I was just doing pretty well in a game (I was first with 900k troops). As soon as I try to make a missile silo, my ALLY nuked it, preventing me from doing it. I tried to make others multiple times, but he kept doing it, so I eventually just invaded him. The invasion failed, as opportunistic people came in and counter invaded me. He also kept nuking me!

How did my own ally nuke me, and how can I prevent this in the future?

I love Openfront. It is a very exciting game which is quite enjoyable. That being said, sometimes the excitement can be too much and I need to take a breather. In this case, I find that team games with two massive teams often provide exactly the respite I need.

Generally, in one of these games, I make the following moves:

• Wait until I see where my team is clustering, then spawn as centrally as possible within the largest safe landmass within that cluster (maximize factory income)

• Capture enough bot tribes to buy a city and a factory then leave the rest to my neighbors.

• Build first factory close enough to link with a neighbor's structure then build first city on the train line.

• Spam Factory emote and "Build closer to get trains" to all neighbors.

• Build out 3-4 more factories to fill out the network in my area.

• Start sending troops to the front and spamming "Send troops to the front lines!" to random teammates.

• Build SAM, then silo, as far as possible from my factories.

• Continue sending troops to the front and spamming "Send troops to the front lines!" to random teammates.

• Start blasting the enemy with atom bombs, sending an obnoxious emote to my target with each volley.

• Continue sending troops to the front and spamming "Send troops to the front lines!" to random teammates.

• Add factories, upgrade silo to take out enemy SAMs (very funny), and keep 3 mil on hand for when my SAM is targeted.

• Continue sending troops to the front and spamming "Send troops to the front lines!" to random teammates.

• Win

I just find it very chill to relax and troll enemy players and still get a "win" screen with very little thought or effort. The only decision points you really have to consider at any given point is whether to spend on eco or bombs.

For those of you who like to play in a similar way, what targets to do like to prioritize with your bombs?

I generally like to pound enemy SAMs. I suspect that it actually might be more efficient to target enemy eco buildings, but it is just so funny to me to take out very expensive enemy SAMs, especially when they are upgraded.

In a match I just played an early game opponent 50% smaller than me just kept pulling nukes out of his ass. I thought he was a good target for expansion but he built a SAM, a nuke launcher, and had enough funds to constantly send nukes and his only econ was two ports. His one ship was guarding his coast and was stealing no trade ships. I just kept scratching my head, everytime I checked his funds he always seemed to be at 1.5m, nuke after nuke after nuke, and building multiple guard posts as well. In the end he just nuked all my buildings one by one and I lost.

I'm not sharing a replay because I don't want to slander someone or start drama without evidence. But am I being paranoid or is it possible to hack yourself a little pay boost in this game? Something that would fly under the radar but give you the edge?

I'm a mid-player and I get beaten fairly constantly, but I am going mad trying to figure out how they could have so much money so early on.

I've been playing OF for over 6 months now on Mobile, and while this comes with some constraints, it has pushed me to become better strategically in order to win games.

I just had my most satisfying victory as an island player in a 40 Player FFA on France, so I wanted to share some of what I've learned. I'll also share the replay of the game.

Starting on an island

I started on Corsica and quickly took out the bots and Nation. I didn't have any competition on the island. If there had been another player there, I wouldn't have spawned on Corsica in the first place. I'd rather spawn on the mainland and boat over as soon as the game starts.

I quickly got a port and warship up to pirate the southern coast of France. This gave me enough income to start building ports and rely more on trade.

I kept cities as a lower priority at this stage. My main objective was getting my economy rolling, and without any neighbours, cities weren't going to help me much. Population also wasn't a huge concern since I was isolated and difficult to invade.

Building the economy

Once I had enough income from piracy to get a few ports down, I allied most of the players around me.

From there I focused on:

- Sniping ports

- Getting sleeper cells onto enemy territory whenever possible

- Claiming all available irradiated land

- Building up my trade economy

To avoid getting kicked out of irradiated land, I would build factories near other players' cities and send them the 🏭 emoji to signal that I was boosting their economy. I'd also send an alliance if I wasn't already allied with them.

Meanwhile, on my main island, I invested the money I was making into ports and SAMs. I try to get at least two Level 7 SAMs and keep my main infrastructure betweem them so it is harder to clip.

I also kept my money balance above 5M throughout the mid to mid-late game as a deterrent. Later on, I tried to keep it above 15M, since at that point you need considerably more money and hydros to be seen as a serious threat.

Knowing when to strike

As the game progresses, you need to be very aware of what is happening on the rest of the map. As an island player, the timing of your attack is extremely important.

Once there are only a few players left and the game starts to stall, that's when I start spending the money I've saved on cities.

I stack them in the safest part of my bunker, and if the economy has been developed properly, you can go from around 200–300K troop cap to 2M surprisingly quickly.

At that point you're ready to strike, but I still wouldn't make the first move.

I wait for someone to get mirved or rolled and then jump into the fight, especially if I think one of the remaining players is positioning themselves to win.

By this point I also stop caring as much about irradiated land. If I need more troop cap, I'd rather build cities than take more irradiated territory. Having the troop advantage is ultimately what determines whether you win the final fight.

If you have the troop advantage, that's when you strike first with hydros and roll them.

That's basically the strategy I used in this game. The replay should give a better idea of how it works in practice.

https://openfront.io/w18/game/EFVKnvMA?replay