World Conquer 4 Explained?

You are absolutely right about the lack of a manual being frustrating. There are a lot of mechanics to the World Conqueror games, and it can take a while to learn them all. I’ll try to answer questions as best I can. I also encourage you to read some of the threads in the three boards here dedicated to WC4. Many of the intricacies are discussed there. Some of the pinned threads give you a place to start and provide links to other helpful threads. There are quite a few contributors to this board who have played many Easy Tech games which have similar mechanics. I played WC3 obsessively, and I’ve already essentially completed everything currently available in WC4. I have no life. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.

1. Yes, red circles indicate objectives in scenarios. If it is on a city or port, you have to capture that city or port to complete the scenario. If it is on a particular enemy, usually a general, it means you have to destroy that enemy.

2. Green circles are bonus objectives. In scenarios, capturing these objectives unlocks abilities for your generals. If a general has the ability you unlocked, you will be able to upgrade it. Some generals, particularly more expensive ones, have open ability slots. If you click on the general to view him in your HQ or look at him when you are in the screen where you can hire generals, you will see stats with stars next to them indicating the general’s bonus damage for each type of combat along with movement points. Those stats can be upgraded using medals. At the bottom, you will also see special abilities your general has. Some are available to be added or improved from the start. Others have to be unlocked in scenarios. If you have a general with an open ability slot, there will be a plus sign next to his other abilities. Tap that to see what abilities are available. There are also collection medals (different from the medals you use to purchase and upgrade generals), which can be earned from completing tasks in Domination mode and achieving high scores in conquests. These collection medals can be applied to your general by tapping the plus signs under his portrait when you are viewing him. The medals boost particular abilities. Clicking on the medal shows which ability it boosts. If your general doesn’t have that ability, the medal won’t do anything for him. Only give a medal to a general if he already has the ability it boosts. You can reassign medals to other generals at your leisure by clicking on the medal and then dragging it away from the general you gave it to.

3. Upgrading technology in your tech tree does give your units the stated bonuses in all types of gameplay. The cost for those upgrades scales ever higher as you move up the tech tree. As I am sure you noticed, in addition to medals there are three other types of currency available both in missions and in Domination mode. Gold, technology and industry are the resources you need to build units in the game and to upgrade your tech tree and purchase wonders in Domination mode.

4. Domination mode has several functions and modes of play. The investigation and propaganda missions you referred to are generally referred to as “tasks.” Assigning generals to these tasks will earn you the listed resources as rewards when the timer expires. You’ll see green zeroes in the timer when each task is complete. Tap it to collect the reward. Assigning generals with the abilities and skills associated with the task will increase the reward you get when it is completed. The “Challenges” in Domination are objective based. Rescue the Ally challenges require you to destroy the enemy before they kill a specific allied general or city. You’ll see the circles under the allies you have to protect. Hold the Ground simply means hold the cities or ports with red circles on them. Survive the required number of turns or destroy all enemies to win. Wipe Out the Enemy requires you simply take the objectives marked with red circles or kill the enemy generals marked with red circles. Gather Resources required you to accumulate the resources indicated at the beginning of the mission. Usually it means you can’t purchase any units beyond what are given to you at the start, and you need to take enemy cities and ports with dollar signs on them to get bonus resources which will help you complete the objective. Every city produces gold based on the number indicating the city level. Higher the number, the more gold it generates. Cities with factories produce industry, and cities with tech institutes produce technology. Factories also let you build mechanized units like tanks and artillery. You will need technology to build advanced units. Technology tends to be rather limited early in the game, so save it and use wisely. Purchasing units for your “legion” allows you to take on the other Domination missions. Invasions are the missions with crossed swords. These invasions allow you to earn medals which you can save to buy and upgrade generals. You can assign units from your legion in the open spots. Complete the challenge in the correct number of turns to earn the medals. Any units you lose in invasions will have to be replaced by purchasing new ones with resources. You only lose the units if you lost them in the mission. If you quit the mission before a unit is destroyed, it will stay in your legion. If a unit survives the mission, it stays in your legion. Exercises and Battles similarly require you to use units from your legion. They give medal rewards. Competing each exercise opens a slightly harder one. Every fifth one will be a “battle” rather than an exercise. These are a bit harder and let you use more units. Same rules apply as with invasions regarding units you lose from your legion, however you can often buy additional units with resources you accumulate during exercises and battles like you can with scenarios or in conquests. The main thing to keep in mind is that these missions get much more difficult as you progress. The harder ones will require more and better generals to complete. Invasions with higher medal rewards tend to be tougher as well, so it can be a risk to take them on if you don’t have good tech levels and generals.

5. Trading is simply a way to convert one resource into another, however it is not advisable to do this because you get an awful conversion rate. That conversion rate can be lowered with certain wonders, but you are usually better off simply farming more resources because you will need all of them for various tech upgrades.

6. Unlocking wonders allows you to purchase them in Domination mode. You will usually see an icon along with other mission types that says “purchase wonder,” although wonders in cities that are trade hubs or that have missions to unlock generals will appear for purchase when you look at those other missions. It’s kind of an unwieldy mechanic. It’s often a little confusing which wonders you can actually purchase. The effects from wonders are automatic. If it gives you a resource reward, the reward will pop up the first time you enter Domination once the proper amount of time has elapsed. The ones that lower prices for tech upgrades or trading apply automatically. They don’t need to be built in game. You just purchase them once in Domination and the effects are permanent.

7. The building upgrades you mention are called “Landmark Buildings.” They can be unlocked by competing exercises and battles in Domination mode. They unlock in order, although you don’t get one for every exercise or battle you complete. I made a thread on the boards explaining what each one does and rating their usefulness. Landmarks can only be built in cities that are level 3 or above. Each can be built in only one city, and each city can build only one.

8. The HQ can be accessed from Domination, Scenario or Conquest screens, but your HQ Level is the same regardless of where you access it from. HQ level effects how many generals you can hire. Some generals are only unlocked when your HQ reaches a certain level. Your HQ Level increases as you earn experience. You earn experience for virtually everything you do in the game.

9. Medals and generals are indeed the key to the game. If you are playing without in-app purchases, you need to be very measured and deliberate about how you are spending your medals. You get medals for completing various missions, but you only get them once for completing scenarios, conquests and various other missions. Resources can be farmed by repeating those missions, but not medals. The only renewable source of medals is the invasions in Domination mode, which refresh every 12 hours. Hiring the two cheapest generals was a mistake. Neither of them are very good. Tanks are the best unit in the game, so you really want to save for a good tank general. Many players who have a lot of experience with previous Easy Tech games will try to save all their medals until they can purchase Vatutin. However, for a beginner, I would recommend Messe. Trade your other generals in for him if you have to. You’ll get back some but not all of the medals you spent. You won’t want to upgrade generals at first. There a multitude of threads here about which generals to target for your first and second spots and beyond. I’d recommend looking at those. There are also a couple of long threads rating the various generals.

10. Conquests do give rewards if you win them. They take a lot longer than scenarios and tend to be a bit tougher simply because of the complexity. Conquests play out a bit differently based on which era it is and which nation you use. Typically your allies kind of stink, but they can be useful in some situations. In the 1939 Conquests, the Japanese and Germans start out on the offensive and will usually take over much of Europe. If you are playing as an Axis power, you will find they run out of steam, and you’ll have to finish things off. If you play as an Allied power, they will continue to push and destroy all your allies unless you can fight them off. Allies tend to do better if you are putting a lot of pressure on the big powers that threaten them. If you as Britain put lots of pressure on Japan from Burma, the U.S. and China will fare better as the Japanese shift resources towards you. But it’s hard to do much to help your allies when you are new and don’t have great tech or generals. You have to play defensively at first and then attack after you accumulate a good invasion force. You might have better luck with Conquests after you play through more scenarios and learn the game mechanics a bit better.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have other questions.

Wow this was really great!  Thanks for putting in the time and effort into making this, it helps me out a lot.  It is too bad I bought the shittiest generals... But live and learn I guess.  I did not know you get some medals back if you fire them.  Good to know!

I finished that conquest in 89 turns. Pretty good.