Fights take dots. Walling in takes land without a fight. It is the rule that makes Dot Conquest more than "who has the bigger army", and the one new players notice last.
The rule
Your dots paint the land they walk on. When the land you hold makes a closed ring around an area, a short countdown starts, and when it ends, everything inside the ring turns to your colour. The ring is on the map for everyone to see, so a rival can see it closing, and so can you.
What counts as a wall
Only your own land closes a pocket. Two details matter:
- Mountains and cliffs are not walls. A cliff blocks dots, but it does not close a pocket for anyone. To wall in an area beside a mountain, your land has to go around it.
- The map's edge does not close a pocket either. An area pressed against the edge of the map is not enclosed, however your land surrounds the rest of it.
What it cannot do
A pocket with a city in it does not flip. Cities are taken by crowding them, never by walling them in. So enclosure is a land rule: it takes territory, not cities. (To take a city, see capturing cities.)
Why land is worth taking
Land is not just score. It matters three ways:
- The win. Holding 90% of the map wins the battle, and walled-in land counts toward it.
- Supply. Your dots on your own land, supplied by a city, are safe. Enemy dots standing on your land wear down:
- City growth. A city grows with the land you hold around it:
How to wall in well
- Look for thin gaps. A rival's land that reaches out in a narrow arm is easy to cut off: walk a line across the arm's base and the end of it is a pocket.
- Use the edge of your own land. The cheapest pockets are bays: areas that your land already surrounds on most sides. Close the last side and they flip.
- Move along the line, not into it. Dots paint as they walk, so a group walking along the ring's missing edge draws the wall. A group standing in the middle paints nothing new.
- Mind supply. Land far from your cities is cut off and faded, and your dots on it wear down. A huge pocket far from home may cost more than it gives. See supply lines and attrition.
Defending against it
- Watch your arms. Land that reaches out thinly is the easiest to cut. If a rival walks across its base, either fight there or let the arm go.
- Fight the wall-builders. A ring is drawn by dots walking. A group that meets them before the last gap closes stops the pocket from forming.
- Notice early. The countdown is short, so the best defence is seeing the wall before it closes, not after.
On a map with no fog
Because the whole map is visible, a rival can see you walling in, and you can see a rival doing it. Reading those shapes early is a skill of its own: see reading the board.
Where to go next
- The other land rule: supply lines and attrition.
- How cities change hands: capturing cities.