Sorry about the lack of updates everyone. With a Baby on the way, a wonderful Girlfriend, an Amazing 4 year old and a full time job life has kept me running lately.
Quick Base update. Few more walls upgraded but most importantly one of the regular Barracks has been upgraded to level 10 and my Spell Factory to level 5. This finally gives me the PEKKA and Freeze Spell, though I have to admit the level 1 Freeze Spells 4 seconds is not all that impressive to start with. I have also finished construction on the final XBow that I am planning to use primarily in an AD role.
At the moment in high level game-play it is very common for an attacker to be able to fairly easily 1 star a base, 2 stars is easily achievable with the standard high end army comps and a small amount of skill while 3 stars is considered difficult due to the time constraint and the effectiveness of the high level defenses.
The Main thing I wanted to cover today is the beginning of a series looking at the various Active and Passive Defenses. Lets start with the Mortar
Starting at level 1 the Mortar has a dps of 4, but that only tells part of the story. The Mortar fires every 5 seconds which in turn gives it a damage of 20 per round. This means that against lvl 1 Goblins it takes 2 shots to kill them, Barbarians take 3, while Archers can be 1 shotted. Giants take a whooping 15 rounds to kill which in turn equates to 1 Minute and 15 seconds.
One thing I found particularly interesting, and perhaps it is a reaction to the archers popularity, is the Mortar has the ability to 1 shot Archers of equivalent level up to level 6. The Mortar however has 2 more levels to hit its max.
The Mortars max out at level 8 with 13 dps and 65 damage per round. This means at max level vs the standard "farming" troops of Barb/Gob/Archer a Mortar can 2 shot Barbarians and Goblins while retaining the ability to kill Archers in a single shot. This essentially maintains the balance started at level one while slightly nurfing the effectiveness of Barbarians as they can now be killed 5 seconds faster.
As you steadily Climb the Trophy Ladder the Barbarian Army gives way to BArch, then BAG, followed by BAM. Though even now in Crystal 2 I find the army I am most often confronted with is BArch with Giants or mass Archers.
Given the Preponderance of Archers I face in my base defenses I have found that against my most common opponent the Level 6 Mortar is actually about as high as you need to go to defend yourself against a run of the mill farming attack. This gives me the ability to kill maxed Barbs in 4 shots and Goblins in 2, though both troop types can be predamaged for easy killing with careful bomb placement. I must point out though that typically I rarely find myself facing maxed versions of either Barbs or Goblins.
Against a more determined attacker using Wizards, Witches, Golems or Hogs the Mortar loses some, but of course not all, of its effectiveness. The most telling and for the Mortar damaging transition is when you move from Giants to Golems for your tank troops. A Golem takes up 30 spaces, meaning you can fit 6 giants into the same amount of space. At Max Level those 8 Giants give you 5,640 hp, a Maxed out Golem has 6,300 hp and when it dies creates two Golemites with an additional 1,260hp each for a total of 8,820.
The reason the switch from Giants to Golems is so hard on the Mortar is found in its splash damage. While the 8 giants 5.6k hp sounds impressive the fact the Mortar is a splash defense means its hitting each of them simultaneously reducing their effective HP to each individual Giants 940. This means instead of the 87 rounds to destroy the giants one at a time it can instead kill them in a mere 14 or roughly 6 times faster. This is further amplified by the damage of multiple Mortars, Cannons, Infernos etc. The Golems massive health Pool in affect turns a bases splash defenses into single target ones for the first 6.3k of its hp. Its not until the "death" of the Golem and the birth of the Golemites that the splash defenses regain some of their prior capacity but even this is muted by the fact there are only two targets (each of which has more health then a giant) to minimize a bases ability to defend itself.
A competent attacker will strive to keep his tanks in front of his dps as well as healers in a serious attempt on your base, against this kind of attack several of the other defenses start to gain importance. Given all this I think for my own purposes I will only level my Mortars up to level 6 to maximize its abilities vs standard farming troops then focus my upgrades after that on improving the abilities of my other defenses. For my next Look at Defenses I will focus on the Wizard Tower to see if it suffers at higher levels as much as the Mortar does.
Until Then Rev signing off, and get your Clash On!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
Lets Play Clash of Clans: The Rush Continues at TH10
Rushed Town Hall 10 Episode 2
We are now one week in to recovering from a rushed partially upgraded TH7 base. The most obvious visual difference this week is my swapping from Orz's excellent Tempest trophy base to one of my own design. The change in design came about due to my second Inferno Tower coming on line as well as my 4th Hidden Tesla and 2 of the 3 X-Bows. In addition to the defensive differences I finally have the other pair of dark elixir drills working.
The current configuration of the base was designed around several priorities.
- Preserve or Increase Trophy Count
- Prevent 2-3 stars in Clan Wars.
- Protect Elixir and Dark Elixir
- Provide minor protection from Hog Attacks.
In order to Achieve the first and second Priorities I decided to heavily overlap my defense structures even at the expense of pushing the Gold storage's I had given a lower priority to out to the outer structure of the base with nothing more then expendable structures and a single wall for protection. This did allow me to create a potent overlap with my splash damage structures deeper in the base protecting the more vulnerable single target defenses while simultaneously being protected from Giants/Golems etc both by the outer walls and the outer ring of single target turrets/towers. This double layer of defenses is then in turn protected itself by Multi Target Inferno Towers and Ground Targeting X-Bows. The result is during attacks the attacker finds himself simultaneously fighting 3-4 defenses or more simultaneously from every avenue of attack.
In addition to the the overlap of the various turrets/towers I took the step of making the Clan Castle, Not the Town Hall, the center of my base. Typically for donations I request High Level Archers, Wizards or Witches, the placement of the clan castle means that only serious assaults that start to breach my outer walls will trigger the CC Troops and my choice of Ranged defenders means that they will often have at least 1 wall protecting them from attackers allowing them to add their firepower to the active defenses while simultaneously making them extremely hard to lure out.
While the Archer Queen and Barbarian King are excellent defensive units most skilled players now know how to deal with them so I allowed them to be pushed to the edges of my defenses but then split them on opposite sides of the base in turn forcing any attacker wishing to lure them out to deal with them separately burning up offensive troops.
The third Priority of protecting and preserving my Elixir and Dark Elixir dictated their position in slightly from the outer walls behind the outer defensive ring of active defenses. To provide additional cover I placed two AD to cover them in addition to a false wall with both ground and air based passive defenses along the most exposed avenue of attack.
With the increased use of Hogs in high level attacks I moved my passive defenses, spring traps and bombs, inside the base and set the Inferno Towers to Multi Target to prevent healing spells.
Farmers are slightly protected from my defenses by the fact I have pushed them so deep into the base to create that overlapping field of fire that a true farmer just hitting my pumps/mines can skim those off if they are willing to accept a high attrition rate and the loss of trophies.
Since the reconfiguration of my base to the current design I have been attacked 15 Times in 5 days. 6 of those attacks were people dropping trophies, of the 9 remaining attacks I have lost 2.
The first loss was to Mauricio of Black Dragon BR a 50% loss costing me 11 trophies, 39k elixir and 37k gold. A standard farming attack using 3 lvl 4 WB and a BAG composition with 45 each Barb/Gob and 104 Archers all level 5. This comp cost him 37k for a measly 2k elixir gain so presumably he was after gold or trophies.
The second successful attack was by Richi9000 of CoC Elite another 50% loss that dropped me 8 trophies, 145k gold, 11k elixir and 60 dark. Richi used a BArch attack with 114 Level 6 Barbs backed by 78 level 6 Archers, a Level 6 Barbarian King and a Level 5 Archer Queen. In Richi's case its obvious he was only going after gold as he focused very heavily on the two exposed gold storages then pulled his Queen out at the last minute to hit the 50% mark. His army comp cost him 40.5k so he lost 28.5k elixir on the attack.
The 7 Victories are a mix of farmers and 1 serious attack that failed miserably when his giants ran into the spring traps then Large bombs in the bases upper structure just as the Inferno Towers, Wizard Towers, X-Bows etc lit into him.
Going forward I am saving currently to get my 3rd X-Bow online which I will probably use to thicken my Air Defense and starting a steady upgrade program of 1 Splash defense, 1 Single Target, 1 Offensive structure, 1 Resource structure all upgrading simultaneously.
The core Leadership and Members of Outback Cowboyz formed a new clan, House Arya, and successfully won our first War under the new name against Guyomard; but that is a post for later this week.
I am also Planning on posting about the difficulties of farming with a TH10 base and the Army Compositions I've tried in that regard as well.
Until then this is Rev signing off, and get your clash on!
Friday, April 25, 2014
Lets Play Clash of Clans Rushed Town Hall 10!
Rushed Town Hall 10
For my next post I'm going to bring you something a little different, the begginging of a "Lets Play" series. A friend offered me a gift card to rush my town hall from about a third to half leveled TH7 base to TH10 when I mentioned I was thinking of moving up to TH8 a bit early. I jumped at the chance, pushed to TH10 then used the excess from the card to level get the Archer Queen and get her to level 2 as well as bring a single inferno tower online to strenghtne my defenses otherwise all I have is the structures I built myself when I initially moved up to TH8.
So lets take a look at the damage and see what we are working with.
Level 52, Gold 3 with 1354 Trophies, and 189 Gems. Current Clan "Outback Cowboyz"
Base Design: The Tempest TH8 Trophy Hunting Formation
This base design is by Orz from the Supercell clash forums.
Orz has obviously put a lot of time into this design, I particularly like the defensive pathing built into its outer walls to help counter Giant/Healer attacks, centralized Mortar/AD/Wizard Towers.
Obviously I have deviated from his basic design adding in the Archer Queen up top in place of one of the Elixir storages, and shifting around one of the AD/Wizard tower combos in order to get that centralized Inferno tower placement.
Before Pushing to TH10 I was raided twice while at TH8, One 53% Loss to Off Constantly of KeepCalmClashOn, and a 43% Victory vs Owen of Dragon Alliance, Post TH10 I was hit by Makoto1143g of swoosh a 59% loss.
My initial reaction is the Tempest design is extremely solid even with this shoddy material and I will probably stick with it for at least the short term while I build all the structures I'm currently missing from TH9/10. I will say the addition of the single inferno tower was quite impressive and I credit it with holding Makoto's attack to 59%.
Defense/Offense:
Clan Castle: Level 3, 20 troop capacity
Barbarian King: Level 5
Archer Queen: Level 2
Defensive Structures:
6/6 Cannons: 1 Level 8, 4 Level 7, 1 Level 2.
7/7 Archer Towers: 4 Level 6, 1 Level 4, and 2 Level 1
3/4 Air Defense: 1 each at level 1, 2 and 3.
3/4 Wizard Tower: 1 each at level 1, 2 and 3.
3/4 Hidden Tesla: 1 Under construction, 2 at Level 1.
0/3 X-Bow: I prioritized the Inferno towers due to their ability to hit multiple targets.
1/2 Inferno Tower: 1 Level 1 set for multiple.
250/250 Walls: Solid Core of lvl 6/7 Walls but still a substantial number of lvl 1 and 5 walls.
6/6 Bomb: 6x lvl 3
5/5 Giant Bomb: All Level 1
2/5 Seeking Air Mine: All Level 1
5/5 Air Bomb: All Level 1
6/6 Spring Trap: All have Springs
4/5 Builders Huts: Fat boys gotta build.
Offensive Considerations:
200 Troop Capacity
Lvl 3 Clan Castle (20 spaces)
2 Lvl 9 Barracks, 2 Lvl 8 Barracks. I can produce 2x Dragons 2x Healers simultaneously or 4x healers as my highest troops.
2 Dark Barracks, 1 Level 2 (Hog Riders) 1 Upgrading to level 2 and currently out of commision.
Lvl 3 Spell Factory, 3x Capacity. Rage, Lightning and Healing.
Barbarians: lvl 4
Archers: lvl 4
Goblins: lvl 4
Giants: lvl 4
Wallbreakers: lvl 4
Balloons: lvl 3
Wizards: lvl 4
Dragons: lvl 1
Healer: lvl 1
Lightning Spell: lvl 3
Healing Spell: lvl 2
Rage Spell: lvl 1
Minions: lvl 1
Hog Riders: lvl 2
Currently Unable to produce:
Jump Spell, Freeze Spell, PEKKA, Valkyrie, Golem, Witch.
So that is my current starting point, essentially a slightly tougher then normal TH7 but in trade I suffer a loot handicap when attacking anyone other then TH10 bases. My current plan is to use what ever Gems I get from mowing my bases lawn to boost my 4 primary Barracks, Queen/King, and Spell factory once or twice a week when I have a couple hours to myself to raid hard and build up resources to upgrade this abomination of a base from its current ungainly mess to a solid Crystal 1 / Master League Base.
With 4 available builders and many structures still needing to be built I believe my first priority will be to get the other 2 Dark Elixir Drills built as fast as possible as well as building the remaining Air Defense and Wizard Tower. The AD and Tower are both fairly quick builds so Once those are done I will probably prioritize getting the pair of low level Archer Towers and Cannon up while I save to begin construction of first my Second Inferno Tower and then First X-Bow. I think the ability of the Inferno Tower to handle multiple attackers trumps the extra 2 million gold needed to begin construction of it as well as the X-Bows range and AD capabilities. With 2 builders consigned to construction of defensive structures for the foreseeable future I will probably use 1 of the remaining builders to upgrade my Offensive capabilities focusing primarily on my Dark Barrack and Army Camps. As one of my Dark Barracks is already capable of producing Hog Riders I will keep the other barrack under constant upgrade until it can construct Witches then switch to the Army Camps. The Final Builder is going to be helping me play catch up, what ever upgrade can be finished fastest I will have him work on until all of the available upgrades are in the 1 to 2 day range, at that point I will probably utilize him for what ever upgrade feels most imperative to me at the moment though I see him spending a lot of time working on Walls lol.
To get the vast amounts of resources I need for all of this production I currently intend to run a mixture of BArch and BAG armies, probably with a few Giants and Wallbreakers to open a few doors and 3 Lightning Spells to ring the bell. That Army Comp costs 18.5k for the basic BAG troops, 54k if I use all 8 Wallbreakers and 4 Giants, and an ungainly 109k elixir if I also use all 3 lightning spells. The spells take 90 minutes to produce so I can use about 2 of those an hour, the Basic Army takes approximately 18 minutes, 24 if i need to replace Giants/WB's. This allows me to raid about 3-5 times an hour depending on how frugal I am with my troops during heavy raiding sessions.
I currently plan to switch to the BAM composition after I research Minions2 and hit about 1500 Trophies though I don't think that will happen for at least a week, possibly 2.
So that is it folks, My current situation, the plan to dig my way out, and a look at my ugly base. I currently plan on updating this series Once a week though I may put up more frequent updates depending on if any interesting things are happening.
Until then this is Rev signing off, and get your clash on!
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
World of tanks Xbox 360 Edition: Premium Rounds
While playing on my Revanche123 World of Tanks Xbox 360 account I recently acquired the T29 in preparation of writing a Blog post about it next week, while "hulk smash"ing through the opposing team I found myself on the receiving end of quite a few premium (henceforth called "Prem rounds") AP/HE rounds. The T29 is my only really fully equiped tank as I think I'll be keeping it for awhile so it has 10 Prem rounds on board for emergencies of which I have used so far 2 perhaps 3 of them, more to try them out then to actually Pen an opposing tank. The excellent penetration characteristics of the 105 mm gun on final T29 package really negates any need for them as a general rule. I found myself wondering while under a particularly aggressive bit of Prem fire how much each round actually cost in real world money. How much, in real world terms, was this guy throwing at me in a vain effort to kill my tank or at least force me out of the choke point I was securing?
My understanding is World of Tanks for the PC currently allows players to purchase Prem Rounds at an inflated Silver cost in addition to or instead of using Gold for what I'm sure are fairly complicated in game and real world economic reasons. As anyone who has played World of Warcraft or EVE can attest, in game economics are an extremely touchy and important part of controlling how the players play the game, what they have ready access to and can significantly affect their enjoyment of it. Regardless, as of right now this is not an option for World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition players to purchase Premium Ammunition.
Ignoring the sticky issues of Taxes based on region, Differing currencies etc and using the American Dollar as my meter stick; Our current options for buying Gold are;
- 1,250 Gold for $6.99 + Tax or 1.788 g per $0.01
- 3,000 Gold for $14.99 + Tax or 2.001 g per $0.01
- 6,500 Gold for $29.99 + Tax or 2.167 g per $0.01
- 12,000 Gold for $49.99 + Tax or 2.400 g per $0.01
- 25,000 Gold for $99.99 + Tax or 2.500 g per $0.01
Prices per tank can very significantly based on tier and package chosen but;
Using the T29 as an example;
The Stock T29 package uses the 76 mm Gun M1A2 Firing Composite Rigid HVAP M93 Prem rounds at 7g per round or 70g for a solid core of 10 shells. That comes out to $0.0291 per shell, nearly 3 Cents every time you fire, $0.29 if you go through all 10 rounds.
The T29's final package T29E3 uses the 105 mm Gun T5E1 firing Composite Rigid APCR T29E3 Prem rounds at 12g per or 120g for a full 10 shots. That comes out to $0.05 per shell or $0.50 for a full compliment. Or, as I like to think of it, a can of coke every 10 rounds.
Or perhaps My favorite Tier 5 Tank the venerable M4 Sherman using my prefered M4A1 (105) package is firing HEAT M67 rounds at 10g per or 4 cents every time you pull the trigger.
Now I am not suggesting based on cost that you should never use Prem rounds, this is after all a Free to Play game and frankly every time you pull the trigger on one you are helping insure that new content will be coming out in the future. What I am trying to illustrate is the otherwise somewhat nebulous cost in real world terms when you use any of the Gold features of the game. It is this lack of transparency that helped force Xbox from using points to using actual monetary values so that players could make more informed decisions about their purchases rather then forcing them to muddle through what were essentially currency conversions.
Armed with this new knowledge the more scholarly portions of my brain find themselves being a bit more careful about my in game purchases to maximize my moneys value while the jackass part of me takes a great deal of delight when someone obviously gets frustrated trying to pen my beloved T29 and starts flicking pennies at me instead.
Rev Signing off, See You on the Battlefield!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
World of Tanks Xbox 360 Edition: M4 Sherman Review
Hello, I am RyanT of RyanT's Thoughts and Observations though in game I play as Revanche123, and this is
M4 Sherman Review
The Xbox 360 Edition of World of Tanks handles Modules differently then the PC version, instead of upgrading individual modules we get packages; The M4 has 4 packages, the default stock package, 1 mandatory package that must be researched but not necessarily purchased then your choice of two additional packages only 1 of which you must research to progress on.
Default Stats for each Model.
Weight: 30 Tons
Hull Armor: 51/38/38 mm
Speed Limit: 48kph
Crew: (5) Commander, Gunner, Driver, Radio Operator, Loader.
M4 "Stock" 400 hp
Wright Continental R-975EC2: 350hp (11.667 p/w ratio) 20% chance of fire.
75 mm Gun M3: 90 Rounds, Damage: 110/110/175 hp, Penetration: 92/127/38
Rate of Fire: 15.76 (1 round every 3.8s) DPM with AP 1,733.6
Aim Time: (sec) 2.09, Accuracy: 0.46-0.45m at 100m
T41: 35 Deg/sec traverse, 10.28 seconds to complete a 360 turn.
D51066 Turret: Armor: 76.19/51/51mm
39 Deg/sec traverse, 9.23 seconds to complete a 360 turn.
330m view range.
The Default "M4" Package comes with the very serviceable 75mm gun, good accuracy, combined with enough penetration to get through even tier 6 armor means you won't be defenseless during the initial stock grind in this tank. The sluggish engine along with the T41 Track/Suspension combo will give you about a 25-30kph top speed across open terrain and a fairly sluggish acceleration as well as an arthritic turn rate that when combined with the Shermans notoriously weak armor will leave you vulnerable if you move out of cover however.
M4E5 400 hp
Wright Continental R-975C1: 400hp (13.333 p/w ratio) 20% chance of fire.
105 mm M4: 46 Rounds, Damage: 410/350 hp, Penetration: 53/101
Rate of Fire: 7.5 (1 round every 8s) DPM with HE 3,075
Aim Time: (sec) 2.29, Accuracy: 0.55-0.54m at 100m
T42: 39 Deg/sec traverse, 9.23 seconds to complete a 360 turn.
D51066 Turret: Armor: 76.19/51/51mm
39 Deg/sec traverse, 9.23 seconds to complete a 360 turn.
330m view range.
The first available upgrade package the M4E5 bumps up the available horsepower to 400 along with the improved T42 Track/Suspension combo finally allowing the Sherman to move about the battlefield were it can then utilize the 105mm "Derp" cannon to good affect. While its maximum potential DPM is over 3,000 the reality is closer to 900 when facing an opponents frontal armor, to maximize the potential of the 105mm gun it is imperative that you move to the flanks or rear of your opponent which becomes much easier with the next two models.
M4A1 (105) or M4A1 (76) 460hp
Wright Continental R-975C4: 460hp (15.333 p/w ratio) 20% chance of fire.
105 mm M4: 46 Rounds, Damage: 410/350 hp, Penetration: 53/101
Rate of Fire: 7.5 (1 round every 8s) DPM with HE 3,075
Aim Time: (sec) 2.29, Accuracy: 0.55-0.54m at 100m
or
76 mm Gun M1A1: 90 Rounds, Damage: 115/110/185 hp, Penetration: 128/177/38
Rate of Fire: 15.76 (1 round every 3.8s) DPM with AP 1,733.6
Aim Time: (sec) 2.09, Accuracy: 0.46-0.45m at 100m
T42: 37 Deg/sec traverse, 9.72 seconds to complete a 360 turn.
D51072 Turret: Armor: 63/63/63mm
37 Deg/sec traverse, 9.72 seconds to complete a 360 turn.
370m view range.
The Final two packages M4A1 (105) or (76) are identical save for their main gun. The engine upgrade finally allows the Sherman to reach its full potential able to move at a respectable 35-40kph around the battlefield, while the additional horsepower enables it to turn much quicker allowing the Sherman to become an excellent flanking tank. The 76mm gun is a excellent upgrade to the 75mm that preceded it keeping nearly identical damage but finally upping the penetration to a solid 128mm with standard rounds allowing the 76 to penetrate almost any opponent it may find itself up against with only the British AT line or American T29 giving it consistent trouble penetrating from the front.
Using the M4A1 (76) I typically play a "firefighter" role moving along the front providing support to my teammates while sniping at targets others have spotted for me as well as looking for opportunities to flank the opposition forcing them to either expose weaker armor to me or my compatriots.
With the M4A1 (105) I find its better to adopt an Ambush or flanking strategy, always looking for chances to pop a targets side or rear armor for that oh so fun 1 shot kill.
Each of the packages does suffer from the Shermans one major flaw, even with a solid amount of slope to the front armor the tank is fairly easily penetrated. Tier 3, 4 or a few of the stock tier 5 tanks will have some trouble penetrating the frontal armor but your side and rear are another matter entirely. Upgraded tier 5 or tier 6/7 or higher tanks though can penetrate even your turret armor if you aren't careful about protecting your hull with cover and keeping your mantlet facing the opposition. While you will bounce some shells it is best to get used to the notion that if you get hit you will get hurt further enforcing the use of the Sherman as a flanking tank and encouraging heavy use of the pop out game. It is this enforced hit and run style of play that makes me personally prefer the 105mm variant. The Sherman suffers from one more less well known flaw, when facing a Sherman head on, if you aim for the lower center hull, the armor decreases rapidly and you have an extremely reliable shot at the Shermans engine from the front crippling its ability to move as well as potentially lighting it on fire.
Despite some fairly substantial flaws the Sherman remains my favorite Tier 5 Tank and the one I find myself going back to regularly for flat out fun play.
Until Next time this is Rev signing off.
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