How do you deal with barbarians early on?

[MasterDave]

Dealing with Barbarians is somewhat different between Warlords and Vanilla CIV4. In vanilla, the barb unit will attack a player's unit almost every time they get a chance in spite of bad odds. This means that fortified axes or archers on forested hills posted around your borders are the best way to eliminate barbs before they get into your empire.

In Warlords, barbs tend to walk around high-strength defensive units in order to pillage or find opportunities for attacks with better odds. You will need a more active defense- the best option being a couple of chariots if you have horses. These can zip around your empire very quickly, and can easily kill warriors, archers in the open, and axemen. They only run into trouble when barbs start sending swordsmen, but by then you should have some axemen available for protection.

I disagree that archery is a dead end tech. You need it for crossbows and longbows. Also, archers are the by far the best and cheapest way to defend cities and hills from barbs and other players.

[JackRudd]

Dealing with barbs is very different between Warlords and Vanilla if you build the Great Wall.

[MasterDave]

The Great Wall is one way to deal with barbs, but you can't count on getting it every game. Hence, you will probably need some units. Even with the great wall, you still need to protect settlers and workers that venture beyond your borders.