Author: Exarch
Original thread: Tips on Raiding

Tips on Raiding


Let me make one thing perfectly clear: a raid is not about taking and holding a region. A raid is

source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/raid


1) Make sure your borders are secure:

You dont want to be caught with your pants down with your armies half the world away. So, you'll want to be conducting your raids in the middle game when you can train decent militia for the free upkeep and settlements and sackings will give decent $$$-like 20-30k from a good sacking.

2) Picking the right man for the job:

You want someone with movement bouses in their stats, definately not 'Lazy' or 'too comfortable'. Good stats include
  • 'overseer' and 'fast horse' and 'sacker of cities' etc.
  • preferably with command stars and
  • is reasonably young-16-30 should do it and
  • preferably unmarried.

You dont want to leave any widows behind.

3) Select troops:

Armoured cavalry is best supplemented by heavy infantry or spearmen. The whole point of raiding is $$$ and loot so make sure the expenses of maintainin your raiding forces dont engulf your sacking intakes. Mounted archers are also good for hunting down lone generals whilst on raids-you know those 'armies' the AI has around with only one general and a unit of catapaults....

4) Select agents:

You'll be journeying deep into enemy territory so it's good to have some spies and merchants along for the ride. Spies to open city gates (remember fast as lightning like the lightning lord beric dondarrion) and Merchants to exploit the highly profitable goods. E.g. raiding Alexandria and Cairo (both of which tend to be lightly garrissoned) from Italy or England/France which brings us to...

5) Select targets:

The whole point of raiding is to deny the enemy the resources and the means by which to conduct warfare against you. In other words, economic warfare. So dont go trying to 'raid' a full stack citadel-too time consuming and too costly. You want to unchivalrously target weakly defended cities and economic hubs.

Inspiration for your next raid


The second reason I find useful for raiding is to divert the enemy away from key territories-like on my border. As the HRE, I had the Hungarians (scum) attacking my eastern border almost all the time (the Poles being no more since I assassinated their whole royal family) so I loaded up my valiant prince with his 6 command stars and loyal retinue of Teutonic and Imperial knights and seargeants and raided all along the black sea coast. It was good and it diverted most of the full stacks away from my settlements cuz they had to recapture their capital. That brings me to...

6) Vae Victus:

Now that you've taken a settlement immediately sack it or exterminate it. Why would you just want to leave the population be? 'em. You travelled all this way to get the most bang out of your buck so squeeze as much $$ as you can from the enemy treasury. Then destroy every single building in the settlement and GTFO of there, back on your raiding ship and move onto the next target. You want to cripple the enemy economically and this is the best way to do it. A good raid can set a faction back 20 turns or so leaving you ahead in the arms race.

Alternatively, you can not exterminate or sack the settlement if it's a huge city, but rather, destroy every single building in the city to lower public order and recoup the cash then piss off and allow the settlement to rebel.... When the enemy comes back to take the settlement he wont find your forces there. He'll find a rebel city with a sizeable rebel garrison leaving him bleeding his resources trying to take back a key moneymaking city while you sail away with your booty, florins and his daughters.

7) Know when to stop.

A raid is not a suicide mission and by now your general should've gotten many command stars and high loyalty for the attention the arrow in the sky is paying him. Bring him home. Bring the men home. You don't want to pull a dubya d'ye?

Share your tips on raiding!!