Where are these "raging" barbarians?

[RedBird]

I'm playing my fourth or fifth game now. The first few games I played at Chieftain level. Right now I'm trying Monarch. In all my games, however, I've chosen "Raging Hordes" for the barbarian level. However, I have yet to see any really significant barbarian presence.

I do take out the settlements as soon as they appear (frequently using mil advisor to tell me where they are), but I have never encountered more than two barbarians in any one turn, never more than one settlement on the map at one time, and all the barbarians I've seen have come from the settlements (no pop-ups like in Civ2).

Where are these "Raging Hordes"? I'm getting more of a "Whimpering Trickle"! And what the heck is the point of having all the barbarian galleys if they don't land troops? They just take up my time moving around making my turns take longer. Never once have they been in a place that even annoyed me (that is, they've never been in my way other than to just watch them mindlessly rowing about).

What am I doing wrong???

Show me the barbarians!

[SpencerH]

If you want a horde, leave their encampments alone. By attacking them immediately you're nullifying the effect. The galleys cant start an encampment on land that is within a civ's borders so they just row around looking for a spot to land on

[RedBird]

Originally posted by SpencerH
If you want a horde, leave their encampments alone.

Ok, that's realistic. (sorry, my barb [no pun intended] is not aimed at you, just at this situation).

So the only way to have a realistic (or at least challenging) level of barbarians is to treat them unrealisticly. That's disappointing.

The galleys cant start an encampment on land that is within a civ's borders so they just row around looking for a spot to land on

I've seen tons of galleys along unclaimed borders. Never once have I seen a barbarian galley land troops. Have you?

[DaveV]

No, you'll never see the galleys land troops. They are shy, and will only land in squares that are not in line-of-sight (black or dimly lit on the main map).

[RedBird]

Originally posted by DaveV
No, you'll never see the galleys land troops. They are shy, and will only land in squares that are not in line-of-sight (black or dimly lit on the main map).

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. So you're saying they actually do carry troops, and they do land those troops, but never in sight? Thus if a galley comes around, and you kill it before it lands troops then there will be fewer barbarians to fight?

[N. Machiavelli]

Want a barbarian challange? Try these settings in the editor:

-Change regular barbarian unit from Warrior to Swordsman.

-Change Advanced Barbarian Unit from Horseman to Knight.

-Change barbarian Sea Unit from Galley to Caravel.

-Within difficulty settings, change "combat bonus vs barbarians" = 0.

Now with the barbarian level at Raging Hordes, they will appear more often. The computer likes to go on barbarian search-and-destroy missions, but with the barbarian units much stronger and without a combat bonus, many more barbarian camps will survive for you to encounter. Just wait for the first massive uprising. There are few things scarier than to see 20-30 knights pouring over your border as soon as you reach feudalism.

This should spice up your games a bit. They've been my standard barbarian settings forever.

[SpencerH]

If you patrol the coast areas outside your borders they wont land troops/encampments.

Whether you get barbarian problems is a factor of how fast you and the other civs expand to fill the landmass. Its harder to do that on the pangea-type maps and when you have slower growing cities (and therefore less settlers).

[Jaybe]

Within difficulty settings, change "combat bonus vs barbarians" = 0.

YES, Everyone should definitely do this!!

JB,
President of the Equal Combat Rights to Barbarians Society

[RedBird]

Originally posted by N. Machiavelli
-Change regular barbarian unit from Warrior to Swordsman.

-Change Advanced Barbarian Unit from Horseman to Knight.

But this seems to make the barbarians too strong. I can fight a bunch of warriors with my one warrior (if I choose my ground well), but swordsman against warriors seems unbalanced.

I didn't say I wanted to lose against barbarians...

Now with the barbarian level at Raging Hordes, they will appear more often.

You mean because they will survive the AI's better so more of them get to me?

Just wait for the first massive uprising.

I've heard people mention an "uprising". What is this? When do they happen? Or are you just talking about a lot of barbarians due to unmolested settlements?

[SpencerH]

If you leave the encampments alone (either on purpose or because of other circumsatnces) they will generate a few warriors then horsemen. If left alone for long enough they generate a massive uprising (I think the chances are higher with "raging") this can consist of upto 30 horsemen (I've never seen more) in one massive stack. In one GOTM I was attacked by 3 such stacks!

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by RedBird
I've heard people mention an "uprising". What is this? When do they happen? Or are you just talking about a lot of barbarians due to unmolested settlements?

Don't worry, you WILL notice it when it comes!
Your military advisor will warn you at the start of a turn ("Barbarian Uprising").

What is it, just 24 horse in one stack with Raging Hordes. You might just get one, but I have heard of as many as THREE stacks. Of course, they all appear at once!
They don't appear to you in every game, but are great fun. Maybe they only appeared to the AI players, I don't know. Some people just remove all the garrison from the nearest town and let them loot it, though they might just take the women and children, instead. After they have looted a town they (poof) disappear.

Don't forget, Within difficulty settings, change "combat bonus vs barbarians" to 0.

JB,
President of the Equal Combat Rights to Barbarians Society

[Edit: took too long to compose, so redundant info included. They occur at the time the 2nd civ advances to a new age, per Soren.]

[RedBird]

Originally posted by SpencerH
If you leave the encampments alone (either on purpose or because of other circumsatnces) they will generate a few warriors then horsemen. If left alone for long enough they generate a massive uprising (I think the chances are higher with "raging") this can consist of upto 30 horsemen

You mean that in one turn the barbarian encampment will put out 30 horsemen, or just that over time you'll end up with 30 horsemen?

[Arrian]

The uprising occur, IIRC, upon the ancient/medieval changeover (once 2 civs hit the Medieval Age). If you have allowed the encampments to survive, you will have hordes of horsemen breathing down your neck.

Barb galleys, AFAIK, do not carry any troops. They merely sail around looking for ships to attack (and lose to). Encampments only pop up in the fog of war, so as the world becomes more and more settled, there will eventually be no place for them. As mentioned, the AI always knows where the encampments are and devotes several units (per civ) to hunting them.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Originally posted by RedBird


You mean that in one turn the barbarian encampment will put out 30 horsemen, or just that over time you'll end up with 30 horsemen?

As Jaybe said, each encampment will put out 24 horsemen on "raging." Sometimes, however, two such stacks may merge on their way to the nearest city, resulting in 48 in one stack.

The best option is to remove the barb combat bonus. Or play at the difficulty level where there is none (but of course the AI always plays on "regent" so they have a huge combat bonus vs. barbs).

Making the basic units sword/knight is vicious. I'd say archer and horse - or even a modded horse (2/2/2). That, w/o combat bonuses, should be challenging.

I'm a whimp with barbs. I play on "roaming" for that very reason.

-Arrian

[RedBird]

Originally posted by Arrian
Encampments only pop up in the fog of war

The FoW is the grey area, right? Assuming so then this is not correct. I'm playing a game while cruising Apolyton (while I've been writing these posts), and I just now had an encampment appear directly next to some workers who were building a RR out in the boon-docks (sp?).

I've also, in other games, had encampments appear next to my troops. Never, however, closer to my borders than probably 8 to 10 squares.