The thing I find in a lot of these discussions is that it fails to understand barb spawn rates are VERY different game to game....because of the nearness of other civs.
If your on a map with lot of cs and civs near you...than the barbs are going to be dramatically less than in a game where you have a lot of space around you. And its two different kinds of challenges. The first means more "real war" but you often get an easier start. With the 2nd you have to work harder to carve out your initial territory but then you can often enjoy more peace long term without any immediate big enemies around.
I think the problem is people get into the second game and think they are terribly far behind because they are having to make a lot of units and not expanding as fast....but in reality your doing fine its just your start gets delayed a bit, but you get rewarded when you can ultimately expand more and war less than in the first kind of start. Its just a different style of game, but I haven't one noticibly harder or easier than the other, it just requires a different mindset.
If your on a map with lot of cs and civs near you...than the barbs are going to be dramatically less than in a game where you have a lot of space around you. And its two different kinds of challenges. The first means more "real war" but you often get an easier start. With the 2nd you have to work harder to carve out your initial territory but then you can often enjoy more peace long term without any immediate big enemies around.
I think the problem is people get into the second game and think they are terribly far behind because they are having to make a lot of units and not expanding as fast....but in reality your doing fine its just your start gets delayed a bit, but you get rewarded when you can ultimately expand more and war less than in the first kind of start. Its just a different style of game, but I haven't one noticibly harder or easier than the other, it just requires a different mindset.
