Good raiding decides games. It has a demoralizing effect. It keep vils from doing their jobs. It costs you resources and throws you into confusion. It prevents you from watching your troops. In sum, raids make your life hell. They test your patience and determine whether you have 20 fingers, 6 eyes and a separate computer screen to watch different parts of the map at the same time. If a raid has at some time in your AOE career made you throw up your hands in exasperation, you are not alone.
So what do you do to stop them? It is easier said than done, I but I think it is possible to apply the above "raid clock categories" to predict when you will face a raid, then stop it. If your opponent is raiding, he is not helping his allies' armies on the main battlefield. Plus, he is risking a lot of resources by committing his cav somewhere else. It is worth the risk, of course, because it might cripple your econ and knock you out of the game. But if he loses his raid force AND you attack along the main front, you could very well break through a weak defense.
We've all been here. We dutifully mass our troops with the main force by the FB, we try to boom and then WHAM, 10 7.76 speed axe riders tear down across your towns. Who goes to stop them? Who stays? Can you grab your vils in time? Did you get Great Coat? You know the feeling.
Fight back by knowing what's coming. When you mass your armies, assign someone to build a dedicated anticav/antiraid force to watch the homefront. This does not cost that much, especially if you are doing well economically. The Germans, for instance, might assign 3-5 doppels to watch a hunting ground or mine far from your bases. If a raider sees doppels, he will definitely think twice about killing your vils. As the game progresses, you will need to expand your anti-raid force. Five pikes might work at 9:30, but they will not do the job against 30 veteran hussars at 20:00. Add troops to your anti-raid force as needed. Build outposts. Build a church and get the LOS upgrades. They are cheap and they can help you spot trouble in time. Use up the resources and go home for mills. During late game situations, you do not want your econ to be too far away from home because your enemy will have much larger armies with upgrades. Those large armies can kill your economy in seconds.
In sum, get a feel for the "raid clock." After FB battles and during mid-game booms, be alert. If you're playing a civ with cav shipments, watch yourself during the transition from discovery to colonial. There are ways to foil a raider, and it is very satisfying when you do. And once you pwn a raider, you can attack the main front and probably win.
This is coming from an inveterate raider. I know what stops my raids, and I felt it would help to share my experiences with you
![Cheesy :D](./images/smilies/cheesy.gif)