Can anyone explain the mechanics of the Shapeshifter event?

Osiris (GB1)

I have to say that the Shapeshifter event confounds me - you can send a big army or 32 men, and win or lose, receive the same(ish) number of the red teardrop-blob-things.  You can switch on hardcore mode and send a big army or 32 men, and win or lose receive the same(ish) number of red teardrop-blob-things.

So what's that all about?  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the mechanics of attacking in the event, and presumably in defending similarly although that's harder to determine as we cannot discuss with our assailants the results of you defence strategy.

Also, I have been sending exactly the same sized attack with the same commanders in the same style for each day of this current event.  The first two days I received 4 results exceeding 3K in red points and one around the 2.8K mark.  Subsequently I have had every attack netting me about 2.7K points although I am doing nothing different.

It all seems a little random - can anyone throw any light on it please?

I've talked to a few other people who have noticed exactly the same thing, and who are also in the dark as to how the maths works and how it is all very illogical.

So, for those and all the others similarly mystified, any help in understanding the event would be much appreciated.

Cordial Warrior (US1)

It doesn't seem very intuitive to me either. I admit I have not read everything there is on the issue. But some of what I have read didn't do a good job of explaining the event. 

Also, when it first came out I tried attacking those things. I got one victory and then two devastating losses. 
It isn't clear to me which ones are more powerful than the others, i.e. I don't know how to rank them in terms of strength or difficulty. 

For now I am not bothering with them at all and neither is anyone else I know. There are plenty of other things to work on in this game. GGE should make a tutorial, or at least some explicit and complete explanation of the event. 

fujiwara (GB1)

I love getting to the bottom of the mechanics of the game. Shapeshifters I  have consigned into the pit that should never be re-awoken, none of it makes any worthwhile intuitive sense. I've managed to work out how to very cheaply cash in lots of rewards for no effort and cost, and will continue to do so until they've reworked it to actually make some kind of logical sense.

OxO (AU1)

Yeah it's a waste of time, effort, and space. Feel free to rework it once I've completed 2 of each set

samasensei (ASIA1)

lol simple answer no

but on a real level i dont even think the people who designed the event can answer your question lool