Barbarian Huts

[player1]

I did some research (by using debugger) and have concluded that how much often barbarians will pop out of huts instead getting reward depends solely of difficulty level.

At Chieftain, it was a very low chance of getting them, at regent around 40% and at Monarch around 50% (just simple estimations from few tries not exact numbers).

From Emperor and above, it just doesn't pay off.
Exempt very high chances to get barbarians, combat bonuses against them are so low, that there is more them good chance that you'll lose a unit.
Of course, this makes Expansionistic trait more useful at these levels since you won't get barbarians.

Also, one interesting thing to note is that if you build city right near barbarian hut, it will not pop out barbarians ever.
Exemption to this case, is expanding city radius (to level 2 or higher), when barbarians are possibile as always.

So, I guess that my strategy would be to enter the villages at monarch and lower levels, and avoid them at higher levels, at least unitl I get chance to build city right near them.


P.S.
I don't rememer barbarian chances being so high before Conquests, at least on Emperor level.

[Aqualung71]

All true, as far as I know Popping huts is not something I do enthusiastically at Emperor or above unless I am Expansionist! I now only pop huts by building towns next to them, except in PBEM games which are often set at Regent or Monarch levels.

There is one thing I'm not so sure of though:

We know that in order to get a settler out of a hut, you need to make sure that you do not have a current settler or are building one.

Let's say you are building one - does changing that build to something else, thus enabling the possibility of popping a settler, also reduce the chances of popping barbs, or simply increase the chances of getting a settler as opposed to some other positive event such as gold, a warrior or a tech?

[vmxa1]

I have not played all that many deity games, but I have played a lot of Sid games and you just learn to no have barbs on. It is bad enough to fight the camps and the uprisings.

At Demi I will pop huts as a non expansion civ, but it will be done carefully. I will try to use vets and not do it near towns. No sending warriors out to clean up barb camps. I want archers or horses and even they can get killed.

[vmxa1]

BTW the reason I do not use barbs on Sid is not to avoid them, it is to slow down the tech race a bit. No tech for the AI from huts.

[player1]

This is from one thread found at CivFanatics.
Sorry for no link, I forgot it.

[player1]

Basicly, Exp is way to go for all difficulties exempt Sid.
Without Exp, huts are nice for difficulties below Emperor.

[Dauphin]

I did get barbs from a hut when building a city once. The hut wasn't in the immediate 8 squares, but was covered halfway between the newly built city and another cultural border such that it fell into my territory when the city was built. So I guess that means it fell under cultural expansion rule even though it was city building that was the cause of the popping.

[lmtoops]

For the expansionist trait, popping good huts is the only benefit (or almost the only).

[Arrian]

Finding AI civs very early can be a big benifit as well. First, because you get the jump on tech trading. You can meet AI civs before they've met each other and maximize the first-tier tech trades. Second, you have the chance of catching them with a worker in their capital, so you can buy it (which may cripple them). Third, because if you want to do some early harrassment, you know exactly where to send your warriors.

-Arrian

[MrWhereItsAt]

Remember that regardless of the difficulty level, you can't get barbs if you ahve no military and you are not building any. So if you are exploring with a scout or worker early and find a hut, change any cities you are building to something other than a warrior (assuming you don;t already have one) and you are safe.

Also, you cannot get a settler if you are building one or have one, so the same applies. Finally, if you can do so (won't waste too many turns of research), change to the cheapest (as given by the costs in the editor) tech. you never get the tech you are researching, so if you DO get a tech, it will be worth a bit more than the cheapest.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Oh, and my fave - unless there is a 0 defense unit around (worker, settler), Barbs will only move towards things to the NW or SE of them. Thus if you have a unit to the west of barbs, you won;t be attacked.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by MrWhereItsAt
Remember that regardless of the difficulty level, you can't get barbs if you ahve no military and you are not building any.

That is not true in Conquests. I got screwed in an MP game because I thought that. I lost my worker and all my production in my first city when my borders expanded unleashing barbs. I had no military units, and wasn't building any at the time.

It wasn't fun.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Really?! Is that not just MP then?

[Arrian]

That's odd. In SP, I've never had the "no military units" gambit fail. PBEM/MP only, perhaps?

-Arrian

[Alex]

Originally posted by MrWhereItsAt
Oh, and my fave - unless there is a 0 defense unit around (worker, settler), Barbs will only move towards things to the NW or SE of them. Thus if you have a unit to the west of barbs, you won;t be attacked.

This is a Conquests-only bug, isn't it?