How to pick good targets for looting

Besides attacking players for glory and honor I attack player to loot their resources. The downside of attacking players for glory, honor and loot is that once the battle is over you may have little to no troops left to carry the loot back. However, I have “special” method for picking targets and attacking them to maximize my loot not glory or honor. Here is my step by step procedure:

Note: some steps may need to be tweaked based on your level and soldier availability. 

1. Start scanning area around you for abandoned castles. Spotting higher level abandoned castles is easier than finding lower level abandoned castles. Look for the castles that are at least partially stone (see image below) and that are not in alliance. Castles not in alliance do not have a half a circle under their names depicting their rank (again see picture below). The idea here is that if you are a high level castle, and you are not in alliance, you are most likely no longer playing. No alliance association is not definite pointer that castle is abandoned, but likely. Follow the next steps to find out more. 
   
   

   Castle in alliance vs not in alliance

   
   
2. Click on your potential loot target’s castle and click “visit castle icon” to have a look inside.
   
   

   Casals menu

   
   
3. Once inside, evaluate the contrition and status of the buildings. If no buildings are on fire, the player is most likely still active. If building is being constructed or upgraded (even if on fire), player is definitely active. If some buildings are on fire it may be that payer has just been in battle and did not have time to repair all the damage. If most or every building is on fire, the player has most likely left the game.
   
   
   

   Castle fire damage levels

   
   
4. If buildings are sufficiently on fire and not being repaired, at this point I send a message to the player saying something on the lines of “Hey, I noticed that you are on fire and probably not in the game. Just to let you know I will be looting your castle and outposts soon. If you are still in the game please let me know and I will not attack you. Thank you, <your name>.” Sending this message helps to filter out players that just had bad luck lately and are still in the game. After the message is sent, I give it about 2-3 days before I actually attack (more if it is over weekend), just in case player is away.
5. After you have sent the message nothing is stopping you from spying on the castle. First I send my spies to find out what resources are still there and how much. Then I find out what defenses are in place and where. Higher the resolution of the spy report the better for you. You may need to send all spies for military espionage, and when they get back for economic espionage, and that is OK.
6. Here is where my OCD kicks in, and you may or may not choose to do this. I have an excel file with all my loot targets sorted by the distance from my main castle (or outposts that has all my attack troops). Then I also write down the castle name and their coordinates. Once the reports come in, I write down if they are defended and how as well as what resources they have. Also I write down what loot my soldiers came back with (once I attack them) and subtract that from the spy report from earlier. The idea behind this is to prevent me from sending 100 troops over and bring back only 200 units of resources. You will see when the resources are being depleted if you keep proper track. Sooner or later you will need to send in spies again, as some resources will be produced while you are looting and you may not be the only one looting this castle.
   
   

   Keeping track of looted resources

   
   

   
   
7. Once the 2-3 day period has expired and you did not hear back from the payer, start looting. Depending on your troops, and defenses of the target castle, you may lose some troops the first time around; however every following time it should be easier. Also send in troops that can carry a lot of loot like marauders, pyromaniacs, traveling nights or maceman if you have nothing else.
8. It may happen that two weeks into your frequent looting of a castle or outposts the player comes back and he may not be too happy with you. If that happened apologize politely and stop looting him.
9. Depending on your level and honor, and level and honor of your attacker, you may actually lose some honor points in the process, however they will be minimal.

Disclaimer: Attack and loot with care. If you get yourself attacked after following this guide, I will not be responsible for you being beaten back to Stone Age.