I've been following the comment thread over on TSTOaddicts.com, and apparently it's possible to let your house get destroyed and NOT get elixir credit for it.. several folks have reported that they've been willing to let neighbors destroy their homes to share a higher payoff, only to have the game automatically rebuild the house on its own. So while the attacker is presumably getting full credit, the defender gets nothing.

The recommendation over there is to go ahead and tap shields whenver you see them. You get 10 or 20 elixir, they get 10 or 20 elixir, and everything resets for the next visitor. They're also recommending that, since defenders are encouraged to go ahead and tap shields, that attackers dedicate no more than ONE nerd to the attack. That will maximize the # of targets an attacker can go after, and will maximize the amount of elixir that both the attacker and defender will get.

As for me, I'm sending 12-13 nerds out every time I get a batch (I currently get 15 every 2h). The other 2-3 nerds I hold back... as soon as someone attacks me, I defend then counter-attack with a single nerd against their castle. I am hopeful that if I do this quickly enough, they'll see the counter-attack and counter my counter... we might be able to build up 5 or 6 times the amount of elixir in just a few minutes that a single one-way attack would generate.

Also, be aware, I just recieved a shit-load of reinforcements that quickly maxed-out my capacity (50 nerds max right now). I had 15 more waiting to be tapped at my castle and I found out the hard way - those 15 were lost because I had no room for them.

If you get a "reinforcement" notification, before you do anything you should first check to see how many nerds you already have. If the # is in white, you're not at your max. If it's in red, you are. I you're maxed-out OR are close enough to your max that the nerds waiting to be released will put you over the top - go spend down your nerds first... send a bunch of them on a raid somewhere. Then, once you have room, go tap/collect your new nerds.

I haven't seen those comments, but I have seen reports that visiting Krustyland can cause them to disappear if you don't collect them first.

The glitch typically occurs if the owner goes to another screen (KL does that, so does visiting another town or bringing up the friends' town menu).

BTW - I'm happy that I had been spending "money" to buy up all the vacant land. I've got a HUGE tract of land ready for my three castles and have already designed what my stone castle is going to look like once its completed.

Nice.

You may recall I set my town up in 8 x 8 square grids with roads in-between for easy zoning and tapping. After Stonecutters I went ahead and moved a few things around and ended up with two 8 x 8 grids kitty corner from each other in the middle of town. I left them all summer, thinking something would come along and put them to good use. Turns out, it's this event. I've got the Barbarian's Castle in one, Lisa just built Castle Recycle in the other (I also put in eco-friendly community-garden-style stuff like pumpkins, little ponds, etc. You know, the stuff Lisa would have), and Bart's got his makeshift Castle Cardboard going up in the already-established park because, well, that's Bart.

Yeah, really digging this event.

How are some of you at like 10,000 gold? I don't even have 2000 and I've been playing quite a bit every day. What's your secret?

That's a really good idea. I may have to give this a shot because I am suffering that glitch of the housing already being rebuilt. Been trying to let you folks attack the far southeast part of my house farm and end up with nothing gained on my end, I'm afraid.

I sped up the castle and got like 8500 on the first day because I was getting hit by random attackers like crazy. It's slowed down a ton since then.

Apparently I can't have more than 50 nerds at the same time. They let me have 55, with a big warning in red, and after I got to spend nerds they give me the ones waiting. So for example I started the game and had 55 nerds. I immediately went and sent them to attack, until I had only 30. Came back and again 55, went back to pillage towns, until I had only 30 nerds. Went back to my Springfield and I still had 30.

Has anyone experienced that?

BTW, right now I'm playing a lot. Every 2-3 hours.

When the number is red, that is your maximum. You start out with a base maximum. Some of the castle upgrades add 5 additional nerds to that castle's production. Some upgrades add 5 to your maximum.

Another way to know if you are close to your maximum is to go to the menu where you can buy nerds for donuts, any of the packages that would take you over the maximum will be unavailable.

Hmm, plus if your castle is under attack, no way to collect it or get nerds without clearing the attack. Even going through the icon on the bottom clears the attack. I guess that clearing the shields immediately is the way to go. Sad panda.

I'm officially addicted again.

Last night I was falling asleep watching a movie. Finished it and still decided to check the game. Had some nerds and almost fell asleep between loading screens while pillaging towns.

Then an earthquake at 3:30 am in the Bay Area. I said to myself, no, I'm not going to play. Couldn't sleep so I started the game. That's the bad thing about getting new nerds every two hours.

Here's a simple but effective idea I found on reddit:

Put up a "Hail Ants" sign next to your castles to signal to other players that you will defend against attacks on your castles, but will allow attacks on houses to go undefended.

That's what I'm going to do and would recommend others do it as well since it's gaining support online and there will be random people attacking your towns. This way we can all help one another get more hold and elixir without wasting nerds.

Happy Tapping Folks!

Can someone explain why not defending your houses is a good idea for both parties?

The invader get more gold and elixir when a house is defeated than if it is successfully defended. Since the defender gets gold and coins for repairing a house (albeit less than if defended) everyone would get more gold and elixir in the long run if they allowed houses to be destroyed and repaired. It's like the prisoner's dilemma.

And for those of us who have already reached our goals, it benefits those visiting our towns by allowing them to earn more gold and elixir than if we were to defend our towns.

Yep, addicted again. And as an avid Clash of Clans player this update thrills me.

It's a prisoner's dilemma with, generally, completely anonymous partners. The Machiavellian would put up the sign to draw people into attacking, then defend with impunity.

The biggest thing for me is that I'm on throughout the day and I want to play. I defend everything.

MBoyd, I really like your amalgamated 3-in-1 castle. It looks really cool.

For my three castles, I have each separated. I figured Lisa would make her castle surrounded by beauty and gardens, while Bart would just build anywhere, hence he's set up shop in the middle of the park.

Some of you seem to be more "in the know" than me. Where are people getting their news besides TSTOTopix? I like those guys but news is a little slow and nearly every post starts with an apology about a lack of updates. You know, basically it reads like every other blog.

I go to TSTONews.com (the person that runs that site is the same one who usually breaks all of the upcoming content first) and reddit.com/r/tappedout/

Defend everything. Don't be France'd

Tstoaddicts.com is another site I go to. Seems to post more frequently than Topix.

I cannot get the 2nd part of the Rolling With It task to complete.

I got the first part "Destroy a Building with a Cheaters 20."

But, when I use a Cheaters 20 when my town has raiders roaming around, it doesn't complete the "Use a Cheaters 20 to Defend Your Town."

Is there a specific way that one is done?

One of your buildings has to be under attack to use the cheaters 20 to defend it, I believe

It's glitched for some people. If you are under attack, you should be able to tap the die icon and tap the screen to defend/rebuild all. At that point the task should complete. One guy said he was able to go into inventory and use one from there to complete the task.

Yeah. I've had the Shields above some buildings and tapped the dice and it flashed my screen and I got a ton of elixir and gold all at once, but the task still stayed at 0/1.

I only have 2 dice left so I don't want to keep trying.
I did a quick search at the EA site and it sounds like it might be a glitch for some people and that EA is hopefully working on it.