Raging Barbarians option

[Xarathas]

The AI tend to be hampered less and less as the difficulty of the game rises. When they start with an worker, archer (and the tech archery) on the higher lvls, they usually have a good ton of archers by the time the barbarians came around. Sometimes they will still lose a city or two to barbarians when those huge stacks of swords/axes show up, but it's much rarer. The Raging Barbarians option will hamper the human player more than the computer player more often than not on higher difficulties.

Of course, if you play on small maps, or Crowded maps, or even Terra maps (where the old world is so crowded even though you have the suggested # fo players), there tends to be a lot less barbarian problems.

Try playing a large/huge open map with suggested # of players (or +1 or 2)and you'll be just about guaranteed to see a parade of barbarians.

[Jaybe]

The AI are also less hampered by barbs because of the combat bonuses they get against them compared to the player, even at Noble difficulty.

[Xarathas]

If that's true.. that'd explain why I constantly see AI's archers attacking Axemen (and see it survive a good portion of the time!).

[snublefot]

I attack barbarian axemen with archers on more then a few occations. Most often when they decide to bypass my outer defences to pillage a nice fat farm or village. Of course never attack across water or in a forest, but farms and horse most often recide on the no-defence-bonus parts of maps.

Huge map, 1 or 2 AIs. You cant expand too fast or your expenses will skyrocket. Build too many defence units and your expenses will skyrocket. Play too defensive and the AI will have a nasty tech lead once the barbarians start hiding in cities.

Now what really suck (pardon) is when the nearest bronze is half a continent to the north. And the nearest iron is half a continent to the west. And the only horse resource is owned by the AI - on the oposite coast to the east. I seem to get those kind of games all the time.

[Blake]

I know the AI get huge bonuses vs barbs, but in my experience they still don't attack barbs with "defensive" units, like I've seen a half health barb warrior running around mansa's terraforming ripping it up while 2 Skirmishers huddle in the city.

An AI that gets chariots out will rape the barbs because it knows chariots are for attacking, and with the bonuses a chariot seems to be able to reliably take out a barb archer in a city.

But the AI still basically doesn't know that it can pwn marauring barbs be throwing archers at them.

[Xarathas]

I don't think it's so much as to whether the AI have a defensive or offensive unit. It's just that the units they deemed as "garrison" units tend to not leave the city for anything.

If they have a stack of archers just wondering around (like they sometimes do), I can guarantee you that they'll attack any barb they run into.