In FrontWars, a factory is an economy building, not a barracks. Once you place one, it lays railroads to nearby cities, ports and other factories, and trains start running on that network. Every building a train visits along its route pays you a fixed amount of gold, and stops at a friendly neighbour's buildings pay extra. To follow along in a live match, you can play FrontWars in your browser on our home page and press 2 to place a factory under your cursor.
What does a factory do in FrontWars?
The game's own Instructions screen describes the factory in one sentence: it "automatically builds railroads to nearby cities, ports and other factories, and can also link up with friendly neighbors. Trains spawn regularly and give you a fixed amount of gold for each building they visit along the route, with extra gold for visiting your neighbors' buildings." The tooltip on the build bar shortens that to "Creates railroads and spawns trains."
The official description, in plain words
That sentence hides three separate jobs:
- Rails. You never draw track. The factory connects itself to the cities, ports and other factories around it.
- Trains. Trains appear on their own at regular intervals and travel the network.
- Payouts. Each building a train passes through pays gold. The game calls these buildings stations, and a station that belongs to a friendly neighbour pays more than one of yours.
A factory does not raise your troop ceiling; that is the city's job. Its whole value is the gold that trains carry between your buildings.
So the factories in FrontWars are worth building when you already have, or are about to have, several buildings close together. A lone factory with nothing nearby has nothing to connect to. One factory in the middle of two cities and a port turns three buildings into a paying route.
How railroads and trains pay you
Gold in FrontWars comes from four places, and the achievements screen lists them plainly: workers, conquest, trade and trains. Conquest pays early, while you are still taking land. Trains become the steady part of your income once your territory has buildings worth connecting.
What a train pays for
- Every building on the route. A train pays for each station it visits, so a line through four buildings earns more per trip than a line through two.
- Friendly neighbours. A railroad can link up with a friendly neighbour's network, and their buildings pay extra when your trains stop there.
- Building levels, in Fast economy. In the 41.6 update the developers reduced what high-level cities and ports pay trains in Fast economy, because income was snowballing; Fast is still described as much faster than Classic.
- Custom games. The Gold Multiplier option in Single Player and Create Lobby scales gold from cities, factories, ports, trade ships and trains for every player.
Two details from recent updates keep a network alive. Trains now pass through the stations of players you embargo instead of vanishing there, and the network mends itself when a station is destroyed. You can also open the railroads preview to see the rail connections between your structures before you commit more gold.
To check whether your rails are earning, look for "Gold from trains" in your career stats after a match. If that number stays small, the problem is usually distance: the factory is too far from the buildings it should connect.
Where to build a factory
Placement decides whether a factory pays back. The game even ships a quick-chat line for allies who build too far apart: "Build closer to get trains!"
A placement checklist
- Two neighbours or more. Put the factory where at least two cities, ports or factories are close by, so its first railroads already form a route.
- Behind the front. A line that crosses a contested border stops paying when the buildings on it fall. Keep the factory in the part of your land you expect to hold.
- Near the coast if you have one. Ports are on the list of buildings a factory connects to, and they run their own trade ships on top of that.
- Toward a friendly border. If a teammate or ally sits next to you, a factory near that border gives your trains extra paying stops.
- Check the preview. Use the railroads preview before and after placing, and move the next factory if the line you expected did not appear.
On a phone, buildings are placed only from the action menu: hold your finger on your own land and tap Build. Once you have more than one factory, think of them as one network rather than separate buildings. Computer-controlled nations with the Economist personality do exactly this, stacking ports and factories and placing factories to link into rail networks.
Factory or city first?
Both buildings sit in the same early budget, so the real question is which number you need to grow next: your army or your income.
How to decide
- Build a city when you are close to your population limit or cannot expand any further, because a city increases your max population.
- Build a factory when you already have two or more buildings near each other and your troops are healthy. The factory turns those buildings into a route.
- Alternate after that. Each new city is also a new station for your trains, so cities and factories feed each other.
A simple rhythm is city, factory, then port if you hold coast. Our first-15-minutes build order for new players shows where the first factory fits into an opening, and the trademaxxing versus city-maxxing comparison explains how far to push rails once the mid-game starts.
The rules on this page describe FrontWars only. If you also play OpenFront or another game built on the same code, see our overview of OpenFront forks and how they differ before assuming the economy works the same way. Japanese-speaking players can read a FrontWars 攻略 written in Japanese for beginners.
FrontWars Factory FAQ
What does upgrading a factory do in FrontWars?
Buildings can be upgraded: on desktop, hold the middle mouse button over one to upgrade it repeatedly; on mobile, tap the building to see its level, the next level and the cost. The in-game Instructions screen does not list a separate upgrade effect for factories, so compare the "Gold from trains" figure in your career stats between matches with and without upgrades.
How much does a factory cost?
The current price is shown in the build bar tooltip when you hover the factory. On mobile, the first tap on a building in the action menu shows what it does and what it costs, and a second tap confirms.
Do factories produce troops?
No. A factory builds railroads and spawns trains that earn gold. Your troop ceiling grows with cities, which increase your max population.
Can my factory connect to an ally's buildings?
Yes. A factory can link up with friendly neighbours, and your trains earn extra gold when they visit their buildings.
What happens to my railroads if a building is destroyed?
The rail network mends itself when a station is destroyed. Since the 41.6 update, trains also pass through the stations of players you embargo instead of vanishing there.
Do railroad skins change how much trains earn?
No. Railroad styles change how your tracks and trains look, and the developers state that cosmetics do not change gameplay.
Start with one factory where its rails can reach two buildings, watch the first trains run, and use the next round of gold on whichever you need more: a city for troops or another factory for income.