BTS extra Barbarians???

[cardgame]

My very first game of BTS, playing on Warlord... (I played noble on vanilla) there have been some insane barbarian attacks.

Every other turn or so since about 500BC, a barbarian archer comes out of the forests next to my civ. This has hugely hampered my expansion and though I am still about average in # of cities compared to my neighbors, I've only built one since this barb invasion began; it is now 700 AD. Most frequent invaders now are axemen, usually helped with an archer or two and I even got two swordsmen invading me a couple turns ago! I don't even have access to iron yet (no iron around at ALL ) and am just getting copper!!! I had to go into WorldBuilder and give myself an extra 5 archers and 2 chariots for fighting the axemen, or I would be overrun by now.

Around 200BC, swarming out of the woodwork came 4 archers, 3 warriors, and 2 axemen all targeting one of my cities. I had to send all my extra units to defend it and it barely hung on... the barbs pillaged all its improvements too :-(

Is this normal for BTS? I know bts is supposed to be a lot harder than vanilla on all difficulty levels, but this is just insane...

keep in mind this was my first game so I left all the options (like raging barbs) OFF!!!

 

[Shackel]

... Put units IN the forest to eliminate the fog?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Is this normal for BTS? I know bts is supposed to be a lot harder than vanilla on all difficulty levels, but this is just insane...

BTS is easier on the higher levels, probably emp+ but possibly only imm+

... Put units IN the forest to eliminate the fog?

Yes. More specifically, barbarian units can't spawn within 2 tiles of any other unit. It's possible for most starts to lock barb problems out on all levels with only warriors, although obviously you have to be somewhat precise to do it on the highest ones.

So in short, until you learn how to read openings, build a worker first while researching food techs then bronze working (for chops/whips), and then just build warriors to your happy cap and space them so that barbs can't spawn near enough that they'd go for you rather than the AI. On warlord, you can probably get all the needed warriors out before animals even disappear...!

 

[6K Man]

Other options: Put more Civs on the map (this means less space for barbarians to spawn in, usually). Build the Great Wall. And change game speeds - if you are playing Marathon speed or even Epic, it takes longer to build defensive units to combat barbarians.

 

[sabo]

I don't think it's BTS I think since the last patch the barbs have been much more aggressive.
I wish civ 4 would give your levels of barb activity like in civ III, I've only found that you can have them or turn them off and no in between. Unless someone knows a good trick.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I don't think it's BTS I think since the last patch the barbs have been much more aggressive.
I wish civ 4 would give your levels of barb activity like in civ III, I've only found that you can have them or turn them off and no in between. Unless someone knows a good trick.

They can't spawn within 2 tiles of another unit. They will head to the nearest borders. Think about that a moment and I'm guessing you can come up with a "trick".

 

[Rockstone]

Also... built Great Wall of your capital. Send those barbs to somebody else...