So if we can only have three
I'm just reading you guys' discussion here. And I noticed a couple of times that this limiter, three, has come up. Why can't you have more than three barbs factions? Not saying you should have more than 4, cuz that just wouldn't make sens. Too much clutter. (Although maybe the discussion is 4 is too much clutter; I can't tell.)
But see, as I understand it, when the FfH team originally decided to split the barb factions from 1 big faction to 3 factions, they basically created the other 2 factions, making their factions Savage Orcs, Demons, and Animals. They linked the barbarian trait to this as well. (And, of course, this was all carried over to the FF code, so it should be in what you guys are converting from.) So, if you guys wanted you could probably create a 4th barb faction.
If we're going to make some factions at peace with the barbs, is this going to be linked to the barbarian trait? Will the trait give peace with a single barb faction, or peace with all of them?
Here's how they do it in FfH (and FF):
Jonas Edain of the Orc civ has the barbarian trait. He is at peace with the Savage Orc Faction. Likewise, Daracaat of the Archos has the barbarian trait and is at peace with the Animal Faction. Then, the civ that founds the Ashen Veil religion is at peace with the Demon Faction. (All civs that don't have the Barbarian trait [or found AV] wishing peace with any of the barb faction have to do a ritual.) Now, while you may be at peace with the Animals as Daracaat, the Demons and Savage Orcs WILL still attack you. Same goes for Jonas with the Savage Orcs, Demons and Animals still attack you. So, while both Jonas and Daracaat have the Barbarian trait, they are only at peace with 1 of the 3 barb factions, not all.
The point isn't a big advantage. It's a small one. If you're smart, you can capitalize on it. But it's not gonna make or break your empire. And most of the time, you prolly won't notice a ton. (Though, if you play as the Orcs and build their hero, Rantine, there's a nice mechanic attached to him being able to convert barbs to your civ if he's the strongest unit in the tile. Nice lil mechanic. Very useful.)
Since you guys are using FF base code, I'd think it'd be relatively easy (though time consuming) to make the changes you'd wish, which is prolly the reason you're using it anyway.
But my point is that most of what you're discussing here is already in place in the FF code. You just have to tweak it to make it fit WH.
You know, in all honesty, now that I've played the game a little more, I like what's been done with the barbs so far. I like what's being planned for it. I mean, the random events like necromancer and such took so getting used to. But if you're careful about it, you'll do fine. And I know basically how the separate barb factions would work from FfH. I can see some very nice, unique mechanics for some civs through the barb factions.
Although, for the sake of the AI, you may wanna make the amount of barbs spawned a little less in the early game. Maybe don't have as many non-Animal barbs until turn 150 and don't have any barbs from events until turn 200 or 250. Over the course of a few games, I've noticed that a few of the AI civs have succumbed to the barbs in the early game. I don't know about you, but I just find it a little dumb that barbs are defeating civs. Taking over a city here or there or raiding improvements a lot, that's fine. Forces you and the AI to be smarter about basic defense. But seeing the barbs defeat a civ? They're sposed to be to unorganized to do that. Lol.