Gold Guide for OpenFront.io

Key Takeaways

Players generate and spend gold to expand and strengthen their empires. Optimizing gold production through worker management, conquest, and trade is crucial for victory.

1. Gold Basics

1.1 Gold Generation

Gold is generated passively each tick based on the number of workers (non-military population units) you maintain.

1.2 Gold Uses & Costs

Gold funds all structures and advanced units. Costs scale exponentially as you build more of each type:

|Structure/Unit|Price Formula|Maximum Price|
|—|—|—|
|Warship|250 000 × (warship_count + 1)|1 000 000|
|Port|125 000 × 2^(port_count)|1 000 000|
|Defense Post|50 000 × (defense_post_count + 1)|250 000|
|SAM Launcher|1 500 000 × (SAM_count + 1)|3 000 000|
|City|125 000 × 2^(city_count)|1 000 000|
|Missile Silo|1 000 000|N/A|
|Atom Bomb|750 000|N/A|
|Hydrogen Bomb|5 000 000|N/A|
|MIRV|25 000 000|N/A|

All prices and caps from the official wiki .

2. Sources of Gold

|Source|Description|Notes|
|—|—|—|
|Passive Generation|Based on workers|Adjust troop/worker slider to increase workers (and gold) at the expense of troop strength .|
|Conquest (Annexation)|Instant gold payout when conquering a territory|You receive the target’s accumulated gold and cities’ future gold yields. Surrounding a bot for full annex yields maximal payout .|
|Trade Routes|Ongoing gold via ports built on coastal tiles|Longer routes and stacking multiple ports on borders amplify gold flow exponentially (distance bonus applies) .|
|Plunder|Gold from besieged opponents|When multiple players attack the same target, the final blow awards gold to the attacker. Timing attacks for the “last hit” is essential .|

3. Maximizing Gold Production

  1. Optimize Troop/Worker Ratio

    • Early game: Lower the troop slider slightly to boost workers, maximizing passive gold without crippling defense .
    • Mid/late game: Maintain enough troops to deter attacks, but add workers where safe.

  2. Rapid Annexation

    • Target small‐land bots first for quick annex payouts.
    • Use a high attack ratio (≥ 200% of defender’s strength) to speed conquest and secure gold .

  3. Trade Route Engineering

    • Build ports along your most distant borders to maximize distance bonuses.
    • Stack ports—placing multiple ports on adjacent coastal tiles compounds incoming gold .

  4. Strategic Alliances & Betrayals

    • Form alliances to secure safe borders, then annex allied territory for dual payout (gold + assets).
    • Time betrayals to coincide with maximum city/port accumulation.

4. Advanced Tips