Gems for COC is a complete guide on how to get gems and win your battles

First, a quick explanation of what "COC" is and what the ultimate goals are.

The game is based on building then protecting a village and attacking the villages of others. As the game progresses - signaled by a higher-level town hall, the centerpiece of the village - it gets harder, more expensive, and longer.

There are different types of defenses (from cannon to X-Bow), different types of troops (like the "hog rider" or the golem), different sets of "heroes" (unlocked at higher levels), and an assortment of other things that you will discover as you progress.

Gameplay is simple: take care of your village (by upgrading assets, for example), attack other bases, or engage in clan wars (more on those later).

To speed up upgrades and buy more resources (which break down into gold, elixir and dark elixir), Supercell offers gems which can be purchased with real money (£3.99 gets you 500 etc.) At the highest levels, upgrades can take up to two weeks.

Speaking of gems, the best way to progress through the game is to save them for a rainy day – or at least not spend them all during the tutorial (a strategy Supercell encourages).

Having gems on hand is useful for speeding up upgrades - especially in the last upgrade hour - and increasing mines and collectors, which increases production by 2x. You can also "boost" troop training or buy a shield that protects your village for a certain period of time.

Gems can be harvested from trees, rocks, etc., which costs a small amount of elixir. Some players spend thousands of dollars on gems to quickly build their village, but the fun of the game comes from successfully saving for things.

Having a good village layout is very important, especially if you're playing to earn "trophies", which come from successfully attacking a village or defending your own and are used to rank players.

Choices must be made at the lower levels of the game as there are few walls to defend buildings from, but as the game progresses and your village grows there are many options available to you.

Some players have chosen to place storages - which hold gold, elixir, and dark elixir - in the center of the base, protecting them, with the town hall on the outside. The hope is that the attackers will simply destroy the town hall and leave without looting the resources.

Others choose to protect Town Hall first, which can help save trophies, and is a tactic used when there are no more upgrades to save.

There are countless basic templates available on the internet and creating one is not too difficult. Deciding what you want to protect - trophies or resources - is the most important part.

Beyond raiding other villages, one of the best ways to amass resources is to collect them. Gold mines, elixir pumps and dark elixir drills are all available and can, depending on their level, produce a good amount of resources.

At lower levels, pumps only produce small amounts of resources per hour - around 250 - while a fully upgraded pump can produce up to 3,500 of each resource. During protected periods - which last up to 15 hours - this can lead to a lot of (free) resources.

Upgrading warehouses is also important, as they can hold more resources which can then be used to upgrade troops and defenses.

The "Shield" protects your village from external attacks for a fixed period. Attacking another village while your shield is still active breaks it, and that's something you want to avoid.

Only attack when your shield drops - the game notifies you when there are 30 minutes left - maximizes the time your collectors and mines can produce resources (for free) and reduces the risk of losing trophies.

A "clan" is a group of up to 50 players who can share troops, go to war, and chat in-game. You can create clans yourself, customize settings (who you want to join, how often you go to war , etc.) and start hanging out with other players.