The campaign's ten worlds: an overview

The campaign is the heart of Dot Conquest: 100 hand-made levels across ten worlds, each level on a map drawn for it. This guide explains how it is built, so you know what to expect as you go.

The shape of the campaign

Each world has ten levels, and the tenth is its boss: a general with a battle built around one idea.

Every level has a tagline of a few words on its card: the one thing you do differently there.

World 1: learning, and a fair fight

The first world teaches the game one idea at a time. Its first three levels have no Councils; Councils start at level 4. The five kinds of dot are brought in one at a time over the early levels, so you meet each before you have to fight it. And World 1 plays fair: your rivals get no advantages. More in your first ten battles.

From World 2: levels bend the rules

From World 2 on, a level may bend a rule for one side: a rival who produces faster, cities that start with defenders, councils that come quicker for someone. When a level does, its card says so, one line per rule, before you start. A level's script (dots that appear at a city, a strike on a timer) is on the card too, with when it happens. Nothing about a level is a surprise you could not have read.

Missions

Not every level is won by conquest. Here is everything a level can ask, the ways to win and the ways to lose:

Conquest

Win by owning every city, or 90% of the map.

Hold the flags

Win by holding every flagged city at once for the time shown.

Survive

Win by still standing when the clock runs out.

Escort

Win by bringing your Commander to the flagged city. He goes where the dots beside him go, and only to land you own: take the city first.

Race for the flags

Win by being the first to own the number of flagged cities shown.

Wiped out

You lose when you have no city and no dot left.

Keep the city

You lose if the marked city falls.

Keep your Commander

You lose if your Commander dies.

Beat the clock

You lose if the time runs out before you have won.

Don't lose the race

You lose if a rival owns the number of flagged cities shown before you do.

The level card lists what wins and what loses.

Allies and the Mirror

From World 7, some levels give you an ally, a general who fights on your side:

And World 9 brings the Mirror, a general who copies your cards:

Set pieces

Nine levels, at most one a world and none in World 1, are set pieces: rare battles that change how you command, each on a map drawn for it. They are:

• The Forge (World 2): take the forge, starve him.
• Four Companies (World 3): each freed town joins you.
• Until the Relief (World 4): hold the gate until relief.
• The Ring (World 5): three ways out, pick one.
• The Vault (World 6): hold his vault for a short while.
• The Causeways (World 7): only the causeway towns produce.
• Thaw (World 8): half the map by a deadline.
• The Landing (World 9): pick a beach, land there.
• Tripwires (World 10): every capture brings a strike.

Four of them return in the Gauntlet as battle types. See the Gauntlet guide.

Stars

The two goals beyond a win are chosen from these:

A fast win

Win within the time shown.

Few losses

Win having lost no more dots than the number shown.

No city lost

Win without ever losing a city.

A healthy Commander

Win with your Commander above half health.

Before the siege

Win before the siege phase begins.

Early captures

Capture the number of cities shown within the time shown.

What opens as you go

• The Daily after five cleared levels; its Rematch and Practice cards after ten. See the Daily.
• The Gauntlet after ten cleared levels. See the Gauntlet guide.

Where to go next

• The generals you will meet: every general and how to beat them.
• Late in a battle: the siege phase.