The big update to Clash of Clans is out, and its an interesting one. In short, you now have a second base to build that has new rules, including how attacking works. Its almost like SuperCell created a sequel to CoC, only they put the new game INSIDE the old game. Very strange, but it also makes sense in a lot of ways.

The new base is really a mix of all the lessons learned from Boom Beach, Clash of Clans, and Clash Royale. You have a single builder like in BB, and army camps function like boats in terms of having one type of troop per camp. The theme is still CoC, as are the graphics, though everything has a slightly different look. Attacking is now head to head like in CR, so you match up with someone, they attack your base and you attack theirs, whoever has the highest % wins. You can’t skip opponents/bases like you can in old CoC. You only lose trophies for a loss, not resources, and gaining resources from winning is capped. Once you win a certain number of times, you can’t gain more loot for that day, similar to how you can’t get more chests in CR until a spot opens up. Also the amount of loot you get per win is based on your trophies, rather than how much your opponent currently has.

Of course all timers can be skipped via spending gems, so this version of CoC has far more ‘opportunities’ to spend then the old one. Reddit is having a crying fit over this, but it will pass as nothing I’ve seen so far is too punishing; at most its similar to CR, and I think everyone playing CR at this point has accepted the pace and systems. The most jarring initially is the cap on loot from winning, because at the start you can attack back-to-back really fast, so you hit that cap very quickly. And since you are also upgrading fast, you run out of resources quickly early on. It feels bad initially, but again much like in CR, its more of a bad first impression than a real long-term problem. If we assume the attacking cap is 3 wins per day, that’s about as often as I attack in old CoC today, so really, not a huge change.

The only carryover from the new base to the old is that, once your new base hits a certain level, you have the option to change some of your old base defenses into the new style. The only item that is currently available in this format is the cannon; you can turn the current single cannon into a multi-cannon from the new base, which fires more shots in short order, and then has a longer reload. I can’t say yet if its outright better, or just different. I’m hoping the balance is such that its an option and better when used well, rather than outright better and an automatic upgrade when its available. We shall see.

Overall the update is good, though not as good as adding Boom Beach-style clan operations to CoC would have been IMO. More thoughts to come as I dig further into the new base and its playstyle.