Pirate Raids
The pirates now and then blockade anybody’s deposits. Raid a pirate cove and they do more: they land at one of your cities or ambush a shipment of yours at sea. A player who leaves the coves alone has their cities and cargo left alone.
When do they come?
Landings and ambushes come only for a while after your last cove raid; each new raid starts that time again, and when it runs out they leave your cities and cargo alone. Blockades do not look at that time: they come to everybody on their own schedule. The cove window says when it runs out, and while you are at peace with the pirates it warns you before you raid a cove. Within that time the pirates come to you on a schedule of their own, days apart; the first may come a few hours after your raid. A landing and a blockade are announced in advance: the warning appears on On the road and on the Army screen’s road strip as an enemy, with its countdown, and a line is added to Activity. The lookout tells you which pirates are coming and roughly how many of each; the exact number and their line you see in the battle.
They do not come to a player under beginner protection, on holiday, or who has not played for a long time. A city under siege, occupied, or whose harbour is held is not a target either. When a holiday begins, the raids that were waiting are cancelled and a blockade under way is lifted (Holiday).
How strong are they?
Two things decide their strength, and the larger counts: the level of your own pirate cove and the level your development has reached. The more you develop, the stronger the pirates who come. For every level, the strength of a landing and of a blockade, and the development score needed to reach that level, are in the table of the Pirate Cove.
Three kinds
| Kind | What they do | Announced |
|---|---|---|
| Landing | They come ashore at your city in galleys and you fight in the city | Yes |
| Blockade | They hold a deposit and production there stops | Yes |
| Ambush | They attack a shipment on the water | No |
A landing
The pirates come in galleys and bring battering rams: the number of rams grows with their level and is enough to open a wall of that level in a few rounds. While your wall stands the pirate foot cannot reach you, nor yours them; only your archers and engines fire. The pirates bring a few archers from the first level, and while the wall stands only those shoot over it. Pirates who can do nothing against the wall sail home after a while. They always come ashore: warships in the city do not stop them. The battle is fought in one go and your city defends itself as it stands at that moment: the army in the city, its walls and its defence effects (Defending). Afterwards you can watch the battle round by round on the Battlefield; the report joins your list of battles.
If the pirates win, they take goods only: a share of what the Warehouse does not protect, in proportion to the pirates who survive. There is no Gold, no captives, no damage to buildings and no occupation. Everything they take waits in your stash at the pirate cove.
If you beat the landing off, you are paid: a share of the cost of the pirates you destroyed is salvaged, and an allowance from your city’s output is added. Both go into the city’s stores; whatever does not fit is not paid (Storage).
A blockade
A blockade holds, for a limited time, a deposit where your city has workers. For that time nothing is produced there; the workers stay where they are and are still paid. The moment the blockade begins, the workers standing at the deposit are trapped inside: until you break it or it ends you cannot withdraw them or give them other work, nor send any more there; the number stays as it is while the blockade lasts. In the hour between the warning and the blockade you can pull your workers out; production stops all the same, but nobody is trapped. If no workers are there, the pirates hold an empty deposit: the blockade still counts, costs you nothing and ends when its time is up. The blockade ends by itself, and the lost output is not given back (Resources and Deposits).
You can break a blockade before its time is up with Drive off. The button stands wherever the blockade is shown: On the road, the Army screen, the Economy page, the deposit’s window in the island view, and the city. Your army boards ship in the blockaded city as for a raid on the cove; there is no wall on the shore, and only one column goes against a blockade at a time; while yours is on its way, that is what stands where the button was. If you win, the blockade ends at once and a share of the cost of the pirates you broke, together with what the deposit would have made for the time the blockade had left, is paid into the city. If you lose, the blockade stands. The ships carry only your soldiers: what you win is paid into the city by itself, so a drive-off takes no extra ships and no carts.
An ambush
An ambush is laid for one of your own shipments sailing between islands. A share of the cargo is taken, the ships sail on, and none is lost. What was taken waits in your stash at the pirate cove. There is no warning; you read what happened in Activity.
Winning back what was taken
The goods from a plunder or an ambush wait in your stash at the island’s pirate cove. Raid the cove and win, and you carry home what you can from that stash (Pirate Cove). The stash has no ceiling for the goods stolen from you: what was taken is your own.
Allies
Allied soldiers stationed in your city join the defence against a landing and fight under their own flag; their losses come off their own cities. An ally who took part sees a line in Activity and can open the report.
Notices
Whatever you hear on the bell reaches your phone and your browser. The notices that give an hour come under the Attack warnings group; the results of a landing, a blockade and an ambush come under Battles. To silence one of the groups, switch it off in the notification settings.
The figures come from the game's own content. Balance updates can move some numbers; the rules themselves are as written here.