Sub 200 Adventures

It's been a little while since I made my sub-200 journey, so I had better get this blog post done before I forget it entirely!

First off, what is sub-200?
This is just an easy designation for having fewer than 200 trophies.  When you begin playing Clash of Clans, you start out with zero trophies.  It is because of this, I think, that Supercell introduced a special match-making mechanic at the lowest trophy levels.  Why 200 specifically?  Who knows.  They had to draw the line somewhere.  So new players under 200 trophies are sort of in their own Clash of Clans dimension that you and I can never get to.

It's very interesting to experience.  As you creep down toward 200 trophies, you see some extremely low level bases, mostly town hall 2.  But once you drop below 200, it suddenly looks like I'm up in gold league again!

Here are some screen shots showing the sudden change.  First is a shot of my base, followed by what I saw when I went raiding.

Here you can see my trophy count is exactly 200.

And this is the base that was available for me to raid at 200 trophies.

After losing that raid, you can see I dropped 3 trophies and am now below 200.

And below 200, this is the first base that shows up.  What??

Anyway, someone made the discovery that they could go and hide down there and not worry about being attacked.  I don't know when that happened and I don't know who made that discovery.  But eventually it was also discovered that people were hiding down there, so others made the journey down to attack and loot them.

So now that we know what sub-200 is, why would anyone go all the way down there?
The answer to that is simple: easy loot!  What makes it potentially so easy is that all you have to do is train goblins and archers and go after collectors.  There's no worry about losing the battle, because that will just send you lower!  In fact, you want to make sure you don't win.

So how do you get there?
By intentionally losing battles as quickly as you can.  You accomplish this by dropping just one troop and then surrendering the battle.  At first you can drop very quickly, losing 30 trophies at a time.  But when you get closer to 200, you're only losing a few at a time.  It gets even slower as you go, often losing just one each battle.  I got all the way down to 75, so you can guess how many battles I lost!  If you have a Barb King or Archer Queen, it's more efficient to just drop them on the corner of the map and surrender.  That way you don't lose any actual troops.

If this is so great, why doesn't everyone do it?
Well, it's certainly simple and easy to understand, but it's actually a time consuming pain.  You have to drop a troop and then surrender, followed by waiting to reload your base.  And then you do it all over again.  It's been too long since I did it so I don't remember the exact amount of time.  But it took at least an hour to get down there.

And the catch is that once you get down there, you can't stay.  Unless someone makes the huge mistake of giving you a shield, you will get shot back up in trophies the second you log off.  That's because other people are using you to drop trophies!

If I decide to try it, what tips can you give me?
First off, just use archers and goblins.  You can have two barracks training one and two on the other, which almost means endless raids.  That is unless you dump most of your army on a base.

As with regular farming, you want to find the right bases.  30k gold doesn't sound good at all, but it is - when you get it every 30 seconds!

Wall breakers and giants could be helpful for some bases that have vaults, but it's not sustainable unless you gem your troops.

While you are going, you will see some of the same bases over and over.  It's such a strange experience.  If you're lucky you can raid the same base more than once!  That is assuming, of course, that you don't give anyone a shield!  And under no circumstances do you want to one-star anyone!  That will send your trophy count in the wrong direction.

Unfortunately, I think this trophy range used to be a lot more profitable than it is now.  Once people get tired of going down there and the crowd thins out, it will likely be a better place to farm.  You'll notice lots of pumps and mines are empty, and I'm guessing it's because those people just logged off.

I don't know when the ideal time is to try this out, but I was there Saturday night.  I doubt that's the best time to try it, as there are probably way too many other people trying it as well.

One thing that was fascinating was going to bed with 75 trophies and waking up with 799!  Since I decided to head back to my normal trophy range, that initial boost was nice.  But then it was an absolute pain getting back up into gold 1.  Enough of a pain that I won't be trying sub-200 again any time soon.

But for those looking for a completely different Clash of Clans experience, I'd say it's worth trying at least once.

Clan Rules / FAQ

As is the case with most clans on the game, Clash of Clans, we have a few rules.  Those that are willing to abide by these rules will find our clan to be fun, interactive, and helpful as they play the game.  Those that are unable to follow these rules will be booted without much discussion.


Keep the Clan Chat Clean
     There are plenty of clans out there that have no qualms about swearing, sexual innuendos or putting other people down.  If that's something you want to do, then we are not the clan for you.  First and foremost, our clan has some younger members and it is our goal to keep them from having to deal with those things.
     Beyond that, however, our adult members are also not interested in that kind of talk.  Therefore our elders will boot anyone with inappropriate language, often without warning.  It's in the clan description and is futher explained here.  That's all the warning you get.

Don't Cause Drama
     Clash of Clans is a game, and it's meant to be fun.  We don't need anyone that is going to come in and create drama for those in our clan.  What is drama, you ask?  It could be lots of things: spamming, fighting with others, being argumentative, etc.  You will probably get a warning here and then will be booted if you can't change your behavior.

Honor Donation Requests
     Now that you can post messages when you request troops, it's easy to specify what you would like to receive.  While some folks may not get the dragons or dark troops they wanted, we ask that you don't donate anything that wasn't requested without checking with that player first.  We do give away high level troops, including dragons and dark troops, but new players who have not yet demonstrated their loyalty to the clan may find their new clan members reluctant to fill such requests.  It's best to just start out asking for archers.
     We have also had some people in the past who rarely donate, stating that they don't have the troops that are being requested.  There is a simple solution to that: train some archers to give away, even if you don't regularly use them.  Part of being in the clan is helping others, not just yourself.  It will help everyone win in the long run!

Don't Ask for Elder

     For some people, being an elder seems to be a big deal.  Sometimes new members join and ask or expect to receive elder status right away.  We have a simple system for granting elder: first donate 1,000 troops in a two week cycle and then receive enough votes from the existing elders.  Donating 1,000 troops really isn't that difficult, but it does require some effort.  Those who are willing to make that commitment will probably be good, long-term members of our clan.
     Once the 1,000 troops are donated, the other elders will then give a vote for or against that person as elder.  We currently require a 75% approval rate from the existing elders.  This provides a check to make sure this potential new elder has the trust of the clan.

What Makes the Atomic Burritos So Special?
     The foundation for our clan is a handful of family members and friends who know each other in real life and are commited to keeping the clan fun and family friendly.  Anyone who joins will find us to be generous and helpful.  Because so many of our members are active, trustworthy and reliable, we don't have a lot of room for the clan to grow.  Therefore we routinely boot people that are not donating or seem to have become inactive.  This is to allow room for new people to join us and enjoy being a part of the clan.

Are There Requirements for the Clan?
     Right now we require 800 trophies, which is silver league 3.  We do make exceptions for those that we know personally.  Other than that, we don't worry about trophies and don't have set guidelines for numbers of troops to be donated or received.  We simply ask that you donate when you can, and try to give about as much as you receive.

Will You Be Starting a Second Clan?
     The clan is usually full or near 50 members, so it might make sense to start another one.  However, because of our close personal connections, we have no such plans at this time.

How Did The Clan Start?
     Robbie was originally in a different clan when he got Caleb to start playing.  This soon led to Finn and Magoosters joining, which brought about the idea of their own clan.  Caleb took the role of the leader, with the initial clan being called Cyclones.  That name seemed far too common to the group, so they went for something else.  Finn really wanted to use the adjective "Atomic" and considered such combinations as Atomic Chickens or Atomic Hamsters before Magoosters gave the brilliant suggestion of Atomic Burritos.  Thus the clan was born in early May 2013.
     The original clan description was simply intended for humor and stated, "Heartburn, indigestion and room clearing gas.  Join us if you can handle the heat!"  Once others started joining the clan, a helpful description of the clan's primary rules became more necessary.  Eventually Caleb became less active as a player and handed leadership over to Robbie, who has proven to be a great leader ever since!