Outwitting them is straight forward, it all begins and ends at home. Or if you read the basic guide contents, your multiple homes. A livable outpost can literally be a 1 square foundation with 3 walls, door/frame, and a ceiling. Make sure theyre made out of wood and youll keep most onlookers away. In that square you can fit a bed and 2 small chests with a bit of effort and youve got a safe spawn spot complete with storage. Not cozy or imposing, but expanding that spot is the easy part since you can farm to your heart's content and take breaks in peace inside your crapshack. As Ive already stated, most of the game's raiders are solo low level players looking to rip you off quick and easy. Having a tiny unassuming base means stronger raiders wont waste their time on you and it being made of wood keeps the urchins from trying anyways. I never suggest going above 3 levels of height, at that point your base is a fortress and tells raiders that you have time and effort invested there... and your loot is going to be nice. I also never suggest going to far wide or too lenghty either but as long as your base isn't standing out use your own judgement for that. I personally like my bases to be more functional than comfortable so they stay rather small. But eventually your base just being there a while will eventually be found by SOMEONE... someone with the means to get in. You can build all the spikes you want, place a base on an awkward cliff if you like, build it on top of a mountain accesible only by flight, someone will eventually try to get you. There's good news survivors. There IS hope. A strong last line of defense for when you arent home. THE VAULT! The Vault is exactly what you think it is, a strong portion of your base built to last. The idea was crafted by our tribe simply out of laziness, we wanted a tougher base but we didnt want to make an entire fortress out of metal. Something like that is gonna get blown up anyways. No The Vault is different. The Vault is sneaky, but effective. All you do is make a fort like normal, all wooden everything... but inside is your victory. A simple single level INSIDE your base made of pure metal to hold your bodies and your real treasure. I suggest it be 2x2, but even one square is adequate. Anyone passing by will see a wooden shack, and bring adequate tools to raid it with. Even if they break in BAM. The Vault stops them. Only a high level player armed with explosives will be able to get to your valuables, and the derps with metal tools will leave in shame once they realize. Establish a few places like these and youre all set. All that's left is to spread your valuables out between bases as needed.

During battle is a bit tougher, frankly I dont suggest trying to kill them even if they strike first. It's more irritating to them if you get away and you dont risk yourself as much. Unless they have a gun, (if they do, I hope you have a closeby bed to respawn at) running is usually the best choice. The key to running is easy, stamina. With even just 150 stamina you can get away from even a decently high level players. Most attackers sprint in to close the gap on you and spam their attacks relentlessly. All you have to do is move around and evade and then turn and run for the hills. Theyll be tired from swinging their weapon and charging after you that youll be able to get away easily. But NEVER EVER EVER run back to your base. Always assume they havent seen it. Preferably, break line of sight and jump into a body of water. If they dont find you right away, they usually give up. Just be patient and wait them out, and try not to immediately whip your torch out afterwards. When Im hunting human players torch holders are easy targets, not only are you pointing out your position to me but now I can see your surroundings too. All it takes is getting the drop on you with a pike out and youre suddenly in a bad situation. If your assailant is on a dino, remember that any damage you inflict will go onto their dino unless they dismount so youve really gotta be in control to win a fight like that. Your only hope there is to strafe and knock the thing out with your fists or tranq arrows, forcing the player to fight you himself. Beware though, a dinosaur's levels scale ridiculously well, and you might never knock it out if it's strong enough. Dont be so concerned if you die anyways, youre going to in this game. It happens. As long as you dont whine about it in general chat youll be ok. (those are some of my favorite people to visit again too, the whiners)

Update 2

When the 2 sections of this guide were added, stone wasn't out yet. I feel a few new developments need to be added for anyone looking to this guide for help.

"How tough ARE stone buildings?" Depending on your melee damage, a single person will need 1-2 metal tools to bust down your door. It isn't the fastest process in the world but it's always gotten the job done for us when we raid and we continue to see higher level people still relying on these for defenses. A stone door (reinforced door technically) will take ONE point of damage from a metal tool. Out of 15000 health. (pretty sure that's right) Even if the health on the door was 6000 it wouldn't matter, it's not feasible for anyone to use that many tools to break down your base. It's only destroyable by strong dinosaurs, but mostly explosives. Stone requires a slightly higher level than wood to make, but upgrading your base to it can easily mean life or death. As long as you still build smart your base will be much harder to get into. It's tough enough to be considered a Vault if you cant manage to get it made from metal. (but really, you can mine the golden rocks for metal and kill tons of bugs in a cave or just outside for chitin for the paste it isnt THAT difficult) Stone buildings requiring a still lowish level also means that they dont necessarily mean youre loaded either so you dont need to hide them like you would your Vault. Theyve become the norm for medium level players who dont want to be raided and you should definitely upgrade to it.

"Da eff are these traps gonna do?" They dont look interesting at first glance do they? An alarm doesnt seem to help you if youre offline. Well when a player triggers a trap, every one of your dinos instantly goes after that person. Even better, a narcotic trap will knock that person out altogether making them easy pickings for your dinosaurs. The trick is designing your base and dinosaur pen to allow for dinosaurs to get to wherever the trap is. This is more useful for larger bases, but high level guard Dilos are more than a match for a person who's unconscious and they will be able to go into your front door. If you intend to use traps in your base dont put them around your standard doors, put them around your dinosaur gate allowing your dinos free range on attackers. (if you dont have a dino pen or have a small base your door WILL work but not as effectively imo) This only works if your dino pen isnt 100% seperate from your home as Ive seen people do... they cant defend your base if theyre locked up next door guys!

Title by request from a massive butthurt.

Youve got the basic raider know how, but heres some tips that didnt fit into the basic guide.

Firstly, when raiding a home always stake out the surrounding area. Pay attention to the construction of the home in general. Are there hills? A body of water nearby? WIld carnivores around? Then the home itself. Is there a fire going inside? Do they have tamed dinos around? Are there spikes? Let's make a list on how to tackle certain obstacles:

Fire going inside: Approach slowly. Listen for the sound of footsteps. (not your own) If you DO hear steps, you can either retreat or wait for them to come out to investigate. Just make sure that youre near the door (as close as you can get before being too obvious) or are at least aware where the door is. Great ambushes are had on a guy going out of his base, if youre quick enough they may not be able to close the door in time saving you a lot of trouble. Personally I dont raid a base while the owner is there as it blows my cover and the owner can respawn inside with a bed. You cant be too sure how many are in that building either, but if youve got the gear and strength theres not a whole lot they can do to stop you. My advice is to start strong and kill them as quickly as you can with a gun, then destroy the bed when you rush in. Theyll probably try to respawn on it, and theyll drop dead before being able to move. Then that bed is unusable for 4 minutes, enough time to quickly loot and run for the hills. Frankly in that situation, if you NEED to disable a guy a good compromise for keeping your cover is to tranq arrow him down and feed him narcotics like he's a tamed dinosaur.
Tamed dinosaurs: ignore them if you can but the best method of handling them is to simply knock them out with tranq arrows. Killing them will alert any of that tribe's members who are online, and it's all downhill from there. An unconscious dinosaur on the other hand alerts nobody, and you can even loot that dinosaur for food and the saddle. Even if you dont want the saddle, screw that guy amiright? It's his stupid fault he left an expensive saddle on his dinosaur in the first place. When youre in a base you wont have to typically kill them anyways, they wont be able to harm you.
Spikes: Generally you just work around them, but if you HAVE to get rid of them either use a pike to just BARELY be out of range or use an explosive. My preferred method however is to get on top of the structure and go through the ceiling all cat burglar style. Parachuting from a tall rock/cliff or even jumping from the back of a trike can get you on top of someone's home easily. Ceilings are harder to break than doors, but nobody would use spikes if they had nothing to guard right?

Now that youre inside you need a plan. Destroy the beds first. Loot the chests. If theyre pin numbered, destroy them. A pin numbered chest is only effective if it's made out of metal, and I havent run into anybody that has bothered to use them. They use their metal on their fortress itself, with no defenses inside assuming that theyre safe. After youve hit the chests, CHECK THOSE CRAFTING STATIONS. I cant tell you how often Ive found extra goodies in a smithy, or a mortar and pestle. 99 chitin and 20 cementing paste in a mortar and pestle? SCOOOOOOOORE. Personally after Ive gotten the wanted loot, I dismantle everything by hand. not the walls usually but everything else yes. Oh sure of course it's mean but that's life. Always assume it'll happen to you at any given time. After the base is just an empty room it's time to deal with the inhabitants. Sure you couldve just killed them, but when they log on theyll KNOW. The best raiders are secret raiders. We pretend to be your friend. We answer your questions in the chat. We compliment your house as we ride by. THEN WE TAKE AND DESTROY EVERYTHING. The best way Ive found is to either kill them with your dinosaur, or to allow the environment to do the job. I primarily drown people. It's easy enough to do with some levels put into your Weight stat, and if it's dark and/or raining nobody will see you commit the dirty deed. It doesn't take very long but make sure the body is in deep water, a good rule of thumb is when you need to breathe, the other guy does too. The most Ive ever found in a base and drowned is 6 different people. Im a firm believer in trophy hunting, and your specimen implant not only tracks who's lives Ive destroyed but theyre also a valuable asset to my collection. If you must use a dinosaur to keep your own name a secret, you can rename the beast if youre worried about it... but typically dinosaur kills remain anonymous. Nobody will recognize the name of my Raptor off hand, and if they do all you have to do is claim you dont own a raptor by that name. Even if they come to check the Raptor who used to be Gingersnap is now Fluffykins, and she's never hurt anybody. It may seem silly to jump through so many hoops when youre raiding, but we've seen "public raiders" become server outcasts very quickly, and their bases raided. Large tribe wars arent easily forgotten and 6 tribe name changes later those poor guys are STILL killed on sight whenever possible. but if you raid in secret, you can actually befriend your victims later and raid them AGAIN... or at least listen to them regale you with the tales of the "Cruel awful jerks who stole and destroyed everything they owned, save for a single chest that they filled with cloth hats." Poor sods lived near a ton of easy metal too, we made our first Vault with the things we stole from their home and the precious ore we took off their hill. Had we left any evidence behind, life would've been much more difficult.

Remember to choose your raid targets carefully and plan ahead. Raiding alone and at random means youll come out with less of their loot, it'll take longer, and if somebody sees you then you dont have any backup. Always take the supplies you need, but remember to pack some serious heat. Sure guns are expensive, but youll probably loot guns and ammo anyways. Ive never crafted a single bullet or a single gun ever. But when fighting with the intent to raid you have to do it fast. Preferably from a distance too. Keep in mind that if your target is one of the server's big tribes that you follow my previous instructions about leaving evidence behind very carefully. Big tribes have a lot of loot and many outposts to raid that they may not even notice your handiwork, but being careless will get you into some serious ♥♥♥♥. My raiding tribe is 3-4 people strong depending on who logs in, but a tribe of 16 people that log on at all times of the day? Cant handle that. And despite the fact that you have a few outposts all equipped with a Vault remember that people will go overboard for a grudge, and they will bring bombs.

Steal well friends, and dont get caught!

Update 2

Once again, this section of guide was written pre-stone and traps so lemme update you on a few things.

Your metal tools will do 1 damage to Stone buildings, bring a tough dinosaur or some explosives to raid a base made with this stuff. How far progression wise a stone building makes a potential victim is up in the air. It means theyre better off than most players still in wooden homes but not as rich as a higher (and dumb) player who has their base made of metal. The majority of high level players will have their base made out of this however so you will eventually need to have the tools to take one of these bases down in order to continue getting free loot. (I use explosives but that's just me personally.) It's not like there's a shortage of players using wooden homes, but just be prepared in case someone has a stone home, or just a stone Vault.

Speaking of breaking in BE WARY OF NARCO TRAPS. Bring Stimulants. Pop one right away if you get caught, that way youre not 100% defenseless. Just like going into a cave, leave them on your hotbar. It's worth it.