What's the best Clash of Clans-like iOS game that isn't P2W?
August 1, 2016 5:01 PM   Subscribe

My 6th grader really enjoys Clash of Clans, and has enjoyed the Advance Wars games on DS, but is not having fun with Clash's enforced waiting. I'd like to find a similar turn-based iOS strategy game where we can just pay for it once rather than get tangled up in freemium marketing. Unfortunately, this isn't my genre and I have no context for weeding through the recommendations Google brings me. Any expert opinions?
posted by blueshammer to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
It's not exactly clash of the clans like, but I really enjoyed final Fantasy tactics.
posted by Karaage at 6:00 PM on August 1, 2016


Best answer: If they liked Advance Wars, I'd recommend Warbits. It's $4 and includes a lot of content.
posted by yellowlightman at 6:05 PM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


Hoplite is worth your time. It's more of a simple puzzle game, like doing chess endgame problems, but it's quite well done.

I haven't found a single Advance Wars / Fire Emblem style game for iOS that I thought was nearly as good as the Gameboy games. Hoping this thread proves me wrong.
posted by Nelson at 3:33 AM on August 2, 2016


A version of Civilization, like CivRev, might fill your needs. it is $3 upfront and there are $11 of addons you can buy. They are not necessary, though.
posted by soelo at 8:00 AM on August 2, 2016


My friends and I have found the general solution to the forced waiting is to get more games going, and stagger them so that you're at a low skill level and shorter build times on a newer game at around the time your other game is maturing to the point of longer builds.

I play CoC, Boom Beach; used to play Samurai Siege; a friend adds the Star Wars game that's along these lines. I've played Hay Day and Fallout Shelter-- both were real time-sinks, though. At least I was rarely wanting for something to do in either game.

I play Clash Royale, which uses the CoC elements in a head-to-head card-based battle game that usually doesn't take more than 4 minutes to play a round, and often ends at 3. (Oh, I guess it can do 6 minutes in a "friendly" battle, which includes Tournament play.)
posted by Sunburnt at 12:19 PM on August 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


The battle for Polytopia is exactly what you're looking for. Free, with in app purchases for different "tribes", but no restricted functionality if you don't buy and no buy 1000 jewels to win/get better weapons scam.
posted by Gilgongo at 5:26 AM on August 4, 2016


Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers. Warbits has been a hit so far, but we'll keep moving down this list.
posted by blueshammer at 12:50 PM on August 8, 2016


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