Ports Building Guide for OpenFront.io

What Are Ports?

Ports are one of the most important economic buildings in OpenFront.io. They are round-shaped, economic buildings that can only be built on land near water. Ports serve as the foundation of your nation’s naval economy, spawning trade ships and enabling the construction of warships.

naval

Building Requirements and Placement

Placement Requirements

Build Process

To build a port:

  1. Right-click on the map to open the build menu
  2. Select the yellow wrench icon
  3. Choose the port from the economic buildings section
  4. Place it on a land tile that’s adjacent to water

Cost Structure

Ports use a doubling cost system with a maximum cap:

OrderCost
First Port125,000 gold
Second Port250,000 gold
Third Port500,000 gold
Fourth Port and Beyond1,000,000 gold

The cost doubles for each port you build until reaching the maximum price of 1,000,000 gold.

Core Functions

Trade Ship Generation

Automatic Spawning:

Trade Ship Characteristics:

Trade Route Selection

Ports follow specific priority rules when selecting trade partners:

  1. Only trade with other players (never with your own ports)
  2. Closer ports get double chance of being selected (proximity bonus)
  3. Allied ports get double chance of being selected

Warship Construction

Ports are required to build warships:

Gold Generation System

Distance-Based Formula

Gold earned from trade is calculated using Manhattan distance:

Formula: Gold = 10,000 + 150 * Math.pow(distance, 1.1)

Where distance is the sum of absolute differences in X and Y coordinates between ports.

Scaling Examples

Close Trade (20 tiles apart):

Long Distance Trade (200 tiles apart):

This demonstrates superlinear scaling - the 200-tile route is 10x farther but generates 4.2x more gold, making long-distance trade extremely profitable.

Strategic Considerations

Optimal Placement

Economic Optimization

Interactions with Other Systems

Alliance Benefits

Defensive Vulnerabilities

Advanced Strategies

Port Maximization

Advanced players often employ “port maxing” strategies:

Trade Route Optimization

Updated Mechanics

Recent updates have enhanced port functionality:

Ports represent the cornerstone of economic strategy in OpenFront.io, enabling massive gold generation through trade while providing essential naval capabilities. Mastering port placement, protection, and optimization is crucial for achieving economic dominance and ultimate victory in the game.