How do I win a match?

Conqora FAQ · updated 2026-10-16

The win condition

A Conqora match ends in one of two ways:

• Domination: a player owns 80% of the map's land. In team games the line is 95% for the team combined.
• Time limit: some quick games and lobbies have a time limit (for example 30 minutes). When it runs out, the player with the most land wins.

Water does not count. Land covered in fallout still counts for whoever owns it. Territories (the passive holders of land) do not win; they only take up space.

Why 80% is hard

The closer a player gets to the line, the more everyone else gangs up on them. The leaderboard shows everyone's share, and at 60% you become the target of every alliance on the map. Most matches are decided between 55% and 75%, when the leader either breaks through or gets nuked back into the pack.

The four things winners do

1. They expand fast and never sit at full strength

Troops regrow fastest at around 40% of your maximum. A player who keeps attacking empty land with 20–30% of their army per click grows faster than one who waits for a full bar. Use Z/X to adjust the ratio without leaving the map.

2. They build an economy early

Gold wins long games. A city and a port in the first two minutes, a second port before the second city on coastal maps, and factories once you have stations. Trade ships pay the most; trains add steady income that grows with factory level.

3. They fight on one front at a time

Alliances last five minutes. Ally the neighbour you aren't fighting yet, then commit your whole army against the other. Renew the alliance before it expires. Betraying an ally brands you a traitor for everyone to see, so do it only when the reward is the match.

4. They control the endgame with nukes and SAMs

In the late game the map is full and borders stall. Nukes break stalemates: an atom bomb opens a hole in a defended border, a hydrogen bomb erases a region, a MIRV flattens an empire. SAM launchers protect you from the same. Press T to see every SAM range before you launch.

Winning from behind

You don't need to be first at minute 10. Players in second and third place win a lot of games by letting the leader exhaust themselves against everyone else, then striking with coordinated nukes. Mark the leader as a target so your allies see it, donate gold to the ally building SAMs, and save your hydrogen bomb for the moment the leader commits troops elsewhere.

Team games

In team quick games your teammates are permanent allies. The team wins at 95% combined. Split roles: one player holds the land front, another takes the sea and the trade, a third builds the nuclear arsenal.

More: advanced strategy · diplomacy · nukes.

What 80% actually looks like

The win line sounds abstract until you picture it. On the World map, 80% of the land means you hold almost every continent at once. That is why you rarely see a player run away with a match from the opening: you get there by surviving the middle of the game while the map gangs up on whoever is ahead.

A useful way to read the leaderboard during a match:

In team games the line is 95% combined, which means the losing team has to be almost wiped off the map.

A worked example: winning from second place

Picture a public game on Europe. At minute 14 the leader holds 55%. You hold 15% and share a border with them. Here is a plan that turns that around:

1. Secure your back. Renew your alliance with your other neighbour. The card shows the time left, and you get a 15-second warning in the feed before it ends.
2. Mark the leader as a target so your allies see who to hit.
3. Build a Missile Silo deep inside your land (1M). Keep it away from the border so a ground attack or an Air Raid can't reach it easily.
4. Press T to see the leader's SAM coverage. Each SAM has an 80% chance to hit an incoming nuke and then needs to reload. A nuke preview that turns orange is under enemy SAM cover.
5. Pick a target outside SAM cover, or send two launches so the first one draws the shot. The silo needs 75 seconds between launches (45 seconds with fast economy).
6. Attack the moment the blast lands. Fallout stops troop growth on that land and makes it slow to attack across, so push into the edges of the blast zone rather than the centre.

Players who time this with their allies take the leader from 55% back below 40% and turn the match into a new race.

Win paths by map type

Big world maps

The World map and the Giant World Map are long games. Economy and alliances matter most. A strong trade network with several ports, plus factories running trains, funds the nuclear arsenal that decides the late game.

Regional maps with dense nations

On Europe you meet nations immediately. Win by picking one direction, allying the rest, and using Defense Posts (land within 30 tiles is five times harder to take) on the borders you aren't attacking.

Island and coastal maps

On Britannia, Oceania or East Asia the sea decides everything. Build the port first, protect trade with Warships, and use boats to land behind your opponent's lines. Aircraft Carriers let you hit buildings within 110 tiles with Air Raids.

Ranked maps

Ranked maps have no nations, so it is purely you against the other side. The fight starts after a short expansion phase. See the ranked guide.

Modes that change the win condition

• 30 min limit: the largest player wins when the clock runs out. Here holding a big, safe empire matters more than reaching 80%. Don't take risky fights in the last minutes.
• Teams: permanent allies; the team needs 95% together.
• No nukes: borders stall more often, so economy and Defense Posts carry more weight.
• No alliances: every neighbour is a possible threat; fight on the fronts the map gives you.
• Hotspots: gold mines pay 7,500 gold every 5 seconds, which is 90,000 gold a minute per mine. Holding two or three can fund a Hydrogen Bomb (5M) much sooner.

Mistakes that throw away a winning game

• Overextending at 60%. You attack everyone at once and the alliance against you breaks your thin borders.
• Letting alliances expire unnoticed. Watch the 15-second warning in the feed.
• Betraying an ally for a small gain. As a traitor your defence is halved for 30 seconds and everyone can see the mark.
• No SAMs. A Hydrogen Bomb on your core cities ends a lead in seconds. SAM Launchers cost 1.5M, rising to 3M.
• Ignoring the sea. Boats land on any coast and follow rivers deep inland.

More questions

Do territories or nations count toward my land?

Only the land you own counts for you. Territories and nations hold land, and taking it from them moves you closer to the line.

Can a match end in a draw?

A match ends when someone reaches the win line or when the time limit runs out and the largest player wins.

Does winning give extra rewards?

A win adds 100 XP on top of the normal match XP, and ranked wins move your rating up. See how to win from behind for more comeback tactics.

Related questions

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More answers in the Conqora FAQ and the guides. Updated 2026-10-16.