CoC BB - Let's talk about base design....
I've done a few articles and videos over the last year talking about base design (links below). It's been a while, though, so I thought I'd circle back around to talk about some key base design concepts.
There are 5, effective base layouts on the Builder Base:
1) Diamond - A diamond shape, elongated top to bottom, with outer corners matched to the 4 corners of the game grid.
2) Sidewinder - An elongated diamond, stretched left to right, marked by its stretched out design.
3) Box - A simple box, walls around the outside and most buildings on the inside.
4) Bracket - A form of box base that is typically broken into three, vertical sections. May be turned on its side as well.
5) Asymmetrical - A base design that lacks symmetry or pattern.
The Builder Base (BB) is sorely restricted by the 5-piece wall chunks. Although you can put an apron here or there, open this section or close that one...in the end, the general layouts will be one of the above 5. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, with Diamond bases generally providing the strongest, general defense and Box bases being the easiest to overrun. Bracket and Sidewinders are solid, middle of the road defenders, and a good Asymmetrical design can hold mid-level players at bay very effectively.
In addition to the design restrictions caused by the 5-piece wall chunks, we are also limited by the number of buildings available to us. BH8 has the most of all levels, of course, but it pales in comparison to what we have on the Home Village (HV) where we have SO many buildings that they actually had to expand the size of the game grid a couple years back.
In any base design, the layout of the walls is going to be the very first line of defense. (They are lines, after all!) Walls provide barriers and pathing that dictate enemy troop movements. However, we all know how easily walls can be removed from the equation by Bombers. There are 3 other defensive designs to consider.
Hidden Defenses
Hidden defenses consist of the Hidden Teslas, Mines, MegaMines, Push Traps, and Spring Traps. A good attacker will analyze a base, looking for the most likely placement of hidden defenses. 2x2 openings are a strong indicator that a Hidden Tesla or MegaMine is there; proximity to each other often suggests Hidden Teslas, while a more spread out collection of 2x2s right in the early path of troops tends to have MegaMines. Players often place regular mines (1x1) more inward, or group several together to create the same effect of a MegaMine.
Push Traps are usually around the outside of the base, while Spring Traps cover openings in walls and areas between defenses where troops "walk" as they work their way around the base. Push Traps are great for throwing enemy troops into Crushers or activating Hidden Teslas early. This is problematic for defending against Super PEKKAs though; some players are creating small, boxed in areas to throw these troops into - it takes a while for them to bust out, all the while, she's under attack from nearby defenses.
Base designers that are able to anticipate the typical deployment vector of their opponents can effectively place hidden defenses to disrupt the inbound attack. One hidden defense is all it takes to decimate an attack - the MegaMine that wipes out 3 Cannon Carts, or the Push Trap that throws a Super PEKKA into a fully enclosed box are two great examples.
High/Low HP Placement
Every structure on the BB carries a certain number of HitPoints (HP). Buildings like the Clock Tower, Star Lab, and storages are high HP structures whereas something like the Army Camp is a low HP structure.
Placing these strategically to slow or speed up an inbound attack will disrupt the flow of the attacking troops. Many Bracket base designs have an opening on either side at the bottom of the base; a high HP structure (usually storages) is placed on either side, followed by the Star Lab on one side and the Clock Tower on the other. These have the effect of dramatically slowing progress of inbound troops, causing them to bunch up. Nearby splash defenses then pummel the area of the second structure, causing mass damage to ALL of the troops that are now grouped together. As they work their way up the sides, they next make it to the Crushers...which also cause damage to multiple troops as each drops. The same works for air attacks - stall a player's Drop Ships and Beta Minions while AirBombs and FireCrackers work on them.
It's not just about slowing down an attack, though...sometimes, you want to speed it up as well. Low HP structures can be used to attract troops, then split them up as they move quickly on to a structure closer to their current position.
Defensive Structure Placement
I've talked many times in the past about the importance of how you place your defenses. The strong core design that is common to many bases takes clear advantage of defensive structure placement. Many designs cozy key defenses up to the Builder Hall (BH) and place certain defenses on opposite sides. For example, placing a Roaster and AirBombs right next to each other will effectively cover a small area on one side of the BH, but placing them on opposite sides with support from Hidden/MegaTeslas and Archer Towers expands that coverage area. The same can be said of the MultiMortar and the Giant Cannon - side by side, they cover one area, but a bit more distant and the damage zone increases significantly.
Placement of defensive buildings can also open your base to certain types of attacks as well. Most notably, whenever a key defense is exposed, the attack is usually geared toward that exposed defense.
Case in point - right now, and for much of BH8, the meta has been ground attacks. Cannon Carts rule the night on the BB. Base designs are usually geared toward defending against ground attacks as best they can - and that makes good sense. However...some designers will place the AirBombs on the outer wall ring. That means they can be reached by going through just one building and that's something that screams for Shimi (Minion Drops). 2 Drop Ships is all that is needed to tank against the AirBombs under such a layout. Likewise, some will spread the FireCrackers such that each has its own region of the base with no crossfire or real support. This greatly weakens their damage capacity, favoring an air attack.
Other defenses can be exposed or left without additional defensive support as well. The Giant Cannon is important for defending against the Battle Machine but is often placed too far forward in a base layout, such that it is quickly reached by Raged Barbarians; the same goes for the Mega Tesla.
These examples are why a strong core design, with key defenses cozied up around the BH itself, is the preferred.
Wrapping Up
The thing that really sets the BB apart from the HV is that we have the ability to change out our attacking army after we see our opponent's base. While no one base can defend against all attacks, coming up with a base that has very limited, easy to identify weaknesses helps a great deal. There's a lot of time there to analyze a base but not everyone is going to spot that one weakness you could not avoid and even the best attackers will struggle to suss out the location of hidden defenses that might thwart their deployment.
Here's the link to the companion video for this article...
...and here are links to some previous articles/videos focused on base building and design....
Base Building 101
Base Building 102 - The Strong Hub
Base Building 103 - The Strong Hub and Hidden Defense Placement
GwN Base Building Series (YouTube Playlist)
There are 5, effective base layouts on the Builder Base:
1) Diamond - A diamond shape, elongated top to bottom, with outer corners matched to the 4 corners of the game grid.
2) Sidewinder - An elongated diamond, stretched left to right, marked by its stretched out design.
3) Box - A simple box, walls around the outside and most buildings on the inside.
4) Bracket - A form of box base that is typically broken into three, vertical sections. May be turned on its side as well.
5) Asymmetrical - A base design that lacks symmetry or pattern.
The Builder Base (BB) is sorely restricted by the 5-piece wall chunks. Although you can put an apron here or there, open this section or close that one...in the end, the general layouts will be one of the above 5. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, with Diamond bases generally providing the strongest, general defense and Box bases being the easiest to overrun. Bracket and Sidewinders are solid, middle of the road defenders, and a good Asymmetrical design can hold mid-level players at bay very effectively.
In addition to the design restrictions caused by the 5-piece wall chunks, we are also limited by the number of buildings available to us. BH8 has the most of all levels, of course, but it pales in comparison to what we have on the Home Village (HV) where we have SO many buildings that they actually had to expand the size of the game grid a couple years back.
In any base design, the layout of the walls is going to be the very first line of defense. (They are lines, after all!) Walls provide barriers and pathing that dictate enemy troop movements. However, we all know how easily walls can be removed from the equation by Bombers. There are 3 other defensive designs to consider.
Hidden Defenses
Hidden defenses consist of the Hidden Teslas, Mines, MegaMines, Push Traps, and Spring Traps. A good attacker will analyze a base, looking for the most likely placement of hidden defenses. 2x2 openings are a strong indicator that a Hidden Tesla or MegaMine is there; proximity to each other often suggests Hidden Teslas, while a more spread out collection of 2x2s right in the early path of troops tends to have MegaMines. Players often place regular mines (1x1) more inward, or group several together to create the same effect of a MegaMine.
Push Traps are usually around the outside of the base, while Spring Traps cover openings in walls and areas between defenses where troops "walk" as they work their way around the base. Push Traps are great for throwing enemy troops into Crushers or activating Hidden Teslas early. This is problematic for defending against Super PEKKAs though; some players are creating small, boxed in areas to throw these troops into - it takes a while for them to bust out, all the while, she's under attack from nearby defenses.
Base designers that are able to anticipate the typical deployment vector of their opponents can effectively place hidden defenses to disrupt the inbound attack. One hidden defense is all it takes to decimate an attack - the MegaMine that wipes out 3 Cannon Carts, or the Push Trap that throws a Super PEKKA into a fully enclosed box are two great examples.
High/Low HP Placement
Every structure on the BB carries a certain number of HitPoints (HP). Buildings like the Clock Tower, Star Lab, and storages are high HP structures whereas something like the Army Camp is a low HP structure.
Placing these strategically to slow or speed up an inbound attack will disrupt the flow of the attacking troops. Many Bracket base designs have an opening on either side at the bottom of the base; a high HP structure (usually storages) is placed on either side, followed by the Star Lab on one side and the Clock Tower on the other. These have the effect of dramatically slowing progress of inbound troops, causing them to bunch up. Nearby splash defenses then pummel the area of the second structure, causing mass damage to ALL of the troops that are now grouped together. As they work their way up the sides, they next make it to the Crushers...which also cause damage to multiple troops as each drops. The same works for air attacks - stall a player's Drop Ships and Beta Minions while AirBombs and FireCrackers work on them.
It's not just about slowing down an attack, though...sometimes, you want to speed it up as well. Low HP structures can be used to attract troops, then split them up as they move quickly on to a structure closer to their current position.
Defensive Structure Placement
I've talked many times in the past about the importance of how you place your defenses. The strong core design that is common to many bases takes clear advantage of defensive structure placement. Many designs cozy key defenses up to the Builder Hall (BH) and place certain defenses on opposite sides. For example, placing a Roaster and AirBombs right next to each other will effectively cover a small area on one side of the BH, but placing them on opposite sides with support from Hidden/MegaTeslas and Archer Towers expands that coverage area. The same can be said of the MultiMortar and the Giant Cannon - side by side, they cover one area, but a bit more distant and the damage zone increases significantly.
Placement of defensive buildings can also open your base to certain types of attacks as well. Most notably, whenever a key defense is exposed, the attack is usually geared toward that exposed defense.
Case in point - right now, and for much of BH8, the meta has been ground attacks. Cannon Carts rule the night on the BB. Base designs are usually geared toward defending against ground attacks as best they can - and that makes good sense. However...some designers will place the AirBombs on the outer wall ring. That means they can be reached by going through just one building and that's something that screams for Shimi (Minion Drops). 2 Drop Ships is all that is needed to tank against the AirBombs under such a layout. Likewise, some will spread the FireCrackers such that each has its own region of the base with no crossfire or real support. This greatly weakens their damage capacity, favoring an air attack.
Other defenses can be exposed or left without additional defensive support as well. The Giant Cannon is important for defending against the Battle Machine but is often placed too far forward in a base layout, such that it is quickly reached by Raged Barbarians; the same goes for the Mega Tesla.
These examples are why a strong core design, with key defenses cozied up around the BH itself, is the preferred.
Wrapping Up
The thing that really sets the BB apart from the HV is that we have the ability to change out our attacking army after we see our opponent's base. While no one base can defend against all attacks, coming up with a base that has very limited, easy to identify weaknesses helps a great deal. There's a lot of time there to analyze a base but not everyone is going to spot that one weakness you could not avoid and even the best attackers will struggle to suss out the location of hidden defenses that might thwart their deployment.
Here's the link to the companion video for this article...
...and here are links to some previous articles/videos focused on base building and design....
Base Building 101
Base Building 102 - The Strong Hub
Base Building 103 - The Strong Hub and Hidden Defense Placement
GwN Base Building Series (YouTube Playlist)
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