Most early losses in Dot Conquest come from a handful of habits. None is about speed or reflexes. Fix them one at a time and your results change quickly.
1. Sending dots one at a time
The mistake: sending small groups, or new dots as they appear, at a city that needs a crowd.
Why it loses: a city is captured by filling its ring, and the ring fills faster with more dots beside it. A trickle arrives one dot at a time, fills nothing, and dies to the guard.
Instead: gather one group, send it once, all together. See capturing cities.
2. Fighting in a river
The mistake: meeting an enemy in the middle of a river, or chasing him across one.
Why it loses: a dot standing in a river takes more damage, and moves slowly to get out.
Instead: cross first, then fight, or wait on your bank and hit him as he crosses. Defend on forest and hills. See the terrain guide.
3. Marching on unsupplied land
The mistake: sending an army deep into enemy land, or leaving it on your own land that has been cut off.
Why it loses: dots wear down on enemy land and on your own land that no city supplies.
Instead: expand in steps, a city at a time, and watch for faded land under your army. See supply lines and attrition.
4. Ignoring the top bar
The mistake: watching only the fight in front of you.
Why it loses: the top bar tells you when you are at your army limit (your cities stop making dots), when a rival's Council is about to open, and how close anyone is to winning.
Instead: glance at it after every fight. If your army is at its limit, it should be doing something.
5. Sending the wrong kind of dot
The mistake: sending whatever group is nearest, whatever it is made of.
Why it loses: each kind of dot beats some kinds and loses to others. A group of Lights against Heavies loses dots for little.
Instead: look at the enemy group before you send (there is no fog) and send the group whose mix beats it. See the counter chart.
6. Never falling back
The mistake: letting a losing fight run to the last dot.
Why it loses: dots that fight and survive become veterans, bigger and stronger. A group thrown away is ranks thrown away.
Instead: when a fight turns, double right-click one of your cities and the group falls back. Defenders beside a city push its capture ring back, so a group at home also protects it. See veterans and city levels.
7. Forgetting the siege phase
The mistake: defending the same way all battle long.
Why it loses: at 6:00, the siege phase begins. Cities fall faster, garrisons crumble, and a city with an enemy beside it stops producing.
Instead: before the clock reaches it, gather your army and decide where you will attack, and pull lone groups back to the cities you can hold. See the siege phase.
One more: not reading the level card
From World 2, a level may give a rival an advantage, and its script may send dots at you at set times. All of it is on the level card, before you press start. A minute reading it saves a battle.
Where to go next
- The early levels, in order: your first ten battles.
- When it all feels like too much: how to stop feeling overwhelmed.