More hands on with Clash of Clans - enter the clan

Interrupted by a trip to Sweden and the Develop conference in Brighton, UK, I've didn't get around to updating my ongoing hands on with Supercell's new free-to-play PVP iOS game.

However, I have been dutifully playing Clash of Clans - still currently only available in Canada - and have plenty more to say about it.

During the week 1 hands on, I described the basics of the base and army-building mechanics, but hadn't then got into the multiplayer elements; notably the clan part of the game.

This is because you have build up (or buy) enough resources to be able to afford the 40,000 gold you need to repair your broken Clan Castle.

Once you've done this, you can either create your own clan for your friends, or join any of the available open clans that haven't hit the current limit of 50 members.

You have to accepted by the clan leader but you don't have any communications with them, so likely their decision will be based on your level and the quality of your base.

Once you've been accepted into a clan (and you can leave at any time), the process of give and take begins.

This works as you can hit the request button that lets your colleagues donate you troops, which you can use to attack other players, in the single player campaign mode, or to defend your base.

This occurs when you place down your clan standard and whatever troops have been donated come pouring out. Obviously, you can't dictate what types of troops you get, although you can advise within the clan chat column.

Generally, I've found people want the obvious melee troops such as barbarians and giants.

Of course, your clan will also - constantly - be demanding troops from you, which has created some interesting play styles as some people (I'm one) spend a lot of their time and resources giving troops away.

This doesn't help you progress quickly though the game in terms of building up the trophy points you gain for destroying other players' bases. But you get a small XP boost for all troops you give away, so you level up faster.

The people in your clan like you too, and it indirectly improves your clan's overall combat score. This is ranked via a world leaderboard.

In terms of the more general single player gameplay, I've been struggling somewhat in the single player mode to defeat the goblins hordes, because I didn't have enough camps so couldn't produce sufficient troops to overcome their defences.

No matter what Supercell might say about strategy, Clash of Clans is more about massed assaults with giants than clever tactics. This is mainly because you don't have any control over the path finding of the different units, over-and-above what their primary target is - which may be enemy defences, walls or resources.

You can sort of direct the first wave assaults in terms of where you place your wallbreakers, but after that it becomes a free-for-all.

Something I do like about the game, however, is the way it uses in-app purchases.

To-date, I've spent £5.98 or $9.98 (2 x the minimum £2.99/$4.99 package) so I can get brand new buildings levelled up as quickly as possible.

At this point - I'm level 25 and guess I've been playing for around 10 hours - levelling up an existing building to its next stage takes over a day, but with 3 builders in operation (you can buy more with cash), I don't feel like I'm being pressurised to spend cash unless I really want to.

But I do need to get more into the player versus player aspects of the game, and that might change my perspective on this.

So far, my kingdom has been trashed by 10 other players - my defences winning on another 4 occasions - and all-other-things-considered I would like some revenge.

No doubt, this sort of tit-for-tat reaction is driving IAP sales for Supercell, because you do feel pretty angry when your town is destroyed and many resources stolen, even if the buildings regenerate very quickly.

I've not yet been so mad that I've spent cash to build a massive army to get my revenge, but for the purposes of research, it's something I may attempt during the coming week.

I'll let you know how that turns out.

Clash of Clans is still in beta, but due for a worldwide release in early to mid-August.