Pillaging

See also: Battle, Occupation, Spying and Unit

Pillaging is the process of attacking another town in order to steal some of their resources.

The basics

Knowing your target

Building a hideout and training a spy is the first step to a successful pillage. Spies can provide valuable information about your target. Go to the island view of the town you want to send a spy to. Click on the town and select Send Spy from the Action pane on the left side.

If your spy is successful in infiltrating the town you should first determine the size of the Town wall. From the Island View you can double-click on the enemy town and see what buildings they have built and what level each building is. You can also access this view by clicking the enemy's town name in the Hideout. Make note of the wall size as it will help the defending army. Also make note of any warehouses and what level they are since the warehouse will protect some resources.

Next you will want your spy to do some missions. You can access the missions from the Hideout. Two useful missions for your spies are "Inspect warehouse" and "Spy out garrison." The "Inspect warehouse" mission will tell you what resources are stored in the town. The "Spy out garrison" mission will tell you exactly how many troops are defending the town. There is a "cool down" period between missions where the risk is increased for a while. Try not to do missions too close together.

Building units

In order to attack, you must first have built some units in the Barracks. At first the only units available are Slingers and Spearmen. As you advance through the Military Technology Tree, the units become more advanced and far superior in combat. The more units you have, the more it will cost for upkeep. Upkeep is the cost of each unit to stay under your command per hour.

The attack

Go to the Island View for the town you want to attack. Click on the town and select Pillage from the Action pane on the left side. Select the number of troops you think you will need to defeat any defending army. No matter if you are attacking over land or sea, be sure to send extra cargo ships to bring home some loot. If the attacking forces will be traveling across the island they will depart immediately and move at the speed of the slowest unit. If the attacking forces will be traveling in cargo ships to another island they will begin loading at the trading port. Troops take up space on the cargo ship just like resources. Upgraded trading ports will load troops faster.

You can not pillage over the sea if your target has been blockaded by another player. Your ships are turned around just as if the city had a defending naval force. However, you can pillage a town on your island even if their harbor is blockaded.

When two or more people attempt to pillage the same town their armies work together to defeat the defending army. The army that has the highest attack power at the end of the battle gets to pillage first.

The Combat Report

Your military adviser will notify you of any combat reports. Sending troops to pillage towns that are undefended will generate a successful Combat Report (CR) without any battle. Your troops will begin loading the loot onto the cargo ships right away. Towns that are well defended may generate a multi-round battle. Each round lasts 20 minutes.

Loot

The Warehouse will protect a small amount of resources. Any resources that are not protected by the warehouse can be pillaged. Sending more ships will allow you to get more resources. When pillaging, each cargo ship will load 15 goods per minute, regardless of the size of the trading port. All ships load simultaneously, unlike when shipping resources through a trading port. 33 minutes 20 seconds is the maximum load time if all your cargo ships get filled. If you send more cargo ships than strictly necessary it will speed loading times. For example: 10 ships are needed to pillage 5,000 resources, so sending 20 ships will reduce the loading time to 16 minutes 40 seconds.

The type of resources you get is proportional to the total number of resources they have. For instance, if you pillage a town that has 2000 Wood and 1000 Marble (a 2:1 ratio), you will get 1000 Wood and 500 Marble (the 2:1 ratio) when sending 3 ships.

Defense Against Looting

Make yourself an unattractive target

1. Don't have lots of resources in your towns. Stockpiling resources makes you an attractive target.

2. Keep a strong military. Upgrading the Town wall will help you protect your town better.

3. Have a high level Hideout and keep plenty of spies there. If a pillager can't spy you, chances are he won't attack you. Your hideout should always be at least equal to the level of your town hall. For large players it is recommended you have your hideouts at Level 32 in order to prevent spies from penetrating your defense.

4. Keep at least one warship in every town. This will repel any incoming cargo carrying armies. This has been made slightly redundant since Occupation was introduced, as attacks over land do not need to blockade your harbor in order to pillage your goods. However there are still inexperienced pillagers who will try to attack from another island, therefore it's sensible to do so as it is a minimal cost.

Make it difficult for the pillager

1. If you can, send a fleet to pillage the town from which the pillager came - he may take fright and abandon the attack!

2. Send away as many luxury resources as you can before the attack arrives, then either donate all your wood to the island or use it and any sulphur you have to start training soldiers. These can later be used to exact revenge upon the pillager.

3. Ask neighbors on your island to help defend you - if you're on good terms with them, or even just donate lots to the mill and mine, they are often likely to help you.