Playing as Dilli Police: a strategy guide
On the Dilli Police side your job is simple to say and hard to do: keep the dharna's POWER bar from filling until the clock runs out. You are fewer than the crowds, so every move has to count. Here is how good police players win.
Time is on your side
Remember how a round is won. The protesters have to fill the POWER bar; you only have to stop that happening before night falls. You don't need to detain everyone. Slowing the biggest kafilas down, breaking them up and keeping them out of the dharna zone is often enough.
Know where the fight will be
Every kafila eventually heads for Jantar Mantar, so the streets around it, and the Section 163 cordon, are where rounds are decided. Early in a round, spread out on the main approaches to slow kafilas while they are still small. As the round goes on, pull back towards the cordon, where small groups are turned back automatically and groups inside the inner zone need 100 or more people.
The lathi: pick your target
A lathi strike (click) hits the crowd around a leader. A big kafila absorbs the blow, losing some people but keeping its leader free. A leader with only a few people around them is exposed, and your constables carry them to the detention bus. So it pays to wear a kafila down first, then go for the leader. Your constables have to be free to make an arrest, so don't waste strikes while they are busy carrying someone.
Tear gas from a distance
Tear gas (hold and release the right button, or G) thins a crowd without getting close. Throw it ahead of a kafila on its path, not behind it, so it walks into the cloud. In the rain the gas washes away fast, so save it for dry weather or close-range moments.
The water cannon and barricades
The water cannon (R) drives a truck in that sprays a kafila apart. It is strongest against a big crowd packed on a road. Watch out: protesters soaked by it can dance in the spray, which keeps their kafila together, so follow it up with your lathi. Your barricade (B) stays up for 40 seconds. Use it to close a side road a kafila is about to take, so it has to go the long way round, past your colleagues.
The internet shutdown
An internet shutdown (J) hides the map from the protesters and halves the reach of their naaras, so kafilas grow more slowly. You have only a few per round, so use one when several large kafilas are approaching at once, or late in a round when they are trying to grow fast for a final push.
Watch the detention bus
Detained leaders sit in the bus until it leaves with 50 people for Kapashera Border. Protesters can slip out, and 40 or more of them around the bus can free everyone with a gherao. If you see a big kafila heading for a nearly full bus, that is the moment to stand in its way.
Work as a team
Police players who chase the same kafila leave the rest of the city open. Talk with your quick emotes, split the approaches between you, and let the one closest to a threat take it. Use the minimap: kafilas moving towards the dharna are your priority, while a small group wandering far away can wait.
A note on the satire
The game's "Dilli Police" is a made-up cartoon force, and the game takes no side in real issues. It is a game of tactics: a crowd trying to reach a place, and a team trying to manage the crowd. Enjoy both roles. Read the Andolankari tips to understand what the other side is planning.