We wanted to highlight one of our most popular guides here on CoCB. Here is a very handy guide on how to create an effective base design. Feel free to leave your comments and tips below on how to create an effective base design!
Creating an Effective Base Design
By: Septine (bDTP)
In clash of clans, creating bases and new layouts is one of the most integral parts of playing. It is what keeps things alive, and most of all, keeps the game exciting and fun for all of us. Our base is what protects our hard earned resources or maintains the prestige of a high trophy count. And that is why it is so important to have a good base.
This is a very basic guide aimed to give describe basic principles of base building, as well as basic things not to do. This guide will also highlight common mistakes in base building.
Part 1: Basic Principles and Things To Know
Because knowing what many people are talking about, and the various acronyms I will use later in this guide and other guides is important, I will begin be reviewing what they mean as a clarification. A pocket or cell in a base is a separate section that is enclosed by Walls. For example, a rectangle of Walls would be one cell. TH stands for Town Hall. HIMB stands for how is my base. Decoy Walls and wall buffers refer to Walls placed outside of your normal Walls to soak up Wall Breaker hits.
The first important thing to know is that Walls are there to both slow down your opponents and protect buildings. That said, you should focus on protecting important buildings only. Buildings that should almost always be left outside the Walls are: Barracks, Army Camp, Spell Factory, Laboratory, and Builders Huts. Gold Mines and Elixir Collectors are also usually left outside, although exceptions can be made if some of them are high leveled, and having them looted would result in large losses.
Defensive buildings, such as Archer Towers or Cannons, should not be placed on the outskirts of the base, but they should be placed slightly more inwards, so that they aren't the first things an Archer or Barbarian targets. Important defensive buildings such as Mortars or Wizard Towers should be very centralized, so that they aren't attacked.
Oftentimes, it is easier to defend two storages compared to four, for that reason, I personally find keeping just one of each resource storage is optimal.
It's also important to know that enemies can spawn in the area surrounding the zone where you can move your buildings. Also, enemies cannot spawn on natural obstacles (rocks, trees, etc.) but CAN walk over them, so don't use them as part of your wall. Similarly, don't use buildings as part of your wall, as units can walk around the grass surrounding the building. When building your base, you should keep in mind that for every structure/wall you put down, it creates a spawn denial zone that is 1 unit on each side of the building. This means... don't leave 3 by 3 holes, or larger ones, inside your base! This can allow enemies to bypass your Walls.
It's also important to know, there are two main types of bases used in clash of clans, with another base type, the hybrid, having features of both. The first type, and the most common, is a defensive base. This base will have a Town Hall in the center, well protected. The player is aiming to gain trophies by trying to win as much as possible on defense. Another type of base is a farming base. In this base, resource storages are at the center, and the Town Hall is kicked right outside the base! At first, this may seem outrageous, why would you do such a thing? Well, it's for a simple reason. At higher levels, 1000 resources means nothing, and attacking the Town Hall and destroying it gives a 'free shield'. This means, you will lose the battle, and some trophies, but you now have a shield for the next 12 hours, protecting your resources from attack. This strategy is used to accumulate and protect resources as much as possible, allowing a player to buy upgrades and new buildings faster.
Part 2: What Not To Do
While learning basic principles are important, it is equally important learning to correct many common mistakes made in base building; many of which, you'll notice, are similar to principles in the first part.
Making one single 'cell' protected by Walls. This is commonly done by many to protect all of their buildings, usually done in a rectangle. Why is this bad? Using a single cell is a poor idea because a single breach in the wall will result in the breach of your entire base, something easily done. Also, your defenses can all be accessed once this single wall is destroyed, without Walls to slow down the Giants. An easy fix to this problem is kicking out non-necessary buildings, such as Barracks or Army Camps, to save Walls, and segmenting your base so that defenses and resource storages are better protected. This is understandable difficult for very low TH levels, such as 2 or 3, but afterwards, one should really look for ways to make multiple pockets in their base. This both slows enemy attacks and better protects your buildings.
Another common mistake is spreading out buildings too much. This is a bad idea because while it does create a larger spawn denial zone, it doesn't do anything with it. Yes, enemies spawn farther away, but that doesn't mean anything if enemy troops can pick off buildings without return fire. It is best to make a base as compact as possible, so defensive buildings can better cover the rest of your buildings.
Generally, separating your base into two or more sections is also a bad idea. Why? Because when someone attacks half your base, the defenses in the other half aren't doing anything!
An extremely common mistake is placing all your buildings to one side or corner of the base, then placing Walls facing the center of the build zone. This is bad because enemies can spawn in the area next to the forest, and can completely avoid your Walls!
Finally, one more mistake many make is to upgrade their Town Halls too early. This is not a huge problem early on, but towards the later parts of the game, it is a huge problem. Why is this? When you upgrade your Town Hall, you cause the players you can attack and will be attacked by to be higher leveled. This is because when you attack a player 2+ Town Hall levels below you, you receive 50% or less of what you would normally receive. You also increase the cost in gold of search for new opponents, but that doesn't become a big factor until much later.
Part 3: Revision
Now, every base can be revised, particularly if you're just starting out. It's also a great idea for you to ask others for their ideas, especially if they have more experience than you do. A great way to improve your base is to get advice from better players. For this reason, you could always go on websites such as the supercell forum, or the clash of clans subreddit for HIMBs. You can always ask members of your clan too! (assuming you have one of course)
Conclusion
Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading this guide, and learned some helpful tips from it! The most important part of base design to remember though, is to have fun while doing it!
Creating an Effective Base Design
By: Septine (bDTP)
In clash of clans, creating bases and new layouts is one of the most integral parts of playing. It is what keeps things alive, and most of all, keeps the game exciting and fun for all of us. Our base is what protects our hard earned resources or maintains the prestige of a high trophy count. And that is why it is so important to have a good base.
This is a very basic guide aimed to give describe basic principles of base building, as well as basic things not to do. This guide will also highlight common mistakes in base building.
Part 1: Basic Principles and Things To Know
Because knowing what many people are talking about, and the various acronyms I will use later in this guide and other guides is important, I will begin be reviewing what they mean as a clarification. A pocket or cell in a base is a separate section that is enclosed by Walls. For example, a rectangle of Walls would be one cell. TH stands for Town Hall. HIMB stands for how is my base. Decoy Walls and wall buffers refer to Walls placed outside of your normal Walls to soak up Wall Breaker hits.
The first important thing to know is that Walls are there to both slow down your opponents and protect buildings. That said, you should focus on protecting important buildings only. Buildings that should almost always be left outside the Walls are: Barracks, Army Camp, Spell Factory, Laboratory, and Builders Huts. Gold Mines and Elixir Collectors are also usually left outside, although exceptions can be made if some of them are high leveled, and having them looted would result in large losses.
Defensive buildings, such as Archer Towers or Cannons, should not be placed on the outskirts of the base, but they should be placed slightly more inwards, so that they aren't the first things an Archer or Barbarian targets. Important defensive buildings such as Mortars or Wizard Towers should be very centralized, so that they aren't attacked.
Oftentimes, it is easier to defend two storages compared to four, for that reason, I personally find keeping just one of each resource storage is optimal.
It's also important to know that enemies can spawn in the area surrounding the zone where you can move your buildings. Also, enemies cannot spawn on natural obstacles (rocks, trees, etc.) but CAN walk over them, so don't use them as part of your wall. Similarly, don't use buildings as part of your wall, as units can walk around the grass surrounding the building. When building your base, you should keep in mind that for every structure/wall you put down, it creates a spawn denial zone that is 1 unit on each side of the building. This means... don't leave 3 by 3 holes, or larger ones, inside your base! This can allow enemies to bypass your Walls.
It's also important to know, there are two main types of bases used in clash of clans, with another base type, the hybrid, having features of both. The first type, and the most common, is a defensive base. This base will have a Town Hall in the center, well protected. The player is aiming to gain trophies by trying to win as much as possible on defense. Another type of base is a farming base. In this base, resource storages are at the center, and the Town Hall is kicked right outside the base! At first, this may seem outrageous, why would you do such a thing? Well, it's for a simple reason. At higher levels, 1000 resources means nothing, and attacking the Town Hall and destroying it gives a 'free shield'. This means, you will lose the battle, and some trophies, but you now have a shield for the next 12 hours, protecting your resources from attack. This strategy is used to accumulate and protect resources as much as possible, allowing a player to buy upgrades and new buildings faster.
Part 2: What Not To Do
While learning basic principles are important, it is equally important learning to correct many common mistakes made in base building; many of which, you'll notice, are similar to principles in the first part.
Making one single 'cell' protected by Walls. This is commonly done by many to protect all of their buildings, usually done in a rectangle. Why is this bad? Using a single cell is a poor idea because a single breach in the wall will result in the breach of your entire base, something easily done. Also, your defenses can all be accessed once this single wall is destroyed, without Walls to slow down the Giants. An easy fix to this problem is kicking out non-necessary buildings, such as Barracks or Army Camps, to save Walls, and segmenting your base so that defenses and resource storages are better protected. This is understandable difficult for very low TH levels, such as 2 or 3, but afterwards, one should really look for ways to make multiple pockets in their base. This both slows enemy attacks and better protects your buildings.
Another common mistake is spreading out buildings too much. This is a bad idea because while it does create a larger spawn denial zone, it doesn't do anything with it. Yes, enemies spawn farther away, but that doesn't mean anything if enemy troops can pick off buildings without return fire. It is best to make a base as compact as possible, so defensive buildings can better cover the rest of your buildings.
Generally, separating your base into two or more sections is also a bad idea. Why? Because when someone attacks half your base, the defenses in the other half aren't doing anything!
An extremely common mistake is placing all your buildings to one side or corner of the base, then placing Walls facing the center of the build zone. This is bad because enemies can spawn in the area next to the forest, and can completely avoid your Walls!
Finally, one more mistake many make is to upgrade their Town Halls too early. This is not a huge problem early on, but towards the later parts of the game, it is a huge problem. Why is this? When you upgrade your Town Hall, you cause the players you can attack and will be attacked by to be higher leveled. This is because when you attack a player 2+ Town Hall levels below you, you receive 50% or less of what you would normally receive. You also increase the cost in gold of search for new opponents, but that doesn't become a big factor until much later.
Part 3: Revision
Now, every base can be revised, particularly if you're just starting out. It's also a great idea for you to ask others for their ideas, especially if they have more experience than you do. A great way to improve your base is to get advice from better players. For this reason, you could always go on websites such as the supercell forum, or the clash of clans subreddit for HIMBs. You can always ask members of your clan too! (assuming you have one of course)
Conclusion
Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading this guide, and learned some helpful tips from it! The most important part of base design to remember though, is to have fun while doing it!
