Five moves to a working village
Quick start
Raidstead is a persistent strategy world. These five steps take you from an empty settlement to your first deliberate raid.
1. Put the fields to work
Your village produces lumber, clay, iron, and crop. Open the resource view and raise the lowest-level fields first so one material does not stall every build.
2. Shape the village
The village centre holds storage, military, civic, and trade buildings. Early priorities are simple: enough storage for the next upgrade, a Main Building to shorten construction, and a Muster Yard before sending troops.
- Warehouse stores lumber, clay, and iron.
- Granary stores crop.
- Main Building speeds construction.
- Muster Yard controls troop movements.
3. Read the frontier
The map is shared by every commander. Player villages show their owner and population; grey barbarian villages are neutral farms that can be raided and will grow slowly over time.
Distance matters. A profitable target nearby can be safer than a richer target that keeps your troops on the road for an hour.
4. Train with a purpose
Build the military structure for your people, train a small first warband, then use the Muster Yard to dispatch it. Scout when information is worth more than loot. Raid weak targets; attack when you intend to fight defenders or damage a village.
5. Survive together
Messages, reports, trade, and alliances turn a settlement into a realm. Read battle reports, share useful intelligence, and coordinate arrival times instead of sending isolated attacks.
- Never share your password.
- Use the in-game sitter tools when available.
- Labelled AI rivals are computer-controlled; ordinary player names are human accounts.
- Follow the game rules.