Defense and Base Design Part II: Building an Effective Defense (45)
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| Category | Beginner |
| Stats | Rating: n/a |
| Created | Apr 29, 2014 (11 years) |
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So, fellow Sieger, you just started the game and learned the basic mechanics of gameplay. So how do you set up your base at these levels? The key to the beginner ranks is to upgrade everything in your base as much as possible so you have the strongest defenses for that Castle level. Only after you upgrade all your defenses should you consider moving up a Castle. Although you may not necessarily have all of these defensive buildings unlocked yet through campaign missions, here are some tips for upgrading your defense units once you’ve obtained them: Archer Tower – these have great range and attack both air and ground units. In the beginner ranks, you will rarely, if at all, encounter any air units so many people recommend against upgrading Archer towers after a certain point. This is both correct and incorrect – even without air units attacking you, the archer towers are worth it for their long range in the beginning stages, however as you progress through the ranks, the increased cost for upgrading Archer Towers may make you decide to hold off and opt to upgrade other defenses. Cannon – these have massive splash damage and are the cornerstone to any good defense in the early levels. Get these upgraded as fast as possible. You’ll have the ability to build additional Cannons as you advance your Castle level. Make sure you always have the defensive loot bonus which gives you a Cannon of Doom for 48 hours. This is explained in a later chapter, however, it is important to take note of this especially during the early stages of gameplay. Freeze Tower – these towers always provide freeze splash damage when they fire. As you may have guessed, splash damage gives you the most efficient defense in these levels so you should really focus on those Freeze Towers and Cannons. What I find particularly interesting and often times deadly, is that Freeze Towers can immobilize large groups of troops so they’re only able to strike once before the next incoming freeze beam. Lightning Tower - these are my favorite defense towers. They have a chain lightning ability which is similar to splash damage but with a unique twist. These towers deal extra damage towards magical troops such as Commanders and Healers. Enemies typically carry very few of these troops due to their high cost so taking them out as quickly as possible can turn the tide in any battle. Drum Gun - these are similar to your modern day gatling guns. They have very fast attack speeds which is deadly against lower level troops. I don’t particularly find these as useful as some of the other defense towers when defending against higher level troops as often times enemies will carry Healers, whose area effect healing capabilities can outlast the damage done by the rapid Grum Gun fire. Jade Lion - these defense buildings are unlocked in later stages of the campaign map and shouldn’t be a concern at this point. Once obtained, it comes in handy, however, I think other defense buildings are far more effective. One thing I’d like to point out is these Jade Lions will attack enemy troops but are not required to be killed for enemies to win the battle so having the Jade Lion activated as soon as possible by attacking troops will maximize their effectiveness in battle. Assassin Den - these dens are also unlocked in later stages of the campaign missions and provide a stealth defense against enemy troops. The beginning levels of the Assassin Den don’t have a major impact on you defenses so much like the Jade Lion, you may find that other defense buildings more worth upgrading than these. Alliance Portal - you should repair the Alliance Portal Ruins as soon as you can, prior to joining an alliance. The portal is a crucial defense mechanism to any base as they provide additional troops to protect you from enemy invaders. I will go over Alliances in a later chapter, but I cannot stress the importance of this building as it often becomes overlooked as you’re building and upgrading other defenses. Walls, Walls and More Walls! The next topic that I’m going to stress here is the use of walls. Walls are extremely important to protecting your buildings against attackers. You will need a free Carpenter (one who is not currently upgrading anything) in order to build or upgrade walls. This is important so listen up – if your defense is open, use all your remaining Jade on walls once all but one Carpenter is free, prior to logging off. Why is this important? This prevents players from looting all your Jade because you spent it all before logging off, so there is no Jade to actually loot in your base! If you happen to be saving up your Jade in storages, make sure your defense is good enough to defend – otherwise just listen to me and spend any Jade you have on walls before you leave the game. What about Training Camps? You can upgrade your Training Camps following the same guidelines as towers – making sure you upgrade everything before you advance to a higher Castle. However, I think Training Camps should hold the same priority level as defensive buildings and resource storages, since they are one of the few buildings that require Essence to build and upgrade. Once you reach the Far From Home mission campaign, you will be required to have 200 honor before advancing. Having the maximum troop capacity will not only make it easier for you to win battles, thus gaining honor as well, but will also allow you to steal as many resources as you in the process. This game was designed to force players to have a good defensive and offensive balance so don’t focus too heavily in one area and neglect another. Having a good defensive foundation is important for protecting your resources, but ultimately, the majority of resources you’ll gain is from offense which I will discuss in a later chapter. Ready to Build Your First Layout? The best way to do this is to surround your Jade and Essence Storages with walls with your Castle in the center. There are various ways to do this. Many players use a grid like fashion, putting Cannons centralized in the middle for an extra layer of defense, but this may not be feasible at this point due to the amount of available wall segments you can build. Instead, focus on organizing your buildings in the same centralized fashion with one outer layer of surrounding walls. Don’t forget to centralize your defensive buildings as well, following the guidelines above for each defense building. I can’t stress the importance of walls enough in constructing a killer layout. Having a grid-like base that is outlined by your walls makes it very difficult for attackers to loot all of your resources. They might break through one grid to loot one of your resource storages if they’re lucky, but then they’re back at square one again. Each additional layer of walls in your grid will be a greater challenge and it will be very hard to get all of your resources if you plan your base this way. The Bottom Line is... Whatever you do, don’t put all of your storages in the same section of your base. If an attacker breaks through, all your resources are exposed and you’ll get looted for a lot. It’s better to have one storage taken out and minimize your losses than to potentially risk all of them. If you check out the the following images, they show an attack on a base that has centralized resource storages and how easy it is to raid a base with that kind of layout. Don’t make the same mistakes! The Edge of Your Base is NOT a Wall! As the title suggests, the edge of your base cannot be used as a wall. Enemy troops can still be spawn at the edge of your base! I’ve seen numerous players make this mistake where they’ll build their base in a corner and only surround their base with 2 sides of walls. This makes those 2 sides of walls obsolete as attackers will just spawn from the opposite side. Although you’ll notice this flaw after being attacked the first time, you don’t want to afford this costly mistake! Watch Out for Open Spawn Points Any 3x3 open area can be used as spawn zones for enemy troops. There are bases that have intentional spawn zones which I will discuss in the next chapter, but for now, scan your base and make sure you don’t have any of these as they’ll render your outer walls and core defenses useless. Keep in mind that Decor, Jade Lions, and Assassin Dens do not seal up open drop zones so treat these as open spaces when scouting for vacant 3x3 tiles. Sample Bases Check out these examples of sample bases that are laid out as I’ve just described. While some of these bases applies to a more intermediate or advanced level player, the general layout is what you should be aiming for. Now, in the images you’ll notice some other base design characteristics that are critical and that I would like to point out. Freeze Towers, coupled with Cannons are extremely effective against large groups of troops. Please refer to the Wiki for complete specs on each defensive building. Since both Freeze Towers and Cannons deal splash damage, attacking troops will be frozen for a period of time, allowing your Cannons to make a direct hit. If you have access to a Lightning tower at this point, you should try to put these in a central spot around your storages, coupled with cannons as previously mentioned. Any splash damage from your Cannons will kill the masses of Samurai, Archers, Ninjas and Rams that are sure to invade your base! While Cannons deal the heavy splash damage to large groups of enemy troops, Lightning Towers have a unique chain lightning effect and deal extra damage towards larger or magical troops such as Commanders, Oni Trolls and most importantly, Healers! While raiding, players typically carry only 1 or 2 Healers in their arsenal, so taking them out quickly can be the difference between a dominating defensive win or a complete leveling of your base. Designing your base as I’ve just described it will help prevent enemy troops from breaking through and raiding your resources. General Tips to Follow: Familiarize yourself with the various attributes of defensive buildings (attack range, damage, type) Remove any Trees, Bushes and other debris from your base to maximize your available space Centralize your Castle, surrounding it with other buildings evenly distributed an outward radial pattern Aside from your Castle, protecting your Jade and Essence Storages should be your primary focus Unless for an intended purpose, make sure you do not leave any open troop spawn points (3x3 tiles) within your base Please Note: Decor items typically occupy a 2x2 space but DO NOT fill open drop points. Walls are extremely important so make sure you always build the maximum amount of segments available to you based on your Castle level Position your defensive buildings to cover as much area as possible without spreading them too far apart where they’re easily exposed - overlapping coverage is perfectly fine! |
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