Why do people enable Barbarians? - Page 2

Baleur · 04-07-2012, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by claffert

As far as the City States go, I think that City States are the best thing Civ 5 has brought to the game. I think it makes the diplomacy aspect much more interesting (and I would like to see the idea developed further). It is nice to have Civs that are motivated by something other than winning (or trying to make you lose).

Anyway, I think they all help balance the game, and I think ditching them is kind of a crutch. However, its a game, so play what is fun for you. That's what options are there for.

There's diplomacy in Civ 5? Funniest thing i've read all day.

rob39874 · 04-07-2012, 10:36 PM

I personally think that barbarians are useful in the game as they offer free xp and if they grab one of the opponents settlers/worker and you rescue it you can either get a free worker or return it to improve your relationship with the AI. City states are also good as they offer you resources that you may not have and barbarians can let you gain influence if the city state sends out influence to detroy them without spending much gold to get to allied status.

gingerbill · 04-09-2012, 11:54 AM

i always turn barbarians off , i don't like them. I like city states though.

yakob_nikoli · 04-15-2012, 11:56 AM

Barbs are a great early game starter. Early on it is likly the units you build are "untrained". Barbs will get you 2 promotions not to speak of the gold you get from taking them out which in the early game can be a boost. Also you can get points with CS for taking out Barbs. If your playing the Germans or Ottomans the Barbs are intricate to building your forces.

CS provides a lot of benefits. for me I particularly like alining with those that provide culture. This is a good way to augment your culture; or military or cash btw. Tactically an ally CS on your external borders can provide a nice buffer to enemy attacks.
I always use barbs and CS, however sometimes I turn off the Diplomatic victory as it otherwise becomes my crutch and usually the first victory I come across. This is to say I will earn a diplomatic victory before a domination or cultural even though I'm not trying!

O ya Rob is right you can capture a worker without diplomatic impunity which in the early game can be a big deal that you don't have to invest time in.

Gen.McMuster · 04-19-2012, 01:04 PM

CSes can also be useful for fighting "proxy wars" on hard to reach empires who you want dead or weakened for some reason during the early game.

You do this by remotely gifiting a crapload of military units to them. After 3 turns the military units will appear in the CS's territory.

Bonus: the AI is pretty stupid so alot of the time you won't even lose reputation with other empires

jcj64200031 · 04-20-2012, 09:03 PM

In PvP, I find barbarians actually help me in the long run. They can help distract aggressive players by attacking their cities while their armies are off attacking players, while players like me who bunker down and focus on science or cultural victories continue to grow while we fend off the barbarians near us with no worry of war.

There's also the free gold and exp to be had from the barbarians. If you leave a barbarian camp up, you can farm exp from it, or if you want some easy gold, just capture it. Not to mention you can keep an eye on barbarian camps near enemy players so you can capture the camps when the barbarians drag back a settler or worker.

I will admit though, I turn off barbarians when I'm trying to do certain achievements, as they do get annoying then, but it is worthwhile to keep them in-game during real games. Hell, try raging barbarians once, especially in pvp.

sugam · 04-21-2012, 02:57 AM

I love them. Always have "raging barbarians" on. I do usually half the city states though. But what could I say; I put every civ in the game on the map as well. I would probably have a lot more achievement’s if I did not play like this, but people cheat for them anyways so they are nearly worthless IMO.

inahut · 04-21-2012, 05:28 PM

Barbarians can possibly earn your military units experience points as well as adding culture per kill; the culture point bonus can be significant if you time it early on in the game.
Barbs do sometimes threaten and kill rather ruthlessly, so that early on you are left with no scouts. I usually scout with my initial military units, so that they can earn upgrades through experience by killing barbs, which is particularly easy if you combine melee and archer, or if you have archers in city when barbs come calling.
I once tried the option to make them more numerous and aggressive, and was overwhelmed. That was way back when. I may try that now that I am more accustomed to playing.
All in all I say that they add to the unpredictable challenge of the game, with benefits. And, historically, that is a variable that the temporarily stable civilizations had to face as decades passed.
Is it not one of the attractions of this game that it at least evokes a little of genuine history during gameplay, like what we are doing is somehow good for us and worthwhile, no matter what the only pragmatic-practical-nongaming people out there think of us as gamers.
Like when I was a boy and had hundreds of comics in near mint conditon, that may dad would take every opportunity to ridicule me for, even though I had that first copy of the first edition of Spiderman, which I bought with my own allowance for about 12 cents at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. He was a fool in that regard, and the fact that I eventually agreed with him and gave them all away made me a fool just like him.

Novalia2 · 05-05-2012, 08:54 AM

CS provide food for my cities and units for defense when I am producing.. I'm producing wonders and cultural and happiness buildings with no time for military expansion so the occasional unit gift from a CS is necessary.. the food from maritime CS help when you're always maximizing production...

Use the extra luxury items to SELL to other civs in order to pay off the CS.... And to enter research agreements... GL with this strat if Alexander is in your game :P

Barbarians I am indifferent to.. Always enabled always a pain in the ♥♥♥ vs my style heh =)

Andyrew105 · 05-08-2012, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montyleeny15

I personally find enabling Barbarians just unnecessary, and it ruins the fun of the game. I disable them on single player games, because I don't see the purpose of they being there in the first place, including City States.

With regards to multiplayer, adding Barbarians simply contradicts the purpose of multiplayer, as multiplayer Civ5 is intended for PvP. Adding Barbarians (and City States) undermines that.

Out of curiousity, what's the purpose of having Barbarians and City States in the game? Being friends with City States provided no bonus to me, and I simply end up destroying them with joy. :-) Barbarians are a waste of resources and they interfere with my affairs.

Just pointing out that you brought city states into this discussion, so don't whine that people are focusing on them.

Ingsoc · 05-08-2012, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montyleeny15

Out of curiousity, what's the purpose of having Barbarians and City States in the game? Being friends with City States provided no bonus to me, and I simply end up destroying them with joy. :-) Barbarians are a waste of resources and they interfere with my affairs.

I think that there are some really good technical responses on this already. But I'll throw my two cents in anyway.

In terms of barbarians, I find that they simply add another layer of challenge to the game (as well as a reward, when you destroy their encampments).

What's interesting about barbarians is that they aren't just an impediment to your civilization, but to others as well. Sometimes they even act as a buffer, or a bit of a wildcard during wars.

I have actually found that barbarians sometimes keep my competitors sufficiently occupied, which reduces the pressure on me somewhat.

In terms of city states, well, they do offer tangible benefits. If you build up your social policies such that you can engage in stable relations with city states, the benefits are actually vast. It acts like a snowball effect - if you end up with a large number of allied city states, you'll generally find that you have big surpluses of resource and you'll be regularly gifted military units. If you happen to be surrounded by city states, they will provide a reasonable buffer if you engage in a war.

One thing I sometimes do is garner strong city state support and then trade the surplus resources with allied civilizations - this "re-trading" system can really work to your benefit, financially speaking.

Having said the above, I don't always enable barbarians. It really depends on how I feel at the time. Sometimes I can't be bothered with them. But sometimes they really add an extra dimension that can be very worthwhile.

Aztec217 · 05-10-2012, 04:20 PM

They make for XP and overall combat introduction and practice. Also, it improves relations with City-States and Other players(in SP at least, and MP players won't exactly be upset if you knock out a few).

Capella · 05-12-2012, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baleur

There's diplomacy in Civ 5? Funniest thing i've read all day.

Lol.

Montyleeny15 · 05-13-2012, 04:55 AM

I'm in the process of TRYING to play with Barbarians...

Day 1:

So, I rage-quitted because I just can't take Barbarians.

Day 2:

New day! I'm gonna put up with them - I added city states for the fun of it. They seem to be in trouble, and it's keeping the barbarians off my land.

Damn! Just got declared war on and now the city states + the barbarians are attacking my forces. :-(

Day 3:

Still to come...

As you can see, it's hard for me to cope with barbarians because they're so annoying!

Esperologist · 05-24-2012, 02:19 AM

If I feel like being oppressed, I enable raging barbarians... especially on non-island map. On islands, it just becomes impossible to go sailing.

If I didn't have barbs, I'd never build a military until it is too late. I'm just a techy, so I need the little provocation.

As for city states, they are quite handy... annoying when they just want another city state slaughtered or ask for units which rarely get to them in time and don't grant much influence with them. However, a bolster to food or culture from them is quite handy... and popping a Great Merch in them is profitable too.
I'm not big on the free (no bonus abilities or starter XP) units.

On a side note:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montyleeny15

With regards to multiplayer, adding Barbarians simply contradicts the purpose of multiplayer, as multiplayer Civ5 is intended for PvP. Adding Barbarians (and City States) undermines that.

Um... PvP isn't the only option in multiplayer. My sister and I team up (yes, teams are possible) and face down a bunch of AIs.
Anyone having trouble winning via the space race should consider this since as a team, tech is shared. If both player research the same tech, it is additive, making it faster to research. Of course, researching two different techs is also nice as they take the normal time, but progress through the tech tree is still quicker.

Maybe I'm weird for wanting to co-operate in games.

04-15-2012, 11:56 AM	#19
yakob_nikoli Join Date: Mar 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 1	Barbs are a great early game starter. Early on it is likly the units you build are "untrained". Barbs will get you 2 promotions not to speak of the gold you get from taking them out which in the early game can be a boost. Also you can get points with CS for taking out Barbs. If your playing the Germans or Ottomans the Barbs are intricate to building your forces. CS provides a lot of benefits. for me I particularly like alining with those that provide culture. This is a good way to augment your culture; or military or cash btw. Tactically an ally CS on your external borders can provide a nice buffer to enemy attacks. I always use barbs and CS, however sometimes I turn off the Diplomatic victory as it otherwise becomes my crutch and usually the first victory I come across. This is to say I will earn a diplomatic victory before a domination or cultural even though I'm not trying! O ya Rob is right you can capture a worker without diplomatic impunity which in the early game can be a big deal that you don't have to invest time in. Last edited by yakob_nikoli: 04-15-2012 at 11:58 AM. Reason: a little extra

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04-07-2012, 10:36 PM	#17
rob39874 Join Date: Aug 2011 Reputation: 2 Posts: 89	I personally think that barbarians are useful in the game as they offer free xp and if they grab one of the opponents settlers/worker and you rescue it you can either get a free worker or return it to improve your relationship with the AI. City states are also good as they offer you resources that you may not have and barbarians can let you gain influence if the city state sends out influence to detroy them without spending much gold to get to allied status.

04-09-2012, 11:54 AM	#18
gingerbill Join Date: Aug 2008 Reputation: 86 Posts: 809	i always turn barbarians off , i don't like them. I like city states though.

04-19-2012, 01:04 PM	#20
Gen.McMuster Join Date: May 2011 Reputation: 9 Posts: 100	CSes can also be useful for fighting "proxy wars" on hard to reach empires who you want dead or weakened for some reason during the early game. You do this by remotely gifiting a crapload of military units to them. After 3 turns the military units will appear in the CS's territory. Bonus: the AI is pretty stupid so alot of the time you won't even lose reputation with other empires

04-20-2012, 09:03 PM	#21
jcj64200031 Join Date: Aug 2010 Reputation: 163 Posts: 418	In PvP, I find barbarians actually help me in the long run. They can help distract aggressive players by attacking their cities while their armies are off attacking players, while players like me who bunker down and focus on science or cultural victories continue to grow while we fend off the barbarians near us with no worry of war. There's also the free gold and exp to be had from the barbarians. If you leave a barbarian camp up, you can farm exp from it, or if you want some easy gold, just capture it. Not to mention you can keep an eye on barbarian camps near enemy players so you can capture the camps when the barbarians drag back a settler or worker. I will admit though, I turn off barbarians when I'm trying to do certain achievements, as they do get annoying then, but it is worthwhile to keep them in-game during real games. Hell, try raging barbarians once, especially in pvp.

04-21-2012, 02:57 AM	#22
sugam Join Date: Mar 2010 Reputation: 2 Posts: 116	I love them. Always have "raging barbarians" on. I do usually half the city states though. But what could I say; I put every civ in the game on the map as well. I would probably have a lot more achievement’s if I did not play like this, but people cheat for them anyways so they are nearly worthless IMO.

04-21-2012, 05:28 PM	#23
inahut Join Date: Jun 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 10	Barbarians can possibly earn your military units experience points as well as adding culture per kill; the culture point bonus can be significant if you time it early on in the game. Barbs do sometimes threaten and kill rather ruthlessly, so that early on you are left with no scouts. I usually scout with my initial military units, so that they can earn upgrades through experience by killing barbs, which is particularly easy if you combine melee and archer, or if you have archers in city when barbs come calling. I once tried the option to make them more numerous and aggressive, and was overwhelmed. That was way back when. I may try that now that I am more accustomed to playing. All in all I say that they add to the unpredictable challenge of the game, with benefits. And, historically, that is a variable that the temporarily stable civilizations had to face as decades passed. Is it not one of the attractions of this game that it at least evokes a little of genuine history during gameplay, like what we are doing is somehow good for us and worthwhile, no matter what the only pragmatic-practical-nongaming people out there think of us as gamers. Like when I was a boy and had hundreds of comics in near mint conditon, that may dad would take every opportunity to ridicule me for, even though I had that first copy of the first edition of Spiderman, which I bought with my own allowance for about 12 cents at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. He was a fool in that regard, and the fact that I eventually agreed with him and gave them all away made me a fool just like him.

05-05-2012, 08:54 AM	#24
Novalia2 Join Date: Oct 2010 Reputation: 10 Posts: 43	CS provide food for my cities and units for defense when I am producing.. I'm producing wonders and cultural and happiness buildings with no time for military expansion so the occasional unit gift from a CS is necessary.. the food from maritime CS help when you're always maximizing production... Use the extra luxury items to SELL to other civs in order to pay off the CS.... And to enter research agreements... GL with this strat if Alexander is in your game :P Barbarians I am indifferent to.. Always enabled always a pain in the ♥♥♥ vs my style heh =)

05-10-2012, 04:20 PM	#27
Aztec217 Join Date: Apr 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 39	They make for XP and overall combat introduction and practice. Also, it improves relations with City-States and Other players(in SP at least, and MP players won't exactly be upset if you knock out a few).

05-13-2012, 04:55 AM	#29
Montyleeny15 Join Date: Dec 2011 Reputation: 117 Posts: 455	I'm in the process of TRYING to play with Barbarians... Day 1: So, I rage-quitted because I just can't take Barbarians. Day 2: New day! I'm gonna put up with them - I added city states for the fun of it. They seem to be in trouble, and it's keeping the barbarians off my land. Damn! Just got declared war on and now the city states + the barbarians are attacking my forces. :-( Day 3: Still to come... As you can see, it's hard for me to cope with barbarians because they're so annoying!