Wednesday 5 November 2014

The War Ladder

We are a war clan, but we never really talk much about what we expect from members or *why* we expect certain things.

First, we expect activity. This typically means donations, but being active means you'll also be kept up to date on any discussions taking place and decisions made in chat. A case in point is the transfer of members in and out of the clan --either to join us for war or to prevent little baby bases from dragging us down in war. If you know you're going to be inactive for a few days please warn us in advance - especially if you're going to miss attacks in war.

Second, we expect lower level players to get their attacks in early during war. When we were at 15 members this wasn't really a problem because we had fewer options on who would be attacking whomever. At 20 members it has occasionally led to problems. In this war with 30 members it could lead to mass confusion. Our bottom 10 need to get those attacks in early - remember, you should be trying for 3 stars with your first attack. We're going to need 3 stars from every one of those lower bases - so anything less than 3 just means another member is going to have to cleanup.

So, what's a #27 or #28 player - or any player really - to do when there's nothing on the map they can 3-star? Ask higher level players in chat is a good start. They may suggest you try a practice attack, they may tell you to get a star on a good loot base, or they may have you attempt to get a star on a very high base that we think we're not going to get 2 on anyways.

Mid-level players get kind of screwed. Do they hold both attacks until the lower players have shaped the map? Do they attack early so that higher level players see how the war is shaping up. Do they attack low, do they attack their opposite number, do they attack high? And why the hell are their goblins in my War CC again? ED !!!

In reality mid-level players are the clean-up crew. The bottom is where ever the lower players set it. In our last war they couldn't 3 star #14, So mike (#7 on the ladder) had to attack and 3-star it. Notice that 14 is two times 7 - mike's place in the ladder and two is the number of attacks we each have. This leads to another way of thinking of war, instead of bottom-up, let's think of it top-down. If we went strictly by the ladder, with no mistakes, then:
#1 attacks 1 and 2
#2 attacks 3 and 4
#3 attacks 5 and 6
....
#7 attacks 13 and 14 (so #14 was really mike's responsibility all along)
....
#14 attacks 27 and 28
#15 attacks 29 and 30

With only 30 bases in the war, the lower half of the ladder would never have to use an attack. In other words, all wars are lost by the top half of the ladder! Yep, the only reason we need the bottom half is because we know the top half is going to have some screwups :)

What we also see from this is that on the top half of the ladder attacking your opposite number is really a poor decision unless you're at or near the very top of the ladder. The lower on the ladder you are the further from your opposite number is where your real responsibility lies. Near the bottom of the ladder it's obviously different. But as pointed out - any 3 stars we get from them are gravy.

Of course the ladder is based on defensive ability. Offensive ability doesn't always follow the ladder. TH level is a good indication of offensive capability, the main difference between TH levels is the number of spells available. And of course some people are also better at attacking than others. So the ladder is a general guideline - not a hard and fast rule.

Against TH10 bases it's often not possible to get 2 stars, much less 3. Sometimes a decision is made to not waste an attack on a top base. Or the decision might be made to have a lower level player try to get 50% for one star, thus saving the top player's attacks for better targets.

What really screws things up though is when a mid-level player gets one or two stars in an early attack on a base that needs to be 3-starred. If at #11 in this war I use my first attack on their #11 and only get 2 stars it's probably just a wasted attack. Why didn't I attack somewhere closer to where my real responsibility lies (#s 21 and 22)? If you know - absolutely KNOW - you can get a 3-star on a higher base, then fine. No one is going to complain - at least not too loudly. But if you fuck up be prepared to be looked at as a moron :)

Hey, we all make mistakes and we want this to be fun. But it's no fun losing either. So if you're on the top half of the ladder don't go grabbing one star or two stars from a higher base early in a war and think you've done something good - it usually just means you've left a base for someone else to cleanup.

Feel free to criticize, disagree and call me names :)

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