Raiders who survive may return to attack again in future raids or ambushes. Once you have downed or killed half of their crew, the remaining will flee in panic, running as fast as they can towards the map edges. Besides attempting to raze your base, if not engaging your defenders due to no contact, the behavior will change into other goals such as: stealing valuables that are not properly stored in closed locations, kidnapping downed colonists to demand a ransom of silver or to recruit them into their ranks, leaving after being satisfied with the damage done, as well as give up and retreat due to exhaustion and starvation. They will however, engage prisoners from enemy factions.

Raiders will attack, destroy or burn random targets without any visible strategy or tactic, but will not attack natural rock walls except sapperswild animals or unpowered turrets. The game will automatically display a red alert envelope with two different versions, whether they will prepare and then attack or will attack immediately. The group size and strength of a raiding party is determined by 'points', which will be explained in-depth further down this article. Raiders, are enemies who attack in groups during the period where the storyteller's threat cycle is active - or at possibly any time in the case of Randy Random.

Rimworld transport pod return