Every strategy game has them: the healer who cannot fight, the artillery piece that dies to anything that reaches it. On paper they look like wasted slots. In the right army they win battles. The question is always the same: what does this unit multiply?
Support units multiply, they do not add
A fighter adds its own damage to a fight. A support unit multiplies something else: a healer multiplies how long your fighters last, artillery multiplies damage against crowds. Multiplying zero gives zero. So support units are worth the most when there is a lot for them to multiply, and nothing at all when there is not.
That gives three rules that hold in almost any game.
1. Support needs something to support. A healer with two fighters is a fragile third body. A healer inside a big group that is taking a steady stream of damage is the strongest unit on the field.
2. Support needs time. Healing works over seconds; artillery works when a crowd forms. A fight that ends in one rush gives them no time to matter. A long grind, a siege, a held line, is where they shine.
3. Support needs protection. Support units are fragile by design. If the enemy can reach them first, they die first. They belong behind or inside your army, never in front.
In Dot Conquest
Two of the five kinds of dot are support units. Their numbers come from the game's own rules:
And their abilities:
When Medics are worth it
- Holding a line or a city. Your dots take steady damage and keep standing. Medics turn that into a slow loss for the attacker.
- Long marches on enemy land. Attrition wears your dots down a little at a time; a Medic's steady healing pushes back. See supply and attrition.
- Not in a fast raid, and not on their own.
When Sieges are worth it
- Against crowds. The shell needs enemies bunched together, and nothing bunches like an army filling a capture ring.
- Against Heavies. Sieges are strong against Heavies, which are slow enough not to escape the shell.
- In the siege phase, when everyone crowds around cities. See the siege phase.
- Not against fast Lights and Scouts that reach them first.
Getting more of them
Cities make support units at a set rhythm, with Lights as the bulk. If your plan leans on them, Doctrines and cards change the mix: Field Hospitals and Field Medics bring more Medics, Siege Doctrine and Siege Train more Sieges. See every Doctrine explained.
A quick test, in any game
Before you invest in support, ask: in the fights I expect, will there be a big group to support, enough time, and something in front to protect it? Three yeses: build them. One no: build fighters instead.
Where to go next
- The abilities in detail: Heavy charge, Siege shell, Medic burst.
- Who beats whom: the unit counter chart.