Base Preparation

**I.  Base Preparation**

Preparation - Available Space for your Base

Assess the space you have available versus the space you may think you need to build you base design.

Chances are that when you read this article, you already have a base.  Assess if the available space is sufficient for all your buildings, roads, walls, and other items you need to place.  Decide whether you want to build the base for your current needs or also want to be able to accommodate future needs.  You may also to decide to wait with the base building until you have cleared more forest space.

Now think about general design principles for your base.  The design principles need to work for both, Town Base and War Base, as forest expansion is the same for both bases.

The main design principles in the example on the right are:

- **Non-traditional design**

Opponents are used to see square or rectangular bases.  That makes it easier and quicker to decide on an attack strategy.  For your Town Base it means that it is more likely that a potential attacker will skip your base and move on to attack an easier target for raiding and looting.  For war attacks it means that there is a higher chance of attackers not paying attention and overseeing an important aspect of your base, which may cost them stars or even the victory they could have achieved otherwise.

- **Long Ways**

When attackers are facing long ways, it at a minimum slow them down and might cost them the “total destruction” star. However, it may also force them to split their attack force into two or more subgroups.  In that case, it may cost them the victory altogether.  The example base above has maximum forest expansion in all four corners of the map.  Placing something in every corner means that the attackers army must travel long ways to cover all ground and destroy every building.  Often army compositions are either heavy on the high damage (DPS) side, in which case the army travels much slower (think Heavy Tanks, most Generals), or the army composition is heavy on the high quantity of troops side (think foot soldiers, raiders, battle tanks), in which case the army travels fast but takes much longer destroying buildings with high hitpoints.

-         **“Hidden Forbidden City (FC) or other surprises in the map corners**

The best hiding place for the FC is the southwest corner of the map.  Many attackers with less experience oversee that the FC is placed by itself on the lower left corner.  In that case, the attack strategy does not include the FC and lead to missing the Quick Victory star.  It might also lead to missing the total destruction star as towards the end of the battle the opponent finally realizes that there is a FC and the remaining troops are too far away to destroy the FC before the time runs out.  If you don’t have the FC, you can also place high hitpoints buildings in corners, especially in the southwest corner.  The oil refinery for example is a high hitpoints building.  Alternatively, when you have the respective library skill, place a building in the corner that spawns troops after destruction.  For example, the factory spawns a Heavy Tank.

Preparation – Know your Buildings and other Base Components

(article coming soon)