OpenFront Trade Guide
Trade is your economy: gold arrives when ships and trains reach cities. Route length, relationships and safety decide how much.
Quick answer: ports generate trade ships; factories generate trains. Both pay more when they travel further, and both can be disrupted — ships sink, routes close, and embargoes cut relationships. Build the network where it can actually reach other players.
The two trade engines
| Engine | Produced by | Payout behaviour | Fails when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trade ships | Ports | Longer sea routes pay far more than short ones; minimal routes are worth little | Ships are intercepted in contested water, or the destination is gone |
| Trains | Factories | Paid per city visited; allied cities pay the most, other players' cities less, your own the least | The path through territory closes, or a nation along the route is eliminated |
Route value in practice
- Distance is money — a trade ship on a short hop earns far less than one crossing to a distant partner; that is why isolated map corners are poor economic starts.
- Relationships are money — trains pay best into allied cities, which makes diplomacy an economic tool, not just a military one.
- Repetition is money — the network pays continuously, so the earlier you build ports and factories, the longer you collect.
- Safety is money — an intercepted trade ship costs you twice: the gold it would have earned, and the building that idles until it respawns.
Why trade stops
| Symptom | Common cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Income dropped to near zero | No reachable destination — your route runs through closed, eliminated or embargoed territory | Rebuild the route: another port, another ally, or expand toward a live region |
| Ships keep disappearing | A warship is patrolling your route | Escort with your own warships or move the route away from contested water |
| Trains pay less than before | Long routes passing through many cities dilute the payout | Shorter, higher-relationship routes; ally with the cities along the way |
| Everything stopped at once | You lost the coastal territory your ports needed | Treat ports as military assets and defend the coast, not just the land border |
Where trade sits in your priorities
- Build trade when your income cannot pay for the next city — that is when an income building pays for itself.
- Choose port or factory by geography — coast with reachable partners: port; inland: factory.
- Protect the route before expanding it — a second port is worthless if a warship owns the water between them.
- Use alliances to raise payout — allied cities pay your trains more, so a durable alliance is an income multiplier. Team strategy
FAQ
Common questions about this topic.
How do trade ships make gold?
Ports spawn trade ships that earn gold by travelling to a destination; longer routes pay considerably more than very short ones.
Why did my income stop?
Usually because the route has no live destination — closed borders, an eliminated neighbour, an embargo, or a warship clearing your trade ships from the water.
Do factories or ports make more money?
It depends on the map. Ports need open water with reachable partners; factories work anywhere there are cities to visit. Coastal players usually build both.
Can I defend trade ships?
Yes, with warships. Trade in contested water is effectively a naval problem, which is why naval strategy and economy are the same topic late in a match.