Barbarian/Tribe

[Yaotlatoani]

Barbarian/tribe:

Everly civ starts out as a plain tribe or barbarian, in other words there are no civs to start with. Playing as a barbarian/tribe you must gain power through local conquest using free of charge barbarian units and an early scientific advancement. Tribes can either be allies or enemies(barbarians). This is similar to Mojotronica idea, posted below, except there are many different types of barbarians or tribes using that 32nd civ spot which is broken down further.

In order to become a civ only the strongest tribes and barbarians that survive become the civs and the remaining either join you, stay as either a barbarian, or become an enemy civ themselves. The 1st so many tribes that dominate quicker becomes civs themselves.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=1842287

 

[Haradrim]

I'm all for a SHORT nomad/barb period at the beginning of the game. Run around with warrior and 'tribe' units for a while till you gather enough resources (meat, etc.) and knowledge to found a city. However, there should only be 2 or 3 advances required (agriculture, domestication, maybe a "The Village" tech, to name some possibilities.) These should only take say 5 turns to research, meaning 15 turns of wandering around and killing other tribes that are near you. After you have researched all techs, for every 2 tribe units you have, you get one settler. Only 2 settlers are possible at this point. all others become workers. Tribes are 0.1.1 units that run around with warriors protecting them. They are captured like workers from other tribes. They do not retain nationality. At the beginning, there would be many barb tribes running around, each 'civ', plus every barb tribe. The first x barbs that reach the 'Civilized' tech level are the civs of the game, where x is the number of civs you set at the game setup screen. If you select non-random civs, those civs are given a guarantee to become civs. After x civs have civilized, the remaining 'civ' barbs become barbs proper i.e. Zulu barbs become Phrygian barbs.
As long as the nomadic tribe period is short, it would be ok. It should also be an option. It gives you a chance to clear your immediate region of barbs and find a perfect place to found a city.

 

[sealman]

This is already taken into account when you start the game so I do not want to waste time doing something along these lines. It may be worthwhile as a senerio style game but it is senario I would probably never play.

 

[gustavope]

The barbarian\vile should update with the time. They can become terrorist. Other idea is, if no one find the village after same turn they can became a city and star a new civilization!!

 

[finally]

I agree with most of your idea about barbarians/tribes, but I think there should be some major civs and some minor civs. Sure it could be fun to play a game where you don't know who your opponents will be and you end up fighting against the Inuits and the Vandals, but I think it's too much work to make city lists, leader heads, units for all tribes.

I'll give you some of my ideas for tribes:

- No goody huts/roving bands, just one kind of natives.

- Tribes can't build cities and don't have borders. They have moving settlers that work similar to cities (producing food, shields, gold, science), but they can't build improvements, only military units and new settlers.

- Tribes can merge with other tribes or civs, split in two tribes (when they build a new settler) or attack other tribes or civs.

- Tribes have different characteristics, for example different aggression levels. They have their own nationality and belong to a culture group.

- You can choose to expand quickly and fight the tribes around you or expand slowly and hope that they will assimilate to your culture and join your civ eventually. If you choose to expand slowly you get a boost when the tribe give you their military units, settlers, gold and techs. The units keep their native nationality for some time though and can be prone to revolt (civil war!).

- It should be possible to trade and conduct diplomacy with the tribes. You can trade maps, resources, techs, gold, form alliances, just like any other civ.

 

[Yashed To]

But it could be fun if barbarians/tribes would build huts on their own. If your cultural limits engulf them you still have the option to either destroy them or to assimilate them into your Civ, so that the huts become a new city after, say, 20 turns.

If the hut is within the "X"-city limit of your new city, your city gets an extra inhabitant when it is founded and the hut dissolves.

Trade with barbarians even was possible in Civ 1. You could even "meet the king" with your diplomat. So I generally also vote for the barbarians to be treated more like "minor Civs", as long as their huts are untouched.
If they are invaded they still may be set on a rampage.

After all, in a normal game there are only seven Civs to fight for the pole position. I really am missing small Civs or city states, or nomadic tribes (which all would have their cultural borders) to add some "flavour" to the game.

 

[Yashed To]

As for starting as a tribe - what if a settler could either build
a.) one city
b.) two huts?

Why not develop a Civ out of huts, not out of cities? Of course a player would be limited. City improvements could still be built (you don't need a house to store some scrolls or to sell fruits), but they are
a.) easier and cheaper to build
b.) only half as effective as those built in a city

Ancient Military units would be easier to build. They also get some bonus when fighting on the open ground but are only half effective when fighting a city (doesn't sound too unrealistic, does it?).

The tech tree would leave out some options. The player's options to finish the game would also be limited. No space race or no cultural victory (which still leaves domination, conquest or even diplomatic).
As for developing - at the beginning of each era the player could have the option to choose to either stay in huts or develop to cities. Which means you could lead your ancient life in a rather nomadic surrounding but switch to a standard Civ with medieval times.

 

[Stoo.W]

love most of these ideas guys. I would definetly like to see a longer/earlier tech tree. Maybe starting as hunter/gatherer tribes to start with, following a similar tech tree to that used in the mesopotamia senario in c3c. I like gustavope's idea as well. At later stages of the game there should be era specific barbarians. Eg - at the start = hunter/gatherers, midgame = pirates and rebels, modern era = terrorists, etc. I'd also like to see the introduction of a mercenary system, with the ability to buy civilisation specific military units at a price!!