Barbarians & Warlords

[Uncle_Woody]

I am in a terra game, and all of the civilizations are on one continent. When I sailed across the globe, I found a new continent that was inhabited by barbarians. Later, I took 4 knights, a settler, a missionary, and a worker. Soon after building my city I was virtually invaded by barbarians. They were mostly macemen. I didn't last long.

How can you colonize a new continent that is covered with barbarians? They had many cities, by the way. Some as highly populated as 8.

Thanks. I really like playing terra maps, and I hope that continues.

[Asmodean]

Well - you will generally have stronger units than the barbarians. That is one thing you will have going for you. Another thing is to bring more soldiers when you colonize. Send more shios with more units.

Other than that, there is of course the strategy of what you build first in those cities. Build walls, castles etc.

Asmodean

[Jaybe]

Establishing a foothold on the new world can be tough, but eventually the barbs will run low on offensive units. By that time you will have substantial force there, and the whole continent will be YOURS!*

*Except for small footholds by other AI once they have maps & galleons, so as your barb conquest gains, prepare several settlers for taking the whole continent.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Try to get to the New World faster. I occasionally manage it when the barbarians have only Longbowmen - but then this is mainly on Noble.

And by all means, bring your modern units. I find the barbarians put up a better fight than do many AIs. I like to pick city sites with sea-based resources so I don't have to fret over pillaging. And I upgrade units wherever possible.

[wanderer27]

Yeah, I've come upon islands with size 10+ Barbarian cities quite a few times.

Generally there are a few other fair size cities and a lot of free roaming Barbarians. The free roamers are the ones that kill you. They come for you in force. After that, there's still a steady stream from the cities, but it's a lot less than that initial assault

[_BuRjaCi_]

A good idea is to establish a foothold city on one of the smaller islands near center of the new world; they usually have some good sea resources and it’s a good place to stockpile units for a fast shock and awe strike on the barbarian mainland. The strong culture also helps to keep pesky AI settlers off your future land or ensures 20th century culture flips.

[_BuRjaCi_]

It’s also a good idea, if you manage to take the new world to switch to State Property as soon as possible.
I can’t imagine a situation where you control so many far-flung cities and it pays to have free market or even environmentalism.

(since you have all the luxuries and health resources you want and may even have some of your gold going into culture)