Boom Beach Base Design Guide

Boom Beach Base Design Guide by GARAT

1.0. Defense and what’s it all about

Defense is not the most fun part of the game by far, but you CAN make it interesting .It is an important part of the game as it helps you develop your base faster by keeping your resources safer from raiders.

1.1. Wrong Expectations…

It would be wrong to expect that with good base design you can be completely safe from raiders. Boom Beach is extremely attack oriented . Therefore, attack will by default – trump defense. There are exceptions to this rule . Expecting to be come on top every time, is unrealistic.
Also , expecting this text gives all the answers is unwise. I will make the best effort ,promise.

1.2 Correct ones

Expecting to kill at least a portion of the attacking force is solid. It’s in fact standard. That’s what we are aiming for. Complete defense relies on other peoples’ mistakes and is seldom found. Either the attacker doesn’t attack at all , or quits after throwing a couple of barrages and seeing the unsatisfactory results . What I just described IS defense – he scouted your base and didin’t attack . But to have him attack AND loose is , indeed rare .
It is so rare it even has an achievement in the game .

2.0. The 4 Skill lvls of Attackers

Boom beach is a pretty balanced game in terms of attack vs defense . Ok, the scale is tipped in the “attack” direction with the game mechanic itself (later on that) and statues.
Attacker has soo many options to help him destroy your base, and you have so few. But not all is lost. Those options need skill to use. And as you progress from HQ lvl to HQ lvl, attackers’ skill will increase . Later on that, let’s first examine the 4 basic attacker skill lvls…

2.1. The Unskilled Attacker

He may know how to play, may have a solid army ,still he looks like an amateur ; Reasons for his current state are numerous :
– he is on a long raid , had a few mishaps and time is working against him so he rushes
– he is sloppy
– he is trying a new army out
– he is new (and used a lot of diamonds to get to where he is)
– he is tired (it’s late at night )
– he is overconfident
– he is curious
– he is a defensive player by nature
– he is not aggressive enough
– he makes harsh decisions

To make your base work against him it needs to raise a few questions , and ask a few questions (I’ll explain later ) He is not prepared , but will improve with time, but you will face him only until he beats you or finds a new opponent …moving on…

2.2. Unsupported Attacker

Those attackers have an army that unfortunately for them is not supported by their base that best possible way. He does know what should be done, but doesn’t have the tools for the job. Lucky for you.
Examples of this would be a Tmed force with few GBE, Hooka army with weak Artillery / Barrage, or a Grenadier army with undeveloped LCs that carry only 2 Grenadiers each (instead of 3 ) . To defend against this player you need to have a base that is sort of (up to a point ) designed against his specific army – and let the game mechanic work for you….

2.3 Solid Attacker

Knows what he is doing, knows how to do it and most importantly- knows what NOT to do. He WILL take your resources, no question about it. For what price ? It’s a game of cat and mice , whit him being the cat. But it is possible to gain intel and diamonds out of this deal – so we have to make an effort.

3.3. Hardcore M-O-F-O

He is boosted every day. He is ready . He doesn’t wait.
Moving on , this guy will be chasing the Leaderboards sooner then later – and there is no chance you’re stopping him. Don’t feel bad if he wins. Some fish are just big,really,really BIG !!!
He might make a mistake, you might get lucky…

I’ve narrowed all possible attackers into 4 basic categories, by their threat lvl. They do not represent the entire playing community by any means . I will make another ,different list of attackers later in the text.
Why? We will specifically talk about HOW exactly people attack , what they use and how to defend against it. This will mean our 4 basic attacker categories will get mixed up and go from one groop.
For example an Unskilled Attacker ( who is trying out a new army, but has a great Gun Boat) turns out to be a Hardcore M…if your base has lower lvl towers that are there to stop your army – the gun boat destroys them before landing .

4.0. Gun Boat Army Support – aka , the Tools

An army is made or broken by it’s support. Good army support makes the attack easier, bad support makes it ,against the right (or shall we say WRONG? ) base much harder. Then and only then is attacker skill tested.
Attackers need to show superior skill if their army isn’t supported well, and supported against YOUR base. One type of support is good against one type of base, but bad against another .

4.1. Fire Support

Fire support does exactly what it says on the box – it destroys stuff. Barrage and Artillery. Any base that has key buildings undeveloped and unbuffed by the Building Health Master Piece is going down against an, otherwise average player with an average army.
Examples are many – but the best example is a Hooka army or a Tmed army that simply destroys your Boom cannons before landing and still has enough GBE for shocks, medkits etc.
Fire support makes EVERY army better. BHMP evens it out .Defense against it is to separate your key defensive turrets by 2 tiles from everything else. A barrage will then only hit THAT building and nothing else.

4.2. Smoke and Flare

This is a flanking device. The attacker will flare around some or all of your defenses and put smoke to cover his army while advancing. A favorite Warrior trick (they go directly for the HQ ). Tmed and Gmed users use it to go around defenses.
Minefields make this trick harder to pull off. Carefully placed Shock Launchers also help.

4.3. Medkit and Shock

This is used to heal your troops and stop defenses from firing . The former is used by Hooka players . The latter is used by EVERYONE.
The correct defense against Medkit doesn’t exist – but you can at least deprive you opponent from free GBE so he cannot use Medkit a LOT…and that helps.
Shock is trumped by BHMP, as it makes your buildings harder to destroy, so they might live on enough to cause some dmg when the shock passes. Shock can also be made less useful by spreading your buildings apart so not a lot of them can be hit at the same time.

5.0 Watching is Learning

Now that we talked about attacker skill and Gun boat support,let’s talk about the reports after the attack. Reading the aftermath report and watching the replay can really improve one’s defenses if you know what to look for.
I would strongly recommend watching some youtube videos too. I fact any videos except the ones by people sponsored by SC . So a series on how a guy is clearing his map is a good idea and a “All Troop XY Maxed anti Dr Terror raid” is not.
Those videos are cool, those people are cool and know how to play – but you have nothing to learn there. Their troops are maxed , and all but the last couple of Dr T lvls are no match .
But , on the other hand….it’s fun….LOL

Ok, back to the guide. First thing’s first…

5.0. Daily report

Every now and then , look at the daily report .You will find the number of opponents that scouted your base, the number of attackers , and the number of them that raided you..
The bigger the difference between scouts and attackers – the tougher your base is (later on that) . The bigger the difference between attacks and successful attacks the lesser the attacker effective skill of those attackers. (

5.1. Pop up on Your Map

IT gives you rough feedback on who the attacker was, what was his lvl ,his troops’ lvl and how where they supported. This can be really helpful.

5.1.Attacker lvl

First the obvious – if the attacker is 4 lvl higher then you are – you probably got your behind handed to you.
Don’t feel bad. Your VP was not low enough to avoid him. If he is the same lvl as you are, there is good info to be found there.

5.2. Troop types, numbers and lvl

Look carefully at the troop types and their lvls. Again , if they are extremely high – the opponent was too strong. If they are close to the levels that you have partially (or fully) stopped before – it’s time to look at the replay . Win or loose – watch it a few times. The numbers don’t lie. If you are constantly getting raided by the same army types (more or less) it means a few possible things:
– those opponent army types obviously feel that your base is easy for them
– other players avoid your base- and for a good reason

5.3. The Replay

All players want the same results. They want to take your base down with minimal casualties.Most likely, the ones that do will want to find the easiest way to do it. There’s a good chance that you might find a pattern if you look for it. If the same army types are defeating your base in a more or less same fashion – you just found something to work on.
Example: You are getting rolled over by Tmed , all the time. After you get mad, decide to quit, and are done with cursing SC for nerfing cannons ( and the rage is still on..LOL ) – you will spot the weakest point in your base defense. The one detail ,the one thing, that they ALL do is the one you should fix first.

5.4. Strong point and weak point

Every base has a weak point. The replay will show it, if you can find it. Perhaps (in the above Tmed example) tank armies are flanking your base constantly . Perhaps your Boom cannons are just too weak and go down to the first barrage. Or warriors are raiding you because your HQ has too few mines around it and is too close to the beach.
That weakest spot could be one single building too close to another. Or the whole base being too close or too far from the beach .
Strong point is the side of the base nobody (or few people ) touch(es). If your base has a VERY strong point, you are not balancing your defense enough. Too many towers or the stronger towers are protecting one side/aspect while another side is much weaker.
There is an exception to this – and that is you are doing it on purpose .

6.0. Typical setups

Now we will talk a bit about some very usual setups you can use. I intend to have pictures of actual bases later on (in the second post of this multi post guide) and will review them in detail.

Corner base

Pick a corner of your island. Put the HQ near it . Put a bunch of defensive stuff around it. You have given the attacker one side to freely roam on, while depriving him from the other. The advantage is that he cannot choose which side he is coming from . The drawback is that the “closed” side is weaker against smokey warriors.
Corner bases are popular on lvls that are “pre smoke”. If you know your attackers cannot field smokey warriors – this setup is a solid choice.

Beach base

Everything up front, with multiple weapons targeting the beach itself . Mortars and rockets also. Hq is in the middle of the island , with multiple weapons covering it. This setup is very good if you have enough towers. The number of towers is important as you don’t want the whole deal too stretched . You also want multiple weapons covering each other. Mines are placed in the possible path of warriors and some are surrounding the HQ .
This type is hard to take down with Hooka. As most weapons are firing on troops as they land – there’s a chance they might hit Zookas. I used this for a couple of months and Hooka attacks where rare and mostly with heavy casualties .
Warriors that are skilled eat this for breakfast.
Tmed will probably flank it.
Smithy 77: “Here’s another pointer for beach front bases, when you build a beach front, the main reason is to give the attacker minimal room for movement. What I’ve noticed is that hooka players, like you stated, have trouble taking down beach fronts. Another way to add to their misery is placing a mortar at the very front of the beach. The idea is the heavies trigger the mortar, it fires and actually hits the zookas because of the delay in launch to impact. I’ve tried it and it works. Just another idea thrown atcha ya!

Imposter Bob : Beach bases are effective against Grenadiers as well. Sniper upfront with sufficient upgrades should be able to target Gs easily and pick then off one by one. Discourages them to consider attacking bases like that.
Probably hoping you could protect your Gs huh? Not anymore

Middle base

Similar to the Beach base, but pulled a bit back. It gives the opponent some breathing room, but not a lot more. It sort of trades Beach bases warrior weakness for Hooka danger. Hooka has more space to deploy, the Heavies go first to attract Rockets and then Zookas deploy. It can be a trap – Heavies get a head start and are faster as it is so more are likely to die before zookas get there. If you put production waay back, tmed will be in trouble unless they are loaded with GBE. By the time they deploy and take out some stuff with GB, they might be pressed into some tough choices. That setup will give Tmed a run for their money if your cannons are high lvl .

Pulled back

The HQ is far,far back in the middle. Long ranged towers around it.Shorter range stuff up front. Production things as decoys. Tmed have a field day…warriors hate it. Hooka can handle it.

Square bases

Huge square of things . HQ somewhere in the back. This is a solid setup if you have lots of towers. Building HT MPs are a must here. With all the production stuff in the way (and it is free GBE) – if buildings go down easily – you are feeding the attacker.

There is no perfect setup.

6.1. Devil is in Details

This is all fine and dandy here on paper. What about some defensive tricks ?

“Boom mines behind things”-Those can either be placed behind tall buildings or behind statue MPs. Chances are, some will be overlooked and do dmg.
“Feeding” – you feed the attacker non defensive buildings to distract firepower of his troops on those buildings. Works great on lower lvls ,especially against low lvl Tmed and Hooka (up to a point) . Buildings will not only attract firepower, they also deprive the attacker of time . There is a drawback – every building he destroys gives him free GBE
“Starving”– contrary to feeding , you put only the defensive stuff up front – and deprive the attacker of the free energy. Better on higher lvls against mid lvl tanks and …maybe hooka.
Some armies are unsupported and rely on free GBE to support their attack.
“Minefield” – does exactly what it says on the box. Group the mines (not to close to each other) and you will force the opponent to either attack from the other side, or barrage the mines and waste GBE. Tmed ignores it. Hooka …what if the Zookas step on them? Warriors dont like them, but the HQ is unprotected with mines (but it could be far away) . Rifle spam hates it.
“Rockets from the side” – one rocket launcher on the far right , the other on the far left -with range to each other. They hit medics if you flank with Tmed. They hit Zookas if Hooka tries to flank (and it rarely does).
“Snipers up front”– Put 4 snipers on the beach. Grenadiers will have to barrage them to deploy.
“MGs around HQ” – Buffed MGs are just as dangerous to Warriors as flamers. Flamers are better at protecting flanks.
“The 2 tiles rule” – By looking ar your replays , you can surely see what people Barrage before they attack. 2 tiles around those things should be empty. Now barrage will only hit those things, and nothing else.
“Shocker distance” – Never put 2 of the following buildings close enough to each other so both can be hit by a single shock at the same time : Boom cannons ,Rocket launcher, Shock launchers.
“1 tile rule “ – no two buildings should EVER be in contact. That way no rocket can hit both. Same goes for Boom mines . Putting a boom mine next to a building is asking for it…
“ Boom starving” – Boom mines placed on flanks force the attacker to spend rockets destroying them if he wants to flank. See “1 tile rule” above…

This is pretty basic stuff, but any base can use it. Use it whenever you can. If I forgot a trick here and you can remember it – share it please !

6.2. “Rocket” Math

The biggest problem is that the important towers are the first to go .They are going down to barrage and artillery . Opponents often do not want to take any chances and use barrage to first deal with all towers of the type that is most dangerous to their army. Examples are Boom cannons against Tmed and Rockets against Hooka.
They will quit the attack if they cannot destroy those before landing. And repeat. And again.
Once they get it “right” , they carry on with the attack. Even if they do, those towers did their job -they took one for the team. Your best interest is that they do go down, but they don’t go down easily.
Or they will find a new opponent.

The two types of towers that are most often rocketed into oblivion before landing are Boom cannons and Rocket lauchers – and on the close 3rd spot, Shock launcher .
Upgrading them all to max lvl for your HQ is highly advisable . That , buy itself might cut the number of attackers in half . And will increase the number of intel and diamonds you gain.
Then we have the BH MP (Building Health Master Piece). This thing I already mentioned- but here is where it shines. Boom beach is pretty balanced in favor of offense until you add Statues. BHMP is THE STATUE that brings in the intel and diamonds.

The numbers are just an example, actual numbers are not as round.

A Boom cannon with 6000 hp (without BHMP) is going down to a single barrage (4500) plus one rocket (2000).
The attackers spends 10 GBE for Barrage and 3 for Artillery = 13 GBE total
If we add in a BHMP with +25% HT to the B.Cannon , it now has 1500 ht more, so 7500 HT total.
The attacker now has to spend 10 GBE for Barrage and 3 for the first Artt,5 for the second artt = 18 GBE total

What if the attacker needs to destroy 2 Boom cannons?
GBE spent Without (!) BHMP (single barrage + single rocket for each):
– first Boom cannon is 10 Barrage + 3 Rocket = 13
– second Boom cannon is 16 Barrage + 5 Rocket = 21
Total : 34 GBE

GBE spent With (!) BHMP (single barrage + 2 rockets each) :
– first Boom cannon 10 barrage + 3 rocket + 5 rocket = 18
– second Boom cannon 16 barrage + 7 rocket + 9 rocket = 32
Total : 50 GBE

The difference is very big . 16 GBE is a lot. I’m going back to the “2 tiles rule “ now. Those barrages really,really should only ever hit those things and nothing else- if you can help it.

Now that we’ve talked about Attacker skill lvls, Army support, gathering info with the Daily replays, common Base layouts – it is time we go deeper into defensive strategy .

1.0. The True Defensive Strategy

I used the word “Strategy” on purpose. Strategy is a concept of looking at things form a very broad point of view . It answers not only the questions like : “how to defend?” , but also
“why do it? “ , “what is the true benefit of it? “ and “ under which circumstances do we defend ?“.
This part of the text will seem like a step back, and it is . Have you ever asked yourself the following question :

What do I want from base defense ?

Obvious answer ( duh ) is : “ To defend my base” . I want to talk a bit deeper then that about this. This will greatly impact decision making from thispoint on. Most people never bother to ask this simple question, which is so important it will affect your overall success automatically without you ever lifting a finger .
The point is, there is more then one motive to defending your base. Not to blow my own horn, in my Base development guide I have classified all players (when it come to development that is ) as either farmers (people that build resource buildings) , predators (people that raid npcs and Dr T for loot) and Raiders (people that trash everything left and right) .
Each of those 3 (and everyone in between) types has his own agenda and defense should be a part of it. If you are farming resources and keeping you Vp low to have you base spawned to lower lvl players, your aim is NEVER to get raided.
If you are a Predator or Raider ( attack-loot- upgrade ) you don’t mind getting raided, but would like to kill as many offensive troops as you can, and gain intel and diamonds for it.

That choice is up to you.

Once you have made it, you can know for sure. I am NOT going to tell you what the best choice is (as we have 2 of them) – I do not know the answer for YOU (I only know for myself). Plus, my opinion is just that – and opinion.
What I will do, is list the pro’s and the con’s of “letting” and “not letting” your base get raided.
Getting raided :
– keeps your Vp low
– can earn you diamonds
– can earn you intel
– will cost you resources

Not getting raided:
– keeps your VP up
– can earn you diamonds
– can earn you intel
– will NOT cost you resources

One would think this is soo dumb and easy – the choice is easy. It’s not rocket science to realize that not getting raided is far better. Until we come to…

2.0. The Great Fortress

I tried giving it a cool name. You decided to not let your base get raided – EVER. You are keeping your VP lowish by not attacking anyone outside NPCs and Dr T (which gives you a +0 net total to your VP ) . Your defenses are AWESOME. You are spawned to guys that are at least an HQ lvl below you and they can only dream of raiding your base.
That is, until that one guy. On one hand you are keeping your resources – and while plentiful – you can only upgrade soo much in a period of time. What to do with all those resources kept while you wait for 16h for a semi major building to be finished?
Those extra leftover resources might be a motive for someone to store you on his map and leave you there until Dr T day , then boost and take it down . That is a specific example, but many players do that ( I know I do) . The major upgrades on your base will make people avoid your base. This will lead to you keeping your resources but missing on the intel and diamonds.
There are upsides , but everything comes at a cost in boom Beach.

2.1 Total Defense at all Cost

Defending your base at all costs is not an easy task . Before I go into great detail – one thing needs to be said here. Since there are many, many combinations of troops (a list too long to make..perhaps in a future guide? ) , we really do need ALL towers maxed . We also need good combinations of them . We are going to talk about how to develop all those towers and in which order to do it. First, the list of towers and the troops they are traditionally used against. I separated them in three sections.

2.2. Multiple Shot Weapons

These rely on high rate of fire to deliver dmg. You can checkt this by tapping the “DPS” of the weapon – you will only then see how many shots a weapon fires and how much dmg each shot does.
Machine Gun: Rifles,Zookas,Medics, Warriors (yes,really! )
Flamer: Rifle,Medic,Warriors (zookas outrange them)

These are best used as speed bumps and set around the HQ to protect it from warrior attacks. Flamers are great at protecting flanks as no troop except heavies and scorchers are safe from them. Tanks will not get destroyed, but will get dented and nobody likes that (so it’s good) . Both weapons protect the HQ well.
Otherwise combine them with other weapons- but we will talk about that in a section to come.

2.3. Single Shot Weapons

Rely on heavy dmg in a single shot. Best used against heavier targets . They have more range then MSW and are more expensive to upgrade.

Sniper Tower: Rifles,Zookas,Medics,low lvl Tanks,Grenadiers ,lowish lvl Heavies (but don’t hold your breath)
Cannon: You name it, a high lvl cannon can kill it. Only problem is the slow rate of fire. Grenadiers in small numbers outrange it. If more then a few a throwing at the cannon, one will step into range. Grenadier down.
Boom cannon:See above, add the cool sound, incredible range and single shot knock out power. Prior to latest update , if a Tmed force wanted to attack – they better destroy all of the BCs before landing.
Maxing ALL Boom cannons has never been more important !!!

SSW are bread and butter of every defense against EVERY army except – Warriors. A base with developed and carefully placed SSW looks scary and people avoid it. I know I do. These can help against warriors, but you need to place ALL of them to cover the HQ. This will force the attacker to shock them.
Hopefully, they cannot shock all of them at once .
Against other armies, using these towers to support the speedbumps above is a great idea. One exception is Grenadiers. An army of Gs will be dead on arrival if a group of Sts and BCs greets them head on.

2.4. Indirect Fire Weapons

These have slow rate of fire, but when they DO fire ,they hit multiple things .

Mortar: Rifles,Zookas,Grenadiers,Medics
Shock Launcher: stops everything for a few sec. if High lvl ,kills Rifles and Zookas
Rocket Launcher: Zookas,Rifles,Medics

Placing these weapons to be able to hit the HQ is a good idea. Otherwise, mortar can be placed on the beach to prevent Hooka from landing safely (Heavies go first and trigger the shot, which is delayed and hits Zookas behind) – (by Smithy 77 , thanks for the tip) .
All 3 weapons have a minimum range in which they cannot hit anything. If the attacker can get something in there – the IFW are useless.
So placing Shock and Rocket up front is a bad idea.

2.5. Upgrading the Weapons -in which order???

It’s a lot of work. And a lot of time. Thankfully, it can be done. Here is a rough list of priorities:

Primary weapons
Boom cannon,Rocket Launcher and Shock go first. They kill lots of things and together they break attacks up. They are also very scary so when people see your base with those things upgraded – they “find a new opponent” .

Secondary weapons – everything else
Individually all the other weapons don’t look or feel very dangerous to the attacker mind. Combined and deployed well (we will talk about that in the 3rd part) these can come as nasty surprise. A mortar against a Tmed force is …just a mortar. Until you get relaxed and flare without total control of the army and the one mortar shell drops 50% of your medics. Then that mortar causes the whole army to retreat since the tanks alone will probably fail.

Primary weapons are treated as major upgrades – and their cost reflects this. As soon as you can , upgrade them . They probably require a Dr T day raid to cover the cost. It’s well worth it.Note: Do NOT upgrade them across the board ! What I mean is …
Example: You just went up an HQ lvl. Now you have old Boom cannons and you just got a new one as well. You also get to upgrade the Rockets.
Upgrade the new one to the same lvl as the old ones are first. That way, you get a new weapon that is equally scary to the old ones.
The other way around is wrong – only one weapon gets a small % boost in HT and DMG.
We have to realize that those things might (read: “will” ) get taken out by Gun boat. Having one more creates a problem. It also starves the attacker of GBE (as he HAS to use GB!) .
Conclusion: as soon as you get a new toy,upgrade asap ! Then make the old toys shine brighter .

Secondaries are just that.
If you need Dr T days for Prim. , do the secondaries in between. Here ,the logic is the other way around. A new MG has become available !!! YEAH !!!
Two things tho:
1. It starts with very low dmg
2. It starts with 1600 Ht
Building it before you have upgraded your other defenses makes no sense at all ! It will not kill things, it will not even delay things ! It will only give extra 3 GBE to the attacker . You might as well place a farm in front of your Sniper tower and not fool yourself. It’s not fooling anyone else, that’s for sure !

First upgrade the other towers to have them on their max lvls, then and only then build new defenses. Once you do, place them in the far corner and build them up there . Before they can do dmg, they do more harm then good.
Secondaries SHOULD be upgraded across the board . Having 3 Sniper towers on lvl 8 and the fourth one on lvl 4 is a bad move if you want to defend your base constantly . The attacker will find a way to avoid the other 3 and approach for the direction defended by the 4th one. If he is skillful, that is.

3.0. The Phoenix

Just like the Mythical bird, your base raises from the ashes to be stronger then ever.If you choose that you , in fact , would LIKE to get raided (under a few conditions) – it will lead to a few advantages and risks.
First off, your resource gathering should be flexible enough to withstand the constantly increased risks of getting raided. If you attack a lot, your VP will rise and rise , leading to your base getting raided from guys that take no prisoners . That means no intel and diamonds for you. “That’s what you get when you play with the big boys!!! “
If you keep your VP in line – you will constantly earn both diamonds and intel. Your Task Force buddies will be happy with your progress and your base will improve.

Never relax, however !
Just as your offense should be maxed for your HQ lvl , to be able to raid – so must the defense at least keep up to stop SOME attackers.
Primary defensive upgrades should be developed . Secondaries , not so much. If your ,for example ,STs are not maxed , you will still stop some raids. Same goes for any other type of secondary defense.

Playing the Phoenix strategy means ,effectively , “trading” resources !
Gold,Wood,Stone,Iron and medals are lost, Intel and Diamonds are gained .
In which ratio is the question . The answer is – the lower your VP, the better your ratio.
The more you loose, the better.

Example: Your Vp is …300.. Your base is spawned to five guys (not at the same time -one after the other) . First guy raids and you gain nothing .Second also. Your VP is now down. Third guy is incompetent , he DOES beat you but you gain 1 intel and 2-3 diamonds. 4th guy raids (but is much weaker then the others) and leaves you 4 diamonds !
Fifth guy has no skills and cannot cope with the challenge and fails. 5 Diamonds !!

Why , if they are so bad, did the 4th and 5th guy attack at all ? Excellent point. Soon, soon…

4.0. The Mind of the Attacker

First part of the guide talked about attacker types by skill lvl and some differentiations on how they attack. This part will examine their inner motive, and what drives them to success.
When we know what drives them to it, we can take steps to prevent that and cause them to fail.

4.1. The Money,….all that ….Money

Even if we cannot,even if we shouldn’t, even if it costs us the raid – everyone likes to see a base with GREAT loot.
Newer players don’t remember it (as they weren’t playing a the time) . Back in the day, before the Grenadier update there was no such thing as a “Loot Cap”.
Readers familiar with the term , skip this paragraph.

“Loot Cap”
Not so simple . There is only so much you can take from a base. Prior to Gs udate, you could loot bases off enormous amounts off loot. As a result , very few people even tried to defend their base. Everyone was raiding , that’s for sure.
How exactly it works (in numbers) , as a fact – I do not know. It prevents the attacker from getting a large number of resources , but it doesn’t prevent you from loosing it.

Your base will appear on someone’s map. It will contain xy number of resource shown to him,once he taps “scout” . That amount is then unchanged for him – whenever he attacks. The resources might be spent by the time he attacks – which can be much much later then he scouted it.
The resources you loose if you get raided are calculated at the time you are raided. Your base might well be empty then, or full.
The attacker gains resources depending on the initial scout, you loose depending on the time of attack. There is no correspondence whatsoever .

Does anyone reading this know for a fact,exactly how Loot Cap works ? If so, please reply. Thanks !

4.2. The Sweet Sound of Coins

Everyone likes to hear that base pop and have the coins fly up into the air. That feeling will drive raiders to harsh decisions !
If you are planing on defending your base, it should always be as empty as it can ! Seriously. S-c-r-e-w everything else – spend those resources as soon as you gain them . People will go to great lengths to raid your base if the loot is big enough. If it isn’t , and the base is scary – they find a new one.
Here is a list of possibilities happening if a base is filled with riches and looks scary:
– attacker goes in an takes it
– attacker tries several times, and fails every time – then quits
– attacker tries several times , and makes it after a few tries
– attacker skips the base
– drops a couple of barrages and quits
– attacker leaves the base for Dr T boost day , then fails
– same as above, but makes it
– attacker decides you are an A hole , so he stores you for Dr T day, then leaves you for the end but gathers enough before your base is to be raided – then finds a new one

And so on. Either way, having your base full if you are making a Fortress is a bad idea. If on the other hand , you play the Phoenix …Kha-ching!!!!
I made up a name for it …

4.3. Baiting

(the almost same paragraph is in the Base Development Guide)
People are sloppy. They raid 15-20 bases and have only so much time. They saw your base , full of riches …and now they will raid you…
What they sometimes don’t check for is defensive (Blue) statues. Especially if they cannot see them . Statues , on the other hand ,CAN be hidden in the woods. That is if it’s not a winter map that you base is spawned as (no way of controlling that) . Woods become transparent as soon as you put a turret into them . If you put a statue…it shows, but only it’s top , and ever slightly… In a blink of an eye, if they press “scout”, then “attack” they might miss the fact that a Building Health master piece is hidden in the woods.
Most likely , they will still make it , with heavy casualties . But you do earn intel and diamonds that way.
Paradox is, your base should look harmless and rich enough to be raided often, but be deadly enough so that if they try, they fail.
Put your production statues up front, nicely where everyone can see them . And put the blue stuff into the woods…

4.4. The Haunted Fortress

It’s a Fortress alright, but very empty. Keep your base empty and raiders will find another target. Or make the Fortress BIG. Big enough they get scared.

“Vp of this thing is low,resources are low, defenses are high….ok you Mofo…f*** this shi-at ! , I’m finding something else to raid…”

That’s what you’re fishing for. Organize it, build it, analyze it ,improve it …and give them no good reason to attack it.
Nobody wants to fail. Nobody wants to wait for a part of his army to rebuild. Nobody wants to get crappy loot. Nobody wants gain 2 VP and risk everything for close to no reward.
That is if they are smart. Some aren’t . Hopefully they also are not that great at attacking.
Let me address the giant Elephant in the room. How is the base empty most of the time , AND we still gather enough resources for major upgrades ?
That indeed is counter – productive .

5.0 Blue Statues

Every good Fortress needs at least a couple of those. You have no way of knowing (…don’t go there..) which statues you’re gonna get. Only the color. Both the Building Health and Building Dmg are good- but the Builidng HT is better. Now we will talk about why

5.1. Building Health Statue

At first it looks abysmal . When I first got a blue statue build it was a BH idol with like +5% to BH. Funny. So my HQ doesn’t have 40k HT, it has 42 k…gee, that’s swell !
Once I reached the Masterpiece, it took me a while to fully grasp what it truly does.
Some of the benefits that this blue MP has over the other :
– it stops attackers from easily destroying your stuff with GB
– it gets people to reconsider attacking
– it buffs all buildings’ HT (not just defensive ones) -helpful against warriors
– it helps buildings survive shock
– it helps defensive buildings deal dmg, since they last longer to begin with
Ok, the last 3 points look ( kind of )same, but it’s not exactly true.Funny enough , this statue doesn’t have a counterpart . Sure the Troop dmg MP is sort of a counter part. It doesn’t (thank God) boost dmg from GB, however . BHMP is dangerous to attackers – yet it looks harmless at first glance. It should be your first choice if you can help it. If you need to choose between the two ,trust me- and pick this one.

5.2. Building Dmg Master Piece

Excellent second choice. Bases that have it in addition to the other one look scary, and ARE scary. BDMP first resets the math against armies that have Troop Health MP. If it’s stronger then it’s counterpart, or for some reason the counterpart is not there:
– attacker might not attack at all
– rocket launcher have a nasty tendency to outrace medics , so troops are not healed fast enough and are easy pray for…
– Snipers have a field day
– Mortars (high lvl) decimate Grenadiers
– Cannons suddenly don’t suck against heavies
– “ Boom cannons should be nerfed!!”

6.0. Placement of Defenses

Now that we have covered all of this – let’s talk about tower placement .
Base type,defensive strategy and Vp range all determine it. I mean, you can place the towers any way you want to – but clearly some guidelines are unique to all bases.

Note: I only play with Tanks, Grenadier, Scorchers and Rifle spam (rarely as of late) . I cannot comment on other army types in detail with competence. Therefore , I will only analyze bases from the perspective of my units .
If somebody else would help with Warriors and Hooka – it would be great !
Thanks

6.1. Placing Primary Defenses

I picked that name for a reason. Boom cannons, Rocket launchers and Shock Launchers stop many armies dead in their tracks .
Going back to a few ground rules from the first part :
“The 2 tiles rule” – By looking ar your replays , you can surely see what people Barrage before they attack. 2 tiles around those things should be empty. Now barrage will only hit those things, and nothing else.
“Shocker distance” – Never put 2 of the following buildings close enough to each other so both can be hit by a single shock at the same time : Boom cannons ,Rocket launcher, Shock launchers.
“Rockets from the side” – one rocket launcher on the far right , the other on the far left -with range to each other. They hit medics if you flank with Tmed. They hit Zookas if Hooka tries to flank (and it rarely does).
Here we have an old base (found on the net),back in the day BB had colorless statues:

We will only look at primary defenses here. 2 Boom cannons and 2 Shocks .

Boom cannons are placed near the HQ ,each covering one side of the map. Several mistakes here:
– shocker distance is not followed
– 1 tile rule is not followed (each rocket can hit both BC and HQ)
– 2 tiles rule is not followed (barrage will hit both BC and St behind it)
– if Grenadiers attack the Hq from one flank , the BC on the other side is out of range
That means the Gs player doesn’t need to do anything to it if he flanks (tho 2 Boom mines make this harder)

Rocket Launchers :
– are too far back and their incredible range is not used
– 2 tiles rule not followed
– not sure about shocker distance, it looks close (probably out)
– rockets from the side not followed (not that it’s a disadvantage per se)

Let’s look at another base

Here we have a beach base. Imagine that the front BC is done.

Boom cannons :
– 3 are placed nicely centrally all covering most of the base
– shock distance rule not followed
– 1 tile rule not followed
Otherwise they are nicely placed. They cannot be ignored by any army and are forcing commitment.

Shock Launcher:
-1 tile rule not followed
– shock distance rule between SL and BC (perhaops even Rocket L )not followed

Rocket Launchers:
– rockets from the side 101
– 2 tiles rule not followed
The picture doesn’t show exactly, but those primaries look nicely upgraded. Lack of Ice statue makes the whole thing insecure. Not an easy task for Tmed of the same HQ lvl. Easy for Grenadiers , attack from the left after initial barrage on central BC.

7.0. Imposter Bob’s tips Against Warriors

Key defenses
All high damage building with decent rate of fire or AoE(area of effect). This includes Machine Guns, Flame Throwers, Mortars, Rocket launchers, Shock Launchers(Completely stops them, important defense)

7.1. Defense Placement

Surround HQ with MGs. They are chosen over FTs because FTs damage is fixed at any range. And they spray flame all over warriors, don’t them target one at a time. Here the warriors heal with each hit, so FTs effect is greatly reduced. For MGs, damage increase with range and at point blank range they deal an insane amount of damage. Also they target them one at a time, so there’s no way warriors survive a levelled MG. You just watch their HP bar go from green to red and Boom!
So keep all MGs surrounding HQ and then use spare space for FT.
As for the rest(mortars, RL, SL) Make sure they are in range of HQ, but you cannot shock more than 2 at a
time max.

7.2. Building placement

Normally people like to place their buildings one behind another. Thus creates a neat pattern, pleasing to the eye. But when warriors are being smoked, their path will depend upon the free space in between buildings. So giving a free straight line for them to travel makes no sense. Try to place them in a irregular pattern, so warriors wander away from their smokescreen. This gives time for dealing damage to them and sniping a couple of them. Makes difference between successful raids and defenses sometimes.

7.3. HQ Placement

Keep the HQ in the farthest corner(The following note assumes it’s the top right, as that’s the norm) . Leave a space of one flank at back and left and to fill in with MGs/FTs /SLs(higher levels). This row is impossible to shock if warriors are already smoked to HQ, since there’s no space beyond to throw the shock bomb. They will need a more dynamic strategy wasting more GBE and leaving less for shocks.
In addition to that, place them in square formation. 4 shocks will be required to nullify them(If center base, corner bases are impossible to shock with warriors already on top of HQ) without touching warriors. Always a plus.

7.5. Mine Placement

Upgrade your mines. They help a lot against almost all troop combos except Tanks or scorchers. Also with warriors. Damage them as much as you can before they reach HQ. They will need to heal them for sure, or suffer heavy losses.
Now instead of placing them evenly throughout your base, think like a raider. Most of them like the shortest route to HQ to save GBE. Focus all your mines in this path, so attacker chooses a more drawn out path leaving him with less GBE. This trick can also be used in correspondence to the building placement. I advised that placing them leaving uniform straight row gaps in between was bad. But if you fill them with mines, it becomes even warrior’s nightmare.
They will surely try a more longer route they may not be comfortable with and end up loosing warriors or barrage the mines away wasting their GBE. Also since he can barrage away mines, spread them out, don’t place them in clusters, especially surrounding HQ(as I usually see) because either only takes 1 barrage to trip them all.