Raids, storms and defence

Raids

From a Hamlet up, a raid comes about every 50 to 75 minutes, sooner at better levels, with the timing varied a little each time. A raid starts only while someone is near the base. The horn sounds and a warning gives you 40 seconds, and the warning says which way the raiders will come from. Then a band of raiders walks in. There are three at a Hamlet, rising by two for each level, up to eleven. A Stronghold's band is tougher too.

The raiders make for the Marker, fight anyone who comes within reach, and at the Marker rob the base chest. A raid ends in one of three ways:

• Repelled: every raider is beaten. You get a reward by the Marker, and the villages round about are glad of it.
• Lost: the raiders take three things from the chest, or they hold the Marker long enough, and they go off with what they took.
• Held off: the time runs out with the raiders still alive but nothing stolen. The base holds, and the reward is smaller.

The reward is much bigger when the owner is at the base and moving about within the claim, awake, for enough seconds during the raid. If the owner is away, the base is still defended by its turrets, but the reward is small: a few marks. Friends who fight at the walls earn combat experience too, and at a Village or better some earn research points for a repelled raid.

If everyone leaves the base area during a raid, the raiders melt away and it is not counted as a loss.

Storms

From a Village up, storms come about every 14 minutes at a Village, every 11 at a Town and every 9 at a Stronghold, with the timing varied a little each time. A storm gives 30 seconds of warning, then lasts up to 80 seconds. While it blows, it tears blocks of thatch, shingle and wood off roofs that have open sky above them and air below. Stone roofs and most other blocks are safe. A storm takes a few roof blocks, up to a number that grows with the base's level.

Studying Weatherproofing in the research tree stops the tearing for the owner. Torn blocks are remembered. Open the base screen at the Marker and use Repair to put them back, a block of the same kind for each one lost, taken from your bag first and then the base chest.

Turrets

Turrets are made at a Workbench. Each one takes its ammunition from a crate within five blocks of it, horizontally, and three blocks up or down. It turns to the nearest raider or hostile beast it can see and fires at it. You do not need to aim.

Turret	Made from	Ammunition	Reach
Dart Turret	12 wood, 8 iron, 4 plant fibre	Arrows or bolts	30 blocks
Gun Turret	20 iron, 6 wood, 4 copper	Cartridges	44 blocks
Pulse Turret	16 metal, 6 glass, 8 copper	Energy or plasma cells	38 blocks

The Dart Turret fires a crossbow bolt, the Gun Turret fires quick, hard rounds, and the Pulse Turret fires plasma. A turret you inspect tells you how many rounds are in the crate beside it. A turret with no ammunition will say so, and the owner gets a note to fill its crate. Keep some ammunition in a chest close by, and keep it stocked before a raid.

A turret only fires at a target it can see: a wall or a block in the line of fire stops the shot.

How many turrets and traps may work at once depends on your base's level: one at Camp, two at Hamlet, four at Village, six at Town and eight at Stronghold. If you build more than that, the ones nearest the Marker work and the rest wait.

Traps

Trap	Made from	What it does
Spike Trap	6 iron	A plate of spikes on the ground. Raiders and beasts that walk over it are hurt. It lasts 60 touches, then wears out and comes out of the ground, so mend it at the Marker.
Alarm Bell	4 metal, 4 wood, 2 plant fibre	A bell on a post with a trip cord. When a stranger or a raider comes near, it rings and tells you which side of the base it is on. It rings at most once every 25 minutes.

Peaceful bases

In the base screen, a base can be set peaceful. Then no raids and no storms come, and anything on the way stops. Raids and storms are also off in Relaxed mode, in Builder mode, and at a base below a Hamlet.

Tips

• Place the Gun Turret where it can see the approach the warning names, and keep cartridges in a crate within five blocks.
• Spike traps along the approach wear out quickly, so keep spares to hand and mend them at the Marker.
• Stone or brick roofs stop storm damage, which is simpler than studying Weatherproofing.
• Stay near the Marker during a raid and keep moving: that counts toward the big reward.

For the claim, the levels and the settlers, see claiming and growing a base. For the roofs and rooms that storms and raiders affect, see homes and furniture.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.