Plunder

Plunder (also called Looting or Raiding) refers to the act of stealing resources from another player's city after winning a combat attack against them.

Overview

When you successfully attack another player's city and defeat their garrison, your troops return carrying resources stolen from the defender's stockpile. This is a key incentive for PvP combat and encourages players to maintain strong defenses and resource protection systems.

How Plunder Works

You send an attack march to the target city.
Your troops defeat the defending garrison (or the Wall garrison).
After victory, your troops collect resources from the defender's unprotected stockpile.
The resources are carried back to your city when the march returns.

Resource Protection

Not all of a defender's resources can be plundered. The Storehouse protects a portion of each resource type from being stolen:

Resources below the Storehouse's protection threshold are safe from plunder
Resources above the protection threshold are at risk and can be stolen

This system means that defenders who upgrade their Storehouse and collect resources regularly are much harder to effectively plunder.

Plunder Limits

The amount of resources your troops can carry back is limited by:

**March Capacity** — The total carrying capacity of your attacking march
**Available unprotected resources** — You can't steal more than what's above the Storehouse threshold
**March Composition** — Different troop types may have different carrying capacities

Research technologies and Gathering Chief Gear can increase march carrying capacity, affecting both resource gathering and combat plunder.

Defending Against Plunder

To minimize losses from plundering attacks:

**Upgrade the Storehouse** — Increases the amount of each resource protected
**Collect from buildings regularly** — Resources in building queues may be partially protected
**Use a Peace Shield** — Completely prevents all attacks, including plundering
**Garrison strong troops** — Making your city expensive to attack deters opportunistic raiders
**Spend excess resources** — If you have resources above the Storehouse cap, spend them on upgrades before going offline

Scouting for Plunder Opportunities

Before attacking for plunder, always scout the target to see:

How much unprotected resource is available
How strong the garrison is
Whether the attack is profitable (resources gained > troop losses)

Attacking a well-defended city with minimal unprotected resources wastes troops for no gain.

Tips

Only attack when profitable: If the target's resources are all protected, you gain nothing from winning — save your troops.
Scout first, always: Never attack blind — a strong garrison can wipe out your march entirely.
Protect your own resources: Upgrade your Storehouse and spend resources promptly to minimize what attackers can steal from you.
Shield when you have a large stockpile: Just completed a big gathering session? Activate a Peace Shield before enemies notice.