Pet Barbarians

[Noonan]

I love it when the barbarians take one of my cities on an island just off my main land mass. I can have free NON units untill the end of the game. Once I had them take a city that was in a decent spot. I thought about taking it back but decided to make them my pet. I brought a couple of 'geers over to mine a hill and irrigate some grass squares. The NON units came about every 5 turns! Then I made some trade routes to have some fun (now that the city was producing a decent return) I sent the transport over with a spy (damn embassy expires every turn with the barbs) and a couple of freights. When I used my spy to check the route bonus I found they had changed the commodity! The gems I sent became silk and the hides became oil! Those wacky barbarians. Now that I have had that much fun with this city I can't wait untill my next game to try it again. Anyone else keep these barbarian pets around?

[Ming]

Actually, I prefer the "killing field" strategy. As we know, barbarians like to appear in places where cities aren't built yet... and they appear often. So I like to find a nice mountain square, and park a pikeman, a mounted unit, and a diplo in a location that is just closer to somebody elses city. Barbs appear... bribe a few for non units, and let the remainder attack my fortified pikeman, watch them die, then hunt down the king for money.

When done right, there is nothing better