Star Wars Commander: The Beginning

Playing the new Star Wars: Clash er Commander game... and its actually quite fun.

Just a few months ago the first Star Wars game to debut after Disney bought the Star Wars IP from George Lucas was announced. Star Wars Commander is a mobile game, that debuted for iOS devices on August 21st (after some initial rollouts in Australia and a few other places). I just found out about the game and decided to play it as I like Clash of Clans and games like it and heard good things.

Just starting to play the game you can see how it is VERY similar, the two resouce types (Currency and Alloy) are basically Gold and Elixer, the Crystals are the same as Clash's gems (even a very similar green icon) and Droids are builders, etc. This isn't the first Clash of Clans clone (in fact there are dozens, Samurai Siege is probably the best I've found, its at least the only one I still play alongside Clash of Clans) but to its credit it is a good one, and not just because of the Star Wars motif.

You get to choose between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire as your allies (you are a mercenary, hence the ability to choose) but it seems once this decision is made it is permanent. I chose the Rebels, although I am tempted to make another account on my other iOS device and play the Empire to see the differences (you get a taste of each in a set of tutorial-like missions in the beginning which was a nice touch). The single player campaign seems to be much more thought out and worth-wile than the single player campaign in Clash of Clans (something Samurai Siege excels at as well) although I have yet to join a Squad (like a Clan in Clash of Clans) and see how their wars are.

My base so far, just started last night.

I think I will give the game a try, apparently there is a 'Campaign' this weekend called 'Campaign I: The Dandoran Conflict' which intrigues me (maybe extra content to explore) and I am almost through the second Chapter of the Single Player missions (called 'Under the Twin Suns' as the game is mainly set on Tatooine, although you visit other locations). I will keep playing the game and write about what is interesting about it.

Clash of Clans: Building an Alt. Day 6

Continuing to build our Alternate Account.

Since last time we have successfully upgraded the Town Hall, afterwords we built the new defenses (Archer Tower and Air Defense) along with the new resource collectors and Barracks. I upgraded the Clan Castle (and joined my clan) and Laboratory (which I am keeping churning). Some light raiding has kept the storages stocked and I'm well on my way to maxing out the walls for this town hall level (even the new ones).

Our last screenshot, before we upgraded to Town Hall Lvl 4.

Today's screenshot, as you can see raiding is quite lucrative at this stage.

We built 25 new walls, cleared all the obstacles and redesigned the base with the goal of always having two sets of walls between the outside and the center mortar, also offsetting the compartments helps to keep 1 wall breaker from entering multiple compartments easily. Currently I am working on upgrading my Giants, after that its Wall Breakers and the laboratory is completely updated for this level.

I'm working on storage containers now and after they are done I'll swing back through Barracks/Army Camps (I think one of the camps needs 1 more level and the barracks can use the upgrades, I don't use Balloons almost at all though so it hasn't been a priority). Then final wall upgrades and resource collectors and we move to Town Hall level 5, hopefully by the end of the weekend. Also we have 478 trophies - so close to 500 and the 3rd builder!

PS. I just started my upgrade to Lvl 8 Town Hall on my main account - so in 8 days I'll have a bunch more to do there (I'm not 100% upgraded for Lvl 7 but I've maxed all my defense except Cannons/Archers and I should be like 98% upgraded by the time the TH is finished upgrading - will have Lvl 2 Barbarian King in about 2 days! and almost half of my walls are Dark Purple - lvl 7) Can't wait for the Dark Elixer drill! and the ability to research lvl 5 troops!

Clash of Clans: Building an Alt. Day 4

More work on our alternate CoC Account, almost ready for Town Hall Level 4!

Our initial shield dropped yesterday and we've done some healthy raiding. I've been able to fill both storages several times now, upgrade all the walls and several other things.

Our last screenshot.

Our current layout.

We rebuilt the clan castle, built the Laboratory, upgraded both Army Camps (and working on the last barracks upgrade) all the walls are level 2 now (and some level 3) and I've cleared most of the obstructions. I'm at 399 gems (I need 500 to get the 3rd builder). Raiding at this low level has been quite lucrative and I've upgraded just about everything so I'm moving up to Town Hall level 4 (and researching my first Laboratory upgrade). My clan has a 600 trophy minimum so I may join the clan soon with it so I can pass it troops for raiding from my main account, not sure.

I'm hoping that by this Friday (1 week) I can unlock everything in Town Hall Level 4 and continue to upgrade stuff to almost be ready to go up to Town Hall Level 5.

Clash of Clans: Building an Alt. Day 3

Continuing to work on our alternate account, we've made some good progress!

Day three of the Alternate Clash of Clans account build. We made some significant advances over night, I think our initial shield drops today so hopefully we can take advantage and get some early raiding in (not sure how lucrative it will be at this level).

The screenshot from yesterday.

Today's screenshot.

We're still at TH level 3 and I suspect we will be until holding off on upgrading until at least the morning (which would take 24 hours, so it would happen the next morning). As you can see the base got a redesign, 50 walls (some of them upgraded already) and two bombs. We have 3 of our resource collectors maxed (and the other two 1 level from max) and upgraded one of the barracks to Wall Breaker level last night. We can hold 60 troops now and with the resources from last night I started to build the Laboratory so hopefully soon we can start upgrading troops.

My hope for today is to do some more upgrades (probably storages because they are the cheapest left to do) and set two of the last resource collectors to upgrade overnight. I am anxious to see how we do once the shield drops, I don't see how I could be any better prepared that we are after only 3 days. I will likely not post again until the TH is ready to be upgraded but we're looking pretty good I think. My goal is that by next weekend I can start working towards the 600 trophy mark (the minimum to have this account join my clan) so I can then start passing it upgraded troops to raid with - I'd need to rebuild the clan castle first though!

Clash of Clans: Building an Alt. Day 2

Continuing to build a 'mini' account to hopefully join my Clash of Clans clan.

Day two of the Alternate Clash of Clans account build. I am starting to see the game slow down a bit more towards what CoC becomes (long term time management with periods of multi-hour raiding sessions)

Yesterday's screenshot upgrading the Town Hall from Level 2 with most of everything upgraded for that level.

Today's screenshot with several additions.

Besides the TH Lvl 3, new storages, elixer collector and gold mine, army camp and mortar, we have also upgraded barracks, mines, collectors, storages, cannons and one of the camps. We still have quite a few upgrades before we will be thinking about doing the Town Hall (and we need to build the Lab, 2 Bombs and 50 walls)  but we are getting there!

I'm finding myself maxing out my storages at times, I've kept from having both maxed out storages and collectors/mines (which would mean wasted resources) but I've had to resort to clearing obstacles at a few points to use up some resources (especially elixer, I think I have my gold down low enough now). I could win another single player campaign easily right now but am holding off to wait for the ability to spend some elixer. I wouldn't have these issues if I had another builder but as I don't want to spend any money I'm having to wait for the Gems to slowly build up to 500 (300 now ain't too shabby for this early in the game).

Clash of Clans: Building an Alt. The Beginning

If you've been living under a rock, Clash of Clans is an extremely popular iOS/Android game that is about 2 years old.

I got into the Clash of Clans game pretty late, I've only been playing for a few months (and its about 2 years old now). I noticed the game fairly early after it first came out but wasn't really keen on the concept, the reason I started playing recently was two fold - 1) They have polished things up quite a bit and added a lot more content. and 2) I was looking for a mobile game to keep me occupied during down time at work, etc. and my friends at work wanted me to play as they wanted to start a clan.

My current main base, I could have gone up to Town Hall Lvl 8 a while ago but I'm raiding really well at the moment and just concentrating on maxing everything out.

So I joined the clan with the guys at work and have been playing for a little while. I haven't spent any money besides an iTunes giftcard that I got at a gift ($20) which let me get the 4th builder and the Barbarian King. I am hoping to have just about everything maxed out by mid-September then I will move up to Town Hall Level 8.

In the meantime as we've had some trouble growing our clan, myself and one friend from work have both decided to begin Alts (or Alternate Accounts). I started mine on a Friday after work and this is a screenshot from the next morning:

Still quite modest, but I've actually already done quite a few upgrades.

I went through the tutorials which included moving up to Town Hall level 2. I then worked on building everything that was available (besides decorations which I don't build and walls which I will wait until my initial shield drops). Once everything was built I started upgrading things. First the Gold Mines and Elixer Collectors which are now all 4 at level 3, then the Gold and Elixer storages, then Barracks, then finally Cannons and the Archer tower - all of those are now on level 2. I waited until the next morning to start the Army Camp and Town Hall upgrades. I also fought a few extra fights in the single player campaign to get a few more bundles of resources.

My hope is to max out the Level 3 Town Hall and be well on the way to maxing out the Level 4 Town Hall by the time the shield drops (which should be Monday afternoon, and I'm off work due to a Holiday that day!). I plan to do two things with this Alt. 1) Never spend any money on it, if I get any iTunes gift cards for Christmas, etc. I will spend them on my main account not this one. 2) Never spend any gems in game, I want to save for the 3rd builder (and then for the 4th) so every gem counts and they come slowly without spending real money. I will check back in towards the end of this long weekend and show how far I'm getting.

Pokemon Crystal: Playthrough Part 9 - Final

Taking down Team Rocket and grabbing the last Badge!