Is the loot in the collectors or storages?
We've all been there. You find a base with nice juicy loot. You attack and make your way to the center of the base and destroy all the storages. You look up at the loot available and realize it's all in the collectors. Now you're out of troops and feel dumb.
I realized I've gotten better at this over time. A lot of it was subconcious so I gave it some thought and came up with a list of ways that I use to decide. Here's my list:
Look at the graphic of the storages and collectors
Although this is what many of us look at first, it is horribly unreliable. The graphic for the storage will read empty until it's about 20% full. That means for a L11 storage, it can hold up to 400K and still look like it's empty. On the other hand a full storage always means there's a significant amount of loot there. You can sometimes get a better idea by looking at the lower level storages. For example a L9 storage can only hold up to 100K until it's graphic changes. Unfortunately most players either max out their storage level or keep them very low.
To complicate matters, the collectors have a glitch where sometimes they appear empty when they are actually full (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tafhk3-NqnU&t=1m35s) (credit flammy). For TH8+, you can use the dark elixir drill as it's the most reliable indicator of uncollected resources (credit Hannibal).
Look at the loot numbers themselves
- "even" (for example 60,000/75,000) loot levels usually means it's all in the collectors. This is someone who has been raided multiple times and hasn't collected so there is a neglible amount in the storages. Sometimes it may read 60,001 as there may be a small amount still in the storages
- loot more than 200K (+/- TH penalty/bonus). Anything more than the maximum loot raidable from the storages must be in the collectors. Sounds like common sense, but when I was a noob I can't tell you how many times I saw a 400K/300K base, get excited and without thinking charge at the storages. Bottom line is don't get excited, realize anything above 200K (AT LEAST that much) must be in the collectors and think before you attack.
- discrepant loot levels. Sometimes you'll see someone with a lot of gold and very little elixir (200K/10K) or vice versa. This usually means all the loot is in the storages. Why? This usually indicates an active player who has just recently upgraded something (hence the discrepant levels). Since they are active, they likely have collected. The converse is not reliable. If the loot levels are equal, you really cannot say where the loot is.
Try to isolate 1 collector/mine
This is probably the most reliable method. Try to find a collector/mine that is unprotected by defenses (even if they are all defended, you only need 1 swipe to tell). Send an archer in to attack the collector/mine. With each swipe, see how much the loot level decreases. Multiply this amount by 150-200 and that's how much is in all the collectors. For example if each swipe yields 100 resource, you're looking at 15K-20K in the collectors. 500 then 75K-100K. 1000 then 150K-200K. This only gives you a rough estimate. The exact factor you need to multiply by depends on the level of your archer, the levels of all the mines relative to the one your attacking, etc. This also assumes that a player will collect all/none of the collectors/mines simultaneously and also their gold/elixir collectors are roughly the same level. I suppose if you are trying to fool someone you could just collect from all the collectors except one that you leave exposed intentionally. I have yet to see anyone do this, although I hope I didn't give you any ideas.
Look for signs of inactivity
- no league assignment
- empty x-bow
- obstacles not cleared
- no builders upgrading
- tombstones indicating previous attacks (not as reliable)
Note this will also tell you how likely their CC is full.
As an example, I just came across a base with 180K gold/160K elixir. Everything looked empty; there were obstacles uncleared and tombstones. I used the 3rd technique and was getting about 500 per swipe. I knew this meant it was about 1/2 in the storage and 1/2 in the collectors. I knew I had to get all the collectors AND storages if I wanted all of it. Fortunately the collectors were relatively unprotected. Result: I got 100% of the available gold and most of the elixir.
A lot of these aren't reliable individually, but taken together you can usually get a good idea. Hope you learned something and please add to the list if you know of another way.
Originally Posted by DKStus
