What are the strategic advantages of raiding if any.

[Ramseur]

I am aware of how raiding villages work and the benefits to be had from it but I tend to leave them alone to get on with their lives but was wondering if it was worth destroying enemy villages to deny their faction access to resources.
Is this factored into the game? Any thoughts or facts on the matter would be much appreciated.

[Khergit Horse Archer]

the game previously overtly favors raids in "winning" wars, not sure how it is now.

[Grizzly]

Originally posted by Khergit Horse Archer:

the game previously overtly favors raids in "winning" wars, not sure how it is now.

aka if you raided enugh, you would be more likely to be the one getting money on a peace deal, and more so. however i never raid too, cause its a waste of time for me and ruins the relationships with the village. rather spend my time hunting lords

[Clovis Sangrail]

If you raid a town's trade bound villages, you deny that town the food the village produces, which will make them starve, which will in turn, reduce the town's loyalty.

But the people there will learn to hate you, so it's kind of counterproductive if you want to have that village after you take it,

[Action Man]

Raiding is more of a short term gain for a long term pain.

Starve the associated fief to starve out the garrison faster, which makes the siege easier. However, it takes a while for the village to recover, and it can take a long time to recover all the lost prosperity.

The more casualties you inflict on your enemy, the sooner they will surrender, and the higher the tribute they will offer. On the other hand, the higher the tribute, the sooner they will declare war again.

You can use raiding as a way to draw a larger force to come after you. An army chasing you is an army not raiding your towns or sieging your fiefs. There are better ways to distract your enemies though.

[Ulfkarl]

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

If you raid a town's trade bound villages, you deny that town the food the village produces, which will make them starve, which will in turn, reduce the town's loyalty.

But the people there will learn to hate you, so it's kind of counterproductive if you want to have that village after you take it,

he is using mods

[Clovis Sangrail]

Originally posted by Ulfkarl:

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

If you raid a town's trade bound villages, you deny that town the food the village produces, which will make them starve, which will in turn, reduce the town's loyalty.

But the people there will learn to hate you, so it's kind of counterproductive if you want to have that village after you take it,

he is using mods

Me? I assure you I am not.

If you hover over Food in Manage Town or the encyclopedia, you get a breakdown of where its food comes from. This breakdown will list what the villages are contributing.

Raid those villages, and those food sources disappear until the town recovers. Food surplus goes negative, which means they have to use what is stored in the granary.

Raid multiple times and food stock will hit zero, and the town gets a minus 2 to its Loyalty,

And if Loyalty goes low enough, the town rebels.

Downside is it takes quite a while, especially if the town has a fully developed granary, so while you're raiding villages, someone will be trying to kick your ass elsewhere.

And this is with no mods whatsoever.

[Umbrella]

Raiding villages reduces food to bound settlements and will starve it's garrison and prosperity, which will reduce income for the owner clan.

Vlandia and Asserai in essentially every game I play tend to be completely unraided due to their geography, and they will eventually have villages with ludicrous amounts of prosperity, and militias rivaling those of castles.

So if it is worth it or not largely depends on whether you plan on taking the bound settlement(s) and what faction the village belongs to. You might not want to destroy the prosperity of a town if you wish to own it. Though you might also want to destroy the garrison before besieging it.

Personally I do tend to raid all villages of factions that are growing out of control (essentially always Vlanida/Aserai), so that they get weakened and you don't have to face armies of thousands consisting entirely of T5-6 troops.

[Ramseur]

Thank you for the informative replies. I think I shall continue to leave the villages alone.

[justfaded]

Originally posted by Ramseur:

Thank you for the informative replies. I think I shall continue to leave the villages alone.

If you want to raid solely for money or even rp you can do it without any consequences if you just stop the raid right before the bar completes. It's also a good way to level up troops and or companions. But overall it's a pretty stupid mechanic imo.