Army Upkeep in Frontkrieg: What Every Hour of War Costs

One infantry unit costs 1 money per game hour, a tank costs 7 money and 2 oil, and a battleship costs 15 money, 4 oil and 4 coal. That is the real price of an army in Frontkrieg: you do not pay when you build troops, you pay every hour they exist. One game day lasts 24 real hours, so a strike group of 20 infantry, 5 artillery and 3 tanks drains 1,584 money and 264 oil every day - even when it sits in the rear and never fires a shot. This article is for players who have finished a few matches, built a large army, and suddenly found a zero in the treasury.

What each unit costs per game hour

Upkeep is deducted from the national stockpile every hour, separately for each resource. Money and oil are the two bottlenecks that wreck most campaigns.

Infantry and cavalry: cheap, but numerous

• Infantry: 1 money per hour plus 1 grain per day.
• Cavalry: 2 money per hour plus 1 grain per day.

One hundred infantry cost 2,400 money and 100 grain every day. For comparison, a new infantry unit costs 5,500 money and takes one hour to build: in two and a half days your infantry eats the price of another identical unit. A cheap army is never a free army, it simply spreads the bill over time.

Vehicles and artillery: where oil starts to matter

• Armored car: 2 money + 1 oil per hour.
• Artillery: 5 money + 1 oil.
• Tank: 7 money + 2 oil.
• Heavy tank: 10 money + 3 oil.
• Railgun: 10 money + 2 oil + 2 coal + 2 grain.

In upkeep terms a single tank equals seven infantry in money, and it burns oil that infantry never touches. That is why a mechanized breakthrough needs more than the right counters: it needs a dedicated oil base behind it.

Air and navy: the most expensive guests

• Fighter: 5 money + 2 oil per hour.
• Bomber: 10 money + 3 oil.
• Balloon: 0 money, but 1 lumber + 1 grain per hour, which is 24 lumber per day.
• Transport: 5 money + 1 coal.
• Light cruiser: 10 money + 4 coal.
• Submarine: 12 money + 2 oil + 2 coal.
• Battleship: 15 money + 4 oil + 4 coal.

A battleship consumes 360 money, 96 oil and 96 coal per day. A nation starts with 500 units of each resource, so a single battleship with no coal production of its own empties the coal stockpile in roughly five days.

Where money comes from: tax is tied to morale

Income accrues hourly: the population of your provinces multiplied by the tax rate of 1.0 and by morale as a percentage, divided by 24. The consequence is simple - a province at 50 morale pays exactly half of what it would pay at 100. The game's reference morale value is 80.

Morale moves asymmetrically: it drifts down at 0.10 per hour and recovers at 0.40 per hour. Rebuilding an economy after a bad week is faster than it looks, but only once you have removed the cause of the drop. The full breakdown is in the guide to province morale.

What happens when a resource runs out

Deficit is the harshest mechanic in the economy. If a tick arrives and upkeep cannot be paid, every unit that consumes the missing resource loses 10% of its maximum health per game hour. After 10 hours that unit is destroyed.

The key detail: the damage does not fall on one "surplus" unit, it hits every consumer of that resource at once. An empty oil stockpile means tanks, heavy tanks, aircraft, submarines and battleships all melt in parallel while you sleep. An army nobody attacked can disappear overnight.

Four ways to stay solvent

1. Plan around the bottleneck resource, not money

Money regenerates hourly from taxes; oil comes only from provinces and the resource market. Before every vehicle order, calculate the added daily oil burn rather than the build price. Three tanks mean 144 oil every day, permanently.

2. Morale is your budget

Every 10 points of average morale is 10% of national income. A garrison in a restless province often pays for itself faster than another artillery battery.

3. Multiplier buildings pay twice

A harbor adds +10% to province production, a railway another +10%, and each factory level adds +5%. These percentages work every hour and, unlike troops, they cost no upkeep. Build order is covered in the guide to buildings.

4. Repair is cheaper than replacement

Mechanical units on friendly soil recover health: a workshop heals 5% per hour at level 1 and 10% at level 2, while a factory heals between 15% and 30% depending on level. Pulling a battered tank back for repair almost always beats building a new one - see the guide to unit repair.

How to audit your daily bill in two minutes

A checklist worth running once per game day:

1. List your army by type: how many infantry, artillery, tanks, aircraft and ships.
2. Multiply each type by its hourly money and oil burn from the tables above.
3. Add the totals and multiply by 24 - that is your daily bill.
4. Compare it with daily income: the population of all your provinces multiplied by morale as a percentage.
5. Check oil and coal separately: daily production must cover daily burn, because buying them at the critical moment is not always possible.

Worked example: 30 infantry, 6 artillery and 4 tanks cost 88 money and 14 oil per hour, which is 2,112 money and 336 oil per day. If your provinces produce 250 oil per day, that army is already unsustainable - the deficit is only a matter of time.

What to cut first when the budget fails

The order is straightforward. Start with the units that are most expensive in your bottleneck resource and currently have no mission, usually fleets parked in rear ports and aircraft with no targets in radius. Next comes heavy equipment on quiet sectors. Infantry goes last: it is the cheapest per hour and it is what holds provinces, which is what generates tax income in the first place.

Common budget mistakes

• Building aircraft without a single oil province. The planes will fly, and 10 hours of deficit will turn them into wreckage.
• Keeping a fleet "in reserve". A battleship in port costs exactly what a battleship in combat costs.
• Judging an army by unit count. Twenty infantry cost 480 money per day; three tanks cost 504 money and 144 oil.
• Forgetting that production prices are a one-time payment while upkeep runs until the match ends.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my money run out when I am not building anything?

Because the army charges upkeep every hour whether it fights or stands still. Once army costs exceed tax income, the balance goes negative during complete inactivity. Check the ratio directly: total upkeep per day against total income per day.

What happens if I run out of oil or grain?

Every unit that consumes that resource loses 10% of its maximum health per hour and dies in roughly 10 game hours. The mechanic hits the entire category at once, so an oil deficit can wipe out a tank group without a single battle being fought.

Which unit is the most expensive to maintain?

The battleship: 15 money, 4 oil and 4 coal per hour, or 360 money and 96 units of two resources per day. The cheapest in money terms is the balloon, which costs no money at all but takes 24 lumber and 24 grain every day.

How do I raise income quickly without building anything?

Morale is the fastest lever, because it enters the tax formula directly. After that come selling surplus resources on the market and no longer paying for units that serve no current purpose. The full sequence is in the guide to economy and resources.

Conclusion

Army upkeep in Frontkrieg is not a penalty, it is a timer: every hour of war has a fixed price in money, oil, coal and grain. Players who size an army by the daily burn of their bottleneck resource, rather than by the one-time build price, almost never lose equipment to a deficit. Frontkrieg is free, browser-based and has no pay-to-win shortcuts, so this arithmetic is the same for everyone at the table.

A new match starts every day: join the lobby. More mechanics breakdowns are on the blog.

Source on the real cost of maintaining armies between 1914 and 1918: World War I - Wikipedia.