OpenFront Svalmel Map — Only Five Nations
Svalmel places just five nations, so the bot discount is rarely available and the opening costs more. In exchange, every port pairing clears the threshold.
The short version
- Only five nations. The 30% bot discount is rarely available, so the opening costs more here
- Every route clears the threshold. The closest pair is 508 tiles, so you cannot pick a bad partner
- Zero mountain tiles. Water and narrow necks are all you can back onto
- Lots of empty ground. With few bots, the opening is land-grabbing rather than bot-hunting
Svalmel is 1,011,623 land tiles with just five nations — among the lowest bot densities in the game, and that single fact defines the map.
Attacking a bot costs 30% fewer troops (see the combat guide). With five nations, that discount is almost never on the table. Your opening is simply more expensive here.
The basics
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Size | 1,700 × 1,580 |
| Land | 1,011,623 tiles |
| Water | 62.3% |
| Nations | 5 |
| Public lobby frequency | 8 |
| Grid cell | 155 tiles |
| Avg magnitude | 88.4 |
Terrain is 58.1% plains, 41.9% highland, and zero mountain. At 88.4 the magnitude sits below the 92.5 median, so advancing is cheap — you just cannot cash that in early, because there are no bots to spend it on.
The five nations
| Nation | Cell |
|---|---|
| Svalbard | B4 |
| Nordaustlandet | F2 |
| Bathurst | I4 |
| Santa Claus | F6 |
| Melville | F9 |
They are spread across the whole map. Taking one leaves a long walk to the next, so the usual “chain bots together while you grow” rhythm never gets going.
The opening plays differently
Standard advice is “eat the nearby bots, ally with humans.” Here there is no material for that plan.
Instead:
- You have to take empty ground. With no discount, getting your attack ratio right matters more than usual
- Use the 58% plains. More than half the map is magnitude 80, so direction choice buys real savings
- You meet humans early. Without bots as a buffer, borders form fast — see what happens when you betray an alliance
Trade routes — the map’s compensation
| Route | Distance | Revenue per ship |
|---|---|---|
| Bathurst ↔ Nordaustlandet | 508 tiles | 100,254 gold |
| Santa Claus ↔ Nordaustlandet | 600 tiles | 104,991 gold |
| Svalbard ↔ Nordaustlandet | 692 tiles | 109,599 gold |
| Svalbard ↔ Melville | 1,020 tiles | 126,000 gold |
| Svalbard ↔ Bathurst | 1,097 tiles | 129,850 gold |
The closest pair is 508 tiles. Nothing falls below the 300-tile threshold, which means you cannot choose a bad port partner on this map.
The “port too close” trap that costs players gold everywhere else simply is not present. If you hold coast, build without thinking about it — see port placement.
At 62.3% water there is plenty of coast, too. Trade income is how you make back the opening advantage that missing bots cost you.
Troop caps
| Share | Tiles | Cap (no cities) | Cap (city levels 10) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1% | 10,116 | 605,866 | 3,105,866 |
| 5% | 50,581 | 1,428,686 | 3,928,686 |
| 10% | 101,162 | 2,113,912 | 4,613,912 |
Summary
- The opening costs more. No discount means your troop ratios have to be right
- Ports need no thought. Every pairing clears the threshold
- Water is your only back wall. With zero mountains, defense posts are the sole defensive multiplier
- Expand into the plains. Pushing toward magnitude 80 measurably reduces cost
Check exact revenue per distance in the trade ship calculator. Compare every map at the map comparison table.
Terrain shares, coordinates, and distances are counted from the game’s own map files.