I have a bit of an interesting observation I have to make — with the new rebalance, I had expected that my army would need to be completely uprooted, or at least significant changes be made, in order for me to pull off incessant five-star attacks like I was able to do prior, even at low medals. Once I reach GPA, my educated guess is that neither my military composition nor strategy will need to change very much. One of the strongest possible motivators players have to stay in IA or even EA and max those out is the fact that very poorly designed bases are ubiquitous at low medals in those ages, but once you reach AA or perhaps even GA, it will be harder to attack since you’ll be dealing with more and more experienced players and beefy defences irrespective of whether or not they’re rushed. (Atomic requires level 150, which practically guarantees a base that isn’t moronically constructed.)
Many bases at low medals are very badly designed, to put it bluntly. They have zero defensive cohesion and are clearly made by rushing players. Defences are either very low-level or far apart, and often both, making them very easy to destroy if you just plop your army down in one area and wait for it to smash across the base. Compartmentalised bases, especially those near your level (if you’re maxed EA, for example, don’t bother attacking maxed EA defences, and I wouldn’t have done it even
before the rebalance), should be avoided. That being said, there are so many “noob bases” that being at low medals is a 24/7 field day, even with the increase in more advanced bases also trying to sandbag for loot and NTGs considered. Because buildings aren’t well placed and there’s little cohesion, you can still proceed with minimal losses. One of the benefits of hitting abandoned bases is that, with nobody there to collect from farms and caravans, which have FAR more loot available than mills or markets, you can get more loot with less struggle. Never mind the fact that walls are either in a low-level box, level 1 and only around part of the base, or nonexistent entirely. I suspect the rebalance won’t be hitting me as hard as I expected — I absolutely
despise losing cannons or supply trains as compared to archers, but considering “will I lose them in this battle?” is enough of a solution for me!
Now, I did use to set down cannons first and then immediately deploy archers next to a building I really wanted to destroy, so that the cannons could blow it up first and then the rest of the army would be able to progress as if that defence building had never been there. What with the new damage changes, I anticipate I’ll be losing a few cannons testing whether or not this is still feasible...oh well!