OK, Blakmane, I'm 400 turns into my Epic game with your modmod and I have had some rather surprising things happen...most not expected.
First, for a change, I tried to play Cassiel, but all the other game settings were the same as for the 5 previous games of .30 I played (except one was Marathon instead of Epic): Monarch, Huge Fantasy Realm map with 9 ai civs, Raging Barbs, AggAI, Wildlands, Barbarian Lands.
1. I ended up with Jonas AND Charadon in the game and this has really created problems for me that I did not expect! I know you said you were still looking for a way to have ai civs with the Barbarian trait not declare war early. Well, incredibly in this game I am up to turn 400 and BOTH Jonas and Charadon are still at peace with the barbs!
2. This peace has created some difficulty for me. Two ai civs went down, leaving 5 civs that the barbs can pick on. This leads me to another thing I never saw before. I have Jonas on my NW border and Charadon on my SW border. The barbs are sending beaucoup units through the territory of these two civs. I never saw them go through the territory of civs at peace with them before. My Eastern borders are wide open too and I am getting plenty of barbs from that direction too. Basically, I am getting my 5 cities hit from 360 degrees. Still early in the game, and I have at least a dozen units with over 150 xp (I selected the Raider trait as Adaptive for Cassiel). I am fending them off my improvements, but the game is getting rather tedious as I cannot muster an army to take out barbs, Charadon and Jonas.
3. Part of the problem goes back to something I have been seeing in every game since .25 - the Bear Explosion. Bears, at least 150, have surrounded the other 5 ai civs. The other barbs don't seem to like wading through all the Bears so they go straight through Jonas' and Charadon's territory where there are no Bears straight for me. I opened the World Builder and there are virtually no barb units in the territory of the other civs. They are all pouring into my lands for the last 200 turns!
4. Without a doubt this has been the best raging barb challenge I have had in .30. I haven't yet seen any of the squatting problems I noted in another thread although there are plenty of barb cities, particularly on my Eastern borders. Again, I just can't break out to get these cities as it seems I need every defender. If Jonas or Charadon declares war on me, and I suspect they will, I will have lots of action.
Anyway, again, I'm not sure if it was your modmod, or just a good game (I'd like to think the former), but definitely my best .30 game to date!
Thanks a lot!!!