Clash of Clans - Gems Guide

Gems




Like most 'free' games which involve leveling up there is an in game currency which can be purchased with real money, and earned (slowly) within the game.

Progress can be slow without gems and the game tries to encourage you to buy gems, as it is a free game and the only way the developers will make money from the game, personally I think supercell should be more generous with gem distribution.
Progress can be slow without gems, especially by the time that upgrades take days to complete, you have already invested alot of time in the game when you realise you need to spend money or progress slowly. You start the game with 500 gems and you should try to save as many as possible for later in the game.
Builders Huts are the only useful item that can only be purchased with Gems and buying an additional builders hut is the smartest was to spend gems if you want to progress quickly. (The only time I have paid for gems is to buy an additional builders hut).
spend your gems sparingly especially if your in the early stages of the game as you will need them more later, if you can wait for something to finish upgrading or try to raid instead of buying more gold/elixir. If you don't want to buy gems then patience is key, the game requires so much time an upgrading that you just want to upgrade constantly and as quickly as possible but it is much better wait and enjoy the game or before you know it you can spend a lot of money on the game.

More info:http://clashofclanstips.blogspot.com/p/gems.html

Clash of Clans Attack Strategy - Farming

Guidelines

The minimum requirements for this technique are:

Level 3 Archers
Level 3 Goblins

What to Do Before You Start Farming!

Get the "Sweet Victory!" achievement. This will be vital in helping you to save up Gems to get Builder's Huts (you should almost never spend Gems on anything else until you have all your Builder's Huts). I personally spent about US$10 on Gems and saved up a massive amount of Gems from clearing Obstacles and the occasional Achievement to get my five Builder's Huts; getting five is definitely worth it to be able to constantly spend the resources that you farm so you don't constantly fill up.
Army Setup

There are many repetitive attack guides which have many different army setups based on what works for the writer. This is the template that works for me while farming; Giants, Barbarians and Minions can also be used to clean up bigger bases that have massive amounts of resources, but the basis of this farming technique is picking off unprotected/barely-protected mines and collectors. This setup may work for you but it is all about using what feels right.

More info:http://clashofclans.wikia.com/wiki/Casklord%27s_Farming_Guide