Core Gameplay

Master the fundamental mechanics of territory expansion, resource management, and combat in OpenFront

OpenFront is a real-time strategy game where you expand your territory, manage resources, and compete against other players to control the map.

Territory Expansion

Conquering Land

Expand your territory by conquering adjacent tiles. Your border tiles determine where you can expand next.

Border Management

Border tiles are automatically calculated based on neighboring territories. Focus expansion on strategic positions.

How Territory Works

Your territory consists of all tiles you control. The game automatically tracks:

• Border Tiles: Tiles adjacent to enemy or neutral territory
• Interior Tiles: Tiles completely surrounded by your own territory
• Territory Size: Total number of tiles owned determines victory progress

To win the game, you need to control a specific percentage of the map’s total tiles. Monitor your territory size relative to the win condition.

Resource Management

OpenFront features two primary resources that fuel your expansion:

Gold

Gold is the primary currency used to build units and structures.

Earning Gold:

• Passive income based on territory size
• Trade ships arriving at ports
• Trains delivering goods via railroads
• Conquering enemy players (inherit their gold)
• Workers generating steady income

Spending Gold:

• Building military units (warships, nukes)
• Constructing structures (ports, cities, defense posts)
• Upgrading existing structures to higher levels

Gold income scales with your territory and structures. Larger empires generate more passive gold per turn.

Troops

Troops (also called manpower) are required to attack and defend territory.

Gaining Troops:

• Automatic increase every turn
• Cities provide additional troop generation
• Receive troops from allies via donations
• Troops scale with territory size

Using Troops:

• Launch land attacks against neighbors
• Load troops onto transport ships for naval invasions
• Defend against incoming attacks
• Larger attacks consume more troops

There’s a maximum troop capacity. Once reached, excess troops are lost. Launch attacks before hitting the cap.

Combat System

Attack Types

Land Attacks

The primary method of expansion. Launch attacks from your border tiles against neighboring enemies or neutral territory.

• Attacks consume troops based on attack size
• Battles resolve automatically each turn
• Both attacker and defender lose troops in combat
• Larger borders with the enemy result in faster expansion
• You can order retreats to conserve troops

Naval Invasions

Use transport ships to attack across water and establish beachheads.

• Build transport ships from coastal tiles
• Load troops onto the ship when created
• Ships automatically navigate to the target location
• Upon arrival, troops unload and begin conquering
• Vulnerable to warship interception during transit

Artillery & Defense

Advanced warfare using specialized military units.

• Warships: Patrol coastal waters and bombard land targets with shells
• Defense Posts: Boost defensive strength and provide artillery support
• SAM Launchers: Fire missiles to intercept incoming nuclear weapons
• Missile Silos: Launch nuclear strikes against distant targets

Combat Mechanics

Attack Speed: The number of tiles conquered per turn depends on:

• Number of attacking troops
• Size of the shared border
• Defensive bonuses (defense posts, fallout)

Casualties: Both sides lose troops during combat:

• Attackers lose troops based on terrain and defenses
• Defenders lose troops based on attack strength
• Defense posts provide defensive bonuses to nearby tiles

Retreat: You can order your attacks to retreat, returning remaining troops to your territory. Retreats take time to execute.

Attacks against allies or teammates are blocked. Break alliances before targeting former allies.

Structures

Strategic structures provide economic and military advantages:

Structure	Purpose	Benefits
City	Population center	Increases troop generation rate
Port	Naval base	Enables trade ship spawning for gold income
Factory	Industrial center	Spawns trade trains on railroad networks
Defense Post	Military fortification	Artillery support and defensive bonuses
SAM Launcher	Air defense	Intercepts incoming nuclear weapons
Missile Silo	Strategic weapons	Launch nuclear strikes at enemies

Many structures are upgradable. Place a new structure on the same tile to upgrade it to the next level, improving its effectiveness.

Win Conditions

Victory is achieved by controlling a specific percentage of the map’s total territory:

• The required percentage varies by map and game mode
• Your progress is tracked in real-time
• Last player/team standing also wins
• Conquered players’ territories become available for capture

Spawn Phase

Games begin with a spawn phase where players are immune to attacks:

• Use this time to expand into neutral territory
• Position yourself strategically for the main game
• Build initial structures and units
• Immunity ends after a fixed number of turns

Nations (AI opponents) may have different immunity durations than human players.