[GS] Barbarian scouting

[Lord Shadow]

So I've been tinkering with barbarians for a mod project of mine, in a way a successor to my old Civ5 Specialized Barbarian Units mod.

Civ6 has this thing that barbarian recon units supposedly spot a city and then run back to their camp to trigger a raid. Thing is, I haven't really been noticing that. Perhaps the first scout gets the red exclamation mark indicating a spotted city, but then they don't seems to beeline back home, even when left alone. They just wander around.

As such, I haven't witnessed any proper raids as of late.

Care to share experiences?

 

[blackcatatonic]

It definitely happens to me, particularly if the encampment is close by. I had one with horses spawn just north of my border. The scout came and returned home, and within the next few turns a handful of horsemen and horse archers descended on me.

 

[Snarf054]

From what I've seen they don't have to go back to report the city. Even if you kill them right after the camps will still spawn. I'm thinking smoke signals are to blame.

 

[Lord Shadow]

From what I've seen they don't have to go back to report the city. Even if you kill them right after the camps will still spawn. I'm thinking smoke signals are to blame.

Not sure about this. Raid spawns are or were pretty evident, and I'm not seeing that. Plus I believe you get a special message when the scout reports back and the raid is triggered. Maybe I botched something in the mod...

 

[Kaan Boztepe]

i think they use pigeons but who knows for sure

 

[AsH2]

I've not played that much but it seems like there's been a change since summer - those raid spawns are not triggered right away, but later.. Perhaps a change to depend on difficulty?

 

[sdtum21]

It's not uncommon for a city-state or other player to wipe out the camp the scout was from before it can report back, in which case it wanders round aimlessly whilst still technically "triggered" as I believe the scout has to report back to the specific camp it is from, not any one nearby.

 

[Lord Shadow]

The "city spotted" exclamation mark appears to be less common in later eras. I feel there's some kind of bug. I remember Barbarian scouts being quite reliable a few versions ago. Now even if you leave them alone, with the camp seemingly intact, nothing much happens.

I'd like to tweak the behaviour so that raids could be triggered as soon as a scout spots a city (smoke signals!) as opposed to depending on their flimsy navigation skills to return to their camp. Which often never happens since there's too much of a window to wipe them out.

Anyone know if this is viable? It'd spice up my mod (Revenge of the Barbarians) nicely.

 

[Victoria]

I haven't really been noticing that.

Indeed, I can confirm anecdotally the following.

A scout will spot your city and immediately go back the way it came for a turn.
Then it appears to get a find camp instruction. There does not seem to be a home camp, barb camps are just one big civ in the eyes of the game by the looks of it.
Upon finding a camp, if they are still wishing an unknown distance of your city they will return and hang around your city if it is safe to do so but will evade if damaged.

Seems fairly consistent and just my guess but nice to see others notice this pattern.

 

[Lord Shadow]

Indeed, I can confirm anecdotally the following.

A scout will spot your city and immediately go back the way it came for a turn.
Then it appears to get a find camp instruction. There does not seem to be a home camp, barb camps are just one big civ in the eyes of the game by the looks of it.
Upon finding a camp, if they are still wishing an unknown distance of your city they will return and hang around your city if it is safe to do so but will evade if damaged.

Seems fairly consistent and just my guess but nice to see others notice this pattern.

But they don't seem to be triggering a raid at any point, do they? I remember the game used to warn about incoming raids...

 

[Victoria]

But they don't seem to be triggering a raid at any point, do they

They do. I have seen it for sure within 10 tiles of my city plenty. For further it seems very likely but have not seen the spawn and raid process occurring at that camp.
... so are you claiming they do not raid?

I have seen a thread where people claimed the camps spawned automatically. Perhaps there was s a chance they do but You need to be aware that a city only has 2 vision when it is placed and if your city is on a hill scouts can see it from 3 tiles away even though you cannot see the scouts.