Developer/Publisher: Supercell
Platforms: iOS, Android
Worldwide Release Date: Now!
Price: Freemium
What is it? The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arenas. In Clash Royale, players are ranked by their level and trophy count. The highest level is thirteen, with players leveling up by gaining more experience points through donating or upgrading cards. Trophies are won or lost through multiplayer battles; a player wins a battle by destroying more towers than the opponent (each destroyed tower being represented as a 'crown'), or by destroying the opponent's King's Tower, resulting in an automatic "three-crown" victory.
How long does a game last? Games last a maximum of 4 minutes – 3 minutes a match plus 1 minute of overtime. Whoever destroys more towers wins.
How do I get more units? Chests! You get one chest with each win. The chest varies in type, and each chest takes a certain amount of time to unlock. The rarer the chest, the better the cards, and the longer it takes to unlock, with the rarest of chests taking upwards of 24 hours to unlock. You can pay gems to instantly open any chest if your heart (and wallet) desires!
Each arena level offers new cards to unlock, so if there's a unit you want, you might have to increase your arena ranking to get it. Please check out the Wiki for more info on that.
Does this game have clans? Yup, you can join a clan of up to 50 people. You can do practices matches against your clanmates. You can also request cards from, and donate cards to, your clanmates. There's a limit on the requests and donations. Donations are important because it's an easy way to get gold and experience points. At some point I think they are going to have clan battles, but for now, clans just compete against each other on the rankings.
What clan should I join? We have some very active clans, however they may be full. If you are interested in joining start a PM with one of co-leaders or leader. Some of the clans: NeoGAF (#20Y9PQ), GAF (#QYYQCQ), Neogaf (#80J8RU9), Neogaf (#Y8CGRR), GAF Royale (#Q8C9CY). If there are other clans let me know. Just search for these or their tag and they should show up.
How do I level up my tower? You need experience points to level your tower, and you do NOT get experience points for winning. You get experience points from leveling up your cards or from donating cards to clanmates.
What do I do when I am full on chests? If you don't want to gem chests to finish them instantly, you can still play the game for fun, to climb arena ranks, etc. You also get gold from your wins, so keep playing!
How Pay2Win is it? Paying gives you stronger cards (up to a point), no question. However, there are some people have reached the highest arena ranking as totally free to play players. After a certain point, skill matters more than cards. There's not a huge difference in power between a level 7 card and a level 8 card. That said, all of the top ranks are filled with people who have paid dearly for that position, i.e., in the thousands of dollars range.
What should I do with my gems? Save them until you can use them in Challenges. Challenges are the best way to get Gold. which is what you're going to need to upgrade your deck.
Credits to commish for the OT.
