Random Generator: I Played Clash Of Clans & You Should Too

Clash of Clans (Clans from here on out) is free, it takes very little time to download and it's a strategy game you can play on your phone. I was sold instantaneously. Clans is probably the game that bigger boys, but boys nonetheless, play. Or at least that's what I like to tell myself.

This could be played like your typical warmongering game. You increase the rate at which you accumulate resources and build an army that can overrun any enemy base quickly. Napoleonic dreams aside, that never appealed to me. Thus my hard headed behavior when it came to the latest Sim City. I remember convincing myself that there had to be more to the game than what could be achieved in a couple of days. I was admittedly wrong. But one can hope that Clans isn't a flash in the pan.

An earlier layout with a barracks near some gold storage buildings. I rearranged things later on in order to protect my resources better.

Let's start with some differences between Clans and other strategy games. Unlike Starcraft, layout is not an issue when it comes to non-defensive buildings. You will not encounter many spacing problems that clog up your operation and slow you down to the point of making your camp vulnerable. In stead, there is more of an emphasis on where you place your defensive units. Barracks, builder's huts and storage buildings never get in the way. When it comes to layout what you have to worry most about is where you place cannons, mortars, bombs, towers and walls. Make sure to protect any resource related structures and you shouldn't have too rough of a time.

An archer's tower, 2 bombs, one level 3 and one level 4 cannon, one mortar, and maxed out walls have warded off two user attacks so far. Notice also how you can use natural obstacles to compliment your walls.

There's also the way in which resources are completely lost. Whatever soldier units you use in an attack vanish, even if they survive. This forces strategy into the mix when attacking, but it does not reward a good strategist. Also, the lack of control over soldiers makes strategy difficult but possible nonetheless. For those players looking to simply overpower opponents with numbers you may be losing more elixir than you're gaining in the raid.

I lost 12 giants and 5 wall breakers in this raid because I'm terrible. There's also a good chance I lost more elixir than I gained, but I did it in the name of research.

Attacking goblin strongholds is a good way to get big hauls of gold and elixir early in the game. You can scope out the goblin camps before you attack and then end the battle without deploying any soldiers, so don't hesitate to take peeks. It will definitely help strategy-wise to know what each unit does best. Of course, blindly overpowering opposing defenses sometimes works.

You can choose to attack goblin camps and opt to just look instead. It's like cheating but not really.

Gems, gems, gems....okay, do not use gems as if they weren't preciously scarce. If you spend gems early on you'll be building very slowly later, like me. I'm talking about serious building issues here: Upgrading a town hall to level four takes a full 24 hours. Over that period of time you have one builder, of two, completely occupied with the upgrade. There is also the possibility that you will get attacked overnight if you've run out of a shield (which makes being attacked impossible and, of course, costs gems to maintain). And you need to make upgrades in order to make any progress or survive attacks that most likely increase in severity. The worst part is that the developers saw it fitting to make gems purchasable for real American money probably because they knew how impatient players would get. Add to that the fact that you get something like five gems after destroying a goblin camp and you can have serious shortages if you're not careful. So Young Moneybags probably has a leg up on you because, well, money (duh), and he's hanging out with dragons on a mountaintop somewhere. But the point is to play for free and become good at this thing instead of buying your way through it, right?

You MUST upgrade early and often. Reaching full storage capacity looks cool because of all of that gold, but it really isn't. "Mo money, mo problems."

If you download Clans expect to play a game that is best used as an interval filler. You can leave the game alone for hours at a time while upgrades are being finished and resources are collected. Visiting your village a couple of times a day will do at first because there's no point in watching countdowns. Mobile games, in general, are perfect for the non-hardcore in that they allow you to use the restroom, eat, sleep and go about your day as usual. What they lack in depth they make up for in short bursts of entertainment, and Clans is no different. Trust me, I rarely play videogames.

- Alex Moran (@MoonbeanMarcos)