Here's my tuppence worth.
I too have been fighting wars since they began and have only ever seen one enemy city get rubbled. Yes there are cheats out there but also there are a heck of a lot of people who want to run before they can walk too.
Let me explain, when you come up against a club where most of them have level 20 everything and one or more of them are level 100 cities, you can guarantee two things, they are cheats and you are in for a mauling 🤣
As for running before you can walk, there's people out there who just have to get to the top tier, long before they are ready to be there - why I dunno but - an average war score of 3 or 4k is as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike in A7 beyond a certain level 🤣 They don't last long in my club. I like a fair fight, my average is 78k, nothing startling but I have been known to go way past the 100k and I will fight until I am either asleep or got nothing left to throw at you, whatever comes first but I don't seem to sleep much these days. 🤣
In all that time fighting wars though I have upgraded what I can but have nothing better than level 13 so far.