Effects of village raiding for war

[Judasilfarion]

I was wondering if raiding a faction's villages will affect that faction's army composition and size. In this situation money and reputation are meaningless to me, so the only possible effect raiding a village will have on my game is weakening a faction's general military power.

So does anyone know whether raiding villages will weaken a given faction's war machine?

[Asphe]

In my experience, it reduces their recruitment a little bit, in that the AI lord won't be going to that village for a while i.e. it's a waste of your time if you're expecting a significant military effect.

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So why do it? To mess with them. You can turn an enemy campaign army away from their original objective [some lord owns that fief? Who's the faction's marshal?] Or at least cause some lords to do come rescue the fief instead of something useful.

[White Knight]

I tried to see what kind of effect it would have in my games. There was no noticeable effect, so I stopped doing it. The negatives vastly outweigh any imagined benefits.

Conversely, helping them and supporting them, helps the player out in several ways.

It comes down to players who want to win the game and players who want to make themselves feel "tough" by attacking non-combatants. It's a brains vs. bullying thing.

[Horcerer]

Raiding rewards you with a significant amount of money which can get you a good 25 or so elites, so theres that.

[Tuidjy]

Against a large, well functioning kingdom, it has little effect.

Against a kingdom that is down to a city and its villages, it can bring down the lords' recruitment to a screeching half.

In some mods like Perisno, with detailed economy, you can break a lord financially if you keep his villages in flames. This results in his army shedding troops.

But even in Perisno, I do not recommend it. The long term effects on your ability to unite the map are negative. If you cannot wipe a faction without making war on its civilians, you are not ready anyway. The good player alternates long day feasts with short campaigns that each conquers a few walled fiefs. Raiding villages is never the most lucrative or most effective thing to do, except if your are really weak, and if you are, you are better off doing something that will make you stronger, faster.

[Judasilfarion]

Thanks for the replies guys, I ended up looting and pillaging 3/4 of the villages of a faction and it has seemed to make a dent on the military power of that faction, as I am no longer being swarmed by massive stacks of 300 knights plus infantry rabble, but instead I am being swarmed by massive stacks of 100 knights plus infantry rabble.