Pillaging

See also: Battle, Blockade, Occupation, Spying and Units

Pillaging is the process of attacking another town in order to steal some of their resources. This guide explains the basics in pillaging and provides you with useful information and tips on how to attack

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.

Training units

In order to attack, you must first have built some units in the Barracks. At first the only units available are Spearmen. As you advance through the  Military Research 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. You should build a little extra units so when your main force leaves to attack you have a small defense remaining at your town in case another attacker attacks you.

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.

Remember always to send Heavy Infantry units, even if it is an inactive user, because if you do not, your units will scatter.

The battle 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 15 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 up loading times. For example: 10 ships are needed to pillage 5,000 resources, so sending 20 Cargo 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 2,000 and 1,000 unprotected by the warehouse (a 2:1 ratio), you will get 1,000 and 500 (the 2:1 ratio) when sending 3 ships.