What is Conqora?

Conqora FAQ · updated 2026-10-16

Conqora is a free online strategy game about conquering the world, one border at a time. It runs entirely in your web browser, it is multiplayer from the first second, and a full match fits into a coffee break. If you have ever wanted the feeling of a grand strategy game like Risk or Hearts of Iron without the three-hour setup, the downloads, or the rulebook, Conqora is built for exactly that.

The idea in one paragraph

Every player spawns on the same map at the same moment: the world, Europe, Africa, East Asia, an island archipelago or a fictional continent. You pick your starting spot, and from then on your territory grows by attacking the land next to it. Troops regenerate on their own, gold flows in from every tile you own, and you spend that gold on buildings, ships and weapons. Neighbours become allies or targets. The match ends when one player (or one team) controls 80% of the land, or when the time limit runs out and the biggest empire wins.

What makes it different from other map games

Most "io" territory games stop at expansion: you grow, you collide, the biggest blob wins. Conqora keeps the instant, readable start of an io game and layers a real strategy game on top of it:

• An economy that matters. Cities raise your troop cap, ports send trade ships across the oceans, and factories run trains along rails between your stations. Trains earn more as your factories level up, with diminishing returns so nobody snowballs forever.
• A navy. Boats land troops on any coast and follow rivers deep inland. Warships sink boats and capture trade ships. Aircraft carriers launch air raids against single buildings and nuke bombers that lock on to enemy fleets.
• Nuclear weapons with counterplay. Atom bombs, hydrogen bombs and MIRVs reshape the map and leave fallout, while SAM launchers shoot them down. Press T in a match to see every SAM range on the map; the nuke preview turns orange when your target sits under enemy air defence.
• Diplomacy with consequences. Alliances last five minutes and share vision; betraying one brands you a traitor in front of everyone.
• Modes that change the game. Fog of war, hotspots (gold mines and oil fields), fast economy, instant build, no nukes, time limits, teams.
• Competitive play. Ranked solo, duo and trio queues with a skill rating, placement matches and tiers from Bronze to Grandmaster.
• Community. Clans with tags, banners and chat, a friends list with invite codes, private lobbies with invite links, and a map editor whose maps everyone can play.

Who it is for

Conqora is for anyone who likes strategy but doesn't have an evening to spend on it. A new player understands the first minute without a tutorial: click next to your land to take more land. A veteran finds depth in attack-ratio management, trade routes, SAM coverage, carrier strikes and timing a hydrogen bomb on the leader exactly when their allies are busy. The game is played by students on Chromebooks, office workers on lunch breaks, and clans that schedule their evenings around clan wars.

Where you can play

At conqora.io, on any computer, tablet or phone with a modern browser. Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS all work, and so do Android and iPhone browsers. The game is tuned to run smoothly on integrated graphics such as Intel Iris Xe, so you don't need a gaming PC. See do I need to download anything? and system requirements.

How much it costs

Nothing. Conqora is free to play, and every item in the store is cosmetic: banners, crowns, territory colours, nuke explosions, name colours. Nothing that changes the outcome of a match can be bought. The details are in is Conqora pay to win?

Start playing

The fastest way to understand Conqora is one match. Open conqora.io, press Join game, click a spot on the map with some empty land around it, and start clicking outward. The beginner's guide explains the first ten minutes, and the how to play page covers every rule.

A match of Conqora, minute by minute

Descriptions only go so far, so here is what a typical public game on the World map feels like from the inside.

Minute 0: the spawn screen

The map opens with the 61 nations already in place and pings appearing all over the continents. Your own ping is big and white, teammates (in a team game) ping in their team colour, and everyone else pings in red. You can move your spawn as often as you like until the countdown ends, so take a few seconds: look for a quiet coast with grey, empty land behind it and no red pings next door.

Minutes 1 to 4: the land rush

The pings vanish and the game is on. You click outward into empty land and your border grows tile by tile. Your troops regrow on their own, fastest when you are at about 40% of your maximum, so the best players never sit on a full bar. With your first gold you place a City (125K) to raise your troop cap and a Port (125K) on the coast to start trade.

Minutes 5 to 12: neighbours become a problem

Your border touches other players and nations. You right-click one neighbour and send an alliance request; they have 20 seconds to accept, and if they do, you can't attack each other for five minutes and you share vision. That one alliance lets you throw your army at the other border. Trade ships start arriving at your ports, and each one pays 100,000 gold plus 100 per tile travelled, multiplied by a bonus of up to 3x for owning more ports.

Minutes 12 to 30: the endgame

The map is full. Borders stall behind Defense Posts, so the game moves to the sea and the sky: warships fight over straits, carriers launch air raids, and the first Missile Silo (1M) goes up deep inside someone's land. An Atom Bomb (750K) cracks a border open; a Hydrogen Bomb (5M) erases a region. SAM Launchers fire back with an 80% hit chance against incoming nukes. Somewhere in here one player crosses 80% of the land, or the clock runs out and the largest empire takes the win.

Conqora at a glance

The building blocks you will meet

You don't need to memorise these before your first match, but knowing they exist helps you read the map:

• Territories: the passive holders of empty land. They only fight other territories, have no starting gold and a troop cap, and their attacks never trigger alarms. Hover one and it is labelled "Territory".
• Nations: AI countries placed at real locations (61 on the World map, 97 on the Giant World Map). They defend their land, build, and attack weak neighbours.
• Players: everyone else in the public match, up to 30 of them, each with a name and a flag.
• Buildings: City, Factory, Port, Defense Post, Missile Silo and SAM Launcher, on keys 1 to 6.
• Units: boats, Warships (key 7) and Aircraft Carriers (key V).
• Weapons: Atom Bomb, Hydrogen Bomb and MIRV on keys 8, 9 and 0, plus Air Raids (R) and Nuke Bombers (N) from carriers.

The glossary explains every term in one line.

Modes that keep it fresh

Public games rotate maps and modifiers, so two matches in a row rarely feel alike. Hover a mode tag on the menu and the game explains it. Some of the ones you will see:

• Fog of war: you only see what your land and units can see.
• Hotspots: gold mines pay 7,500 gold every 5 seconds and oil fields add 25% troop growth each. Three nukes turn a hotspot into a crater. See the hotspots guide.
• Fast economy, 2x or 3x gold, or 1M/5M/25M starting gold: buildings and nukes arrive much earlier.
• Instant build: no construction time.
• No nukes, No ports, No alliances: each removes one whole layer and changes how you play.
• Teams: two to four teams of permanent allies racing to 95%.

More questions

Is Conqora a good free strategy game with no download?

That is exactly what it was made to be. The whole game loads in your browser at conqora.io, there is nothing to install, and you can play as a guest. A free account adds ranked, clans and friends when you want them.

Can I play Conqora alone?

Yes. Single player puts you against the nations on any map, including community maps, and you can pause with P. It is the best place to practise openings and nuke timing before you jump into public games.

Can I play with friends?

Yes. Add them with a friend code, invite them straight into your match, or open a private lobby and share the link or six-letter code. Guests can join lobbies too. The play with friends page has the details.

Is it a war game or a map game?

Both. It is a world conquest game on real geography, and the endgame turns into a nuclear war game with SAM defences and fallout. If you think of it as an io strategy game, that fits too.

Related questions

Play Conqora free

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