How do I play Conqora?

Conqora FAQ · updated 2026-10-16

This is the walkthrough we wish every new player read before their first match. It takes three minutes and saves about ten lost games.

Step 1: Join a game

Open conqora.io and press Join game on the big "next game" card. You can play as a guest; your name and flag are set in the menu. The countdown on the card shows when the match starts. While you wait you can browse other menus: a small card in the corner keeps the countdown visible and brings you back.

Step 2: Pick your spawn

When the match opens, everyone has a few seconds to choose a starting spot. Your own spot pings in white; other players ping in red (or in your team colour). Good spawns have:

• Empty land around them (no player and no strong nation right next to you).
• A coast nearby, so you can build a port later.
• Distance from other players, so your first two minutes are expansion, not war.

You can click again to move your start until the countdown ends.

Step 3: Expand

Click any land next to your border to attack it. Empty land falls fast; land owned by territories (the passive grey-ish holders that fill the map) and nations takes more troops. Each click sends a share of your troops set by the attack ratio slider. Press Z and X to lower or raise it in steps. Early on, 20–30% per click is a good rhythm: troops regrow fastest when you are at about 40% of your maximum, so an army sitting at full strength is wasting growth.

Step 4: Build your economy

Gold flows in from every tile. Spend it early:

1. City (key 1): raises your troop cap.
2. Port (key 3) on the coast: sends trade ships to other players' ports; each arriving ship pays a lot of gold.
3. Factory (key 2): runs trains between your cities and ports; higher factory levels run more trains.
4. Defense Post (key 4) on the border that faces your strongest neighbour.

Middle-click a building to upgrade it. The economy guide has every number.

Step 5: Make a friend

Right-click a neighbour and choose Alliance. An alliance lasts five minutes, stops both of you from attacking each other, shares vision, and boosts trade. With one border safe you can throw your whole army at the other.

Step 6: Take the sea

Clicking land across water sends a boat with the troops your attack ratio allows. Boats land anywhere on a coast and follow rivers inland. Once you have a port, warships (key 7) guard your trade routes and sink enemy boats; aircraft carriers (key V) launch air raids (R) and nuke bombers (N).

Step 7: The mid-game

Around minute 8 to 15 the map fills up and big players meet. Now it is about where to fight, not whether. Read the leaderboard: the player near 50–60% is everyone's problem. Build a Missile Silo deep inside your land and SAM Launchers in front of your cities. Press T to see every SAM range on the map.

Step 8: Nukes

An Atom Bomb (key 8) flattens a cluster of buildings; a Hydrogen Bomb (9) erases a region; a MIRV (0) splits over an entire empire. Blasts leave fallout, and a nuke that hits an ally breaks the alliance. The nukes guide explains when each is worth it.

Step 9: Win

Own 80% of the land (95% for a team), or be the largest when the time limit ends. If you fall behind, you are not out: a coordinated nuke strike on the leader with your allies turns more games than anything else.

Next steps

• Beginner's guide: the mistakes that cost new players their land.
• Controls and shortcuts.
• Advanced strategy.

Your first match, with real numbers

The steps above tell you what to do. Here is roughly how the gold works out, using the actual prices, so you can plan instead of guessing.

The first purchases

• City: 125K. Each level adds 250K to your troop capacity. Your second City costs 250K, the third 500K, and from then on the price stays at 1M.
• Port: 125K, then doubling the same way up to 1M. Ports and Factories count together for this price, so a Factory after one Port costs 250K.
• Defense Post: 50K, then +50K for each one you own, up to 250K. Land within 30 tiles becomes five times harder to take.

A sensible opening on a coastal spawn is City, Port, then a second Port or a Defense Post depending on whether your neighbour looks hungry. Because upgrades are done with a middle click, you can also turn one City into a level-2 City, which gives the capacity of two cities.

Why a Port pays off fast

A trade ship that arrives pays 100,000 gold plus 100 per tile travelled. A ship that sails 400 tiles brings 140,000 before the port bonus, and owning more ports multiplies that by up to 3x. A single arrival can cover the cost of the Port that sent it. Ships trading with your allies' ports trade more, which is one more reason to keep an alliance.

Choosing your attack ratio

The attack ratio is the share of your troops each click sends. You change it with Z (down) and X (up), or with the slider on a phone.

Common beginner mistakes and the fix

• Waiting for a full troop bar. Growth is fastest around 40% of your maximum and stops at the cap. Fix: keep spending on land.
• No City by minute three. Your cap stays low. Fix: buy a City with your first 125K.
• Fighting on two fronts. Fix: ally one neighbour, attack the other.
• Forgetting the sea. Boats land on any coast and follow rivers. Fix: a Port and a Warship (250K) watch your coastline.
• Building a Missile Silo on the border. It gets taken or bombed. Fix: build it deep inside your land.
• Launching a nuke into an ally's land. That breaks the alliance and marks you as a traitor. Fix: check where the blast lands before you fire.

Keyboard cheat sheet for your first game

You don't need all of these at once. These ten cover almost everything:

On a phone: tap to attack, long-press for the action menu, pinch to zoom and drag to move. All controls are on the controls page.

Tips by skill level

Your first five matches

Play single player once to learn the controls without pressure, then join public games. Focus on one thing per game: first just expanding, then building a City and Port early, then making one alliance.

Once the basics click

Start planning your economy around trade. Add Factories to run trains between your cities and ports, and remember a higher Factory level means more trains. Learn the navy and keep a Warship near your busiest trade lane.

Ready for more

Build a Missile Silo and a couple of SAM Launchers around minute 10, learn when an Atom Bomb (750K) is enough and when you need a Hydrogen Bomb (5M), and try ranked with a free account.

More questions

Is there a tutorial?

The how to play page and the beginner's guide cover everything, and single player lets you learn at your own pace with pause on P.

What's the best map for beginners?

The World map gives you a couple of minutes of free land before you meet anyone, which is forgiving for a first game. Europe puts nations on your border from the first minute. The maps guide describes each one.

Where should I spawn?

On a quiet coast with empty land behind you. The full answer is in best spawn location.

Related questions

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