Well after much delay I'm finally releasing my Attila's Conquest II - Play As Barbarians Civilization 2 Scenario for Civ2 MGE. This scenario is the second in a series where I attempt to play (& win!) as the 8th Barbarian slot in each Civ game via hacks, cheats & editor tools and release a scenario like savefile for others to play as them too. Can you also overcome all the Barbarian disadvantages to defeat the advancing regular 7 Civs in this special 8 Civ survival scenario? Full details below…
Taken from ReadMe file:
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Attila’s Conquest II – Play As Barbarians Civilization 2 Scenario (MGE)
===================================================================================
Author: @Blake00
Version: 1.0 11/11/2025
Scenario Homepage: https://blakessanctum.x10.mx/Mods/BarbSeries/
Scenario ModDB Page: https://www.moddb.com/mods/attilas-conquest-2-play-as-barbarians-scenario-mge/
Civ News & Updates: https://blakessanctum.wordpress.com/tag/civilization/ or https://www.patreon.com/c/blakessanctum/posts?filters[tag]=Civilization
Old Scenario Dev Forum Thread: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/627343/
Demonstration Video: youtu.be/MMBDqJN-VSE?list=PLZqnaGtTZxFbq3F5R6lqzyVvYzg9tRBPY
Screenshots:
(Note: Last 2 shots are using the Better Terrain Graphics for Civ2 MGE mod and the Test of Time Graphics for Civ2 MGE mod)
The Series:
===================================================================================
Contents:
1. About
2. Requirements & Installation Instructions
3. Known Issues & Strategies
4. Version History
5. Credits
6. DOWNLOAD
===================================================================================
1. About:
Anyone who happens to follow my Civilization preservation work and lost scenario search threads will know that I’m a huge Sid Meier’s Civilization fan! When I was a young boy playing Civilization 1 in the mid 1990s I remember coming across a hex editing guide for Civ1 save games and noticed that you could change the player controlled Civ to even the 8th Barbarian faction in slot 0. I tried it out and was amazed to see that it actually worked! There I was playing the red faction as ruler Attila the Hun! I had a fun game mucking around however due to the severe limitations on the Barbarians I didn’t get very far and was quickly defeated.
Fast forward 25 years and I decided it would be fun to try again and really see if I could find ways to actually win a game as the Barbarians and see what would happen when you kill all the other Civs. After successfully winning a Barbarian game of Civ1 I decided to try in Civ2 as well! I found a thread at the CivFanatics forums to discuss strategies and if it was also possible to take control of the Barbs in Civ2 here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/627343/
Fortunately Civ2 has a good built in cheat editor and there’s some great external Civ2 editor programs that allow you to design your own scenario and even change Barbarian cities to have any building or build any unit you want! Using these I was able to create a fun Barbarian scenario that actually gives you a fighting chance and then was able to go on and WIN the game triggering a full victory end sequence with no crashes! The editors I used were...
CivTweak - https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/civtweak-mge-tot.32499/
CivCity - https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/civcity-mge-tot.32498/
I had so much fun playing as the Barbarians that I decided to make a series of scenarios and videos showing you how to play as them (via hacks or cheats) in each Civ game include spin off games like Alpha Centauri and Call to Power! When it’s ready you’ll find a link to the next scenario in this series (Attila’s Conquest III for Civ2 Test of Time) above in the series links area. And more how to play as Barbarian video guides here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZqnaGtTZxFbq3F5R6lqzyVvYzg9tRBPY
If you like my work please feel free to check out my other mod projects such as my & Metropolis's Civ2 - Heroes of Might & Magic 2 scenario (& my HoMM1 addon), my Civ2 - Red Alert 2 Siege of NYC scenario, my Civ2 - Command & Conquer scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Dune 2 Dynasty scenario, my Civ2 - Babylon 5 scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Terminator Future War scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Civ1 Graphics mod demaster, my Civ2ToT - Master of Magic Jr scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Deadworld Reborn scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Starcraft scenario addon, my Civ2 - Warcraft scenario addon, my Civ2 - Better Terrain Graphics mod, my Civ2 - Playstation Graphics mod remaster, my Civ2 - ToT Graphics mod remaster, my Civ2 - Alpha Centauri scenario remaster, my Attila's Conquest - Play as Barbarians in every Civ game scenario series, my old Civ2 - Star Wars scenario, and my Civ1 - Soundtrack Overhaul mod. I'm also the creator of the popular GZDoom - Star Trek TNG Doom and GZDoom - Quest For Glory IV 3D Hexen mods.
===================================================================================
2. Requirements & Installation Instructions:
Requirements:
Civilization 2 Multiplayer Gold Edition (MGE) also known in some parts of the world as Ultimate Civilization 2 Classic Collection. This mod will NOT work properly with prior editions of Civ2 (vanilla Civ2, Conflicts in Civ, and Fantastic Worlds) or the later Test of Time edition.
Please make sure your copy of Civ2 MGE is fully functional (eg you can start new games and play in-game videos in) before attempting this modpack installation. If you’re having troubles getting Civ2 working I recommend that you use the excellent Civ2UIA tool to improve your Civ2 experience and compatibility on modern 64bit operating systems. If you’re also having Civ2 video issues keep in mind they run off the Civ2 CD and require the Indeo video codec. Hopefully one day we’ll have a fully compatible easy to install Good Old Games or Steam copy of Civ2 so please go vote for one!
Installing:
3. Known Issues & Strategies:
The bad news:
4. Version History:
11/11/2025 Version 1.0 – First release!
===================================================================================
5. Credits:
6. DOWNLOAD:
.
Taken from ReadMe file:
===================================================================================
Attila’s Conquest II – Play As Barbarians Civilization 2 Scenario (MGE)
===================================================================================
Author: @Blake00
Version: 1.0 11/11/2025
Scenario Homepage: https://blakessanctum.x10.mx/Mods/BarbSeries/
Scenario ModDB Page: https://www.moddb.com/mods/attilas-conquest-2-play-as-barbarians-scenario-mge/
Civ News & Updates: https://blakessanctum.wordpress.com/tag/civilization/ or https://www.patreon.com/c/blakessanctum/posts?filters[tag]=Civilization
Old Scenario Dev Forum Thread: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/627343/
Demonstration Video: youtu.be/MMBDqJN-VSE?list=PLZqnaGtTZxFbq3F5R6lqzyVvYzg9tRBPY
Screenshots:
(Note: Last 2 shots are using the Better Terrain Graphics for Civ2 MGE mod and the Test of Time Graphics for Civ2 MGE mod)
The Series:
- Attila's Conquest 1 – Play As Barbarians in Civilization 1
- Play as Natives in Colonization
- Attila's Conquest 2 – Play As Barbarians in Civilization 2 (You are here!)
- Attila's Conquest 3 – Play As Barbarians in Civ2 Test of Time (Coming soon)
- HYKGOMP 2217 - Play As Aliens in Alpha Centauri
- Attila's Conquest 4 – Play As Barbarians in Civ Call to Power (Coming less soon)
- Attila's Conquest 5 – Play As Barbarians in Call to Power 2 (Coming less soon)
- Attila's Conquest 6 – Play As Barbarians in Civilization 3 (Coming not so soon)
- Attila's Conquest 7 – Play As Barbarians in Civilization 4 (Coming very not soon lol)
- Play as Natives in Civ4 Colonization (Coming very not soon lol)
- Civ5, CivBE, Civ6, FreeCiv etc (Who knows when!)
===================================================================================
Contents:
1. About
2. Requirements & Installation Instructions
3. Known Issues & Strategies
4. Version History
5. Credits
6. DOWNLOAD
===================================================================================
1. About:
Anyone who happens to follow my Civilization preservation work and lost scenario search threads will know that I’m a huge Sid Meier’s Civilization fan! When I was a young boy playing Civilization 1 in the mid 1990s I remember coming across a hex editing guide for Civ1 save games and noticed that you could change the player controlled Civ to even the 8th Barbarian faction in slot 0. I tried it out and was amazed to see that it actually worked! There I was playing the red faction as ruler Attila the Hun! I had a fun game mucking around however due to the severe limitations on the Barbarians I didn’t get very far and was quickly defeated.
Fast forward 25 years and I decided it would be fun to try again and really see if I could find ways to actually win a game as the Barbarians and see what would happen when you kill all the other Civs. After successfully winning a Barbarian game of Civ1 I decided to try in Civ2 as well! I found a thread at the CivFanatics forums to discuss strategies and if it was also possible to take control of the Barbs in Civ2 here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/627343/
Fortunately Civ2 has a good built in cheat editor and there’s some great external Civ2 editor programs that allow you to design your own scenario and even change Barbarian cities to have any building or build any unit you want! Using these I was able to create a fun Barbarian scenario that actually gives you a fighting chance and then was able to go on and WIN the game triggering a full victory end sequence with no crashes! The editors I used were...
CivTweak - https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/civtweak-mge-tot.32499/
CivCity - https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/civcity-mge-tot.32498/
I had so much fun playing as the Barbarians that I decided to make a series of scenarios and videos showing you how to play as them (via hacks or cheats) in each Civ game include spin off games like Alpha Centauri and Call to Power! When it’s ready you’ll find a link to the next scenario in this series (Attila’s Conquest III for Civ2 Test of Time) above in the series links area. And more how to play as Barbarian video guides here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZqnaGtTZxFbq3F5R6lqzyVvYzg9tRBPY
If you like my work please feel free to check out my other mod projects such as my & Metropolis's Civ2 - Heroes of Might & Magic 2 scenario (& my HoMM1 addon), my Civ2 - Red Alert 2 Siege of NYC scenario, my Civ2 - Command & Conquer scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Dune 2 Dynasty scenario, my Civ2 - Babylon 5 scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Terminator Future War scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Civ1 Graphics mod demaster, my Civ2ToT - Master of Magic Jr scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Deadworld Reborn scenario remaster, my Civ2 - Starcraft scenario addon, my Civ2 - Warcraft scenario addon, my Civ2 - Better Terrain Graphics mod, my Civ2 - Playstation Graphics mod remaster, my Civ2 - ToT Graphics mod remaster, my Civ2 - Alpha Centauri scenario remaster, my Attila's Conquest - Play as Barbarians in every Civ game scenario series, my old Civ2 - Star Wars scenario, and my Civ1 - Soundtrack Overhaul mod. I'm also the creator of the popular GZDoom - Star Trek TNG Doom and GZDoom - Quest For Glory IV 3D Hexen mods.
===================================================================================
2. Requirements & Installation Instructions:
Requirements:
Civilization 2 Multiplayer Gold Edition (MGE) also known in some parts of the world as Ultimate Civilization 2 Classic Collection. This mod will NOT work properly with prior editions of Civ2 (vanilla Civ2, Conflicts in Civ, and Fantastic Worlds) or the later Test of Time edition.
Please make sure your copy of Civ2 MGE is fully functional (eg you can start new games and play in-game videos in) before attempting this modpack installation. If you’re having troubles getting Civ2 working I recommend that you use the excellent Civ2UIA tool to improve your Civ2 experience and compatibility on modern 64bit operating systems. If you’re also having Civ2 video issues keep in mind they run off the Civ2 CD and require the Indeo video codec. Hopefully one day we’ll have a fully compatible easy to install Good Old Games or Steam copy of Civ2 so please go vote for one!
Installing:
- Download the latest 7zip file for this scenario (at the bottom of this post) if you haven’t already.
- Extract the scenario 7zip file into a Barbarian folder in your Civilization 2 scenarios folder. If you don’t have 7zip installed, you should as it’s better than all the others.
https://www.7-zip.org/ - Start up Civilization 2 and select ‘Load a Game’ from the main menu.
- Navigate to your newly created Barbarian folder and load the BarbStart.sav file.
- Good luck barbarian!
3. Known Issues & Strategies:
The bad news:
- Map doesn’t auto refresh after Barbarian moves/combat so you have to press C a lot.
- No tax (cheat money & then sell barracks), no science (can’t steal or trade either)
- No throne room
- No government (can be changed in CivTweak)
- Limited city build options (can be changed in CivCity)
- AI players LAST city defence is invulnerable and the AI capitals have HUGE defence bonuses against Barbs
- Respawning civs will wipe any nearby Barb units off the map
- Barb cities will randomly stop producing anything due to having a defender and 16 units on continent (but there’s a workaround).
- You get lots of randomly spawning reinforcements
- All created Barbarian units are 'NONE' home city free meaning no upkeep
- Luxuries still work however there is no rioting in Barb cities
- Barb Settlers can still work the land and create cities
- Barbs get lots of free spawning diplomats (bribe units & cities, embassies)
- You can destroy civs as Barbs by either:
- Wait until they make a second city and then attack & capture their capital and then use a Diplomat to bribe the remaining city.
- Wait until they make a second city and then attack BOTH cities with 2 large forces until both cities are empty at the same time. Once both are empty you can take both cities as the invulnerable last defence unit rule doesn't apply when there's no units left in the last city!
- Barbarians are stronger at deity however I'm not sure if that still applies when the human player takes control of them.
- Annoying unit auto pillage and no city build que change from Barb's in Civ 1 issues are thankfully gone in Civ2.
- AI’s will get 3 respawns (sometimes even more) meaning it’s technically you verses 21 civs, not 7 or 14!
- You can use 3rd party editors (CivTweak & CivCity) to fix Barb city build ques and government (switch to monarchy to get better food).
- You can earn money by repeatedly building and selling barracks.
- If your Barb city production freezes, move defending units out of it to the surrounding squares and it will unfreeze.
- Wait for civs to get 2 cities then strike but you need to rush, AI deity will cheat like hell so once they’ve got industrial age techs you’re in trouble, and once they get modern you’re dead!
- Don’t let the AI cities build City Walls either!
- Just like in Civ 1 you can win as Barbs and get the ending sequence!
- When you load a save game in a freshly started civ 2 app it will skip to the next turn essentially giving you free moves against the AI. Simply reload your save again and it should load correctly.
- Let a computer build the pyramids wonder and take the city to help your Barb cities grow.
- You get lots of reinforcements from Barb uprisings and pirates.
- Barbs can’t get bridge building so if there’s a pesky river in the way of your army train, build a city there and you’ll have a nice bridge to link your roads to.
- If you want to start your own game and take control of them follow these steps.
- Start a new game as a regular Civ.
- Give Orders to your starting Settler (eg build city) so that End of Turn appears in status window (make sure auto end turn is switched off!)
- Toggle Cheat Mode and reveal the entire map
- Now that you can see where the other civs have settled, pick your starting point and select it on the map
- Go to Create Unit in cheat menu, select Settler, Click foreign button and select Barbarian
- Reveal the map for the Barbarian player only - this blacks out the map again (except around your settler)
- Click on Settler
- Press Enter or click in the Status window to take control of it. You are now controlling the Barbarians.
4. Version History:
11/11/2025 Version 1.0 – First release!
===================================================================================
5. Credits:
- Barbarian scenario created by Blake
- Special thanks to @Japanese Partisan and @KathleenArgent for helping me in my research to push the Barbarian limits!
- The CivFanatics Civ2 Scenario League Community - for help & advice on many technical issues faced while creating this mod in the development thread.
6. DOWNLOAD:
.
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