Getting Started in OpenFront

Your first OpenFront lobby is not a puzzle about nukes. It is a spawn, a growth habit, and a shopping list that stays cheap until the map runs out of Bots. Play the free browser client on the official site, pick a public FFA or a quiet single-player match versus bots, and treat this page as the only script you need until the first City and first Port are down. The Guides Hub lists every other chapter; come back after this opening actually works.

Pick a lobby you can finish

Public FFA teaches borders, Bots, and Nations at once. Single player versus bots is slower and lets you pause with P. Human vs Nations is the middle path: NPC factions that build and nuke, without a full player FFA. Skip Ranked 2v2 and Doomsday Clock until you can hold a coast. If you want the full mode list later, How to Play covers FFA, Duos/Trios/Quads, Ranked 2v2, Overtime, and the Doomsday Clock territory-share test.

Click a spawn as soon as the map appears. Hover land before you commit. You want plains plus a coast in the same pocket: fast tiles for the first annex, and water so the first Port is not a long walk. Highlands are acceptable if they sit behind plains. Mountains are expensive to take and expensive to hold; do not spawn inside them because they look “safe.” A peninsula with one land neck is better than a wide open plain with four neighbors.

OpenFront Beginner Guide (2026) | How to Win Your First Games

First minutes: expand, do not empty the army

Left-click unowned or Bot land to attack. The attack slider is the share of current troops you send, not a second army. For the opening, 20–40% is enough. Sending 80% on the first Bot is how beginners die: the bar drops, growth stalls, and a neighbor walks in. Leave a reserve on the home tiles every time.

Troop growth is fastest near 42% of troop cap (the community “42% rule”). Sitting at 90% of cap looks strong and actually wastes the growth term in the formula. Sitting at 15% of cap looks busy and leaves you with no deterrence. After each annex, wait until the bar climbs back toward the middle before the next big click. Small claims on empty plains can happen sooner; wars cannot.

Annex Bots, not Nations, first

The map has three entity types. Bots are weak, they do not build, and they pay you land and gold when you wrap them. Nations are NPCs that place buildings and will nuke later. Players are the actual threat. Your first food is Bots. Surround a Bot and finish it before you share a long border with a Nation. A Nation with a City is a later project, not an opening snack.

If a Player is already wrapping the same Bot, stop. Fighting a human for a Bot in minute two creates a second front you cannot staff. Turn toward empty plains or a different Bot. Alliances exist for this exact panic; the Alliances page explains the five-minute timer. In a first match, accept a pact from a neighbor you cannot beat, then keep eating Bots on the other side.

First City, then first Port

Gold starts slow. The first City costs 125,000 and adds 250,000 troop cap. It builds in about 20 ticks. That extra cap is what lets you keep attacking without living at 90% of a tiny bar. Do not skip the City to “rush Port” unless you spawned on a one-tile beach with no land to grow.

The first Port also starts at 125,000. Ports and Factories share one cost counter (PortBuildableGroup): the next Port or Factory is 250,000, then 500,000, then 1,000,000. In the opening, buy the Port after the City so trade ships can start while you still have cheap land. A Factory can wait until a City or Port sits within about 110 tiles. The Buildings guide is the full shopping list; this page only needs City then Port.

Place the City on safe plains behind the front, not on the border you are still pushing. Place the Port on the water you actually want to own. You need a Port on that water before you can spawn warships there. If the coast is a disputed bay, delay the Port and spend the gold on another City level or a 50,000 Defense Post on the land neck.

What not to buy yet

A Missile Silo is 1,000,000 gold and does not include a free nuke. The first Atom is another 750,000, so the real first-strike package is 1.75 million. That is a mid-game budget, not a first-match flex. SAM starts at 1,500,000. If someone is already arming nukes at you, that is the exception; otherwise keep eating Bots. Nukes is the later chapter.

Warships start around 250,000. You do not need one until a Port is up and someone is stealing trade or landing transports. Naval covers trade versus piracy when that happens.

Survive the first Player war

When a human border appears, drop the attack slider. Take plains if they are empty; do not charge a mountain Defense Post with half an army. A Defense Post costs 50,000 the first time, covers about 30 tiles, and is destroyed on capture (it does not transfer). Put one on the neck that actually gets attacked. Number key 4 places it; Controls has the rest of the row.

If you are in Duos, Trios, Quads, or Ranked 2v2, spawn on the flashing teammate circle, not on the prettiest solo pocket. Team Games explains frontliner versus backliner; for this page the only rule is do not spawn alone.

Win still means controlling about 80% of non-fallout land. You will not hit that in the opening. Your job is to still have an army when the Bots are gone. Steam Early Access date is 17 September 2026 if you want the desktop client later; nothing on this page requires it.

Print this opening on one line and play it twice before you add nukes or trains: spawn plains plus coast, grow near 42% of cap, annex Bots not Nations, City then Port, never empty the army. After those two matches, the rest of the wiki is optional depth instead of a substitute for a spawn.