OpenFront Beginner Guide
Your first match, in the order the decisions actually arrive: spawn, expand, build, grow, attack — and what to do when someone attacks you first.
Quick answer: survive the first five minutes by expanding into neutral land, not into players. Build cities as soon as gold allows, keep your attack ratio high enough that border fights are cheap, and only fight players who are already weaker at that border. Every number below comes from the official build.
Step 1 — spawn
During the spawn phase you pick where you start. Fresh spawns cannot be attacked for a short window (5 seconds by default), so the spawn phase is about reading the map, not about grabbing the first tile you see. Full framework: how to pick a spawn.
- Prefer land with room to grow in at least two directions — corners are safe until they are not.
- Mountains and highlands are expensive to attack through; they are a wall, not a highway.
- Read your neighbours: three small players are a farm, one large player is a countdown.
Step 2 — expand into neutral territory
Your first minutes are an expansion race. Neutral land is cheapest to take and nobody shoots back, so every order spent on a player early is expansion you did not do. Your army starts at 25,000 troops and grows continuously; growth is fastest while your army is small relative to your maximum — see troop growth.
Step 3 — your first buildings
| Build | Cost (live build) | Build time | Why you build it |
|---|---|---|---|
| City | min(1,000,000, 125,000 × 2ⁿ) | 2 s | Each city level adds 250,000 to your maximum army — the fastest way to raise your ceiling |
| Factory | min(1,000,000, 125,000 × 2ⁿ) | 2 s | Produces trains that earn gold while travelling through territory |
| Port | min(1,000,000, 125,000 × 2ⁿ) | 5 s | Enables trade ships and naval play; needed on coastal maps |
| Defence Post | min(250,000, 50,000 × (n+1)) | 5 s | Multiplies the defence of a border segment and slows attackers inside its radius |
Step 4 — learn the attack ratio before your first real war
The attack ratio slider sets how much of your army a single attack order commits. It is the most consequential setting in the game: too low and pushes crawl, too high and you empty your own borders. Start with attack ratio, then practise on neutral land where mistakes are free.
Step 5 — when someone attacks you
- Check the border, not the scoreboard — what matters is local troops at that border, not total army.
- Build a defence post behind the threatened border — it multiplies defence where you need it and slows the attacker's advance.
- Counterattack elsewhere — attackers usually leave a thin border behind; trading tiles elsewhere converts their push into a loss.
- Ask for help — alliances and team-mates exist for exactly this moment; a request costs nothing.
Common beginner mistakes
- Attacking a player in the first minute when neutral land is still available.
- Leaving the attack ratio at its default and wondering why pushes stall.
- Building a port on a landlocked position, or a defence post far from any real border.
- Keeping 100% of troops at home: an army that never attacks never grows its economy.
- Treating an alliance as a fact rather than a temporary agreement with a cost to break.
FAQ
Common questions about this topic.
How long is a match?
Public FFA matches run until one side controls the configured majority of tiles; private lobbies can add timers such as overtime. Expect tens of minutes in a full lobby.
Should I attack other players early?
Only if a neighbour is already weak at the shared border and neutral land nearby is exhausted. Early aggression against an equal player usually hands the region to a third party.
What should I build first?
A city, in most cases: it raises your maximum army immediately. Ports and factories follow once your income can pay for them — see the building timing guide.
Why is my army growing so slowly?
Growth slows as you approach your maximum army, and your maximum depends on tiles owned plus city levels. More land and more cities are the two levers.
Can I play with friends?
Yes — team modes and private lobbies are part of the game, and ranked 2v2 exists in the v0.33 line. See team strategy for roles.