Clash of Clans is, at its core, a strategy game. You are building a village, with various defenses, resource collectors and storages. After training up an army with a selection of troops and spells, other player’s villages can be attacked for loot and glory. These days you aren’t going to find yourself spending that much time speculating about where to place your defenses – at least if you like to look up the most effective layouts online as I do. However, attacking is a different story. In regular multiplayer battles, you are allowed to browse potential opponents for as long as you would like before you decide to attack. You are always given 30 seconds at the beginning of the battle to plan things out, and once it begins, a few minutes to deploy all of your troops and attack. You win if you obtain at least one of three stars: one for destroying the town hall, another for taking out 50% of the base, and a third for the 100% wipe. Whether a victory or defeat (you get more rewards for winning, of course), you head home to spend your collected resources, some on building and troop upgrades, the rest to train another army. Rinse and repeat.

There is also a “Builder base” you get to take care of that is pretty similar to this with the exception it takes place in a live versus battle format (each player attacks the other) with different types of troops and gives you a set amount of resources for winning and none for losing. It’s not exactly as fun as attacking from the main village, but a neat thing to have on the side nonetheless.

This basic feedback loop remains incredibly satisfying to this day and is over quick enough that it’s rarely a huge hassle to hop on for a few minutes to get everything done and dusted. However, for those that aspire to something a little bit deeper, you have the option to join Clans.

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