By the time a call reaches the chat, most of the decisions have already been made. This chapter is that earlier part — what a Raid Leader sets up before opening anything. It is written for the RLs, and it is worth reading even if you never lead one: half of what looks arbitrary in a fight stops looking arbitrary once you know what was decided in the two minutes before it.
- Recon first. You cannot pick a mix against a target you have not read.
- Crew size buff on, including the GW one.
- Crew UB set, and your strategy hidden.
- All three troops, always — four of each is the floor, ten is better.
- Ask for the troops you want in Edit Raid Info.
- Mortar cars only against a gate.
Recon the target before anything else
Everything downstream of this is a guess without it. What the other side is holding decides the mix you are going to ask for and the formation you are going to set, and those two are the whole raid — see Formations and counters for which beats which.
Reading a target takes seconds. Opening a raid against one you did not read costs the crews of everyone who filled it.
Turn on what makes your crew bigger, then hide it
- Crew size buff, and the GW one alongside it when you are in a war.
- A crew UB set, so your support account is already behind the raid.
- Strategy hidden, so the other side cannot read what you are about to do.
The order matters less than the habit. An RL who does these three every time never has to remember them under a countdown.
Never lead with a single troop type
Whatever you send when you are the one opening the raid — or attacking someone on your own — has to carry all three troops. A formation is three ranks, one behind the other, and each rank is a troop type; see Formations and counters. Send only bikes and two of those three ranks go in empty, which means the shape you chose the formation for is not there at all.
So next to the troop you are leading with, add a token amount of the other two. Four of each is the floor — never less. Ten is the habit worth copying, and it costs you nothing you will miss.
Say what you want in Edit Raid Info
The raid can carry your request with it: open Edit Raid Info and ask for the specific troops you need. A filler who opens your raid and sees what you asked for does not have to find the call in a moving chat to know what to send.
This is the cheapest thing an RL can do for the people filling the raid, and it is the one most often skipped.
Mortar cars are a decision, not a default
The mortar car damages the gate — the building itself — and nothing else. It cannot fight, and all three troops kill it easily. So it belongs in a raid against a mansion or a building, and it is dead weight in a raid against troops.
Decide before you open, and say so in the call. If cars were not asked for, nobody sends one; the luxury car everyone sends is a different vehicle and goes every time.
Prisoners and executed UBs are buffs, and a risk
Holding prisoners and executing UBs gives you extra buffs, which is the reason to do it. The cost is that it makes you a target: it is public, and it invites the other side to come and take it back.
So it is worth doing when you are about to fight, and worth thinking twice about when you are about to be offline. Neither is a rule — it is a trade, and the RL makes it.
The RL leads. The Caller talks
While your raid is open, the only thing that should reach you is the configuration of that raid. Questions, reports, arguments and requests go to the Caller — that split exists to protect you, and it only works if you let it. If the room is reaching you directly, say so once and keep leading.
This faction runs more than one Caller for exactly this reason, and the list of RLs is published so nobody has to guess whose raid they are in.
A raid is won in the two minutes before it opens