How to Win Without Spending Real Money

The developers over at Supercell finally released an update that makes readjusting your Clash of Clans village way easier - especially, if you're working with an iPhone and not an iPad. As you upgrade your Town Halls, earn more trophies and get raided, you'll constantly find yourself restructuring your village. They've also thrown in a new inventory system so that you can clear your entire village layout all at once and start from scratch. Most importantly, you can lay down walls simply by dragging your finger. No more dropping walls one piece at a time. Thank the heavens.With the quality of life boosted in Clash of Clans world, we've come up with a guide to help you get started and spend as little real money as possible.

Ever since my family turned Clash of Clans into a family event, it’s become something of a Game of Thrones war: House Lannister versus the North. Actually, that analogy stopped working when I realized that my sister was Cersei, my brother Jamie, my nephew Joffrey and myself Tyrion. Which made the whole Cersei vs. Jamie thing especially awkward whenever I saw my sister and my brother together. So, lets call it the Gold Cloaks vs. the North.My sister and a few other friends are big IAP folks, who have no patience and like to fund company outings for Supercell. Myself, I proclaim the Iron Born banner, “We do not sow.” In this guide, I’m going to walk you through several ways to actively enjoy months of Clash of Clans action, IAP free.

The first time you see someone with four builder huts in his/her village, especially when they’re still in Bronze or Silver League, you immediately know one thing: they’re gold cloaks. Beware. Jealousy can cost you. Building in Clash of Clans takes time and patience. But you don’t need to buy a bag-of-gems like a bucket-of-chicken at Popeyes to have a good time.Achievements are your friends and you can wear them like a badge of honor through the Game Center. Just ask Lady Catelyn Stark, who’s calling your name on the top left corner of the screen (come on, you can’t tell me you don’t see the similarity, right?). Focus on earning achievements and reaping the gem rewards.

When you earn the “Sweet Victory” Achievement at 1250 trophies, you will be awarded with a hearty 250 gems. That combined with a little cleanup of trees, rocks, logs and mushrooms will help you to get your third builder hut. Along the way, you’ll get 10 to 50 gems here and there that you should conserve for the fourth hut. Also, work towards knocking out some of the easier upgrade achievements first, such as upgrading your Gold Storage, Busting down Walls with Skeletons, and unlocking the Dragon.Thanks to the new “League All-Star” Achievement, you will also get 250 gems when you enter Crystal League. This will help you to nail that fourth builder hut the Gold Cloaks bought the minute they started playing. Don’t worry, getting to Crystal League isn’t too hard with a little help. We’ll get to that in just a bit.

Also, donate troops whenever you get the chance to unlock the “Friend in Need” achievement. You can only donate five troops, but your actually donation tally is based on Housing Spaces. So donating Giants works great. Dragons become a little more costly and time consuming to donate, but I’ll always try to have one ready. Donating troops is a lot of fun, especially since your clan can share replays now, which show off your troop support.