OpenFront Tier List Hub
S through D by lobby type — FFA, teams, and islands — not one frozen ranking.
OpenFront does not have one frozen S–D ranking that is true in every lobby. A City is almost always worth its gold. A Port can be the correct first spend on water and a trap on a landlocked spawn. This hub explains how we use S through D, then sends you to the two lists that change the next click: building tiers and map archetypes.
Read those two pages together. Buildings tell you what gold buys. Maps tell you whether that purchase is even legal on tonight’s board.
How to read S through D
We rank by impact on the current match type, not by flavor text or how dramatic a nuke looks on stream.
- S: Buy this unless a hard constraint (no water, no gold, no choke) makes it illegal.
- A: Strong default. Skip only when the map or a team plan says otherwise.
- B: Correct in a window — a mid-game gold spike, one mountain pass, a visible enemy Silo.
- C: Niche. Fine as a later purchase, poor as a first spend.
- D: Usually a gold sink in this context. Someone else will punish the delay.
The same object can sit in two tiers on the same night. Factory is A on compact Europe and C on a scattered island FFA until a train actually has a paying stop. Defense Posts are S on a Ranked 2v2 lane and B in a wide FFA where the front will move before the 30-tile aura matters. SAM Launchers jump from C to S the moment an opponent finishes a Missile Silo.
FFA versus teams versus islands
FFA rewards independent economy and personal deterrence. You still need Cities for the +250k troop cap per level. You still want a cheap Defense Post on the one approach you cannot afford to lose. Silos and SAMs are timing tools: the first Atom plan costs 1.75 million gold (1M Silo plus 750k Atom), which is a huge pause if you are still racing land share toward roughly 80% non-fallout land, or waiting for Overtime after minute 30.
Teams (Duos, Trios, Quads, and Ranked 2v2) change the gold story. One player can specialize Ports and Warships while a partner stacks Cities and Defense Posts. Betrayal is rarer inside a locked team, but the 30-second half-defense penalty still matters if a public FFA ally is in the mix. Coordinate SAM coverage; a Hydrogen Bomb at 5M is a team-bank decision, not a solo flex. See team games for lane roles.
Islands and water-heavy boards push Port and Warship up the list and drop Factory unless you own a long rail on a big landmass. Oceania, Japan, Britannia, the Irish Sea, and the Las Vegas Strip (roads as water) all play closer to a navy exam than a train exam. Read the map tier list before you copy a mainland build from a World or United States replay.
Economy context that sits under every tier
Troop growth peaks near 42% of cap. Buying a City because the button lit up, while you sit at 20% of cap with two hot borders, is how S-tier buildings become D-tier decisions. Plains take cheaper than highlands, and mountains are the expensive tiles. A Defense Post multiplies that math inside 30 tiles and does not stack with a second post on the same tile. Posts are destroyed on capture, so do not dump a 250k fifth post on a tile you expect to lose.
Port and Factory share one cost counter (125k, 250k, 500k, then 1M). That is why the building list refuses to print a universal Port-versus-Factory winner: the second building in that pair is always more expensive, regardless of type. Exact steps live in the gold cost tables.
What this hub does not rank
We do not print a single best nation or best spawn. Spawn quality is map-specific. We also do not treat cosmetics, verified names, or Steam editions as gameplay tiers — those notes sit on Steam Early Access. v33 rules that reshaped MIRV defense, impassable terrain, and Doomsday Clock land-share waves are on v33. Structure and nuke mechanics in prose live in buildings and nukes.
If you only open two pages after this hub, open building tiers to decide the next structure, then map archetypes to see whether that structure belongs on tonight’s board.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common OpenFront questions.
Is there one OpenFront S-tier build for every lobby?
No. City is the only structure that stays S-tier in almost every context. Port, Factory, Silo, SAM, and even Defense Posts move with FFA versus teams versus islands. Use the child lists instead of copying one replay.
Why does Port sometimes beat Factory and sometimes lose?
They share a cost counter, so the second purchase in that pair always costs more. On water maps Port is usually first. On compact inland maps Factory plus Cities can out-earn a forced Port. Check building tiers and the gold cost tables.
Do map tiers change after v33?
Yes. Impassable terrain, 22 added maps, and Doomsday Clock land-share waves (not a shrinking circle) all change which boards punish greedy land grabs. See map archetypes and v33.
Should I buy a Silo because it is high on a list?
Only when you can also afford the weapon. A 1M Silo with 0 gold left is an expensive target. The first Atom plan is 1.75M total. SAM timing is the counter, covered on the building list and in nukes.
Where do hotkeys fit into a tier list?
They do not change tiers, but they change how fast you execute an S-tier purchase under pressure. Keep the hotkey cheatsheet open while you learn keys 1–0.