Journal of a rusher....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by afako

Sin what I realised today is SC is indirectly kicking all the TH9 3 star attacks with defence buffs on xbows, wizard towers and now cannons nerfing healers and making TH9 more irrelevant to stay.

Upgrading to TH10 with a 9.5 is the best for warriors in the game.

What we really saying SC is on the same page they are doing it discretely and stealthily.

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Yeap, I guess that's what it is now. At least engineered bases are still superior and with the extra traps are harder to 3 star compared to completely maxed TH9s. Its about getting the most bang for your buck, moving up early and getting a few extra structures is always superior to staying in a low TH level upgrading what you have. Remember the law of diminishing returns

So...it's been a while. The Clash Maniac account continues to progress, albeit more slowly as it is now an active war monger along with the rest of the clan. :)

Between regular clan wars (on our third this week) and the slower progression of the upper levels, progress is "slow and steady". Since I'm focused on war right now, I decided to take the game into a different progress plan - I'm focusing on storages and resource collectors at the moment.

As you might recall, I don't put a whole lot of emphasis on resource collectors very early on because I do a lot of raiding. As such, their primary job is to slow down enemy troops and once they get around level 8, they do just fine at that. Level 9 and up...nice to get the extra resources, but it takes a LOT of days to max. The Level 9 upgrade is 2 days, level 10 is 3 days, and level 11 is 4 days; that's 9 days for each of 12 collectors, not to mention the time and resources required to upgrade the DE drills. As I see it, that builder time is better spent elsewhere.

Since I'm warring, though, I have a little extra time and I'm getting them all upgraded. Most are up to level 10 at this point; I have just three more gold mines to upgrade, and they'll start in the next 2D9H. :p

In the meantime, I've focused on the standard/sub-standard upgrade path - upgrade offense. BK is at level 6; CC is at level 4 (holds 25 troop units); Laboratory is level 6 and dragons have already been upgraded; the second dark barracks is down and both will start upgrading just as soon as I'm done with the resource collectors.

I tend to run clan wars in cycles - we war for a month or so, almost non-stop, then back off for a month to run through upgrades. You can get a lot of upgrades done in a month with 5 builders. Point is - even while rushing, you can still enjoy clan wars; you just have to balance the two...work on some low cost, easy upgrades while you focus on war.

The last few wars have been pretty decent. Three back we went up a clan of rushed/engineered games and were outgunned at the top; thought for sure we would lose but the other clan did not run any attacks, so we won. Two back was less luck - we lost by *1* star, 28-29, in a 10v10 where we again drew a top heavy competitor. This seems to have been a common thread lately on 10v10 wars, so I went with a 20v20 this latest time around. The other clan looks to be dabbling with engineering their roster a bit. :) It's turned out to be a fairly exciting war. Here's the lineup, with the actual order of the bases (so you'll see where the engineered bases are located):

Us:

TH9 x 3
TH8 x 2
TH7 x 9
TH5 x 1
TH7 x 2
TH3 x 3

Them:

TH9 x 3
TH8 x 4
TH7 x 6
TH6 x 2
TH7 x 1
TH8 X 1
TH6 x 2
TH5 x 1

Our three TH3 bases are new minis; they're almost maxed after a week of working on them as much as possible. These games are being played with zero cash investment; while they're working their way up to TH7, they can keep our war weight down a while. I mention this because all three are being run as maxers and no $$$ will be invested. The TH7 defenseless and TH7 near defenseless (walls and level 8 cannon) were included as well as my near max TH5 (another mini).

The matchup itself is a bit lopsided in favor of our opponents' overall. The TH3 games didn't really have any attacks available to them this time around, but, hey - they're TH3 so what do you expect. It was easily recoverable though, as the middle section of TH7s had plenty of attacks left over to dip down.

The TH5 accorded itself very well - not only did it three star their TH5 but it took down one of their TH6 games as well. In both cases, the attacks were balloons. The real challenge was dealing with the CC troops and the AD. The CCs held 15 troop units and had a valkyrie. We pulled the CC, got the valk all the way to the edge of the map, then dropped 3 hog riders in the CC to take out the ADs. The valks took out the hog riders (why don't they ever defend themselves???) but not before they did their job and took out the AD. At that point, the balloons were deployed tactically, holding back on a few for a more targeted cleanup. Both runs were tight (less than 10 seconds left on the clock) but both yielded three stars.

The Clash Maniac TH8 game was ranked #5; he pulled a 1 star on their #6 and a 3 star on their #4. The attacks were simply dragon attacks with hogs or balloons in the CC.

The rest was really just cleanup work. Our TH7s took some snipes at the TH9s but they couldn't even pull down a single star. My max TH8 was able to GoWiPe the #2 and #3 TH9s for 1 and 2 stars; one of the TH9s went back with BBQ dragons and took down their #3 TH9. A LOT of the games in this war are rushed bases, but about half are actually maxed. All three of the TH9s at the top are rushed and they've been hit for 2, 3, and 0 stars (1/2/3 respectively).

In each case, we ensure that our games have 1-3 strong war attacks for their particular TH level. We may be rushed, but we still like to win wars. :) The Clash Maniac TH8 has dragon attacks; the TH9 games have dragons, GoWiPe, and PentaLavaLoon. TH7s have dragons and dragon rider/hogon. TH5 has balloons and will likely continue to use balloons at TH6 with the addition of giant-healer. More oft than not, we go up against clans that are either rushed or engineered and they don't quite put the same focus on offense, so we tend to pull out wins. (Our loss a couple of days back was the first in four months.)

At this point, they've used up four of their top 3's six attacks. Their #1 and #2 have one attack left each, our #1 and #3 have 1 and 3 stars remaining, respectively. We have 5 of our attacks left with two of their bases remaining to three-star (2 stars on the board from them so far). I would anticipate them running their last two attacks and picking up 2 or 3 more stars; our goal is to grab the remaining 4 stars. The score is tied up at 56-56 with about 7 hours remaining. We'll finish up our attacks later this afternoon when the kids get home from school. (Family clan - we schedule around work and school.)

FWIW, I enjoy wars like this one. It really could go either way for us and it comes down to the wire most times like this - top couple three bases left, several hours remain, and just a few stars left on the board.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Noctaire

The last few wars have been pretty decent. Three back we went up a clan of rushed/engineered games and were outgunned at the top; thought for sure we would lose but the other clan did not run any attacks, so we won. Two back was less luck - we lost by *1* star, 28-29, in a 10v10 where we again drew a top heavy competitor. This seems to have been a common thread lately on 10v10 wars, so I went with a 20v20 this latest time around. The other clan looks to be dabbling with engineering their roster a bit. :) It's turned out to be a fairly exciting war. Here's the lineup, with the actual order of the bases (so you'll see where the engineered bases are located):

Us:

TH9 x 3
TH8 x 2
TH7 x 9
TH5 x 1
TH7 x 2
TH3 x 3

Them:

TH9 x 3
TH8 x 4
TH7 x 6
TH6 x 2
TH7 x 1
TH8 X 1
TH6 x 2
TH5 x 1

Our three TH3 bases are new minis; they're almost maxed after a week of working on them as much as possible. These games are being played with zero cash investment; while they're working their way up to TH7, they can keep our war weight down a while. I mention this because all three are being run as maxers and no $$$ will be invested. The TH7 defenseless and TH7 near defenseless (walls and level 8 cannon) were included as well as my near max TH5 (another mini).

The matchup itself is a bit lopsided in favor of our opponents' overall. The TH3 games didn't really have any attacks available to them this time around, but, hey - they're TH3 so what do you expect. It was easily recoverable though, as the middle section of TH7s had plenty of attacks left over to dip down.

The TH5 accorded itself very well - not only did it three star their TH5 but it took down one of their TH6 games as well. In both cases, the attacks were balloons. The real challenge was dealing with the CC troops and the AD. The CCs held 15 troop units and had a valkyrie. We pulled the CC, got the valk all the way to the edge of the map, then dropped 3 hog riders in the CC to take out the ADs. The valks took out the hog riders (why don't they ever defend themselves???) but not before they did their job and took out the AD. At that point, the balloons were deployed tactically, holding back on a few for a more targeted cleanup. Both runs were tight (less than 10 seconds left on the clock) but both yielded three stars.

The Clash Maniac TH8 game was ranked #5; he pulled a 1 star on their #6 and a 3 star on their #4. The attacks were simply dragon attacks with hogs or balloons in the CC.

The rest was really just cleanup work. Our TH7s took some snipes at the TH9s but they couldn't even pull down a single star. My max TH8 was able to GoWiPe the #2 and #3 TH9s for 1 and 2 stars; one of the TH9s went back with BBQ dragons and took down their #3 TH9. A LOT of the games in this war are rushed bases, but about half are actually maxed. All three of the TH9s at the top are rushed and they've been hit for 2, 3, and 0 stars (1/2/3 respectively).

In each case, we ensure that our games have 1-3 strong war attacks for their particular TH level. We may be rushed, but we still like to win wars. :) The Clash Maniac TH8 has dragon attacks; the TH9 games have dragons, GoWiPe, and PentaLavaLoon. TH7s have dragons and dragon rider/hogon. TH5 has balloons and will likely continue to use balloons at TH6 with the addition of giant-healer. More oft than not, we go up against clans that are either rushed or engineered and they don't quite put the same focus on offense, so we tend to pull out wins. (Our loss a couple of days back was the first in four months.)

At this point, they've used up four of their top 3's six attacks. Their #1 and #2 have one attack left each, our #1 and #3 have 1 and 3 stars remaining, respectively. We have 5 of our attacks left with two of their bases remaining to three-star (2 stars on the board from them so far). I would anticipate them running their last two attacks and picking up 2 or 3 more stars; our goal is to grab the remaining 4 stars. The score is tied up at 56-56 with about 7 hours remaining. We'll finish up our attacks later this afternoon when the kids get home from school. (Family clan - we schedule around work and school.)

FWIW, I enjoy wars like this one. It really could go either way for us and it comes down to the wire most times like this - top couple three bases left, several hours remain, and just a few stars left on the board.

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I love competitive wars like that, though losing them can be a real stomach punch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Noctaire

So...it's been a while. The Clash Maniac account continues to progress, albeit more slowly as it is now an active war monger along with the rest of the clan. :)

Between regular clan wars (on our third this week) and the slower progression of the upper levels, progress is "slow and steady". Since I'm focused on war right now, I decided to take the game into a different progress plan - I'm focusing on storages and resource collectors at the moment.

As you might recall, I don't put a whole lot of emphasis on resource collectors very early on because I do a lot of raiding. As such, their primary job is to slow down enemy troops and once they get around level 8, they do just fine at that. Level 9 and up...nice to get the extra resources, but it takes a LOT of days to max. The Level 9 upgrade is 2 days, level 10 is 3 days, and level 11 is 4 days; that's 9 days for each of 12 collectors, not to mention the time and resources required to upgrade the DE drills. As I see it, that builder time is better spent elsewhere.

Since I'm warring, though, I have a little extra time and I'm getting them all upgraded. Most are up to level 10 at this point; I have just three more gold mines to upgrade, and they'll start in the next 2D9H. :p

In the meantime, I've focused on the standard/sub-standard upgrade path - upgrade offense. BK is at level 6; CC is at level 4 (holds 25 troop units); Laboratory is level 6 and dragons have already been upgraded; the second dark barracks is down and both will start upgrading just as soon as I'm done with the resource collectors.

I tend to run clan wars in cycles - we war for a month or so, almost non-stop, then back off for a month to run through upgrades. You can get a lot of upgrades done in a month with 5 builders. Point is - even while rushing, you can still enjoy clan wars; you just have to balance the two...work on some low cost, easy upgrades while you focus on war.

The last few wars have been pretty decent. Three back we went up a clan of rushed/engineered games and were outgunned at the top; thought for sure we would lose but the other clan did not run any attacks, so we won. Two back was less luck - we lost by *1* star, 28-29, in a 10v10 where we again drew a top heavy competitor. This seems to have been a common thread lately on 10v10 wars, so I went with a 20v20 this latest time around. The other clan looks to be dabbling with engineering their roster a bit. :) It's turned out to be a fairly exciting war. Here's the lineup, with the actual order of the bases (so you'll see where the engineered bases are located):

Us:

TH9 x 3
TH8 x 2
TH7 x 9
TH5 x 1
TH7 x 2
TH3 x 3

Them:

TH9 x 3
TH8 x 4
TH7 x 6
TH6 x 2
TH7 x 1
TH8 X 1
TH6 x 2
TH5 x 1

Our three TH3 bases are new minis; they're almost maxed after a week of working on them as much as possible. These games are being played with zero cash investment; while they're working their way up to TH7, they can keep our war weight down a while. I mention this because all three are being run as maxers and no $$$ will be invested. The TH7 defenseless and TH7 near defenseless (walls and level 8 cannon) were included as well as my near max TH5 (another mini).

The matchup itself is a bit lopsided in favor of our opponents' overall. The TH3 games didn't really have any attacks available to them this time around, but, hey - they're TH3 so what do you expect. It was easily recoverable though, as the middle section of TH7s had plenty of attacks left over to dip down.

The TH5 accorded itself very well - not only did it three star their TH5 but it took down one of their TH6 games as well. In both cases, the attacks were balloons. The real challenge was dealing with the CC troops and the AD. The CCs held 15 troop units and had a valkyrie. We pulled the CC, got the valk all the way to the edge of the map, then dropped 3 hog riders in the CC to take out the ADs. The valks took out the hog riders (why don't they ever defend themselves???) but not before they did their job and took out the AD. At that point, the balloons were deployed tactically, holding back on a few for a more targeted cleanup. Both runs were tight (less than 10 seconds left on the clock) but both yielded three stars.

The Clash Maniac TH8 game was ranked #5; he pulled a 1 star on their #6 and a 3 star on their #4. The attacks were simply dragon attacks with hogs or balloons in the CC.

The rest was really just cleanup work. Our TH7s took some snipes at the TH9s but they couldn't even pull down a single star. My max TH8 was able to GoWiPe the #2 and #3 TH9s for 1 and 2 stars; one of the TH9s went back with BBQ dragons and took down their #3 TH9. A LOT of the games in this war are rushed bases, but about half are actually maxed. All three of the TH9s at the top are rushed and they've been hit for 2, 3, and 0 stars (1/2/3 respectively).

In each case, we ensure that our games have 1-3 strong war attacks for their particular TH level. We may be rushed, but we still like to win wars. :) The Clash Maniac TH8 has dragon attacks; the TH9 games have dragons, GoWiPe, and PentaLavaLoon. TH7s have dragons and dragon rider/hogon. TH5 has balloons and will likely continue to use balloons at TH6 with the addition of giant-healer. More oft than not, we go up against clans that are either rushed or engineered and they don't quite put the same focus on offense, so we tend to pull out wins. (Our loss a couple of days back was the first in four months.)

At this point, they've used up four of their top 3's six attacks. Their #1 and #2 have one attack left each, our #1 and #3 have 1 and 3 stars remaining, respectively. We have 5 of our attacks left with two of their bases remaining to three-star (2 stars on the board from them so far). I would anticipate them running their last two attacks and picking up 2 or 3 more stars; our goal is to grab the remaining 4 stars. The score is tied up at 56-56 with about 7 hours remaining. We'll finish up our attacks later this afternoon when the kids get home from school. (Family clan - we schedule around work and school.)

FWIW, I enjoy wars like this one. It really could go either way for us and it comes down to the wire most times like this - top couple three bases left, several hours remain, and just a few stars left on the board.

---

TH3 s? Are they burner accounts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darkshades

TH3 s? Are they burner accounts?

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Nope - I don't do that kind of thing; no need to do so. They're just new accounts started about a week ago. We had 17 players opted in so rather than taking 2 out, I opted those three in. They're almost maxed; I'll take them to TH4 this weekend. I'm evening them up now so all three can run the same upgrade path (easier to manage). They'll get to TH7 then stay there a while, and a couple of TH7 games will go to TH8 in our next upgrade cycle. I also want to do a couple of games maxi-rushed without any $$$ investment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bryanw1995

[/FONT]
I love competitive wars like that, though losing them can be a real stomach punch.

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LOL Yeah...the one we lost a couple of days ago was a real heartbreaker.

Us

1 Near max TH8 (about a dozen walls left)
2 Max TH7
3 Max TH7
4 Max TH7
5 Near max TH7
6 near max TH7
7 Near max TH7
8 TH7 near defenseless (level 6 walls), level I cannon)
9 Near max TH5
10 TH7 Defenseless

Them

1 Max TH8
2 Near max TH8
3 New TH8
4 TH7
5 TH7
6 TH7
7 Rushed TH8 (low defenses)
8 TH6
9 TH6
10 TH5

Their bottom 8 were three starred, and our TH7s managed to get two stars on each of their top two. That's where things got a little iffy.

We ran a bunch of different TH7, dragon based attacks on their top two, especially their #2. This included mass dragons with balloons, max hog riders, and max miners in the CC as well as some hogon attacks with max hogs in the CC. Mixed bag of results, but only two stars in the end.

On their maxed TH8 (#1 slot) regular attacks weren't making it into the core or staying alive long enough to take down the CC, so I brought dragons in from the top, then dropped the CC with miners after the dragons cleared most of the top half. One miner survived a battle with the BK and made it over to the TH to take it down for the second star. It seems like the miner AI prefers to go off to the sides rather than straight into the middle, regardless of what is actually closest.

Our TH5 came SO close to a one star on their #2 TH8 by hitting junk buildings on the outside perimeter. 48% and the last archers were shot down with a sliver of red left on two different structures. So close! LOL

We'd had zero luck with their number 2 base; I hit it with a GoVaHo and everything that could go wrong did, so that was a two star. That left just ONE more attack and it was against their max TH8 in the number 1 slot. If I nailed it, we would tie and win on the percentage.

I ran the GoVaHo, but I lured the CC first. Everything went textbook, even hit the first DGB with my kill squad. Then the valks found the other DGB. 94% two star. There were just a few buildings left, but not enough clean up troops to finish them off in the little time that remained. Of course, it did not help matters any that the BK and golem just sat there pounding on walls until a hog took out what they were trying to get to...and then they found yet another wall to pound on. <Sigh>

Final score was 28-29 and, as I mentioned, our first loss in 4 months. The real kicker - it left us just 20 Clan XP away from finally hitting level 4. Naturally, there was only one option - I had to start our third war of the week. <Grin>

Both wars were actually pretty exciting, and even the mid-to-lower levels had some tense moments. The opposing clan on the current war had three TH7 attacks come down to the final few seconds on the clock; I was watching live and their dragons or BK JUST finished off the last structure in time to grab the three star, or that LAST dragon was down to just a sliver of health when he dropped the final archer tower and took out the last couple of resource buildings for the win.

My audio gear finally arrived the other day - FocusRite Scarlett Solo Studio (2nd gen). I'm going to set it up and start doing some war recaps to put up on YouTube, as well as include these on the blog (just as soon as I have this project for work done and have the time to get the blog running...). Of course, no replays from these two wars; today's maintenance wiped out the replays. <Groan>

I've FINALLY gotten the core updates on the Clash Maniac game moved over to the blog and I'll be writing regular content going forward. There's also an update there as well. Please visit...

Noc's Clash Journal

...for more! Here's the latest and greatest....

------------------------------------------------------------------------

To all following - my apologies for the delays in moving the "Journal of a Rusher" content over to the new blog. It's taken a while to find the time to resume my regular blogging activities. (Life intrudes....)

By way of an update - the Clash Maniac account is now at TH8, and has been for some time. It is progressing just fine, but slowly. This is not unexpected; after all, the higher town hall levels have significantly longer wait times on upgrades and there's much more to upgrade. Of course, it doesn't help that I started a monthlong run of back to back clan wars, getting us to a level 4 clan and a third of the way to level 5. :)

I started the, "Journal of a Rusher" on May 23rd; that is 120 days ago. Today, the Clash Maniac account has the below stats. I've shifted back into building mode on all of my games, including this one. Anyone interested in seeing the current game set of Divergent Void, feel free to look us up - our clan tag is #P8CGRG0C.

In the days to come, I'll be branching out on this blog to discuss recent wars, strategies, CC troops, army compositions, and other topics of interest. Now that I have the journal caught up, I expect to be writing regular content each week. Stay tuned!

End of Day 120:

Town Hall X 1 - Level 8
Builder’s Hut X 5
Barbarian King - Level 8

Gold Storage X 3 - Level 11 (Maxed)
Elixir Storage X 3 - Level 11 (Maxed)
Dark Elixir Storage X 1 - Level 3
Gold Mines X 6 - Level 11 X 4, Level 10 X 2
Elixir Collectors X 6 - Level 11 X 4, Level 10 X 2
Dark Elixir Drill X 2 - Level 1 and Level 2

Clan Castle X 1 - Level 4 (Maxed)
Army Camps X 4 - Level 6 (Maxed)
Barracks X 4 - Level 9
Dark Barracks X 2 - Level 2
Laboratory X 1 - Level 6 (Maxed)
Barbarians - Level 5 (Maxed)
Archers - Level 4
Giants - Level 4
Goblins - Level 4
Wall-breakers - Level 4
Balloons - Level 3
Wizards - Level 4
Healer - Level 3
Dragon - Level 3 (Maxed)
Lightning spell - Level 5 (Maxed)
Healing spell - Level 3
Rage spell - Level 4
Poison spell - Level 1
Earthquake spell - Level 2
Minions - Level 1
Hog Riders - Level 1
Spell Factory - Level 3 (Maxed)
Dark Spell Factory - Level 2 (Maxed)

Cannon X 5 - 4 @ Level 9, 1 @ Level 10 (2 UC to L10)
Archer Tower X 5 - Level 8
Wizard Tower X 3 - Level 4
Mortar X 4 - Level 5
Air Defense X 3 - Level 5
Air Sweeper - Level 3
Hidden Tesla X 3 - Level 3
Air Bomb X 4 - Level 3 (Maxed)
Seeking Air Mine X 2 - Level 1 (Maxed)
Giant Bomb X 3 - Level 2
Spring Trap X 6 - Level 2
Bomb X 6 - Level 4
Skeleton Trap X 2 - Level 1
Walls X 175 - 187 @ L6, 38 @ L7

Interesting Blog Noctaire, it shows an entirely different side of the game from the one I started organically years ago (and probably not too smartly).
120 days, that's great coverage for the early game. Good luck on your YouTube. :thumbsup:

Rush away to TH9 and start upgrading queen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Billius

Interesting Blog Noctaire, it shows an entirely different side of the game from the one I started organically years ago (and probably not too smartly).
120 days, that's great coverage for the early game. Good luck on your YouTube. :thumbsup:

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I hope so. Rushing gets a bad wrap because there are so many who don't understand how to do so strategically. The goal from the beginning was to show how rushing smart works well for both getting to the end game and even for clan wars.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by afako

Rush away to TH9 and start upgrading queen.

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LOL I will soon. I spent WAY too much time in clan wars, to the detriment of my game's development. I lost easily 30+ days of development time. On the plus side, we won a lotta wars. :p My other games progressed well though, including my TH9s.

At at this point, I'm just looking forward to getting the blog and YouTube channel up and running in the next week. I have my audio gear, a bunch of topics...now I just need the discipline to write and record....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Noctaire

I hope so. Rushing gets a bad wrap because there are so many who don't understand how to do so strategically. The goal from the beginning was to show how rushing smart works well for both getting to the end game and even for clan wars.

LOL I will soon. I spent WAY too much time in clan wars, to the detriment of my game's development. I lost easily 30+ days of development time. On the plus side, we won a lotta wars. :p My other games progressed well though, including my TH9s.

At at this point, I'm just looking forward to getting the blog and YouTube channel up and running in the next week. I have my audio gear, a bunch of topics...now I just need the discipline to write and record....

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Nice, following your blog now. Really nice seeing the way you narrate your thoughts, while I tend to present facts with my opinions

Everyone else:
https://clashguideswithdusk.wordpres...al-th9-day-54/
Finally my TH9 is a mid TH9, do see how I progress. See that how I can almost max heroes with little down time and able to have maxed TH9 offenses so quick into the game. I'm 2 days shy of being a 4 month old account, but I already have 13/15 royals and a decent TH9 player.

Another clan I joined with this account had players completely clueless and like the maxers in the forums. The only thing they judge are my TH4-5 defenses while ignoring my troops, walls and heroes. Needless to say, I've quit that clan and joined another one