Barbarians - WTH?

[Alyshae]

I have played Civ five for ages, thought I'd give this a shot. What the H is up with the barbarians?! I just had to pay half my gold as a bribe and three turns later they attacked and killed my archer. Double checked and the two units that did it still say I have a bunch of turns left on the bribe. Is there an option to destroy their encampment? I can't afford this.
Gotta say, I like the new look but am going back to Civ 5 because of this. Sucks that the builders are only good for limited builds, too. Glad it was on sale because if I'd paid full price I'd be really upset.

[Sstavix]

it sounds to me like you had the Barbarian Clans mode turned on. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to take bribes. It's an interesting mode, in which barbarian camps can eventually turn into city-states, but it's completely optional. Feel free to turn it off the next time you start a game.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by Alyshae:

I have played Civ five for ages, thought I'd give this a shot. What the H is up with the barbarians?! I just had to pay half my gold as a bribe and three turns later they attacked and killed my archer. Double checked and the two units that did it still say I have a bunch of turns left on the bribe. Is there an option to destroy their encampment? I can't afford this.
Gotta say, I like the new look but am going back to Civ 5 because of this. Sucks that the builders are only good for limited builds, too. Glad it was on sale because if I'd paid full price I'd be really upset.

Killing the encampment is what you are supposed to do, Bu chance are you playing clans mode?

[Copernicus]

The thing I would do when playing this game for the first time is to switch off all the optional modes: barbarian clans, heroes & legends, monopolies & corporations, etc. They are fun in their own way, but they each twist the standard rules away from their original intent, potentially skewing game balance and introducing odd behaviors in the AI.

The default rules should provide a well balanced game that is still enjoyable.

[Stormwinds]

Definitely don't play with optional game modes on if you are a beginner. They are intended to shake up the standard game settings for more experienced players. There are all sorts of quirks and idiosyncrasies that break the balance in two.

[Many-Named]

mah man turns on the extra barbs mode on and then complains about them ^^

[Aerond]

Why would you bribe a savage civilization?

[mrzekopekodjuro]

also, the bribe means they wont attack your cities, not units

[robert.steven.marshall]

There's also an option to play without barbs and there's one where you can delay how long it is until they send units out near where you can fiddle with the game seed. (might be part of a mod but the game really needs mods for all kinds of things like trading, spies, planning out districts to avoid frustrations). I actually think it is easier to play with barbarian clans mode on because you have more options to deal with them like hiring their units as mercenaries whereas without it if one scout spots a city they just start streaming units towards you over and over.

[Lemurian1972]

Originally posted by mrzekopekodjuro:

also, the bribe means they wont attack your cities, not units

Units within your borders are also safe. You can happily place an Archer inside your lines and plink at bribed barbarians.

[colostmy4]

i love civ 6, but one of the flaws I see in the game is the tendency for barbarians to often swarm early in the game. I realize the importance of taking out the barbarian scouts before they return to their encampments, but often even doing that isn't enough as other scouts from other directions appear and I can't get to all of them. Of the people that I know who quickly lost interest in the game, their main complaint (technical issues aside) was too often being swarmed by barbarians in the early game.

[Copernicus]

Originally posted by colostmy4:

i love civ 6, but one of the flaws I see in the game is the tendency for barbarians to often swarm early in the game. I realize the importance of taking out the barbarian scouts before they return to their encampments, but often even doing that isn't enough as other scouts from other directions appear and I can't get to all of them. Of the people that I know who quickly lost interest in the game, their main complaint (technical issues aside) was too often being swarmed by barbarians in the early game.

:) I've forgotten how scary barbarians can be when first starting out in this game. At the higher difficulty levels, barbarians have the lifespan of a fruit fly; the armies of both other players and of city states jump on nearby camps and swat them down mercilessly. You have to be proactive if you want to harvest any barbarians before they disappear.

[grognardgary]

Haven't played a civ yet where your primary early game goal wasn't too milk barbs for every thing you possibly could. In the past that was just experience for your troops.

[dcain3456]

Originally posted by Copernicus:

:) I've forgotten how scary barbarians can be when first starting out in this game. At the higher difficulty levels, barbarians have the lifespan of a fruit fly; the armies of both other players and of city states jump on nearby camps and swat them down mercilessly. You have to be proactive if you want to harvest any barbarians before they disappear.

How I wish that were true, but it's not. Playing on immortal, I send units out to fogbust before any barb scouts can find my cities. I always destroy the camps when given the chance. Barb farming for the loot is just too dangerous on high levels.

[Copernicus]

Originally posted by dcain3456:

How I wish that were true, but it's not. Playing on immortal, I send units out to fogbust before any barb scouts can find my cities. I always destroy the camps when given the chance. Barb farming for the loot is just too dangerous on high levels.

You must be joking. Once I started playing Deity, my only way of surviving has been to advance my warriors to the nearest camp and loot it, then move to the next one, then the next, etc. Otherwise I have no chance catching up to the competition.

Of course, I'm talking advantage of the AI's poor military ability. Terrain, combined arms, the policy card that provides +5 strength vs barbs, proper unit upgrades, there are ways to take advantage of barbarian encampments.