Economy, Income and Lumber

Every 7s you get income: 5 from the castle plus 2% of the cost of each troop building (siege 1.8%; specials 1.2%/0.9%; towers 0.4%; items yield nothing). Upgrades add to it too. If the building falls, the income it and its upgrades added goes with it. Income is taxed progressively in brackets of 25 (10% more per bracket, up to 80%). Idle gold earns nothing: investing early means troops now and more gold later.

Troop buildings refund their cost as lumber (siege: 75%). Lumber pays for specials, towers and legendaries. You start with 1 legendary crystal; each legendary building uses 1 and the shop sells more.

How income adds up

The HUD shows your income per tick, net and gross. A building adds its share the moment you pay for it and keeps it for the rest of the match. A 200-gold troop building, for example, adds 4 gold of gross income to every tick, forever.

Upgrades count at the rate of the building they turn into. On top of income, every enemy troop you kill pays a bounty, and a destroyed building pays its killer 20% of what its owner invested in it.

The progressive tax

Gross income is taxed in slices of 25: the first 25 is untaxed, the next 25 is taxed 10%, the next 20%, and so on, up to 80% on everything above 200. A gross 30 nets 29.5; 100 nets 85; 260 nets 142. The tax narrows the gap between a big economy and a small one, but a higher gross always means a higher net, so every building still pays.

Invest early

This is the heart of the Training's Gold that pays off lesson:

• A troop building pays 2% of its cost every cycle, forever, and trains troops too. Idle gold, towers and items pay little or nothing.
• A tower defends well, but pays only 0.4% of its cost per cycle. A troop building pays 2%, trains troops and refunds lumber.
• A shop item is power now and 0 income. Buying War Drums in the first minute is the classic beginner trap: the same gold in troop buildings would pay you back every 7 seconds.

If the enemy's income passes yours, the answer is almost always the same: invest in troop buildings.

Lumber

Each troop building gives back its gold cost as lumber the moment you place it (75% for siege), and troop building upgrades do the same. Lumber is the second currency: it pays for specials, towers and legendaries. The more army you build, the more you can afford in defenses and big plays.

Legendary crystals

You start with 1 legendary crystal, and each legendary building uses one; the HUD shows crystals in use against your limit. The shop's Legendary Crystal (1,750 gold) raises the limit by one. If a legendary building is destroyed, its crystal comes back, and a legendary reached by upgrading another legendary uses its parent's crystal.

Income at the time limit

When time runs out with Rescues tied, the higher net income per tick wins. If you have the Overdrive perk switched on at that moment, its income penalty counts against you. See the Rescue and shop and perks.