Okay, guys. I've raided a number of bases recently that just weren't up to snuff. I came, I saw, and I conquered. In this article, I'll show you the things I tend to exploit when raiding a base in Boom Beach. That way, when you're building your Boom Beach base, you can take these into consideration and avoid being an easy target.
# # 5: Overlap Your Defenses
When attackers target your base, they're likely to try to hit your base defenses first. Thus, your first line of defense should be supported by your second line. What you want is overlap between defenses. Line up your defenses so that units fighting one are being damaged by another.
The more damage their units are soaking up in the early stages of the invasion, the less likely it is that they're going to be successful. Especially once you get to the stage where the Gunboat can drop health kits, one tower doing damage simply isn't enough.
I see too many bases where the defenses are so spread out that I can easily target them one at a time, and heal in between. This makes my life easy as a raider!
# # 4: Mind the Gap
Although that last tip would have you believe that you should put your Boom Beach defenses right on top of each other, this is actually a bad idea. Then Gunboat's Artillery ability is free-targeted. Thus, you can hit multiple buildings with a single shot assuming they're right next to each other.
In this example, there are two towers and the HQ that share a corner. A well placed artillery shot will hit all three.
The way to prevent this is simple - don't put strategically important buildings right next to each other. If you've got to put buildings adjacent to one another, make sure they're not defenses or your HQ. If you want to put these guys next to each other, leave at least a small 1-block gap. That way, it's way harder to hit both with a single Gunboat Artillery shot.
# # 3: Protect your HQ!
In Clash of Clans, it's common to leave your Town Hall outside your walls. This is suicidal to do with your Headquarters in Boom Beach. If you leave your Headquarters undefended, it's game over, you lose.
Your HQ should generally be as far back as you can get it from the beach. Everything you can get should be between the beach and your HQ. Sometimes it makes sense to have a defensive structure behind the HQ, but by and large most of your buildings should be in front of it.
While it's true that every building defeated lowers your Headquarters' health, they can still be useful as defensive structures. Since the troop AI tends to prefer whatever's closest to it, you can use them to block off or distract units that would be attacking your defenses or your HQ. This will force the enemy commander to use his Gunboat flares more often, which gives him or her less tactical options later in the match.
In this base, most of the defenses are off to the left. What's stopping me from attacking on the right side, and flaring down the right side, past half the defensive towers?
# # 2: Practice Responsible Deforestation
I see a lot of bases where the player has removed a bunch of trees. Sure, chopping down trees is one of the few things you can do while building or upgrading, and it does provide you with wood if you need wood more than gold. However, it can cause issues for your base layout.
In this example base, there's a clear route to the back of the base owing to the way the trees have been removed. I can bypass most of the defenses and attack the (otherwise well-placed) Headquarters from the rear. Why didn't they move their HQ back after they cleared the trees?
Do note, though, that troops pass right through trees as if they weren't even there. So you can't really depend on trees to keep you safe. If you generally prefer the right hand side of your island, and leave your left flank unguarded, you might be in trouble.
The troop AI prefers buildings, though, so troops generally won't pass through trees that aren't between the them and their nearest target. The exception is if a flare has been used. You can expect smart commanders to use flares in this fashion, though.
# # 1: Learn From Your Mistakes
In Boom Beach, like in Clash of Clans, you can replay attacks against your base. This is extremely important for a number of reasons. One is that going into this menu often yields free diamonds, and who doesn't like free diamonds?
The other is that you can see the specific tactics that were used against your base. This lets you take action to plug holes in your defenses. Chances are good that if someone attacked your base and won, some other Boom Beach player is going to use the same tactics on you in the near future.