Raids

[war91]

I was going to try my newest idea (I love guerrilla warfare), and this is what I want to know:

When I go to war, I was going to send some men in ships and drop them off on the enemy coast (in the heart of their land). There, they will ravage the countryside (turn the area they are at black), and block off ports. Then, they pack up and leave.

1) How long does the unit have to stay in a region to raid it?
2) Does exp. or upgrades affect the time it takes?
3) Does the number of units affect it?
4) Does the unit need to be stationary for it to stay up? Say I block a port with a unit: will I be damaging the region while blockading it? And once it does turn black, will it remain devastated as long as I stay in the region (even if I move around in it)?
5) Once I leave the area, how long will it remain devastated?

And my most important question: what does it do? What effects will it have on the enemy in terms of the economy of the city in the region?

Here's my plan: if it lasts for a while, and has bad effects on the city, then by blockading an enemy port with troops (moving them over the port) while they devastate the region; I can hurt the economies of their coastal cities, while quickly pulling them back into the ships before they are attacked.

[townie33]

the only question of yours i can answer and that the bigger the stack the faster it will 'ravage' the countryside. But the way you are going about this is odd, what are you gaining from this? if you really want to suck the life out of you enemy capture a city, sack it, destroy all the buildings for extra cash, and then let is rebel. You actually get money for that and depending on the city or how many cities this has been done to it can cripple your enemy. Well thats my philosophy.

[Viking Prince]

Units on roads will block the trade benfit due to the road. Units/ships blocking a port will remove the benefits of trade through the port. The effect may not be complete as there may be other paths for the trade to follow. As a player, the AI blockading of a port is annoying, but the loss of the trading rights status is more critical.

If the purpose is to raid, the other posts regarding settlements are a very good guide and I will not repeat again.

[Xamt]

a stack ravaging the countryside has 2 effects
1) blocks off trade if located on a road and/or port
2) causes the city to have increased unrest

i can understand why you would like to have a raiding party ravaging the country side in a real life situation (in medieval years) but sadly in this game u gain nothing and the losses to your enemy are too small.

if you want to cripple your enemy's economy then i would strongly sugget you follow what someone else posted here i.e. disembark, capture town, sack, sell buildings, embark, repeat (idieally all in the same turn). this saves you the "wasted" upkeep of an army sitting and doing nothing, gives you a huge cash boost (up to 40k for a really well developed city) and hurts ur enemy a LOT more.

however, if you decide to go with the ravaging countryside idea, you might want to send in a spy or two in the town and a priest or two with ur army to maximize the effect of unrest and maybe even cause the city to rebel without actually starting open hostilities (although relations do worsen and it will eventually lead to war)

[war91]

I know I could do the sack city thing, but I was just going to send enough to devestate the region, and then leave. I probably wouldn't bring enough soldiers for a full on siege, but knowing the AI, I'd bet their coastal cities (which are far from the borders) will be lightly defended.

So does anyone know how long it takes, and how long it lasts?

[Xamt]

judging from rebels doing it to my regions i would say u need 2-3 turns and once u leave it should last for another 2-3 turns... but im not 100% sure on it