OpenFront Naval Play
Ports, trade ships, transports, island holds, and veteran warships.
Water in OpenFront is a highway and a gold lane, not a win condition. You still need ~80% of non-fallout land. A beautiful fleet that never lands will lose a Doomsday Clock wave and an Overtime FFA alike. Read How to Play for that rule, then use this page for Ports, trade versus piracy, transports, island defense, and v33 warship veterancy.
You need a Port on that water before warships can spawn there. Port costs share a counter with Factories; the first of either is 125,000. Do not accidentally make the first Port a 1,000,000 click because you built Factories first. Buildings is the shared-cost chapter.
Ports and trade ships
A Port (about 50 ticks) sends trade ships toward other Ports. Distance pays: farther surviving trips return more gold. Higher Port level improves spawn rate and per-ship revenue. Other players can steal those ships. Global trade-ship count has historically sat near a 150 cap in older snapshots; later patches talk about suppression around larger counts. Treat the sea as congested, not infinite.
Legal trade is the default when a foreign Port exists, nobody embargoed you, and the route is long enough to pay. Piracy is parking a warship on that route to capture ships. Piracy needs attention: a patrol point, a retreat to a friendly Port, and enough land defense that you are not donating the coast while you watch a red hull. In a first match, take legal trade. Flip to piracy when you already own the water and the partner is the person you intend to starve. Alliances embargoes are how a broken pact also kills a gold lane.
Transports and landings
Left-click across water sends a transport; B is the dedicated boat attack on a hovered target. Transports are the actual land grab. Warships hunt them first. Community target priority: transports > enemy warships > trade ships. Range is about 130 tiles. If you are invading, screen the transport with a warship and do not launch three boats into a veteran hull. If you are defending an island, the first shot is the transport, not the pretty trade ship behind it.
Keep a land reserve on the beach you care about. A Defense Post on the landing hexes (30-tile zone, destroyed on capture) makes the first wave expensive. Controls covers F (all warships) versus Shift + drag (local group) so you do not strip the other shore.
Island defense
An island without a Port is a prison. An island with a Port and no warship is a gift. Build the Port, then the first warship (about 250,000, then 500,000, then 1,000,000), then a City so the troop cap can absorb a landing. SAM belongs on the City cluster if anyone has a Silo; Nukes is that budget. Do not spend the last gold on a second Port while a transport is already in the bay.
Water does not satisfy Doomsday land share. On those lobbies, use ships to keep expansion routes open and to land, not to “control the sea” as a substitute for tiles. Impassable terrain on v33 maps can force landings through one channel; that channel is where the veteran hull lives.
Warship veterancy (v33)
Warships gain veterancy while they survive, up to 3 levels. Each level adds about 20% maximum health and 20% shell damage (community v33 notes). They repair near your Port (passive repair within a large radius, docking close). A veteran hull is an asset: do not suicide it onto a trade ship if a transport is the real threat, and do not send it into a doomed Doomsday drain without a plan. Doomed sides also decay warship health with a floor; keep veterans working, not idling at the dock.
First warship gold is steep. Capture trade and kills to level the hull you already paid for before you spam a second 500,000 ship. 7 arms a warship; click the patrol water. Then attack-click the ship and attack-click the new patrol. Box-select when two seas exist.
Map taste
Continent maps: one Port is an economy, two Ports are a second front. Archipelagos: every island is a Port decision, and Factory/rail is a luxury until stations exist. Compact Ranked 2v2 maps (50% of those queues) make sea lanes short and piracy fast; spawn with your partner on the same water if you can. Team Games assigns who buys the fleet so four players do not each drop a 250,000 hull on the same bay.
Getting Started still wants plains plus coast in the opening. This page is what you do with that coast after the first Port. The Guides Hub lists every tutorial. The Tier List Hub is a short call on whether trade or piracy is paying. The Updates Hub tracks trade-cap and veterancy patches. Steam and Discord sit on the Links Hub.
Keep one sentence on the HUD: ships exist to protect landings and gold, and landings exist to take land. A veteran warship that dies on a trade ship while a transport docks behind it has the wrong target priority. A Port with no hull has the right building and the wrong follow-up purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common OpenFront questions.
Do I need a Port to build warships in OpenFront?
Yes. You need a completed Port on that connected water. Ports also share their cost ladder with Factories, so the first Port can become expensive if you bought Factories first.
Should I trade or pirate?
Trade when a foreign Port exists, the route is long enough, and you cannot spare a warship. Pirate when you already control the water and want to starve that partner. Transports still outrank trade ships as targets.
What do warships shoot first?
Transports, then enemy warships, then trade ships. Range is about 130 tiles. Defend landings first; gold ships are second.
How does v33 warship veterancy work?
Hulls gain up to three levels while they survive, about +20% health and +20% shell damage per level. Repair near your Port. Keep veterans on the decisive lane instead of suiciding them for a trade ship.
Can a navy win Doomsday Clock by itself?
No. Doomsday is a rising land-share test, not a shrinking circle. Water does not count. Use ships to land and to keep routes open.