Army and raids

Raiders come for your stores every few hours. Train soldiers, build towers and walls, and when you are ready, raid your rivals.

Soldiers

Build a war camp (level 2) and tap Army to train. Each camp holds 10 soldiers at level 1 and 6 more per level; more camps also train faster. Soldiers come out of your people, so they stop working, and they eat double. The four kinds have different names in every city (Benin · Kano · Lagos today):

Soldier	From level	Costs	Trains in	Space	Health	Damage	Range
Spearman · Spearman · Police officer	2	40 Food	20 s	1	64	9	close
Crossbowman · Archer · Soldier	3	50 Food, 15 Wealth	30 s	1	40	7.5	4.6 (ranged)
Palace guard · Lifidi horseman · Armoured car	7	90 Food, 50 Wealth	60 s	2	150	16	close
Musketeer · Musketeer · Marksman	10	80 Food, 70 Wealth	75 s	2	55	24	5.6 (ranged)

Your hero

Every city has a hero from its history: Iyoba Idia in Benin, the Madawaki in Kano, Oshodi Tapa in Lagos; in later eras, air support. Build the hero’s palace (town-centre level 7) and the hero joins every battle, with a special ability that lifts the soldiers around them. A hero who falls rests for three hours.

Raiders on the way — War drums: raiders reach the city in a few seconds.

When raiders come

The first raid comes once you have five soldiers. After that, raids come every 3–7 hours: more often when Peace is low. If you are playing, the drums (or sirens) give you twelve seconds’ warning and the fight plays on screen; you can speed it up or skip to the end. If you are away, it is fought for you with the same rules.

Your soldiers, hero, town centre, towers and heavy defences fight on their own; walls hold raiders back. Each age has its own raiders, named in the city’s history, and bands grow with your town centre. Low Peace invites bigger bands.

Losing and winning

Raiders can carry off half of what sits in your collectors, a fifth of the Wealth in your stores and 15% of the Food and Materials, depending on how much they wreck. Faith buildings, guilds and healers are never touched. Nothing is destroyed for good: damage is repaired.

After a raid you get a calm spell before the next: 4 hours if they did little damage, 8 if they did some, 12 if they did a lot. Holding the city earns Renown.

Bosses

Most ages have a boss raid: a real army from the city’s history, like the Igala army that fought Benin in 1515–16, or the British naval squadron at Lagos in 1851. A boss comes once you are into its age, much stronger than the usual band, and comes back if it wins. Each city’s page lists its raiders and bosses.

Sign or stand

In Era I the last age ends with the Scramble for Africa. A British column comes with rifles, Maxim guns and sappers who blow holes in walls, and you choose: sign the treaty (no battle, but Unity and trade suffer for a month) or stand and fight. Hold the city and history changes; either way the game tells you what really happened.

Raiding a rival — Choose soldiers at the bottom, then tap outside the red area to land them.

Raiding rivals

Tap Raid for a list of rival cities near your strength and raider camps. Until player accounts arrive, the rivals are run by the game.

Scout first (costs Wealth) to see the whole city; otherwise it stays dark until your soldiers get close.
March costs Food. Soldiers with low morale may refuse to go.
In the fight, choose a soldier type at the bottom and tap or drag outside the red area to land them. You have three minutes.
Stars show how much you wrecked. Loot comes home with the survivors; every win in a row adds 10% more loot (up to 50%).
Raiding ends your own shield, and a ruler you raided may come back for revenge.

The ladder

The Ladder ranks rulers by Splendour: your buildings, Heritage, Renown and how well balanced your meters are. Until the game has player accounts, the other rulers on it are simulated. Present-day cities also have the world stage: see the four eras.