diff --git a/scripts/plot_deploy_overlay.py b/scripts/plot_deploy_overlay.py
index c875c99..04f20fb 100644
--- a/scripts/plot_deploy_overlay.py
+++ b/scripts/plot_deploy_overlay.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ Reads JSON, not logs, so it never trips on a route2 arm the log-parsers don't kn
 The headline comparison: per loophole mode, does each intervention suppress the
 DEPLOY hack rate below vanilla, and at what cost to DEPLOY solve? run_tests is the
 in-dist mode (v_hack built closest to it); the rest are held-out (the no-cheat
-generalisation test). Bars grouped by mode, one bar per arm.
+generalisation test). Cleveland dot plot: y = mode, dot per arm, connector per
+mode so the vanilla -> route change reads as a line segment.
 
 Usage:
   uv run python scripts/plot_deploy_overlay.py                       # globs out/runs/*sub4*/
@@ -55,43 +56,49 @@ def load(paths: list[Path]) -> list[dict]:
     return out
 
 
-def _despine(ax):
-    ax.spines[["top", "right"]].set_visible(False)
-    ax.grid(axis="y", lw=0.4, alpha=0.35)
+def _mode_stats(by_arm, arm, modes, field):
+    """(mean, std-across-seeds) per mode for one arm; std=0 at n=1."""
+    means, stds = [], []
+    for m in modes:
+        v = [r["by_mode"].get(m, {}).get(field, np.nan) for r in by_arm[arm]]
+        means.append(np.nanmean(v))
+        stds.append(np.nanstd(v) if len(v) > 1 else 0.0)
+    return np.array(means), np.array(stds)
 
 
-def _panel(ax, by_arm, modes, arms, field, title, ylabel):
-    """Grouped bars: x = mode, one bar per arm, height = mean over seed runs of
-    by_mode[mode][field]; error bar = std across seeds (drawn only when >1 seed).
-    TODO(seeds): A5 currently ships n=1 (seed 41 only, jobs 103/104) so no error
-    bar appears. Pass per-seed JSONs (a5 vanilla+route2 seeds 42/43, queued) to
-    populate the error bars -- the code already aggregates them."""
-    w = 0.8 / len(arms)
-    x = np.arange(len(modes))
+def _panel(ax, by_arm, modes, arms, field, title, xlabel):
+    """Cleveland dot plot: y = mode, x = rate. One dot per arm with a thin connector
+    per mode, so the arm-to-arm change reads as a line segment (vanilla -> route).
+    xerr = std across seeds (drawn only when >1 seed). Tufte: faint x-grid only, no
+    box, dots+labels carry the categories.
+    TODO(seeds): A5 ships n=1 (seed 41, jobs 103/104) so no error bar yet; the
+    queued seeds 42/43 (jobs 107-110) populate xerr -- the code already aggregates."""
+    y = np.arange(len(modes))[::-1]                  # first mode at top
+    for j in range(len(modes)):                      # connector between arms, per mode
+        xs = [_mode_stats(by_arm, a, modes, field)[0][j] for a in arms]
+        ax.plot(xs, [y[j]] * len(arms), color="0.75", lw=1.0, zorder=1)
     for i, arm in enumerate(arms):
-        recs = by_arm[arm]
         label, color = ARM[arm]
-        per_mode = [[r["by_mode"].get(m, {}).get(field, np.nan) for r in recs] for m in modes]
-        means = np.array([np.nanmean(v) for v in per_mode])
-        stds = np.array([np.nanstd(v) if len(v) > 1 else 0.0 for v in per_mode])
-        n_seed = len(recs)
-        yerr = stds if (stds > 0).any() else None
-        bars = ax.bar(x + i * w, means, w, label=f"{label} (n={n_seed})", color=color,
-                      yerr=yerr, capsize=2, error_kw=dict(lw=0.8, alpha=0.8))
-        for b, v in zip(bars, means):
+        means, stds = _mode_stats(by_arm, arm, modes, field)
+        xerr = stds if (stds > 0).any() else None
+        ax.errorbar(means, y, xerr=xerr, fmt="o", ms=7, color=color, zorder=3,
+                    capsize=2, elinewidth=0.8, label=f"{label} (n={len(by_arm[arm])})")
+        dy = 7 if i == 0 else -12                     # stagger labels so close dots don't collide
+        for v, yy in zip(means, y):
             if np.isnan(v):
                 continue
-            # a zero-height bar is invisible -- mark it "≡0" so the reader sees a
-            # finding, not a missing bar (same convention as the line plots).
-            txt = "≡0" if v < 5e-3 else f"{v:.2f}"
-            ax.annotate(txt, (b.get_x() + b.get_width() / 2, v), fontsize=6,
-                        ha="center", va="bottom", color=color)
-    ax.set_xticks(x + 0.4 - w / 2)
-    ax.set_xticklabels([f"{m}\n{'IN' if m == 'run_tests' else 'held-out'}" for m in modes], fontsize=8)
+            txt = "≡0" if v < 5e-3 else f"{v:.2f}"    # a dot on the axis still needs the finding marked
+            ax.annotate(txt, (v, yy), fontsize=6, color=color, ha="center",
+                        va="bottom", xytext=(0, dy), textcoords="offset points")
+    ax.set_yticks(y)
+    ax.set_yticklabels([f"{m}\n{'IN' if m == 'run_tests' else 'held-out'}" for m in modes], fontsize=8)
+    ax.set_xlim(-0.04, 1.08)
+    ax.set_ylim(y.min() - 0.5, y.max() + 0.5)
+    ax.set_xlabel(xlabel)
     ax.set_title(title, fontsize=10)
-    ax.set_ylabel(ylabel)
-    ax.set_ylim(0, 1.05)
-    _despine(ax)
+    ax.spines[["top", "right", "left"]].set_visible(False)
+    ax.tick_params(length=0)
+    ax.grid(axis="x", lw=0.3, alpha=0.3)
 
 
 def main() -> None:
@@ -114,12 +121,12 @@ def main() -> None:
     arms = [a for a in ARM if a in by_arm]
     modes = [m for m in MODE_ORDER if any(m in r["by_mode"] for r in records)]
 
-    fig, (a1, a2) = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(5.5 + 1.2 * len(modes), 4.2))
+    fig, (a1, a2) = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(9.5, 0.7 + 0.7 * len(modes)), sharey=True)
     _panel(a1, by_arm, modes, arms, "deploy_hack",
-           "DEPLOY hack rate by mode (lower = better)", "deploy hack rate")
+           "DEPLOY hack rate (lower = better)", "deploy hack rate")
     _panel(a2, by_arm, modes, arms, "deploy_solve",
-           "DEPLOY solve rate by mode (higher = better)", "deploy solve rate")
-    a1.legend(fontsize=8, frameon=False, loc="upper right")
+           "DEPLOY solve rate (higher = better)", "deploy solve rate")
+    a1.legend(fontsize=8, frameon=False, loc="lower right")
     if args.title:
         n_seed = {r.get("seed") for r in records}
         fig.suptitle(f"Per-mode deploy overlay ({len(arms)} arms, seed {sorted(n_seed)}) -- "