Imagine if in a Civ game you had the ability to choose to contact Barbarian groups and use diplomacy or even trade. Perhaps they would be divided into various clans throughout the world, and they could potentially war with eachother as well as civs and CS (real to history), which opens a whole set of new really cool possible options, like these...
Pay them to stop invading you # (I've seen players' growth, production and science stumped early on because of endless Barbarians invading, so in such an unfair position you would have this option to save yourself from falling too far behind).
Taunt them into invading you # (If you like barbarian farming, this could make it a little better for you, and they may produce more units as well, so more farming...plus you may be able to get distant barbarian camps to send warriors at you as well - This would allow you to keep your troops nearby to defend against other civs while you farm).
Pay a ransom to give you back a lost villager, settler, or great person # (This would be really nice, especially if you don't have nearby troops. You would have two options of getting them back rather than just one).
Pay them to fight other nearby Barbarians (Now you can send your troops to where you want them rather than keep a bunch of them standing guard all the time from barbarians).
Pay them to bully/invade a CS # (Another way to complete those "Bully CS" quests, or to just get help with taking out a CS).
Pay them to invade a particular civ # (The great thing about this is you can have military units invading someone without being at war with them yourself, just like privateers! Or you can just have additional support for your invading forces).
Pay them to guard (Maybe there's an ancient ruin, archaeological site, natural wonder, or rare resource on a distant island that you want claim to, or maybe you could use some extra troops in your lands to defend against an invading civ).
Gift them units # (Want them to do your dirty work but they are looking a bit weak? Perhaps they would be more successful at invading another civ if they had a few extra units, or want to make sure they are strong enough to guard something, and you need not lift a finger yourself...Plus it might make them like you better).
Pay them to trade their explored map to you (Save you the trouble of sending scouts into areas that are full of Barbarians).
Bully them into paying you (Have a big army and no gold? This could be a way to get a little extra coin on the side).
Pay for intelligence on another civ # (Perhaps they know about newly acquired horses being trained for battle, or if there is a sneak attack being planned, or if a civ currently has a weak military).
Receive messages from Barbarians # (Threatening you, warning you of an immanent invasion, or informing you about some nearby resource or natural wonder, even this could be useful for you).
Warn them not to settle near you # (If they view you as intimidating, then they might listen and not found camps nearby...otherwise it might just make them angrier!)
...There's so many possibilities here!
(Not all of these options would be added of course, but I wanted to discuss all the possibilities and find out which are everyone's favourites, and which ones we don't think will work so well)
# = can still work if Barbarians are not divided into different independent groups.
This adds historical realism to the game, more depth to the range of strategies, and makes the game more immersive and more interesting, and would not stop the ability to do Barbarian farming. I think it's a really fantastic idea, and I know plenty of others would like to see this in the game too! Additionally, this would mean that the early game play can stand out more uniquely from previous Civ games, and I know the Devs want to make this version stand out as more unique.
And of course, there could continue to be some unfriendly Barbarians that refuse any communication/diplomacy at all as well (Maybe these specific groups could be renamed to "Bandits", which makes sense then that they only want to attack), but you could then pay other Barbs to deal with them while you focus on building wonders or exploring the world.
Bare in mind, in the game's settings one could change things to better suit their play style, so you adjust this to how you would prefer it, like you could even completely turn off Barbarian diplomacy if you wanted to, or select specific diplomatic options you want and turn off ones you don't want, just like how you can make Barbarians more common or rarer.
***
Pay them to stop invading you # (I've seen players' growth, production and science stumped early on because of endless Barbarians invading, so in such an unfair position you would have this option to save yourself from falling too far behind).
Taunt them into invading you # (If you like barbarian farming, this could make it a little better for you, and they may produce more units as well, so more farming...plus you may be able to get distant barbarian camps to send warriors at you as well - This would allow you to keep your troops nearby to defend against other civs while you farm).
Pay a ransom to give you back a lost villager, settler, or great person # (This would be really nice, especially if you don't have nearby troops. You would have two options of getting them back rather than just one).
Pay them to fight other nearby Barbarians (Now you can send your troops to where you want them rather than keep a bunch of them standing guard all the time from barbarians).
Pay them to bully/invade a CS # (Another way to complete those "Bully CS" quests, or to just get help with taking out a CS).
Pay them to invade a particular civ # (The great thing about this is you can have military units invading someone without being at war with them yourself, just like privateers! Or you can just have additional support for your invading forces).
Pay them to guard (Maybe there's an ancient ruin, archaeological site, natural wonder, or rare resource on a distant island that you want claim to, or maybe you could use some extra troops in your lands to defend against an invading civ).
Gift them units # (Want them to do your dirty work but they are looking a bit weak? Perhaps they would be more successful at invading another civ if they had a few extra units, or want to make sure they are strong enough to guard something, and you need not lift a finger yourself...Plus it might make them like you better).
Pay them to trade their explored map to you (Save you the trouble of sending scouts into areas that are full of Barbarians).
Bully them into paying you (Have a big army and no gold? This could be a way to get a little extra coin on the side).
Pay for intelligence on another civ # (Perhaps they know about newly acquired horses being trained for battle, or if there is a sneak attack being planned, or if a civ currently has a weak military).
Receive messages from Barbarians # (Threatening you, warning you of an immanent invasion, or informing you about some nearby resource or natural wonder, even this could be useful for you).
Warn them not to settle near you # (If they view you as intimidating, then they might listen and not found camps nearby...otherwise it might just make them angrier!)
...There's so many possibilities here!
(Not all of these options would be added of course, but I wanted to discuss all the possibilities and find out which are everyone's favourites, and which ones we don't think will work so well)
# = can still work if Barbarians are not divided into different independent groups.
This adds historical realism to the game, more depth to the range of strategies, and makes the game more immersive and more interesting, and would not stop the ability to do Barbarian farming. I think it's a really fantastic idea, and I know plenty of others would like to see this in the game too! Additionally, this would mean that the early game play can stand out more uniquely from previous Civ games, and I know the Devs want to make this version stand out as more unique.
And of course, there could continue to be some unfriendly Barbarians that refuse any communication/diplomacy at all as well (Maybe these specific groups could be renamed to "Bandits", which makes sense then that they only want to attack), but you could then pay other Barbs to deal with them while you focus on building wonders or exploring the world.
Bare in mind, in the game's settings one could change things to better suit their play style, so you adjust this to how you would prefer it, like you could even completely turn off Barbarian diplomacy if you wanted to, or select specific diplomatic options you want and turn off ones you don't want, just like how you can make Barbarians more common or rarer.
***
That could go badly with certain people.
