Clan stats, 5/9/16

Hello Outliers! Hard day today: 7 won, 7 lost, 28 no change.

Outliers lost 6 cups; JA lost 5; DP gained 18; UA lost 8.

Our winners included Nogeenkip (7); TrueTheGuru (6); MattIsSwag and InAFlash (4 ea); Grenadier235 and Zatzat_411 (3 ea); and Darkholme1906 (2).

Thanks, we'll do better tomorrow.

Jungle Wars: Adventures on Armor

I wondered about life in a Jungle Wars instance where most accounts were inactive and in the last 24 hours I have been living it, no longer wondering. It has been remarkable.

I was able to take my 250-cup player to 928 between now and yesterday. Part of the effect is dead accounts do not retaliate. The cups you win, you keep.

The other part of it is a widespread blunder among Armor players. As long as I have enough food and keep clicking "Next," with patience I will find the player at my level who has placed the Totem outside the walls or behind just one layer of wall.

Here is an example.

Can you guess where the totem was located?

Using this simple trick, my crummy army wins one crummy victory after another:

And when I say crummy army, hear me out: 70 units, level 1 warriors, slingers, gorillas and bombers with a golem thrown in for heavier work.

Why does this trick work? Well I am currently in a clan at Armor made up of people who started off at more or less the same level. The top guy has 1,132 cups. What does he know? Everything is experimentation. He can help the guy with 800 cups (a little bit) but no one can help him.

I look at the clans and I see bunches of people who joined together at the same level.

I think these young clans with cohorts of equal experience are more likely to get stuck, frustrated, bored and then drop out.

If you join an active clan, you need players in it that are way ahead of your own level.

My crummy army will still win cups but not as many and not as fast as before since I have gotten a new target list. But in that target group, I see more mistakes made by players who abandoned the game. A few upgrades on my end and it's back to the races.

Clan stats, 5/8/16

Hello Outliers, okay day: 10 up, six down, 26 no change.

Outliers gained 28 cups, JA lost 6, DP gained 3 and UA gained 80.

Our winners included Zatzat_411 (18); Pyroman62 (15); Gourd (11); Freak76 (8); Quoin2 (6); Cowbow29 (5); Chanonry and TruetheGuru (3); Restcase (2_; Darkholme1906 (1).

Thanks everyone.

Clan stats, 5/7/16

Hello Outliers! Quiet day today. We had 9 gain cups, 2 lose, 31 with no change.

We retired a player, costing us 28 cups. JA gained 1, DP lost 10, UA gained 14.

Winners included Problemo (15); Microwave1 (14); Quoin2 (8); Cmdr0 (7); Tiptop (3); Darkholme1906, TruetheGuru, Quoin1 and Restcase (1 ea).

Keep up the good work.

Clan stats, 5/6/16

Hello Outliers! Hard day today: 6 players up, 7 down, 1 rejoined and 29 saw no change.

The clan was up 128 cups, much from the personnel change: JA lost 7, DP lost 1, UA gained 14.

Winners included Tiptop1222 (18); Freak76 and Blasophemia (12 ea); Darkholme1906 (5); Zatzat_411 (4); Restcase (2).

Let's try again tomorrow!

Clan stats, 5/5/16

Hello Outliers! Mixed bag today.

Clan up 12 cups, JA down 7, DP down 191, UA up 10. (DP cut many players)

We had 9 up, 7 down, 26 with no change.

Winners included LovelyH3 (36, very good); Microwave1 (14); Zatzat_411 (8); Shadowsliver and Kevo5096 (7 ea); Grenadier235 (4); Gourd and TruetheGuru (3 ea); Restcase (2).

Thanks everyone. More to come.

Jungle Wars: Golem versus Necromancer

Here's a surprise: if it's down to golem vs. necromancer, the golem will not attack the necrom.

It will wipe out the skeletons raised by the necrom without attacking the necrom itself.

In this screenshot, necrom has run out of corpses to raise up and the golem has run out of targets. Both are standing around, waiting for the clock to run out.

Clan stats, 5/4/16

Hello Outliers! Record setting day today.

Clan score is down slightly with transfer of a player to camp BUT...

We had 13 win, 1 lose, 28 no change.

Of the 13 winners, 11 scored in double digits:

TrueTheGuru (17); Microwave1 (16); Zubzubzub4000, Gourd and Darkholme1906  (15 ea); Problemo (14); Tiptop1222 (13); BlakeG22 (12); LovelyH3 (11); Redwood23Spooky (7); Restcase (3).

Sister clans are now ranked 11th and 12th.

Excellent work, thank you!

Clan stats, 5/3/16

Hello, Outliers! Strange day. Clan is down 5 cups. JA down 8, DP down 3, UA up 101.

We had 6 players win cups, 11 lost and 26 with no change.

Are we under attack? By which clan? Or are these revenge attacks hitting home?

Our winners included Tiptop1222 (16); Gourd (6); Cdr0 (5); Chanonry (4); Darkholme1906 (2); Restcase (1).

Do let me know what's going on if you were hit.

Clan stats, 5/2/16

Hello Outliers! An okay day with 7 up, 5 down and 31 no change.

We had a couple of transfers to sister clans so clan score is down.

JA saw no change, DP lost 5, UA lost 138.

Our winners included Quoin2 (24, good); Gourd (15); Darkholme1906 (14); Nogeenkip (7); LovelyH3 and TruetheGuru (5 ea); Questingraven (1).

We'll pick up the pace tomorrow.

Please see the clan chat for a private message.

Jungle Wars: Wana altar upgrade

Complaint from the Dread Pirate in Chief:

He's referring to the Wana altar and it is a weird upgrade indeed.

Clan stats, 5/1/16

Hello, Outliers! We had a good turnout and good results today.

The clan gained 24 cups, JA lost 3, DP lost 1, and UA gained 2.

We had 13 players gain, 5 lose, 26 with no change and 1 transferred in.

Winners included Microwave1 (90, wow!); Pyroman76 (28, very good); Gourd (10); LovelyH3 (9); Zatzat_411 (8); Darkholme1906 (7); Chanonry (6); AstraIwyrm (5); Arissa1009 (4); Janatik (3); Miimario123, Questingraven and Restcase (1).

Very nice! Many thanks.

Clan stats, 4/30/16

Hello Outliers! Good day today.

Clan score down only because of personnel moves.

JA down 59, DP up 20, UA down 7.

We had 13 win, 5 lose, 25 no change, 2 transfers, and 1 retired.

Winners included LovelyH3 (44, wow); ShilohElijah (16); Miimario123 (15); TrueTheGuru (10); AstraIwyrm (9); JCTan (8); Grenadier235 (7); Gourd (5); Freak76 and Arissa1009 (4 ea); Darkholme1906 and Restcase (2 ea); Microwave1 (1).

Thanks for all this!

Jungle Wars: Top level bombers versus max walls

Here's a picture that can save me a lot of words. It took 20 level 6 bombers to get through these Level 10 and 11 walls. They did not make it to the final ring. My "technique" was to release them all at once.

My bombers were being shot at the whole way but they went in with gorillas and dinos which absorbed most of the fire.

Once this player upgrades the outer wall the defense may hold up for two inner rings...

Clan stats, 4/29/16

Hello Outliers! Good day today: we gained 12 clan cups.

We had 12 players gain cups, 6 lose and 27 with no change.

JA was up 3, DP up 27 and UA down 1.

Leading the way were Microwave1 (17); Miimario123 (14); AstraIwyrm (8); Darkholme1906 and Janatik (7 ea); Nogeenkip and Cowbow29 (6 ea); Shadowsliver (3); TruetheGuru and Restcase (2 ea); Gourd and Cdr0 (1 ea).

Please keep it going.

Jungle Wars vs. Clash of Clans

The one question I am asked most often is "Do you play Clash of Clans?"

I do not and never heard of it except via questions like this. For a long time I thought Jungle Wars preceded CoC but a clanmate says CoC predates JW by 5-6 years.

Assuming people want to contrast and compare the games, feel free to use the comments field below.

If no one comments, I will assume total loyalty to Jungle Wars (and that's good).

Postscript, 5/1: From the Armor instance:

Postscript, 5/2: From LovelyH3: "Have you heard the name of clash of clans: it is similar game as jungle wars, same rule but different name. There is town hall instead of totem. If you search in Google for "town hall" (the level your totem is) you can find good ideas for bases. I got mine (for JW) from there." 

Clan stats, 4/28/16

Hello Outliers! Fine day! 11 up, 3 down, 31 no change.

Outliers gained 16 cups, JA lost 9, DP gained 15, UA gained 2.

Winners included Miimario123 (20, good); Microwave1 (15); Gourd (12); Freak76 (7) ***Congrats on breaking 1000, Freak76***; Darkholme1906 and Ash05 (3 ea); Zatzat_411, AstraIwyrm and Cmdr0 (2 ea); Arissa1009 and Restcase (1 ea).

Thanks all. I will be writing you individually tomorrow on the state of the clan. It's all good.

Jungle Wars: A Clan called "Monkey Butt"

Over at Armor Games, there is a Jungle Wars clan called "Monkey Butt."

They take their recruiting ads seriously.

Meanwhile, if my gorillas had shotguns like this one, I'd rank much higher.

Clan stats, 4/27/16

Nice work today, Outliers!  We had 12 who won, 2 who lst and 31 with no change. Outliers gained 17 cups, JA dropped 5, DP gained 12 and UA gained 6.

Winners included: BlakeG22 (25, good); Microwave1 (15); Pyroman62 (14); Miimario123 (11); Nogeenkip (7); Arissa1009 and TruetheGuru (6 ea); Darkholme1906 (5); AstraIwyrm (4); Zatzat_411 (3); Gourd and Restcase (1 ea).

Great stuff, thanks!

Clan stats, 4/26/16

Hello Outliers! Tough day today: 8 gained, 6 lost, 31 with no change.

Outliers rose 12 cups, JA gained 8, DP saw no change and UA rose 5.

Winners included Microwave1 (15); Blasophemia (14); Cmdr0 (10); Chanonry (7); Darkholme1906, Ash05, Arissa1009 and Restcase (2 ea).

Let's get out of these doldrums...

Jungle Wars: Are three coins random?

Jordanfa asks if the award of three coins after some victories is random.

Over in Kong, Talt24 answers that it's based on the quality of the attack - it's not random. Here is the comment:

The system rewards cheap victories and it punishes expensive victories.

"Punish" may not be the right word because if the attacker plays overkill, he will still win at least one cup but the system will take away clan cups.

But if the attack is with cheap troops, with fewer spells and no golem, three coins may be awarded. As Talt says, it depends on how the system calculates the strength of the defense vs. the strength of the attack.

Astralwyrm, formerly number 1, relies heavily on warriors, even at his level.

What is randomly distributed is gems. Or so it seems.

Clan stats, 4/25/16

Hello Outliers, big day today.

Lost some cups when someone went to Camp but 14 players up, 5 down, 25 no change.

Winners included Miimario123 (46, wow); Ash05 (16); Pyroman62, Microwave1 and Blasophemia (14 ea); Darkholme1906 (11); Grenadier235 (9); Cowbow29 and TruetheGuru (8 ea); Cmdr0 (7); BlakeG22 )6); Gourd (5); Restcase (4); Arissa1009 (3).

Keep up this great work!

Jungle Wars: Neutralizing Totem 11 (continued)

The theory that the Totem 11 glitch can be neutralized by a fast win has been contradicted:

Jordanfa denied that he was attacked but then MasterKeys said

In sum, (1) Can't beat Totem 11 bug and (2) Only the attacker knows an attack has happened.

Oh, and one more effect worth noting:

Agree? Comments welcome.

Clan stats, 4/24/16

Hello Outliers! Seesaw action today with 10 losing, 10 winning and 26 with no change.

Outliers went up 21, JA down 2, UA up 12, and DP saw no change.

Winners included Gourd (9); Darkholme1906, Ash05 and TruetheGuru (8 ea); JKL3022 (6); AstraIwyrm (5); Blake and Aleena1009 (4 ea); Arissa1009 (3) and Restcase (2).

See you for more fighting tomorrow.

Jungle Wars: "Life" in a dead clan

Here we play the Kongregate instance of Jungle Wars, but yonder in Armor Games' instance, an  interesting post appeared about what it means to be in a dead clan.

If you have six requests for troops, what is going on???

Over here in Kong, the dead clans take a different flavor. One player asks for troops, nothing ever happens, player fades out. Meanwhile, Polly here points out crazy, selfish players.

At Kong, we have three live clans (and maybe another small one) full of team effort. This (above) is a disgrace.

My avatar at Armor has NEVER received troops from the clan. If the Armor players came over to Kong (even to start over), the dynamic would be incredible.

Clan stats, 4/23/16

Hello Outliers! Quiet day. Clan score up do to traffic between Academy and here.

We had 7 players up, 3 down, 35 with no change and 1 rejoined.

JA was up 5, DP down 3, UA up 10.

Winners included Microwave1 (33, very good); BlakeG22 (14); Miimario123 (9); Darkholme1906 (4); Grenadier235 (2); Aleena1009 and Restcase (1 ea).

Thanks for livening a slow day!

Jungle Wars: Beating Totem 11?

Nice conversation in Kongregate's Jungle Wars chat today on beating Totem 11. It was suggested that you win if you score 100% before the clock runs out.

In that case, no Oops! error results. Comments?

Jungle Wars: Totem 11 glitch (continued)

One of our clan players who has Totem 11 noticed that he cannot build worker hut 5. The system freezes if the attempt is made.

He can build other things, though.

Is this yet another side effect of Totem 11?

Word to the wise: build your fifth hut before you upgrade that Totem 10.

Clan stats, 4/22/16

Hello Outliers! Busier day today: 11 players up, 5 down, 29 no change.

Outliers is up 11. JA was down 17, DP up 39, UA down 6.

Winners today included Miimario123 (17); Microwave1 (13); AstraIwyrm and Cmdr0 (6 ea); Chanonry (5); Stu75, Darkholme1906 and Quoin1 (3 ea); Zatzat_411, Aleena1009 and Restcase (2 ea).

Keep at it, please.

Jungle Wars: Balance

Talt24 over at Kongregate's instance of Jungle Wars told a new player that the system seeks a balance among players and clans.

This hits home when I look at my target list right now. I am the number 5 player and my clan is number three.

If I select ATTACK, I have to hit NEXT 20 or so times to get a target from one of the bottom 47 clans. I get only targets from three clans: UA (#1), DP (#2), and Outliers Academy (#12).

Think about that: a third of the target villages the system gives me comes from one clan ranked 12! Not clan #4-11, no never.

What is it about Outliers Academy? It's an active clan. It seems to be limiting targets to active clans. At the same time when I do get to hit a dead clan, the system scales the number of cups lost by that clan to a very low level.

Balance. Ideas, comments?

Clan stats, 4/21/16

Hello, Outliers! Mixed bag today: 5 players up, 6 down, 34 no change and 1 returned.

JA rose 8 cups, DP rose 9, UA rose 4.

Winners included: Massimone1 (13); Gourd (11); Janatik (2); Darkholme1906 (2); and Zatzat_411 (1).

Thanks all and I will drum up some more playing among the clan.

Clan stats, 4/20/16

Hello Outliers!

Tough day: 7 winners, 8 who lost, 30 no change and one moved to Academy.

Winners included Questingraven (17); Miimario123 (12); JKL3022 (8); Aleena1009 (4); TruetheGuru (3); Restcase (2); Gourd (1).

Better days are coming, please keep fighting.

Clan stats, 4/19/16

Hello, Outliers! Mix of big and little stuff today.

The clan is up 19 and 8 players rose, 2 fell, 37 saw no change.

JA was down 18, DP saw no change, UA fell by 4.

Winners included Microwave1 (67, wow); Miimario123 (31, very good); Gourd (24, good);
Darkholme1906 (4); Zatzat_411 (3); Ash05 and Restcase (2); Aleena1009 (1).

Thanks everyone!

Clan stats, 4/18/16

Hello Outliers, good day. The clan gained 91 cups to reach 13,200. JA lost 9 cups, DP lost 69, and UA gained 13.

A player came back to Outliers and another new player joined.

We had 10 players win, 5 lose, 30 with no change, 1 new and 1 returned.

Winners included Gourd (22, good); Questingraven and and BlakeG22 (14 ea); Shilohelijah (13); AstraIwyrm (6); Darkholme1906 and Zatzat_411 (4 ea); Arissa1009 and Restcase (2 ea).

Thanks everyone, we just need a little more activity.

Clan stats, 4/17/16

Hello Outliers! Quiet day today.

We had 9 win cups, 2 lose them, 34 with no change and 1 player rejoin.

Three top players went to Outliers Academy: our score dropped 200 cups. Outliers Academy rose from 12th place to 11th, closing in on 10th.

Leading our winners today: Miimario123 (14 cups); Gourd (11); TrueTheGuru (10); Aleena1009 (9); Cowbow29 (7); Darkholme1906 (4); Restcase (3); Ash05 (2); Arissa1009 (1).

Thanks all, let's keep at it.

Clan stats, 4/16/16

Hello Outliers! Pretty good day with 12 up, 6 down, 29 no change, 1 returned and 1 was new.

With transfers, we were down 170; JA was down 12, DP was down 31, UA was up 12.

Meanwhile, Outliers Academy reached 12th place in clan rankings.

Our winners included Bidircan1977 (62, wow!); Miimario123 (26, good); Blasophemia (16);

Questingraven (15); Aleena1009 (13); Cowbow29 and Quoin1 (7 ea); Darkholme1906 (6);

Gourd, TruetheGuru and Restcase (3 ea); Cmdr0 (2).

Upward and onward! Thanks.

Jungle Wars: Neutralizing Totem 11

Over in Kongregate JW chat, Outliers co-leader Ash05 suggests that a way to neutralize Totem 11 may be to hit it with five max lightning spells, then launch troops and then surrender as soon as the thing is destroyed.

Drakeboone points out that 6850 points might be more strength than the spells can destroy.

Totem 11 gives an Ooops error after any normal victory, so this may be the only way to beat Totem 11 players.

Anyone want to try?

Clan stats, 4/15/16

Hello Outliers! Great day again. We had 13 players win, 4 lose, 1 new and 32 with no change.

We gained 136 cups., JA lost 7, DP gained 16 and UA saw no change.

We passed JA by more than 2000 cups; we can go to the next phase of our plan. Our score will vary accordingly.

Winners included Quoin2 (32 cups, very good); Petlore (13, nice debut); Schlomotion and Zatzat_411 (11 ea);

Bidircan1977 (10); Chanonry (7); Darkholme1906 (5); Redwood23Spooky, TruetheGuru, Aleena1009, Ash05 (4 ea);

Gourd and Arissa1009 (3 ea).

Thanks team! Welcome our new players.

Clan stats, 4/14/16

Hello Outliers! Lots of action today: 14 won cups, 3 lost, 29 saw no change, and two players rejoined.

Outliers rose 15 cups, JA rose 2, DP lost 19, UA gained 16.

If we had only 3 down players, our policy of attacking the bottom 46 clans is working - no revenge.

Winners included: Darkholme1906 (21, good); Questingraven (17); Minecraft36099 (16);

Bidircan1977 and Zubzubzub4000 (14 ea); Ash05 and Camprest (12 ea);

Cowbow29 and Aleena1009 (7 ea); Tough02 (6); Gourd (4); Arissa1009, Schlomotion and Restcase (2 ea).

Let's keep it going - about 150 cups before we enter a new phase.

Jungle Wars: archived tips

If you are new to this site, please scroll through the archives to find Jungle Wars tips and tricks.

Clan stats, 4/13/16

Hello Outliers! Clan record set today: 17 won, 2 lost, 29 no change.

Outliers rose by 18 cups, JA lost 5, DP gained 5 and UA gained 2.

We are about 150 cups away from reaching our goal of a 2,000 cup lead over JA.

Please focus your attacks on JA and the bottom 47 clans.

Winners included: Camprest (16); Questingraven and Blasophemia (14 ea);

Ashclone3 (6); Arissa1009 and Cmdr0 (5 ea); TrueTheGuru (4);

Pyroman62, Bidircan1977, Zatzat_411, Ash05, Tough02, AstraIwyrm and Schlomotion (3 ea);

Darkholme1906, Aleena1009 and Restcase (2 ea).

Thanks and thanks again!

Clan stats, 4/12/16

Hello Outliers! Good progress today.

Outliers gained 14 cups while 11 players were up, 5 were down and 32 saw no change.

JA lost 7, DP gained 6, and UA gained 17.

Winners included Bidircan1977 (19); TrueTheGuru (10); Redwood23Spooky (7);

Darkholme1906 (6); Cowbow29 (5); Gourd, Arissa1009, Zatzat_411 and AstraIwyrm (3 ea);

Restcase (2); Ash05 (1).

Please continue! Thanks.

Clan stats, 4/11/16

Hello Outliers, lots of action today with 16 players up, 8 down, 23 no change. The clan gained 24 cups.

JA gained 4, DP gained 15, UA gained 5.

Winners included Darkholme1906 (19); Zubzubzub4000 (16); Questingraven, Freak76 and Zatzat_411 (14 ea);

Ashclone3 (9); Quoin1 (8); Aleena1009 (7); AstraIworm and Tough02 (4 ea);

Arissa1009 and Camprest (3 ea); Cmdr0 and Restcase (2 ea);  Ash05 and Gourd (1 ea).

We'll break 13,300 tomorrow - thanks all.

Clan stats, 4/10/16

Hello Outliers! Tough day but we gained 10 cups. 11 players gained, 12 lost and 25 saw no change.

JA gained 1 cup, DP gained 13, UA lost 18.

Leading the way: Minecraft36099 (67 cups, great debut); Bidrican 1977 (23, good);

Shilohelijah (16); Schlomotion (10); Zatzat_411, Nogeenkip and TruetheGuru (8 ea);

Ashclone3 (7); InAFlash (4); Gourd and Restcase (1 ea).

Good participation, team. (I am curious as to which clan is hitting so many of us...)

Jungle Wars: Rhino level 4

For what it's worth, here is a screenshot of rhino upgrade from level 3 - 4.

I'm hoping that with enough upgrades, my rhinos become useful.

Clan stats, 4/9/16

Hello, Outliers! Good day with 26 cups gained and 16 players up, 7 down, 1 new and 24 no change.

JA was down 10, DP up 14 and UA up 5. Our focus now is on opening the gap with Jungle Army. Please do not attack and get into revenge cycles with DP or UA. Save it for later.

Attack the dead clans (the bottom 47) and no revenge will occur.

Our winners: Quoin1 (17); Shilohelijah (14); Bidircan1977 (11);

Redwood23Spooky (8); Darkholme1906 and Ashclone3 (6 ea);

Grenadier235, Cmdr0, Tough02 (5 ea); Zatzat_411, Gourd, TrueTheGuru (4 ea); Restcase (3);

Ash05 and Schlomotion (2 ea); Arissa1009 (1).

Thanks everyone, good progress!

Clan stats, 4/8/16

Hello Outliers! Big advance today with 56 more cups; 11 players won, 6 lost, 29 saw no change and 1 rejoined.

JA dropped 6, DP gained 3 and UA lost 23.

Our winners included Aleena1009 (17); Questingraven (9);

Nogeenkip, TrueTheGuru and Schlomotion (7 ea); Cowbow29 and Tough02 (6 ea);

Gourd (3); Zatzat_411 and Restcase (2 ea); Darkholme1906 (1).

Good work, everyone!
(Stats at outliersclan.blogspot.com)

Clan stats, 4/7/16

Big day, Outliers! Clan gained 28 and 18 players added cups, only 4 lost cups and 25 saw no change.

JA was up 11, DP up 27 and UA was down 8.

Our winners included Quoin1 (33, vg); Bidircan (27, good); Questingraven (15);

Cmdr0 (12); Tough02 (11); Grenadier235, Redwood23Spooky and Chanonry (8 ea);

Schlomotion, Restcase and Camprest (5 ea); Arissa1009 and Ashclone3 (4 ea);

Darkholme1906, Zatzat_411, Shadowsliver and TruetheGuru (3 ea); Aleena1009 (1).

We are gaining clan score every day, thank you.

Jungle Wars: Best defense ideas and examples

There are a few simple ideas for defending in Jungle Wars:

(1) Build your village so the attacker has to go through three walls to reach the totem.

(2) Give your high value buildings the most protection.

(3) Place towers within firing range of each other (3 protecting 3 is good)

(4) Place your clan headquarters near the totem so clan troops can defend the totem

(5) Protect mortars so they can keep firing the longest

(6) Upgrade weapons, priority to mortars, least of all magic towers

Tricks and tips
If enemies are deploying on the edge of your village to bring out your fast golem and kill it, change gems so that your golem becomes very slow. Place your slow golem near the totem. Enemies will not be able to kill the golem quickly with cheap troops because the golem will enter the battle later.

If you are being hit with pters, ask your clan mates for shaman defensive troops before signing off. When you are attacked, shaman and slingers will fire at birds but shaman can bring them down fast.

Here are some tricky village shapes.

(1) Cells

This player has created a lot of cells for attackers to work through. It eats up their time to work through so many walls. His mistake is that the attacker only needs to break two walls to reach the totem.

(2) Cloverleaf

This player created four mini villages, each of which has good mutual fire support. Usually this shape is closed up, but this player left the ends open, which makes it a kind of swastika pattern. Not only does the attacker have to deal with four mini villages, the bombers will not attack the walls, they will run down the North-South-East-West streets until they are killed.

(3) Maze

There are different shapes of mazes and they all have openings that draw in attackers who then run down a killing track. The maze depends on good, interlocking mutual fire support. If the shooters are too far apart, the attacker will knock them out, one by one. The swastika is a kind of maze that we have posted about before.

For more reading on defense, see these blog posts:

Where to place your clan headquarters

How much space to leave between walls

Are walls worth it?

How the system scores the attack

Problem layouts

As always, comments welcome.

Clan stats, 4/6/16

Hello Outliers! Our clan won 47 cups with 9 players up, 10 down, 1 new and 27 with no change.

Welcome PetLore and goodbye Deathking9990.

JA lost 6 cups, DP saw no change and UA gained 12.

Winners included: Quoin2 (64, wow); TrueTheGuru (24, good); Darkholme1906 (11); Aleena1009 (9); Redwood23Spooky (8); Shadowsliver (5); Gourd (3); Ash05 and Restcase (2 ea).

Thanks everyone! Stats to outliersclan.blogspot.com

Clan stats, 4/5/16

Hello Outliers! Quite a day. The clan advanced 3 cups with 13 players up, 9 down and 25 no change.

Leading the way: Shadowsliver (27 cups, good); Questingraven (18); Zubzubzub4000 (17);

Arissa 1009 (15); Shilohelijah and Quoin1 (13 ea); Bidircan1977 and Cmdr0 (5 ea);

Darkholme1906, Ash05, Restcase, and Tough02 (2 ea); and Gourd (1).

Thanks everyone - a shame the wins did not bring in more clan cups.

Clan stats, 4/4/16

Hello Outliers! Good day for us: 12 players were up, 10 down and 25 w/no change. The clan gained 21 cups.

JA saw NC, DP dropped 90 cups and UA gained 22.

To open the gap between us and 4th place, please focus attacks on JA and lower clans.

This will save you from revenge and save you and the clan many cups.

Our winners included: InAFlash (30, very good); Bidircan1977 (26, good); Shadowsliver (24, good);

Questingraven (17); Quoin2 (14); Aleena1009 (10); Gourd and Schlomotion (6 ea);

Ashclone3 (4); Zatzat_411 (3); Ash05 and Restcase (2 ea).

Please keep up this great work!

Clan stats, 4/3/16

Hello Outliers, fine day! The clan gained 23 cups with 15 players up, 7 down, 1 new and 24 no change.

JA dropped 10, DP dropped 7, UA gained 19. PLEASE focus on JA. We need to lead them by 2000 points.

If you attack a top 2 clan, revenge will follow. Move us ahead by attacking clans #4 and below. Dead clans will not revenge attacks and you will save cups. Thanks.

Winners: Shadowsliver (28, good); Bidircan1977 (16); Blasophemia (14);

Ash05 and Darkholme1906 (12 ea); Aleena1009 and Ashclone3 (10 ea);

Grenadier 235 (welcome back!) and Camprest (7 ea); Restcase and Schlomotion (4 ea);

Gourd, Swordwrath, Chanonry and Tough02 (2 ea).

Thanks everyone, great play!

Jungle Wars: Armor Games versus Kongregate

Well, 72 hours later, my 49 clanmates over at Armor Games' instance of Jungle Wars have sent me NO speedups and NO troops. When I complained on public chat, Morbidchicken13 (from another clan) spoke up (right),

Think about what he is saying. What would the game be like with 50 clans, thousands of villages and only 20 active players?

(1) You never suffer a revenge attack
(2) You don't get attacked much at all
(3) Your most important attacking unit becomes the necromancer because of all the graves

A very different game than we experience in Kongregate where one clanmate noted he had been attacked three times today.

The whole Armor Games experience is spooky, you're moving through  ghost cities. And these were once formidable places! Look at the stats below:

A dying civilization over there? How to revive it?

Clan stats, 4/2/16

Another record breaking day for the Outliers with 15 players winning cups, 5 losing and 27 with no change.

We again won 31 cups; JA lost 10, DP gained 14 and a new player; UA gained 11.

Winners included Bidircan1977 (45 awesome cups); Blasophemia (19); Camprest (12);

Shadowsliver (10); Gourd, Aleena1009 and TruetheGuru (9 ea);

JKL3022 (8); Redwood23Spooky (7); Cmdr0 (5); Schlomotion (4); Ashclone3 (3);

Ash05 and Tough02 (2 ea); and Restcase (1).

Bidircan1977 says this is the most active clan. Believe it!

Jungle Wars: Best targets for newer players

A promising newer player asked me today for some advice on targeting foes. He is at the 1000 level, but this advice is good for anyone:

Regarding #2: a dead clan has no clan troops in the HQ building. A dead clan member will not retaliate either because that player has quit long ago.

Healthy signs that there will be no revenge: gravestones, rocks, trees, pottery.

Keep clicking NEXT until you get a near match to these criteria.

Clan stats, 4/1/16

Hello, Outliers! Another record-setting day with 18 who won, 5 who lost and 24 with no change.

Outliers gained 31 cups, JA lost 4, DP gained 6 and UA lost 1. Old friend Grenadier chipped in today, too.

Our winners included Shadowsliver (34, very good); Quoin1 (15);

Darkholme1906 and Questingraven (14 ea); AstraIwyrm (12); Cowbow29 and Aleena1009 (8 ea);

Zatzat_411 (7); Grenadier235 and Tough01 (6 ea); Cmdr0 (5); Gourd, Chanonry and Schlomotion (4 ea);

TruetheGuru (3); Ashclone3 (2); Ash05 and Restcase (1 ea).

This is great work, team. Many thanks!

Jungle Wars: Instances

As an experiment, and to recruit Jungle Wars players from Armor Games to Kongregate, I created a player on Armor and joined a top five clan. There are 50 players in that clan, counting mine.

In 24 hours, got no speedups, got no clan troops. I have to say the chat on Armor Games is all gloom and doom, so the low participation seems inevitable

In our Outliers clan on Kongregate, I count 12 exchanges of troops and who knows how many speedups in the same 24 hours.

The Armor Games instance has been around longer: the high scores are much higher and one of our Outliers players has a higher score over there than I have in my own clan. But these clans seem to be ghost towns.

There is a third instance of this game out there on the developer's own site, but I have not visited that one. Any news on that one, welcome.

Clan stats, 3/31/16

Hello Outliers, good day. The clan gained 25 cups and we had 11 players gain, 8 lose, and 28 with no change.

DP gained 36 when DaBigKahuna joined. JA lost 1, UA lost 8.

DP now harbors Alfax21, Ssundee213 and DaBigKahuna. Give these ex-comrades a warm goodbye if you see them.

Our winners include: Camprest (38, vg); TruetheGuru (21, good); AstraIwyrm (13);

Schlomotion (10); Darkholme1906 and Ashclone3 (9 ea); BlakeG22 (8);

Zatzat_411, Restcase and Tough02 (6 ea); and Gourd (3).

Thank you all for this fine result.

Clan stats, 3/30/16

Hello Outliers! Hard fighting today. 11 won cups, 10 lost and 26 saw no change.

The clan gained 13 cups. JA lost 1, DP lost 48 and UA gained 21.

Our winners included: LovelyH3 (23 cups, good); Questingraven (16);

Ash05 (15); Bidircan1977 (11); TruetheGuru (9); Arissa1009 (9);

Nogeenkip (7); Zatzat_411 (6); Cowbow29 (5); Restcase (4); and Gourd (1).

This is good progress - thanks!

Jungle Wars: Clan cups

A new player asked me today if his personal losses were costing the clan cups. My answer intrigued him, so I am posting it here.

A big loss can cost the clan several points. However, it can also gain the clan points if your weaker, smaller army attacked a higher ranked player and got some results (while losing).

Meanwhile, a big win can gain the clan cups but it can also lose the clan cups if you used much force against a weaker, lower ranked player.

Highly ranked players who return to attack weaker players every day are costing their clan cups every day.

Since the system controls your list of targets you can get into a situation like I was in last year. Every time I won an attack, I cost my clan cups. It was a bad scene that did not end until I gained enough cups that the system changed my target list.

Clan stats, 3/29/16

Hello Outliers! Tough day. The clan lost 4 cups. We had 14 players gain, 10 lose and 23 with no change.

JA lost 4, DP gained 29 with Alfax joining, and UA gained 31.

Winners included Shadowsliver (27, good); AstraIwyrm (26, good);

Questingraven (17); Quoin1 (13); Bidircan1977 (10);

BlakeG22 (6); Cmdr0 (5); Arissa1009 (4); Tough02 and Blasophemia (3 ea);

Aleena1009, Gourd and TruetheGuru (2 ea).

Great activity, team! Results will follow.

Clan stats, 3/28/16

Hello Outliers, great day! 15 won cups, 7 lost, 24 saw no change and 1 player was new.

With the departure of Ashclone 2 for the Academy and the arrival of Astralwyrm, we lost 43 cups overall.

If we continue at this pace, we will make them up quickly.

JA lost 6, DP gained 16, UA gained 1.

Our winners included Bidircan1977 (27, good); Arissa1009 (21, good); Cowbow29 (16);

Questingraven (15); ShilohElijah (14); Blasophemia (13); Tough02 (10); Gourd (9);

Aleena1009 and Redwood29Spooky (8 ea); Chanonry, Ashclone3 and Cmdr0 (7 ea);

BlakeG22 (4); and Schlomotion (2).

Thanks for a great day, team.

Jungle Wars: Three levels of rhino

Here are some screen shots showing the changing value of rhinos as they move from level 1 (top) to level 3 (bottom).

I have been training these guys because I need to spend mana.

The upgrades are probably not worth it unless you have mana to burn. Here's what level 2 to level 3 gets us:

The hitpoints look good but are not what they seem. One energy ball can take down a rhino quickly.

Clan stats, 3/27/16

Hello Outliers! A good day today with 10 winning cups, 5 losing and 32 no change.

We gained only 1 clan cup due to Alfax21 leaving. Over at Rest(----)of Outliers, we lost DaBigKahuna.

JA gained 2 cups, DP gained 4, and UA gained 7.

Winners included Gourd (33, vg); Bidircan1977 (24, good); Shadowsliver (18);

LovelyH3 (12); TruetheGuru (11); Cowbow29 (8); Ashclone2 (4); Ashclone3 and Restcase (2);

and Zatzat_411 (1).

Good work, thanks everyone!

Clan stats, 3/26/16

Hello Outliers! We broke 13,000 cups today, gaining 88 from the arrival of Camprest and Quoin1.

IssacJHill and Chickenm were retired.

JA lost 7 cups, DP lost 8 and UA gained 9.

We had 7 players gain cups, 9 lose them, two players were new and 30 saw no change.

Leading were Arissa1009 (17); Aleena1009 (11); BenjaminL238 (9); Gourd (7);

LovelyH3 (4); Ashclone2 and Restcase (2 ea).

Congratulations on breaking 13,000!

Clan stats, 3/25/16

Hello Outliers! Another great day in a great week. 17 players gained cups, 5 lost, 26 saw no change.

We gained 24 cups, JA gained 12, DP gained 22 and UA gained 9.

Winners: Blasophmia (37, vg); Questingraven (18); Aleena1009 (14); Zatzat_411 (10);

Chanonry (9); Restcase (8); Tough02 (7); Peach2, TrueTheGuru and Schlomotion (5 ea);

Gourd and Ash05 (4 ea); Darkholme1906 and Ashclone3 (3 ea);

Arissa1009, BlakeG22 and Zubzubzub4000 (2 ea).

In related news, Rest(----)of Outliers rose from 35 to 33 and Outliers Academy is at 23.

Thanks all for a great week.

Jungle Wars: Best force mix

We have a great new clan member who has bee progressing rapidly and after one week has hit the wall where he is losing more than winning.

At this point many players quit and this is why you need a clan. His question to me was, "What is the best force mix for attacking?"

Without sharing any clan secrets, I would say that the challenge of the game is that it keeps putting harder targets in front of you and your job is to figure out solutions to the problems the game sets.

The answer is different at every level of play.

You experiment with trial and error and this costs cups. However, if you are in a clan, you are spared some trial and error. Outliers Academy is all about zooming from 1400 cups to 2000. In Outliers itself, I have seen fantastic results from 1000 through 1500 cups for certain force mixes.

I have also made notes of great results I saw teammates gain when I was in the UA clan.

Last of all, I look at the attack replays to see how attackers took my village down and I have made notes on what I saw.

Sorry to be vague, but if you fight in a clan you'll get the advice you need to break through to the next level. You need a clan with high level players willing to share tips and tricks. Obviously Outliers is one such clan.

Clan stats, 3/24/16

Hello Outliers! Good day today with 13 winning cups, 6 losing and 29 with no change.

Outliers were up 8 cups, JA lost 248 (3 players returned to DP); DP was up 173; UA lost 5.

Bidircan set a blistering pace (55); Questingraven (16); TrueTheGuru (8);

Darkholme1906 (7); Chanonry (5); Shadowsliver and Schlomotion (4 ea);

Dourd, Tough02 and Restcase (3 ea); Tiptop1222 (2); Arissa1009 and Ash05 (1 ea).

Great participation rate, thanks!

Jungle Wars: Level 12 slinger tower

What's it look like?

Like this. If I go for a level 11 totem, I can take it to the next level. Think I won't.

Note for strategists: consider the number of hitpoints as you upgrade these various firing platforms. It may cause you to reconsider your village layout. As lower-hitpoint structures rise in value, they become more worthy of protection since your enemy's win percentage depends on the value of the hitpoints destroyed!

Good rule of thumb: lower value buildings = lower value protection.

Clan stats, 3/23/16

Hello Outliers! Another record breaking day. 19 players won cups, 3 lost and 26 saw no change. Out of our top 11, 10 added cups today. The clan was up 34; JA was down 8; DP was up 7; and UA was up 16. Leading the way was Bidircan (136 amazing cups); Solisgaming (47, great debut!); Shilohelijah and Stu75 (15 ea); Blasophemia (12); Zubzubzub4000 (11); BenjaminL238 (7); Cmdr0 (6); Schlomotion (5); Zatzat_411, Darkholme1906 and Aleena1009 (4 ea); Restcase (3); Gourd, Ash05, TrueTheGuru and Ashclone3 (2 ea); and Arissa1009 (1). We can't do much better than this, please continue!

Clan stats, 3/22/16

Hello Outliers: another good day, 12 won cups, 7 lost them and 29 saw no change. The clan was up 23 cups. JA lost 12, DP gained 7 and UA gained 14. Winners included Bidircan1977 (a mind-blowing 194 cups); Zubzubzub4000 (17); LovelyH3 (14); Arissa1009 and Ashclone3 (11 ea); Cowbow29 and Tough02 (7 ea); Darkholme1906 (6); Aleena1009 (4); Gourd (3); Restcase (2); and Questingraven (1). Thanks to all for a winning day.

Clan stats, 3/21/16

Hello Outliers! We set records today: 19 players gained cups, 3 lost cups, 25 saw no change and 1 was new (SolisGaming). JA gained 2 cups, DP gained 18, UA lost 5. Our clan gained 32 cups. Every one of our top 12 players gained cups today. Grenadier235 became active again. And our two newest players are tearing it up: Bidircam (69 awesome cups); Shadowsliver (49, fantastic); Arissa1009 (20, good); BenjaminL238 (13); Ashclone3 (9); Redwood23Spooky, Ashclone2 and Cmdr0 (8 ea); Cowbow29 and TrueTheGuru (7 ea); Grenadier235 and Schlomotion (5 ea); Gourd, Zatzat_411, Darkholme1906 and Restcase (3 ea); Ash05, Aleena1009 and Chanonry (1 ea). Thank you for this most memorable day!

Jungle Wars music of the day

https://youtu.be/WmUTw1zydWU

Clan stats, 3/20/16

Hello Outliers! Good day today.

Our team had 10 players gain cups, 7 lose, 30 no change, one player rejoined, one was new.

The clan gained 348 points with Arissa1009 back from academy and Shadowsliver joining.

JA lost 4 cups, DP gained one and UA gained 19.

Our winners included Bidircan (134 amazing cups); Zatzat_411 (19); Cowbow29 (16);

Gourd (12); Alfax21 (9); Darkholme1906, Restcase and Tough02 (4 ea);

TrueTheGuru (3); and Cmdr0 (2).

Good stuff, let's keep this going.

Jungle Wars: Swastika defenses

There was a period a few months ago where some Jungle Wars players at Kongregate were experimenting with cross shaped village defenses. I'm now noticing swastika (hooked cross) shapes; yesterday, I saw two on an attacking run and today a third has been brought to my notice.

Here's a very clean example. I couldn't fit the whole view in my screenshot, just the top half:

Click to enlarge. Notice the designer, Zukar, has created "empty lanes" that lead to "kill zones" where weapons are concentrated. Each lane has a weapons tower at the opening. These are designed to hurt or slow down the attacking mob but lack enough mutual support to do their job.

In my recent attack, I tried to use bombers to break through the wall rather than have my army enter the lane at the opening. I assumed booby traps were there.

Surprise #1: the design causes bombers to enter the lane - they refuse to attack the outer wall, heading instead down the lane for the inner wall near the totem. Most of mine were killed; my golem had to break the inner wall.

Surprise #2: There are not enough traps to cover this much real estate inside the lanes. I was expecting traps to eat up my bombers but the traps were scattered widely in the four lanes and had little effect.

Notice the center of the design has a clan headquarters to help defend but no firing towers. The defensive towers are outside the farthest wall. The designer wanted me to enter the arm of the swastika and take hits from the outside towers while my army ran toward the center.

Instead, my gorillas and dinos ran around the edge of the village destroying buildings outside the walls before entering the walls. Since they target weapons platforms first, they cleaned up the equipment that was watching over the lanes. Once dinos and gorillas entered the lanes, defensive firepower was too weak to prevent a win.

Here is a variation on the swastika design from MasterKeys. I have not attacked this one yet:

Again, click to enlarge. Here, instead of a simple, straight lane, the attacker will enter a zigzag with many twists and turns where concentrated firepower awaits. The design may reduce time problems for the attacker, who has all these bunched targets, but the bunching may increase lethal fire.

I assume that here bombers will again refuse to attack outer walls and run into the openings. Nevertheless, I would want my bombers to try to target the corners at 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock. (Not that it would make much difference because the attackers would have to clear out all the inner wall buildings anyway.)

It looks like the boobytraps may be sitting at the openings and at the zigzag turns. Interesting. This is one where high level troops may be be needed to power through the maze.

Clan stats, 3/19/16

Hello Outliers! Super day today. The clan gained 48 cups with 16 players up, 7 down, 24 no change, and one rejoined.

Please friend Shilohelijah. Copro73 retired due to inactivity.

JA gained 5 cups, DP gained 37, UA lost 10.

Our winners included Bidircan1977 (90, amazing!); Questingraven (15); LovelyH3 (14);

Blasophemia (12); Restcase (9); HutCD0305 (6); Darkholme1906 (5);

TrueTheGuru (4); Stu75, Redwood23Spooky, Shark07, and Ashclone2 (3 ea);

Ash07, Aleena1009, and Ashclone2 (2 ea); and Chanonry (1).

These are near record levels of participation. Thank you!

Clan stats, 3/18/16

Hello Outliers! Wonderful effort today!

The clan gained 9 cups; we had 16 win cups, 7 lose them, and 25 with no change.

JA gained 4, DP gained 9, UA gained 1.

Another great day for Bidirman1977 (67 cups, wow!); Alfax21 (44, great);

Questingraven (16); Ashclone3, Blasophemia and Cmdr0 (15 ea);

LovelyH3 (14); Gourd and Darkholme1906 (10 ea); Redwood23Spooky (8);

Freak76 and Janatik (7 ea); Ash05 (5); Tough02 (4); Zatzat_411 (3); and Deathking9990 (2).

Please keep it going!

Clan stats, 3/17/16

Hello Outliers! Another advance today. The clan gained 12 points while we had 9 win cups, 9 lose them and 31 with no change.

JA lost 9 cups, DP gained 30 and UA lost 1.

Leading the way was Bidircan1977 (49 cups, great debut!);

Zubzubzub4000 (16); Darkholme1906 (8); Gourd (5); Chanonry (4);

Zatzat_411 and Schlomotion (3 ea); Restcase (2); and Tough02 (1).

Touch and go today! Thanks everyone.

Clan stats, 3/16/16

Hello Outliers! Progress at last. We gained 18 cups and had 11 winners, 7 who lost 30 with no change, and a new player Bidircan join.

JA gained 12 cups, DP saw no change and UA gained 25 cups.

Winners included Tough02 (19); Zubzubzub4000 (17); Cowbow29 (13); Schlomotion (10);

BenjaminL238 (8); Nogeenkip and Blasphemia (7 ea); InaFlash, Zatzat_411 and Restcase (4 ea); and TrueTheGuru (2).

Let's keep pressing them, team. We'll need more days like this.

Clan stats, 3/15/16

Hello Outliers! Mixed results today with the loss of 10 clan cups. 8 players gained cups, 10 lost them and 30 saw no change.

JA lost a cup, DP gained 65 and UA gained 11.

Winners included Zubzubzub4000 (32, vg); Blasophemia (14); Kreshnic (7);

Aleena1009 (5); Restcase (4); Janatik, TrueTheGuru and Garkholme1906 (1 ea).

Better than yesterday but we have a ways to go!

Clan stats, 3/14/16

Well, tough day for the Outliers. 5 won cups, 9 lost them, 34 saw no change and the clan score dropped 19 cups.

JA was up 6, DP gained 242, and UA lost 26.

Our winners included Zubzubzub4000 (19); Janatik and Gourd (11 each); Shark07 (8); and Zatzat_411 (4).

Hoping for better days...

Clan stats, 3/13/16

Hello Outliers! Record breaking day. 19 players won cups, 3 lost and 25 saw no change.

Outliers gained 44 cups; JA gained 188, DP lost 1 and UA won 15.

Our winners included: Blasophemia (45, wow); TruetheGuru (34, wow);

IssacJHill01 (18); Chanonry (17); Gourd (12);

Janatik (10); Ashclone3 (8); Aleena1009, Restcase, Ash05 and Ashclone2 (5 ea);

Shark07 and Tough02 (4 ea); 21Collins, Peach2 and Stu75 (3 ea);

Cmdr0 and Schlomotion (2 ea); and Zatzat_411 (1).

We cannot do better than this. Thank you!

Jungle Wars: Placing the clan headquarters

Placing your clan headquarters (HQ) is a deep subject but we can start by looking at a mistake:

This HQ has been placed way off to the side on the right edge of the map.

When I attack this player, I will open my attack way off to the left so that when the attack moves from left to right, I will have scored most of my winning percentages before my troops come within "range" of the HQ and the HQ troops come running out to attack my army.

A riskier approach might be to knock out the clan building immediately by deploying shaman next to it, but you can lose good troops that way and it will weaken your attack on the village.

If you hover your mouse over the HQ, you can see it's range. Here are some better ideas:

(1) Put it near the totem as a "last line of defense."

(2) Put it near other high value buildings, like the wana pit.

(3) Give it some defense so the clan troops that come out to fight the attacker have support.

Don't put it away from the action - you will lose the battle before your clan defenders can help you.

Clan stats, 3/12/16

Great day, Outliers! 13 won cups, 6 lost them, 1 rejoined, and 28 saw no change.

Outliers gained 114 cups, JA lost 56, DP gained 220, and UA gained 1.

Winners included IsaacJHill (20, good debut); Zatzat_411 (12); Aleena1009 (8);

Cowbow29, Shark07 and Tough02 (7 ea); Nogeenkip (6);

BlakeG22 and Gourd (5 ea); Darkholme1908 (4); Ashclone2 and Restcase (3 ea); and Ash05 (2).

This is great! More please.

Clan stats, 3/11/16

Hello Outliers! Tough day today, 10 winning cups, 11 losing them, 25 with no change, and 1 new player. Welcome IsaacJHill.

Leading the way were Blasophemia (24, good); Ashclone3 and Questingraven (15 ea); Cowbow29 (14); Restcase (5); Swordwrath and Ashclone2 (3 ea); Tough02 (2); Ash05 and Cmdr0 (1 ea).

We're taking some hard knocks; please join in gaining back any lost points.

Clan stats, 3/10/16

Hello Outliers! Sad news.

We gained 240 points but only 7 won cups, 10 lost them, 30 saw no change, and one returned to us.

JA lost 5 cups, DP lost 38, UA gained 10.

Our winners included Cmdr0 (14); Ashclone 2 (13); Janatik (11); Ash_clone (7); Restcase (2); Ash05 and Gourd (1 ea).

I will push less actives for more attacks.

Clan stats, 3/9/16

Hello Outliers! Lots of activity in the last three days.

The clan gained 730 cups with the return of Ash05 and Gourd and the departure of two players.

JA gained 58, DP lost 568, and UA gained 31.

We had 14 win cups, 13 lose them, 2 players returned and 18 saw no change.

Winners included Zubzubzub4000 and Ashclone2 (35 ea, vg); Miimario (33, vg); Cowbow29 (30, vg); Janatik (29, good); Cmdr0 (19); Questingraven (15); Blasophemia (13); Restcase and Tough02 (11); Grenadier235 (9); Kevo5096 (8); Freak76 and Redwood23Spooky (5 ea).

Thanks all, let's keep going!

Jungle Wars: Space between walls

How much space do you leave between walls? It's an interesting question.

The newer player wants to gather many buildings into a small space so that the firing platforms can cover them. Here is an example (above). This is not a newer player but the logic of protective firepower is driving this layout.

There are two problems with this.

First, if I can knock out some firing platforms behind the first wall, "safe spaces" emerge where my units can run along outside destroying stuff (until they come within range of the next surviving shooter). In this example, the attacker has to destroy a lot of firepower to create a safe space because the firepower is optimized over a small space. But this leads to...

Second: the tight spacing reduces travel time between buildings. The attacker must also fight the clock and here time is the least of problems because the attacker can go from building to building instantly.

Note that there is continuous open space within each row of walls. If the attacker breaches the outer wall, units will run around continuously until they have destroyed everything within that "ring." As they take down a row of defenses, weak or slow units can be unleashed against the buildings clumped outside the wall to destroy the "defenseless" structures.

This player (above) is compensating for "time" by spacing out structures in a more open plan. Here, nothing is outside the walls and the attacker has to do some running between buildings, which burns up time. This player has left a gap (lower center of picture) to lure in attackers. He has placed high value firing platforms near the opening in a "sacrifice" play, to wear down the bulk of the attack force before they get very far. This is a tradeoff since the deeper into the maze our attacker goes, the less firepower will be there in opposition.

Here (above) is another open plan but with buildings outside the first wall and more space in the inner ring. The position of the firing platforms is different here, with less mutual support. Here, it tends to be 1 covering 1 whereas in the previous screen capture, you see 3 covering 1. The first example has 4 or more covering 1 for the densest firepower.

As an attacker, I find these layouts most difficult in this order: examples 2, 1, 3.

Something to think about.

p.s. Note that all three examples follow the rule of having at least three walls between the attacker and the totem.

Open thread

Back Wednesday with stats and tips. In the meantime, feel free to converse in comments.

Clan stats, 3/5/16

Hello Outliers! Ups and downs today.

11 won cups, 8 lost, 25 saw no change, and 3 Outliers transferred in.

Gourd and Aleena went to the Academy.

Winners included Copro73 (22, good); Janatik and Questingraven (15 ea); Zatzat_411 (11); Redwood23Spooky (8); Nogeenkip and Shark07 (7 ea); Cmdr0 (6); Pyroman62, Tiptop1222, and Schlomotion (3 ea).

Please keep up the action!

I will be offline on a trip until WED, please give Ash your attention in the next days.

No stats or posts until WED. Happy raiding!

Graduation ceremony

Today, Outliers graduated the one and only Gourd who matriculated to Outliers Academy.

Gourd gained enough cups to join OA and in six months will rise to 2000 cups. We will miss his comments, insights and clan HQ troops in Outliers!!

You do not need to be an Outlier to join Outliers Academy. You do not need to join one of the Outlier clans on graduation. Take advantage of this great training regimen. The game, Jungle Wars, needs great, active players to provide more fun for all.

Gourd joined Outliers when we stated in October. We have a plaque noting founders and GOURD ranks in capital letters

Clan stats, 3/4/16

Strange days Outliers. We are up 326 cups from yesterday. JA is down 12, DP is up 25 and UA is up 19.

Ash05 and Schlomotion rejoined the clan while founding member Gourd moved on to Outliers Academy. Go Gourd!!

We had 9 players gain, 3 lose, and 32 with no change.

Winners included Blasophemia (91, holy cow!); Chanonry (23, good); Zatzat_411 (good); Zubzubzub4000 (17); Darkholme1906 (8); Redwood23Spooky (7); Peach2 and Cmdr0 (6 ea); and Tough02 (5).

On a personal note, I lost 60 cups today, though may were regained.

Good results team, thanks!

A resignation with a lesson

Today we had an old friend of the clan resign. He was with us on 11/18, when
I started keeping clan records. We had only 12 players in the clan then:

Restcase
Arissa1009
Ash05
Schlomotion
Hilljack2008
Redwood23Spooky
Lazymonky (retired)
Aleena1009
Gourd
Grenadier235
Darkholme1906
Kevo5096

I was looking at that first record and noticed he had only gained 104 cups between 11/18/15 and 3/3/16 despite being active every day. He remarked to me last week that he felt he was getting nowhere in Jungle Wars.

If you ever feel that way, quit but don't quit. Join Outliers Academy for a six-month course that will take you from 1400 to 2000 cups. Or, if you are tired, park yourself in Rest(----)of Outliers until the time/inclination return.

We miss our players, even the inactives.

Clan stats, 3/3/16

Hello Outliers! Good effort today but a cup loss due to resignation.

Our old friend Hilljack2008 has left. Please see separate post for more detail. Outliers were up 10 cups 12 hours before that but his departure has cost us 127 cups.

JA gained 5 cups, DP gained 22 and UA gained 16.

We had 12 players gain cups, 9 lose and 25 with no change.

Leading the way were Zubzubzub4000 (16), LovelyH3 (15); Blasophemia (13); Zatzat_411 (12); Nogeenkip (11); Gourd (9); Freak76 (7); Stu75 and Ashclone3 (6 ea); Darkholme1906 and Shark07 (5 ea); and Restcase (4).

Good fighting team. We'll make up the resignation with some transfers after this is posted.

Jungle Wars: Healer plus shaman

A tip from Talt:

Big "if"? Your comments welcome.

Clan stats, 3/2/16

Hello Outliers! Strange day today. We had 8 win cups, 8 lose, 31 with no change.

I don't know why but we are down 102 clan cups. JA lost 14, DP lost 41, and UA rose 19.

Winners included Miimario (19); Zubzubzub4000 (18); Gourd (15); Peach2 and Blasophemia (14 ea); InAFlash (7); Nogeenkip and Restcase (5 ea).

We're going to need to make up points this week. Please join in.

Jungle Wars: Not all hitpoints are equal

If you have ever built a Tower of Magic you noticed something in the description:

Rhinos are most prone to damage from this weapons platform, this puny tower that deals out 25 damage. Look at the Rhino's hitpoints.

Let's see, the tower deals 25 damage, the rhino has 2500 hitpoints, so the tower would have to hit the rhino 100 times to kill it, except that it gets a premium for hits on rhinos.

But it's not just about Towers of Magic. Against many systems, the rhino's hitpoints are hollow. The rhino is weaker than advertised because not all hitpoints are equal.

Not only is the rhino more susceptible to extra damage from the Tower of Magic (as declared above), it is susceptible to extra damage from various undeclared sources. If you've ever deployed the rhino, it conks out much sooner than it should. It seems to putter a long the length of a large base taking hits from slinger towers and other light weapons until it goes out of action.

Some of the hits it is taking are not 1 damage = 1 hitpoint.

But rhinos are exotic. Few use them. Everyone has used warriors, spiders and slingers. In your experience, do you feel one hitpoint equals the same value across all three of those unit types?

I think spiders and slingers are weaker not only because of FEWER hitpoints but because of the QUALITY of those hitpoints.

I suggest not all hitpoints are equal.

Disagree? Comment as you like.

Clan stats, 3/1/16

Hard day today, Outliers. 10 players gained, 8 lost, 1 was new and 29 saw no change. The clan gained 19 cups. JA lost 1, DP gained 71 and UA gained 46.

Winners here included Blasophemia (76, wow); Ashclone3 (56, great); Zatzat_411 (33, very good); Cowbow29 (16); Gourd (13); InaAFlash and Darkholme1906 (4 ea); Hilljack2008 (2); and Janatik and Restcase (1 ea).

Thanks team: good try to those who lost cups. If you haven't attacked recently, pitch in!

Jungle Wars: Indestructible dino glitch

In Jungle Wars, the glitches can work against us even when they appear to be in our favor.

I reached 55% in an attack against a player and was lucky to do so - his clan troops were chasing my attackers all over the village. But they couldn't kill this dino (right), who ran my winning percentage up to 90%

If I had hit the surrender button, I might have scored some cups but I got greedy and let the clock run out and an ERROR message appeared. Upon reboot, I saw my score had not changed (for better or worse) but my troops had been spent for nothing.

That picture shows the actual rascal being chased by enemy shaman. He took some hits but his health status bar got stuck there on low and he would not die.
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Update, 3/1: Spazz writes in public chat,

Update, 3/2: Today, I had an indestructible gorilla (see right). No error followed. The only unique aspect to this was that my troops included first time upgraded slingers. Hmmm.