Throughout time in NS history, raiding has had a very negative stigma on it. They have recently become targets by the World Assembly, in which most notably a solid, clean raid could be canceled out via the removal of a password (Chicago). But, people will always be opinionated on that, as they should. Most who are against such things have raided before, and know the difficulty behind it.
I was the founder and leader of a raider organization called Fox Rite. This group was active from around early-to-mid-2006 to the end of 2007 and, at the height of its power, had World Assembly nations participating in eight separate raids at one time, still a record among raiders even to this day. This region led forty-one unique raids in the span of a little less than two years - the raids in which the region merely assisted were left uncounted, lost in time. It held a reputation of being very organized and very intel-oriented. The raid on San Francisco Bay Area saw eighteen World Assembly nations move in over the span of roughly four minutes to sweep the delegacy - again, still a record today. Clearly, the qualifications I hold as a former raider (and I stress former) are acceptable. While I am forever removed from that area of the game (for various reasons), I do not mind giving advice to help those who wish to raid to flourish and move on.
I’d like to begin this session with a little question and answer:
Is raiding evil?
In three words, yes and no. While raiding does indeed destroy communities, it can also make them stronger, and, throughout my history with that talent, this has proved itself in nearly every raid but one. Raids actually make communities stronger; wake the native nations up to a threat and force them to unite. They absolutely must contact external help to remove the threat, therefore giving their region more attention and more diplomacy. From this emerge capable players who have more of a chance to play the part of the game. Don’t believe me? Prior, I was the delegate of a founderless Poland. It wasn’t until we were invaded and then almost refounded by a defender organization of all things (Zurich), that I finally joined the NS world spectrum. I should also note that this isn’t totally uncommon for defender groups; I have witnessed the refounding of other regions against the call of the natives in that region. It happens, I suppose. But that doesn’t make one group more dastardly than the other. Instead, while the intents of the raider may be against that of regions, what they do isn’t necessarily evil. It is legal, and it wakes up nations to do something. It keeps communities together and makes them stronger. It forces players to deal with it.
How much work is required for a raider?
Endless. I wouldn’t hazard the guess to say they are among the most dedicated people in the game. Very, very few raiding groups ever become successful. The difficulty lies in picking good nations, avoiding spies which come by all the time, getting people organized and on the same page, keeping their morale up, organizing their ties with other raiding groups to keep coordination together, planning the right time to raid so it is close to the update time, having the other nations in their group trained enough so they know how to move into a region without being noticed, keeping ties with everyone in the region at all times, handling diplomacy… it’s truly a very tough, paranoia-fueled job. And they have to do this all without the other side knowing of it. And it is so easy for the defenders to know, because they are good at what they do. One spy can ruin a raid of one hundred organized raiders. One raider nation boasting about the plans to another nation or on the RMB can ruin the raid too. Even one nation moving in too quickly or too slowly into the target region can ruin a raid. Truly, a raider group must be well-oiled and ever organized. And a raider leader must be the organizer and especially paranoid, as that keeps the spies out of the region. He/she may send false telegrams to his people. He/she may plan two raids in one night to see which goes and which fails. It all comes down to that, and the job is tremendous.
What is a raider, and what isn’t a raider?
Raiders will move into a region, gain the delegacy, and either (a) move on after a period of time or (b) begin banning natives and start refounding the region. Either constitutes as a raider. But there are qualifiers put on these preferences. Simply trying to refound the region while another nation is trying to refound a region, swooping in and taking said region, is not a raider. A group which puts a password on the region shortly after taking the delegacy is not a raider. Sorry. Part of the job of taking a region is having the gumption to hold it if they plan to do so. Defenders and natives will try to get in at least a handful of counterattacks. Most will hold out to the bitter end. That’s what makes that aspect of the game exciting. Good raiders will know this.
That’s it for now. I’ll answer any questions, and will post more later, preferably on the art of raiding and how to raid well.
