A raid is an attack by one clan on another, usually with the goal of acquiring resources such as goods and cows. There are two kinds of raids: ordinary raids, and cattle raids.
Riders and Wheels can only raid those clans they share an immediate border with. Rams are not so limited, and can travel across the valley to raid any clan they please.
The effects of raids are heavily affected by the calendar. Raiding takes your farmers away from their crops, and thus raiding in Sea Season or Earth Season will severely hinder your annual harvest of food and is not advisable from an economic standpoint. Storm Season weather can occasionally prevent a raid from succeeding altogether, and Dark Season weather makes raiding all but impossible. Fire Season offers the ideal conditions for raiding, with Storm Season as a close second. That said, raids at non-traditional times are highly likely to catch the enemy off-guard, making them unable to muster their full force.
Raiding in Lights Going Out functions much the same as it did in Ride Like the Wind, described above. However, even though you are now playing a Ram clan, you still cannot normally raid any clan that you do not border. This reflects the inherent difficulty of traversing the world during the Chaos Age, the time when Lights Going Out takes place.
Ordinary Raid[]
The Raid Screen, with potential targets at left and your forces at right. Herd raids will lack the option to call on allies.
An ordinary raid is a full-fledged attack on another clan and will immediately trigger a battle between the two clans with the defending clan's possessions at stake. When you conduct an ordinary raid, you are asked to determine how many Bows and Swords you intend to send - sending more forces will make the raid easier, but will also leave your own lands undefended, making you vulnerable to enemy cattle raids. In addition, larger forces are easier to spot, making it more likely that you will face the full enemy force rather than just part of it. You can also ask allies to come along with you, although they may refuse if you currently owe them favors.
In a successful raid, you will plunder some of the opposing clan's wealth. Besides the aforementioned goods and cows, if you raid a clan belonging to one of the horse-keeping cultures, then you may loot some of their horses (looting a pure horse clan will yield extra horses but no cows). If you're especially lucky, you may even plunder one of their treasures. If you're the victim of an ordinary raid, however, the same may happen to you; also, one of your fortifications may be destroyed (watch towers seem particularly susceptible to this). Rarely, the winning side may be unable to loot due to having taken too many casualties (e.g. if they have less than ten warriors remaining).
Clans that keep or sell slaves may also attempt to take some of your people captive. If successful, they will probably offer to ransom them back to your clan after the raid, in exchange for goods. If you cannot or don't want to pay, you can get your people back by successfully raiding the clan who took them. Be aware that there is a time limit on this: wait too long and you may, for example, learn that the slaves have already been sold to traders from a distant land or worked to death. Your clan does not engage in slavery and thus cannot launch raids to take captives.
During raids you may encounter various Heroic Combat scenarios.
Cattle Raid[]
A cattle raid is an attempt to steal another clan's cows by stealth. There are three possible outcomes for a cattle raid:
- A complete failure will see your raiders discovered and turned away at the border of the target clan's territory. This will lower your clan's mood.
- A complete success will steal a small number of cows at no risk. This will raise your clan's mood.
- A partial success will force you to win a battle between your raid force and a small defending force in order to determine the outcome of the raid.
Cattle raids are more likely to succeed if you send a small force, and if the target clan has a small military or has sent most of their forces away on an ordinary raid. Unlike with full raids, you cannot ask allies to come along with you.
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