Barbarians become civilized?

[Mojotronica]

The barbarian functions as a 32nd Civ in the game, but without the cultural unity to found cities and develop technology, and no central leader.

What if the barbs had their own research pool, a small number added to it each turn per settlement on the map.

When the number adds up to a certain amount (average approx every 40 or 50 turns) one barbarian settlement somewhere in the world (determined at random) becomes a full-fledged Civ (using one of the unused Civs -- if all are used, it doesn't happen.) (Thanks to player's use of Barbarian settlements as Worker farms using Conquest's enslavement rules, this would be much more likely to occur.) Then the barb research pool drops back to zero again.

The new civ starts at a tech level determined by the units the barbs are using at the time (Warriors, Horsemen etc...)

This is a way that new civs could be injected into the game after the start.

[spy14]

It sounds like it'll work but it should be optional. Some people dont want heaps of opponents, just 7 or 8 to play against, especially if their machine isn't the fastest.

[Solomwi]

I brought up something like this a while back, but not as fully developed. Depending on hardcoded civ limits, I would even be in favor of the possibility of civs springing up using the "barbarian" tribe names, with no traits and no UU's, or perhaps randomly assigned traits and no UU.

Spy14's right, though, for those that want a set number of opponents, it should be optional.