Your First Few Days

Your first couple of days in the game, once you have got through the Tutorial, are some of the most important that you will face in Clash of Clans. The main reason behind this is that you have a Shield which protects you while you build up your defences. At its most basic, you should concentrate on upgrading your resource collectors, which at this stage will only be Gold Mines and Elixir Collectors. You want to make sure you have maxed out the number of each of these that you can build, however. Without adequate storage too, this won't come to anything, so you should also upgrade your Elixir Storage and your Gold Storage. You shouldn't build more Storage stations yet, rather concentrate on upgrading your existing ones.

Because you have a Shield, there is no point in spending your money on defenses such as Walls and Cannons. Your Shield will last for a total of 3 days, so during this time, until you get to the end at least, there's no need to worry about being attacked.

NOTE: If you attack someone in multiplayer, you will sacrifice your Shield. This is not recommended as it will put you open to attack by anyone - although the game itself doesn't make this clear.

Once you get through the first few days and begin to run out of time with your Shield, you should start on working out your defences. Check our guide to defensive units for picking the best to build, but at this early stage, you should try to build Mortars and Archer Towers, with Cannons being third choice at this stage. Upgrade your defences where resources permit, and build walls to channel enemies into a certain place, or protect crucial structures.