How Combat Damage Is Calculated in Frontkrieg

Combat in Frontkrieg is not decided by "whoever brings more units wins" — it runs on a five-factor formula: damage per round = the summed attack of every unit in the army × health factor × morale factor × stack factor × counter multiplier, and that result is then multiplied by a random number between 0.9 and 1.1. This is exactly why an army of 50 infantry hits far weaker than newcomers expect, while 20 fresh troops at 100 morale can grind down 30 exhausted ones sitting at 40 morale. This guide is for players who have already finished a few matches, know the unit roster, and want to read the engine's actual numbers instead of guessing battle outcomes.

The short version: Frontkrieg combat in six facts

• Damage is calculated every round for both sides simultaneously — no instant winner, and a battle can run for dozens of rounds.
• Randomness is locked into a ±10% corridor, so luck only decides fights where the forces are nearly equal.
• Dropping from 100 morale to 0 costs exactly 45% of your combat power: the multiplier falls from 1.00 to 0.55.
• Wounded units hit softer but never below half strength — the health factor bottoms out at 0.5.
• Stacks have a ceiling: full output up to 20 units, and past 50 units an army gains no strength at all.
• A level 5 fortress cuts incoming damage by 90% — the strongest defensive multiplier in the game.

The damage formula: five multipliers and a pinch of luck

Each round the engine takes your army, sums the base attack of every unit, and applies the modifiers in sequence. Here is each one with real numbers.

1. Base attack: what a unit actually hits for

Every unit type has its own attack against ground targets: infantry 4, cavalry 12, armoured car 6, field gun 8, tank 30, heavy tank 45, bomber 40. Twenty infantry sum to 80 points; five tanks reach 150. The full stat catalogue and the counter table live in the guide to unit types and counters.

Ranged combat sits apart: a field gun reaches 90 units of distance, the railway gun 340, a battleship 100. Those units deal damage without entering melee, so they enter the formula one-sidedly — details in the artillery guide.

2. Health factor: a battered army hits softer

The factor falls linearly from 1.0 at full health to 0.5 near zero, so an army at half HP delivers roughly 0.75 of its strength. That matters because durability varies wildly: infantry has 20 HP, cavalry 30, a tank 140, a heavy tank 200, a battleship 250. A tank on 70 HP is still more dangerous than ten fresh infantry.

Supply is a separate trap. An army in resource deficit loses 10% of its maximum HP per in-game hour, meaning it burns down to nothing in 10 hours without a single shot fired. Where resources come from and why budgets collapse is covered in the economy guide.

3. Morale factor: the most expensive multiplier in the game

Morale converts into a combat multiplier through a transparent formula: divide morale by 100, multiply by 0.45, then add 0.55. That gives:

• 100 morale → multiplier 1.00 (full strength);
• 80 morale → 0.91 (the default state of a typical army);
• 50 morale → 0.78;
• 25 morale → 0.66 (the state of a freshly captured province);
• 0 morale → 0.55 (45% of your power gone).

Province morale sags predictably: captured territory drops toward 25, neutral land sits near 50, a resource shortage removes 15 points, and distance from your capital costs up to 35. Below 10 the province revolts. Recovery is gradual — roughly 40% of the remaining gap per step — so a freshly taken region only becomes a real source of strength after several in-game days.

4. Stack factor: why 50 units are not 2.5× stronger than 20

This is the most underrated mechanic in the game. Full output applies up to 20 units per army. Beyond that, each additional unit contributes linearly less, reaching zero at unit 50. In total, 50 units perform like roughly 35 — you pay upkeep for 50 and receive 70% of nominal strength. Past 50 nothing is added at all: the 51st infantryman eats money and grain and contributes zero.

The practical conclusion: two stacks of 20 on separate axes hit harder than a single 40-unit monolith. The exception is surviving artillery fire, where a bigger stack carries more total HP — that trade-off is unpacked in the defensive tactics guide.

5. Counters: the 1.5 and 0.7 multipliers

The last multiplier is rock-paper-scissors. A unit's attack is adjusted by what it strikes, averaged across the enemy force composition. Infantry against cavalry is 1.5, cavalry against artillery 1.5, artillery against infantry and armour 1.5, armour against infantry and cavalry 1.5. In the reverse direction the multiplier is 0.7. Air and naval coefficients bite harder: fighter versus bomber 1.6, cruiser versus submarine 1.6, submarine versus battleship 1.6, bomber versus ground targets 1.4.

The gap between 1.5 and 0.7 is more than twofold. Getting your army composition right pays off more than doubling its size.

Randomness: the ±10% corridor

The final result is multiplied by a random number between 0.9 and 1.1. That band is deliberately narrow: luck will not overturn a fight where you hold a 1.5× advantage, but it does decide clashes separated by 5–10%.

Rounds: why a battle does not resolve instantly

Frontkrieg does not settle combat in a single click. Both sides trade damage round after round until one is destroyed or withdraws. To stop two evenly matched armies from fighting forever, the engine has a limiter: once a single battle reaches 60 resolved rounds, the outcome is forced to be decisive.

Battles also begin at a distance: melee engages when armies close to within 12 units (16 for cavalry and armoured cars, 14 for tanks). That is why an army entering enemy territory at 0.35 of its nominal speed often gets pulled into a fight while still on the road — march tempo and logistics have their own troop movement guide.

Aircraft on patrol deal only 25% damage; in exchange they strike targets inside their radius without a direct order.

Fortresses: the multiplier that divides your losses

The fortress is the only building that enters the combat formula directly, reducing incoming damage to the defender by 30% at level 1, 45% at level 2, 60% at level 3, 75% at level 4 and 90% at level 5. In practice, 100 points of damage against a level 3 fortress become 40, and against level 5 just 10.

A fortress has 5 levels and is built in stages; what to construct and in which order is laid out in the buildings guide.

Why the stronger army loses: three classic scenarios

1. Bad morale after a conquest. You take three provinces in a day, morale drops to 25, multiplier 0.66. The enemy counterattacks from his own soil at 100 morale and hits a third harder with identical numbers.
2. A bloated stack. Forty-five infantry perform like roughly 33 effective units. An opponent with 20 tanks and the right counters overwhelms that with room to spare.
3. The wrong composition. A pure-infantry army facing armour takes the 0.7 multiplier while receiving 1.5. The swing in final damage is more than twofold; how to build a force against a specific enemy is covered in the offensive tactics guide.

The historical parallel is not accidental: between 1914 and 1918, offensives died not from a shortage of men but from exhaustion, overstretched supply lines and collapsing morale — precisely the variables these multipliers model. For the wider context of the era, see World War I — Wikipedia.

Putting the formula to work

• Keep working stacks at or under 20 units — that is peak output per unit.
• Do not attack straight after a conquest: let morale climb to at least 50, worth +0.12 on the multiplier.
• Count the enemy composition before attacking: swapping half your infantry for artillery against armour shifts damage more than adding 10 units.
• Pull damaged armies back: at 50% HP you hit 25% softer, and repairs cost less than fresh mobilisation.
• Build fortresses on 2–3 key junctions rather than everywhere: 60% damage reduction in the right province beats five level 1 fortresses.

Frequently asked questions

How is combat damage calculated in Frontkrieg?

Damage per round equals the summed attack of every unit in the army, multiplied by the health factor (1.0 down to 0.5), the morale factor (1.00 down to 0.55), the stack factor (full output up to 20 units) and the counter multiplier (1.5 or 0.7), with the result adjusted by a random coefficient of 0.9–1.1.

Why did my larger army lose the battle?

Three causes dominate: a stack above 20 units returns less output per unit, low morale strips up to 45% of your strength, and the wrong composition multiplies your damage by 0.7 instead of 1.5. Together those three easily cancel out a two-to-one numerical advantage.

How many units should I keep in one stack?

The optimum is up to 20 units, the limit of full combat output. From 21 to 50 each additional unit adds progressively less, and 50 units perform like roughly 35. Above 50 an army's strength stops growing entirely.

How much does a fortress reduce losses?

A fortress reduces incoming damage to the defender by 30% at level 1, 45% at level 2, 60% at level 3, 75% at level 4 and 90% at level 5. At maximum level the defender absorbs only a tenth of the damage.

Summary

Combat in Frontkrieg is transparent arithmetic: five multipliers and a narrow band of luck. Players who internalise that morale is worth up to 45% of their strength, that stacks cap out at 20 units, and that counters create a twofold swing will win battles with smaller forces. Everyone else keeps wondering why "the bigger army lost".

Run your last few battles through this formula and you will see exactly where the damage leaked. More mechanics and tactics are in the Frontkrieg blog — the game is free, browser-based and has no pay-to-win advantages — and you can test the maths in a live match: a new game starts every day.