Obstacles Overview

     Obstacles are objects that randomly appear in your base on a regular basis.  They are usually relatively cheap to remove, and can sometimes yield up to 6 gems each!  The cost of removal will depend on exactly which obstacle is being removed, this also affects the amount of time needed to remove the obstacle.  Here we will take a look at the various obstacles, their removal costs, and their uses.


Obstacle Types

There are 2 main types of obstacles:  Rocks and Plants.  The biggest difference between these is that once you remove a rock, it is gone forever, while plants will continue to return on a regular basis.  When you are first starting out in this game, this can seem frustrating because you don't have a lot of resources and these obstacles can pop up in the worst places; causing you to not be able to seal off an area of your village with walls or forcing you to place a building in a more vulnerable position.  But, as you progress through the game and you village grows in size and power, you will come to see these obstacles as a godsend, as they are one of the only sources of gems in the game apart from buying them outright, and as you grow the cost of removing them becomes a drop in the water compared to your stores of resources.  As a new player, you will notice that there are several obstacles surrounding the dilapidated clan castle on your village map.  You can focus on removing these first if they are in the way of your growing village, but keep in mind that once you restore the clan castle you will be able to move it anywhere you wish, so the obstacles really don't pose any problem for the clan castle.


Obstacles



The Rock obstacles are:

Type	Size	Removal Time	Removal Cost
Stone (small 1)	2x2	10s	500 gold
Stone (small 2)	2x2	10s	500 gold
Stone (small 3)	2x2	10s	500 gold
Stone (small 4)	2x2	10s	500 gold
Stone (pillar)	2x2	15s	10,000 gold
Stone (large)	2x3	15s	20,000 gold

The Plant Obstacles are:

Type	Size	Removal Time	Removal Cost	Re-spawn Chance
Mushroom	2x2	10s	100 elixir	10%
Bush	2x2	10s	250 elixir	20%
Trunk (1)	2x2	10s	1,000 elixir	10%
Trunk (2)	2x2	10s	1,000 elixir	10%
Trunk (3)	2x2	10s	1,000 elixir	20%
Tree (small)	2x2	10s	2,000 elixir	20%
Tree (medium)	3x3	15s	7,500 elixir	5%
Tree (large)	3x3	15s	10,000 elixir	5%
Gem Box	2x2	30s	1,000 elixir	N/A

There are also tombstones that appear after an attack at the spot your defenses killed a troop.  These can be tapped on for elixir or dark elixir depending on the type of tombstone (which depends on the type of troop that died there).  Make sure to clear these out after every attack, as potential attackers see un-removed tombstones as a sign of an abandoned base, which greatly increases the likelihood of them deciding to attack you.

Tombstones

Type	Size	Removal Time	Resource Received	Happens When
Tombstone	1x1	Instant	20 Elixir	Attacking/Defending Elixir Troop Killed
Dark Tombstone	1x1	Instant	1 Dark Elixir	Attacking/Defending Dark Elixir Troop Killed

There are also special objects that appear during special events and holidays.  Currently, these objects only appear for Halloween and Christmas, but in the future there will likely be others.  These holiday objects typically give you a great deal of resources compared to normal obstacles.  These objects can also vary from year to year, or may not even appear at all depending on what the developers decide to do on a given year. 

Special Obstacles

 

Type	Size	Removal Time	Removal Cost	Reward	Re-spawn Chance
X-mas Tree	2x2	30s	25,000 Gold	75,000 Gold	2%
X-mas Present	1x1	Instant	FREE	5,000 Elixir	N/A
Halloween Cauldron	2x2	30s	25,000 Elixir	75,000 Elixir	2%

This should give you enough information to pretty much be an expert on obstacles in Clash of Clans.  Good luck and clash on!!!

Gems - 2 Rules: Save, and Spend Wisely!

     Gems are the premium currency in Clash of Clans, they can be used to buy resources, speed up building times, boost resource collection and troop/spell creation times, and buy up to 4 extra builders so that you can build a total of up to 5 things at once. When you begin the tutorial at the start of the game, you will be given a substantial number of gems (500).  While going through the tutorial, the game will suggest you use gems to speed things up multiple times, don't use them! One time you will have to use your gems is when the game asks you to buy a second builder, but this is something you will want to do eventually anyway so go ahead and do it (it won't let you proceed until you do anyway).  This should be the only time it actually forces you to use your gems, so any other time you can just wait for the building to finish and the suggestion will go away.
     Gems are very valuable and difficult to get, so you definitely want to save them while you can. Besides the gems you are given upon starting the game, the only other ways to get them are from removing obstructions (the rocks and trees that are scattered around your village, which can only yield a maximum of 6 gems per obstruction), or being lucky enough to find a gem box (which appear as a box of gems somewhere around the edges of your village and net you 25 gems each), or simply by purchasing them with real money. The best thing you can use gems for is to purchase additional builders. I suggest having 3-4 total builders, and there is nothing wrong with having 5 if you can afford it. The price increases by a large amount each time you purchase a new builder, so it will take quite a while to save up enough gems to purchase all 5. The sooner you can get 3-4 builders, the better, because it will allow you to work on multiple upgrades at the same time which will allow your village to grow at a much faster pace.


Purchasing Gems

If you have some spare cash and want to buy some gems, here is the breakdown of how they charge for the various deals and packages:

500 gems       = $4.99
1,200 gems    = $9.99
2,500 gems    = $19.99
6,500 gems    = $49.99
14,000 gems  = $99.99


Gem Package Deals and Savings

As you can see, the deals get better the more money you are willing to spend.  I have also calculated your savings for buying at these different levels based on the amount of gems you get for the $4.99 package:

$9.99 package saves you   ~ $2.00 and you get 200 extra gems
$19.99 package saves you ~ $5.00 and you get 500 extra gems
$49.99 package saves you ~ $15.00 and you get 1,500 extra gems
$99.99 package saves you ~ $40.00 and you get 4,000 extra gems

* These savings are based on comparison to the price and number of gems you would get if you only bought the $4.99 package enough times to add up to the amount of the other packages.


Purchasing Extra Builders

Here is the cost of each builder:

1st builder    - FREE
2nd builder   - 250 gems
3rd builder    - 500 gems
4th builder    - 1,000 gems
5th builder    - 2,000 gems

One last quick tip:  always be on the look-out for special events on boosts.  They regularly have events where they make boosting either resource collectors, spells, or troops cost only 1 gem.  Normally, these boosts would cost several gems or more each, so this is a great opportunity to use a few gems and get the benefit of added resources or faster troop and spell training to allow you to attack multiple times in a very short period.  This is a great way to build up a ton of resources and trophies in no time.