Clash of Clans allows users to purchase shield time, which makes it so other players can’t attack you. It’s a nice idea as features go, but there’s another way to get shields and while it’s a little less dignified you don’t have to pay in-game currency to get it. After you’ve taken a beating, the game throws up a shield for set amounts of time to aid in the recovery effort. Both kinds of shield go away if you decide to launch an attack on another player, and if you were just 100% wiped out by another player you probably don’t want to do that. 

Pay attention to your shield time, and use that to adjust your village so you are able to defend better next time. 

It doesn’t take long for you to outgrow whatever little patch of land you choose to settle in on your map in Clash of Clans, and that means you have to spend some resources clearing the landscape a bit. For lower level folk it’s something of an expensive undertaking, but it must be done. Each map starts with 40 random obstacles on the map, with a couple of obstacles that respawn occasionally. As an incentive, clearing your map will earn your village both Gems and experience, so even if you’ve cleared everything you need to grow your village it doesn’t hurt to knock a few more boulders and trees out of the way while you’re waiting for something to upgrade. 

You will also occasionally come across holiday themed obstacles as well as Gem boxes. These aren’t the same as your regular obstacles, as the holiday gear will net you Gold and the Gem box will net you 25 Gems. Eventually, you’ll reach milestone achievements for clearing 10, 50, and 100 obstacles. These achievements will earn you even more Gems, so keep clearing.