General questions from a newbie

Yeah, I have a million questions on this game. Starting with the following:

1) How do you plan an attack? For instance, let's say I want to use my new balloons, but obviously I want to ensure the enemy's ADA is knocked out before I deploy. So how do you know which troops are going to take out defenses, versus the ones that go after the gold and elixer, army camps, etc...
Is there a location to see which troops target what items? Or can I direct their targets?

2) Where can I find the list of fighters and what they do/are capable of? I don't like having to just buy and train and deploy to find out what they do.

3) I still don't completely understand the concept of the clan castle. I see there are troops in there sometimes, but what are they for? Can they be used, or are they defensive troops? I request, somebody donates, and then what? What's the purpose?
And then what else does the clan castle do?

1. For you, giants will always go straight for enemy defenses first. Deploy the giants first so they draw the enemy cannon fire. Then unleash wallbreakers, 2 at a time to open up a hole for the giants.

2. Not sure, but there may be an app out there to give hints and tips.

3. Clan castle troops automatically deploy ON DEFENSE when the attacker gets within range. They can absolutely be the difference between winning & losing when you get raided. We saw this in the last war as our opponents' castles were loaded with high level archers, wizards and dragons. You can also deploy castle troops on offense if you need to.

The answer to your second question is that you can indeed see troop statistics in the game. It's very simple and it shows a good deal about each troop including damage per second, targets, etc…
Step 1:
Open Clash of Clans.

Step 2:
Navigate your village to a barrack.


Step 3:
Find the "i" button in the top right corner of each troop button like in this picture:


Once you've found the button just hit it and it will bring you to a troop stats page like this:


Hope this helps!

Awesome. thanks Jared!

Where do I go to call my opponent?