Build and Conquer Mainland Warfare & Strategic Areas

Mainland warfare is where Build and Conquer stops being a quiet city sim and becomes a contested strategy match. You dig tunnels from your plot, march units onto the shared mainland, and fight other players (max eight per server) for strategic areas that community reports link to roughly +20% income and +30% population while held. This guide covers when to open a tunnel, how to move armies, what to bring, and how to keep air defense from turning your push into scrap.

If your city cannot yet fund replacements, stay on the plot with Make Money Fast and City Levels. Missile support details sit in Missile Guide. Bindings for troop orders are in Controls.

When to tunnel

Open a mainland front when most of these are true:

• Shop / supermarket income is stably positive
• City level 2 (~250 pop) unlocked guns and soldiers
• A research office is online or imminent
• You can replace a lost squad without pausing housing growth
• You understand camera and right-click move orders

Tunneling at minute ten with three houses and a dream is how you donate equipment to neighbors.

Strategic areas — why they matter

Strategic zones are the mainland’s prize nodes. Community playtests repeatedly cite:

• About +20% income while holding
• About +30% population while holding

Those buffs accelerate the climb toward city level 5 (~2,500 pop) and fund missile ammo. They also paint a target on you. Holding is an economy strategy as much as a combat one — which is why weak logistics lose wars even with flashy launchers.

Troop command basics

1. Select units on the mainland.
2. Right-click the destination or target approach.
3. Stage near the tunnel exit before the final commit.
4. Advance with overlapping fields of fire from guns and supporting assets.
5. Pull back through the tunnel if the hold is unwinnable — living industry beats a heroic wipe.

Use E teleport only for plot-side management; mainland fights are about unit orders, not avatar tourism.

Unit mix overview

Asset	Role on mainland
Soldiers	Cheap presence, capture pressure, screening
Guns	Static / semi-static defense and fire support
Drones (e.g. Shahed-style)	Harassment, chip damage, AD distraction
Tanks	Breakthrough and durable pushes
HIMARS	Standoff pressure on structures / clusters
Missiles (SRBM→Cluster)	Precision or saturation strikes timed with advances

Unlock missiles via hit quests (5 / 12 / 25 / 100 / 1,500 community thresholds) rather than wishing on Codes. Combine tiers with ground commits so AD cannot focus a single threat axis.

Air defense layering

For the full Sea RAM cap, interceptor factory list, and Naval-update AA, open the dedicated Air Defense Guide. Coastal fleets are covered in Naval Ships.

Expect enemies to throw drones and missiles at your held zone and at your plot exits. Community loadouts mention systems in the spirit of C-RAM, RA3, Iron Dome, and Pantsir. Exact stats shift in beta; the doctrine does not:

• Cover tunnel mouths and strategic capture points first
• Overlap arcs instead of one lonely battery
• Keep power available — dead AD is sculpture
• Repair or replace batteries between waves
• Scout enemy AD before spending Hypersonic or Cluster salvos

Your own AD buys time for shops to keep paying for the war.

Attack plan template

1. Intel: who already owns the strategic area? What defenses are visible?
2. Prep: ammo, fuel/steel, replacement squad staged on-plot.
3. Breach: tunnel secure; guns covering exit.
4. Shape: drones/HIMARS poke AD and clustered buildings.
5. Strike: missiles on high-value nodes if unlocked.
6. Seize: tanks/soldiers enter; right-click disciplined advances.
7. Fortify: AD + guns on the new hold; do not chase endlessly.
8. Cash out: confirm income/pop buffs; resume city growth.

Defense plan template

• Early warning via map awareness (eight players max — learn who rushes)
• Pre-built AD facing likely approach vectors
• Soldiers screening, tanks as counterattack reserve
• Missile deterrence only if you can afford the reload
• Plot utilities protected — a mainland win means little if your city blacked out

Integrating city progression

Mainland success feeds city level goals; city level goals feed better armies:

• Level 2 kit starts credible defense
• Mid levels + research unlock serious missiles
• Level 5 density funds prolonged contests

Read How to Play when you forget which phase you are in, and Getting Started if a wipe sent you back to economic basics.

Game passes in warfare context

Community-reported military packs (~399 R$) may accelerate toys; more city slots (~249 R$) help if you need parallel industrial and military footprints; billboards do not capture zones. Free-to-play wins are common when retail and AD discipline beat impulse spending.

Mistakes that lose strategic areas

• Tunneling before city level 2 tools exist
• Right-click charging without staging
• Zero AD against drone/missile neighbors
• Spending Cluster unlock time while your hold has no infantry
• Ignoring fuel/steel until launchers click dry
• Chasing every fight instead of farming buff uptime
• Rage rebuilding without fixing shop income

After-action checklist

• Hold still yours?
• AD arcs intact?
• Tunnel not sniped?
• Income buff visible / population climbing?
• Research queue still funded?
• Next missile hit-quest progress logged?
• Plot power/water healthy?

Mindset for beta warfare

V0.2 will produce odd pathing, phantom orders, or unbalanced salvos. Rejoin when commands desync. Record what AD compositions beat you. Prefer consistent strategic uptime over highlight-reel wipes.

Mainland warfare rewards the same virtues as the city layer: logistics, timing, and refusal to believe in magic codes. Tunnel when ready, right-click with purpose, layer air defense, and let strategic buffs turbocharge the plot that made the army possible. For more tutorials, return to the Guides Hub and keep iterating until holding ground feels routine.