Is it my imagination or...

[Willem]

have the Barbs been toned down in BtS? I haven't played alot yet but it seems as if I'm not seeing nearly as many of them as I used. I quite often had swarms of them attacking me by the time I got my third city up, but now I still see animals running around at that point. And even when the animals are finally gone, there aren't as many Barb cities as there were before. It might just be due to the map layout, but I'm getting the impression Barbs aren't as much of a threat like they used to be. Overall I'm glad to see them toned down, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe Firaxis went a bit too far.

[Wiglaf]

I've noticed they tend to go for improvements rather than attacking cities.

[Harrier UK]

If true - that may make them harder to beat later on - depending on the improvements they build of course.

Assuming you do not decide to attack them early yourself.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Harrier UK
If true - that may make them harder to beat later on - depending on the improvements they build of course.

I believe he meant they go for your improvements.

[Blaupanzer]

And they go for improvements very effectively, avoiding exposing themselves when possible. I've had barbs go for roads on forested hills rather than a wheat farm that can be reached by my units from a nearby city. Most frustrating! Just right in terms of a challenge.

[Willem]

That's nothing really new to BtS though, they started doing that in Warlords. They'd bypass my Archer units on the nearby Hills and go for my improvements. Sometimes they'd attack my city, but quite often they'd just go around it and go for something on the other side. I don't really see anything new in that regard with BtS.

[anhalibut]

They've definitely been toned down, and I'm seeing far fewer axemen. It's mostly been warriors and archers with an occasional spearman or axeman or swordsman. I'm glad to see fewer axemen, they were a real pain at marathon speed.

Also, I did have a random event that dumped a stack of Vandal hordes (five or six swordsmen) in my territory when I only had archers, but fortunately they wandered off and didn't attack my cities.

[vilemerchant]

Originally posted by anhalibut
Also, I did have a random event that dumped a stack of Vandal hordes (five or six swordsmen) in my territory when I only had archers, but fortunately they wandered off and didn't attack my cities.

I've had that a few times - and they ALWAYS wander off away from the cities!!

[meriadoc]

In addition to the changes in the individual barbarian behaviors, I've also noticed a lack of barbarian cities. I'm playing a game (difficulty, Warlord) now where an entire half of a continent has been empty for the entire B.C. era, and I haven't noticed one single barbarian settlement.

[Proteus_MST]

Perhaps the probability of barbarian cities emerging has been lowered, but they still exist, on the continent I shared with Tokugawa the Barbs built 2-3 cities in unused space.

And I agree, there seem to be less barbarians now with BtS

[MoonWolf]

Originally posted by vilemerchant


I've had that a few times - and they ALWAYS wander off away from the cities!!

Guess it would have been too devasting otherwise. But what happens if you try to attack them? Guess it caused some panic the first time this happened!

[ghen]

Are you making custom games where you set your own barbarian level, or are you all just doing 'play now'?

[MoonWolf]

Custom game, but I close to never tuch barbarian settings.

[guermantes]

Originally posted by anhalibut
Also, I did have a random event that dumped a stack of Vandal hordes (five or six swordsmen) in my territory when I only had archers, but fortunately they wandered off and didn't attack my cities.

I had that as well. 5 barb horse archers (never seen a barb horse archer before) plunked down by my border and I was already down on military from building wonders. I drew a deep breath before remembering that I had the Great Wall which kept them stuck on 2 tiles by the sea from where they still can't move... (too bad since it would have been interesting to see if they finally gave up and went to pester some of my neighbours instead...)

[meriadoc]

It would appear that my last post was posted, well, too early. It's true that the barbarians had not founded any cities of their own in the B.C. portion of the game, but another few hundred turns have now passed. As my colonization of "their" half of the continent has continued, I've found and more of their cities. Heck, one of my cities was one of theirs.