How can I protect from barbs when...

[Mehmed II]

In some games I have no strategy resources when I start the game. In Classical
era there is barbs whit axes and swords and I have only archers and warriors. It's dificalt to protect from those units, because I have no Iron, copper or horses. So I just build Archers and hope the best. Is there any other ways to survive from these attacks?

 

[pigswill]

Try to prevent barbs emerging by 'fogbusting' i.e. spreading units around the map so there are no shaded ('fog of war') tiles near you because barbs only emerge in fog of war.

 

[volfan37132]

You just mentioned one of the reasons one of the reasons I like
Mana Musa - Mail. His UU - the Skirmisher is ideal for this. They
can hold their own, even against axemen and the skirmisher has
no resource requirement.

 

[axident]

In some games I have no strategy resources when I start the game. In Classical
era there is barbs whit axes and swords and I have only archers and warriors. It's dificalt to protect from those units, because I have no Iron, copper or horses. So I just build Archers and hope the best. Is there any other ways to survive from these attacks?

Yes, fogbusting is good.

If you have no iron or copper in your starting area, chop a settler and get some metal. If you have absolutely no metal anywhere near you, and not even horses, see if you can find some Ivory.

Also, any infantry unit on hilltop/forest can probably kill attackers, so fortify some archers on those and hope that barbs go for those archers and not your cities/improvements.

 

[Harbourboy]

In the short term, fog-busting is the way to go. Plus, if you have no iron, copper, or horses, then you must have some other fantastic resources, because the game usually provides a random selection of resources. So you probably have Ivory (for War Elephants) or Stone (for rapid building of Great Wall).

This is yet another example of how Civ IV is great at encouraging a variety of different tactics.

 

[pigswill]

In the medium term assuming you've survived the barbarian onslaught research towards construction (masonry, writing, maths); even if you don't have elephants a stack of catapults protected by archers will give you AI cities with the resources you lack.

Edit: good point from Harbourboy about great wall which solves the problem immediately.

 

[HiroHito]

fogbustin' 4tw !!

 

[Jorunkun]

It is extremely rare to not have any strategic ressources within ten tiles of your starting location. Could it be that you are not expanding fast enough?

 

[Stumpy123]

Archers can do a pretty decent job in defending cities, even against axes and swords. Build some barracks to give your archers city garrison to improve city defense. If you have the protective trait, then you can make your cities very difficult to take. Also, some of your border cities may need more than one archer or may need walls. However, these methods are only short-term solutions; you will definitely need to build more settlers to grab some resources, as soon you will have to deal with other AI civs. Make sure to escort them if there are a lot of barbs running around.

 

[Mehmed II]

Thank's, maybe I need to expand faster.
It's very annoying when Barbs just pillage improvements and my archers protect
cities.
Fogbusting, sounds new, I'll try it next time.

Edit:In custom game might be wise to set resorces->Balanced so there is huge
chance to discover those important strategy resources.

 

[JoeBlade]

It is extremely rare to not have any strategic ressources within ten tiles of your starting location. Could it be that you are not expanding fast enough?

Hmm, in my experience it's not rare at all. There's often a complete lack of either horses or copper on my starting continent, even when it's by no means small.
I've also seen many a start where the only (early) startegic resources were either within other civilisations' territory, or so far away that settling nearby would have killed my economy from the start (not to mention gettling a settler over in one piece)

A number of my games had me on an isolated island/smallish continent, with no early strategic resources whatsoever. No copper, no iron, no horses, no elephants, no stone, no marble... nada.
Funnily, this type of start was usually bestowed on an aggressive leader; talk about a waste of trait.

Maybe it's because I play larger maps, i.e. distance is far more of an issue. Instead I reckon the standard map generation algorithm is just very hard on the player sometimes

 

[axident]

In the short term, fog-busting is the way to go. Plus, if you have no iron, copper, or horses, then you must have some other fantastic resources, because the game usually provides a random selection of resources. So you probably have Ivory (for War Elephants) or Stone (for rapid building of Great Wall).

This is yet another example of how Civ IV is great at encouraging a variety of different tactics.

I used to love the Great Wall until I ran into a game where I was a couple of turns away from completing it, and had made it a pretty high priority right after Stonehenge... and the barbs were nearby, so good thing I'd get that wall up in time to save my cities.

You can guess what happened next. Stupid AI.

Also, no bronze, iron, ivory, or even horses = you have already teched up pretty high as far as the ancient era is concerned, so it's a bit late by then to start building the Wall.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Then lots of archers will be your only option. Hammers wise, they don't do too awefully if you take advantage of hills, forests and rivers. Just don't forgo archery and then cry when you see axeman.

 

[Harbourboy]

If you always got the same resources all the time, the game would be no fun.

 

[csar508]

pigswill thanks for the fogbusting tip!

 

[Hero]

I used to love the Great Wall until I ran into a game where I was a couple of turns away from completing it, and had made it a pretty high priority right after Stonehenge... and the barbs were nearby, so good thing I'd get that wall up in time to save my cities.

You can guess what happened next. Stupid AI.

Also, no bronze, iron, ivory, or even horses = you have already teched up pretty high as far as the ancient era is concerned, so it's a bit late by then to start building the Wall.

Personally, that's when I load up the last Autosave and whip.

 

[Fuzzz]

There ought to be an improvement like in civ3: the outpost-> a sort of fogbusting improvement (maybe they can give forts this improvement).

 

[cabert]

There ought to be an improvement like in civ3: the outpost-> a sort of fogbusting improvement (maybe they can give forts this improvement).

This improvement exists. It's called a unit.
try a chariot with sentry promotion, camping next to peak(s), you'll see a lot less barbarians.

 

[Arvedui]

Might I add that hill tiles are an ideal place for a fogbusting archer? Not only will they have a +50% defense bonus (cumulative with fortify and forest bonus), but they will also potentially 'fogbust' more, since the hills will allow them to see one tile further over flatlands.

Actually, I only use archers for fogbusting, even if I have horses or copper/iron; this is because archers are cheaper and have the +25% hills defense. So, with me, chariots and axemen are for the few times when the barbarian units slip right past my fogbusting archers and invade my cultural borders (remember that the fogbusters should be beyond these).

 

[InFlux5]

What a great thread with a lot of tips.

I'd just like to reiterate that barbarians will frequently attack your fog-busters on their way to your territory. Thanks to all the defense bonuses your fully fortified fog-buster has (you did park it on a hill, or at least in a forest, right?) the barbarian will almost always die.