Event order: what happens first in the same second
Why troops always resolve after buildings and merchants, why the army sent first lands first, and what that means for reinforcing and sniping.
Updated 13 September 2026
Most things in the game finish at a moment - an attack landing, a building completing, a merchant arriving - and the game processes them in time order. The interesting cases are the ones that finish in the same second.
The rules
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Different seconds | Earlier first, always |
| Buildings, research, merchants in the same second | Before any troop movement, in no guaranteed order |
| Troop movements in the same second | After everything else, in the order they were sent |
| Events in different villages in the same second | No guaranteed order |
| Instant actions (no countdown) | Whenever they happen, with no fixed place |
Troops land in the order they were sent
This is the rule everything tactical rests on. If an attack is already on its way, reinforcements sent now cannot land in the same second ahead of it - they have to arrive at least a second earlier to fight. But reinforcements that were already travelling before the attack was sent do land first, even in the same second.
The same rule orders an attacker's own waves: a clearing wave sent before the catapults and administrators lands before them, even when all three share a second. See Catapults: targets, durability and how many to send and Administrators: loyalty and conquering villages.
What it means in practice
- A building finishing and an attack landing in the same second: the building finishes first. A defender can time an upgrade of the administration building to finish between the catapults and the administrators, so a level 1 building stands when the administrators arrive.
- A Warehouse finishing and a merchant arriving in the same second: either may come first, so do not count on the new capacity.
- Sniping - landing defence between two enemy waves - works because waves in different seconds are separate events. Only four waves land in one second, so an attacker who needs more has to spread them out, and every gap is a chance. A snipe is beaten when the attacker sends several clearing waves or packs the waves into one second.
When the server is under heavy load, events can be processed late for both sides, and a plan built on single seconds can come apart.