ratio Should You Use?. To drill the opening sequence itself, the Opening Timer calls the beats.
Diplomacy
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
K | Request alliance |
L | Break alliance |
Press L carefully — breaking first marks you a traitor for 30 seconds. See What Happens When You Betray an Alliance?.
Camera and view
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
W A S D | Move camera |
Q | Zoom out |
E | Zoom in |
C | Center on your territory |
Space | Alternate view (terrain / countries) |
M | Toggle coordinate grid |
R | Reset graphics |
Space is the most underrated key in the game. Terrain view colours plains, highland and mountain separately. Plains cost 20% fewer troops and advance fastest, so press it before deciding which way to expand.
M is the only ruler this game has. It lays down a labelled coordinate grid (A1, B4). The cell size is never printed on screen but it is fixed per map — on World Normal it is exactly 100 tiles, which turns “400 tiles between ports” into “four cells”. Per-map sizes are in How to Measure Distance On Screen.
R only fires while Alt is held. It is an emergency key for when rendering breaks.
Keys that are not in the settings
These work but have no entry in the keybind settings, so you cannot rebind them.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Esc | cancel the build ghost or warship selection |
Enter | confirm ghost placement |
Shift + D | performance overlay |
Numpad 0–9 | same as the build hotkeys |
There is no keybind to cancel an attack. You have to click the red ❌ in the event feed. It does not affect the game state.
Warships
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
F | Select all your warships |
Shift + drag | Box-select multiple warships |
Select a warship with an attack-click, then attack-click again to set its destination. Capturing enemy trade ships and sinking boats levels it up (max 3), raising damage and health.
Opening menus
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl (Mac Cmd) | Build menu |
Alt | Emote menu |
Enter | Build the unit under the cursor |
Esc | Close menu / cancel build preview |
| Right click | Radial menu |
Single-player only
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
P | Pause / resume |
. | Speed up |
, | Slow down |
None of these work in public games. They are for practice.
Radial menu (right click)
Right click opens a radial menu; long-press on mobile. Right click outside to close.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Build | Opens the build menu |
| Info | That player’s info panel |
| Boat | Sends a transport ship to the chosen spot. Requires water access |
| Donate troops | Sends troops to an ally — an amount set by your attack ratio slider |
| Donate gold | Sends gold to an ally |
| Delete unit | Removes the nearest unit |
Most players do not realise the donation amount is tied to the attack slider. Raise it with
Yfirst if you want to send more.
Rebinding
Settings → keybinds changes any of them. You can also unbind an action entirely, which frees that key for something else. No two actions share a key.
If WASD is awkward on a laptop, arrow keys are the common swap.
More
- The Game Interface — what each panel and icon means
- Game Modes and Options — FFA, teams, difficulty, modifiers
- The 1-Minute Build Order — these keys in sequence