Do Barbs Ever Kill AI Units?

[docbud]

Hey gang--the subject line speaks for itself. Do barbarians ever kill AI units?

In the attached screenshot, you can see the Ottoman spearman (I am playing Inca). Anyway--for the last 20 turns that spearman has been attacked by THREE barbarian archers, and he seems to self heal every turn. You can only see on in the screenshot, but after the one at the bottom of the screen shoots, there are two more in the fog who appear (one immediately to his left, and one on the hill between the sheep and the gold).

I'd like to clear out those barbs with my slingers (I took a few shots at the barb camp), but I know sure as hell that if I take out the barb camp the Ottoman spearman will take the gold.

How can THREE barbarian archer units not take out this one Ottoman spearman unit? Especially after at least 20 turns of being nailed?

If it was one of my units, I can guarantee it would have been killed.

Oh--only on prince level.

 

[Grendeldef]

Rarely and hardly ever if there's a player controlled unit within reach. Most trouble they provide for an AI civ is capturing civilians & pillaging.

 

[Halcyan2]

I would move your top Slinger and Scout two spaces each to the Southwest. The following turn, attack the Barbarian camp with 2 Slingers and have your Scout clear it out.

 

[DGDobrev]

Hey, why do you want to kill the barbs? They are so useful... No love for barbs at all...

Trick: sell your luxuries for 240, defend your workers, let the barbs pillage. Deal ends, but the gold stays. Kill the barbs, repair the luxury goods tile improvements, sell the luxuries again and wait for the next barb wave to spawn. Heaps of gold for early building and unit purchases

 

[Light Cleric]

Hey, why do you want to kill the barbs? They are so useful... No love for barbs at all...

Trick: sell your luxuries for 240, defend your workers, let the barbs pillage. Deal ends, but the gold stays. Kill the barbs, repair the luxury goods tile improvements, sell the luxuries again and wait for the next barb wave to spawn. Heaps of gold for early building and unit purchases

Because most people don't love exploits

The reason the AI units don't get killed by Barbs is because IIRC they have a 60% bonus vs Barbarians on all difficulty levels. That makes it look even sillier when they get their civilians captured by Barbs.

 

[AiTenshi1]

It happens, but a lot depends on the specific context.

In your example, don't forget that the AI unit probably has various XP promos, especially after so many turns. Of course, you could do the same thing, but it's rather boring.

 

[DGDobrev]

Because most people don't love exploits

The reason the AI units don't get killed by Barbs is because IIRC they have a 60% bonus vs Barbarians on all difficulty levels. That makes it look even sillier when they get their civilians captured by Barbs.

Yes, it is an exploit, but it saves you big time on Deity OCC where everyone is armed to the teeth and you are using toothpicks as weapons

Still, I tend to agree that the AI is a bit more forgiving against AI players. In the end, the idea is to make things tough for the human playing the game, isn't it?

 

[docbud]

Well--I ended up taking out the camp with my slingers, and of course, the Ottoman spearman took the gold

It was definitely boring after 20+ turns watching it.

@*$%&#@!$!

 

[Smokeybear]

Rarely and hardly ever if there's a player controlled unit within reach. Most trouble they provide for an AI civ is capturing civilians & pillaging.

Yeah, hardly ever seen another civ's military or scout units get killed. It's like they're just waiting there, taking the potshots forever, until you come along and kill the barbs for them so they can steal the gold. Another fan favorite, is how a barb(s) can be wailing on an AI unit, but as soon as your scout comes into the scene they stop attacking it and are all over you like stink on shinola. I doubt anyone could convince me the AI barbs aren't programmed to always give your units priority targetting. Makes sense tho, since the AI units are mostly incompetent while you're a massive danger to their very existence, but still....

 

[Lord Kid]

Hey, why do you want to kill the barbs? They are so useful... No love for barbs at all...

Trick: sell your luxuries for 240, defend your workers, let the barbs pillage. Deal ends, but the gold stays. Kill the barbs, repair the luxury goods tile improvements, sell the luxuries again and wait for the next barb wave to spawn. Heaps of gold for early building and unit purchases

I'll do this if I see one of my resources in danger of getting pillaged and I can't stop it in time. Works great!

 

[Smokeybear]

I'll do this if I see one of my resources in danger of getting pillaged and I can't stop it in time. Works great!

LOL! Sneaky bastidges. I love it.

 

[Harv72b]

Well--I ended up taking out the camp with my slingers, and of course, the Ottoman spearman took the gold

It was definitely boring after 20+ turns watching it.

@*$%&#@!$!

Don't ever kill the barb guarding the camp with a ranged unit unless you have another one to walk in with on the same turn. Unless you don't want the gold, I mean.

 

[Callonia]

No, its because the AI have GINORMOUS bonus against barbarians, they're like at 60% bonus against barbarians where human players by default have 0% bonus against barbarians?
Which's why barbarians prioritize killing human player units over ai units in range because they have chance of killing human units than ai units because if they attc, they deal like 10 damage and receive like 80 damage in return.

Just keep that in mind and move proper amount of troops so the AI can't ninja ur encampment. Ive gotten good at this particularly because i love reciving brutes from encampments as bismarck lol.

Oh and if you happen to witness a barbarian somehow murdering an AI unit, cheer for the barbarian because he just did the incredible. i see it happen but very few times, in fact, i actually support the barbarians in their battles against stupid op bonuses from ai units i position my units so the barbarians will focusfire on the ai units and keep the ai unit trapped til it dies and then i leave the barbarians alone by retreating xD

 

[AiTenshi1]

The cheat AI bonuses vs barbs actually highlights another one (of many) issues with the cheat bonuses the AI gets. Namely, in this case, that such a bonus actually is equivalent to giving the AI free influence with CSes because of the many CS quests asking for eliminating barbs and barb camps. It really screws up CS strategies because these quests are by far the most common in the game.

 

[Smokeybear]

The cheat AI bonuses vs barbs actually highlights another one (of many) issues with the cheat bonuses the AI gets. Namely, in this case, that such a bonus actually is equivalent to giving the AI free influence with CSes because of the many CS quests asking for eliminating barbs and barb camps. It really screws up CS strategies because these quests are by far the most common in the game.

Perhaps that's the case with barb camps that spawn close enough to an AI civ's home city for them to bother attacking it in self-defense, but I rarely see roving AI scout/warriors attack any barb camps.

 

[Yzman]

No, its because the AI have GINORMOUS bonus against barbarians, they're like at 60% bonus against barbarians where human players by default have 0% bonus against barbarians?
Which's why barbarians prioritize killing human player units over ai units in range because they have chance of killing human units than ai units because if they attc, they deal like 10 damage and receive like 80 damage in return.

Just keep that in mind and move proper amount of troops so the AI can't ninja ur encampment. Ive gotten good at this particularly because i love reciving brutes from encampments as bismarck lol.

Oh and if you happen to witness a barbarian somehow murdering an AI unit, cheer for the barbarian because he just did the incredible. i see it happen but very few times, in fact, i actually support the barbarians in their battles against stupid op bonuses from ai units i position my units so the barbarians will focusfire on the ai units and keep the ai unit trapped til it dies and then i leave the barbarians alone by retreating xD

The player gets way more than 0% bonus against them on most difficulties. It varies by difficulty ( and honor promotions) but I believe the bonus is around 40%. You can see it before attacking.

 

[docbud]

Good advice gang. Usually I do send an archer (or this case a slinger), but a warrior or something (or a scout).

I was limited to what I could do in this case because I had three other barb encampments near me and was battling them as well.

They pillaged my horses and marble twice!

 

[Tachii]

The player gets way more than 0% bonus against them on most difficulties. It varies by difficulty ( and honor promotions) but I believe the bonus is around 40%. You can see it before attacking.

On Immortal it's like around 20% or something, and with Honor it gives 40%+.

 

[headcase]

The AI has many bonuses related to barbs as they always play on Chieftain regardless of which difficulty the player chooses.

Going by vanilla difficulties table, The AI\Chieftains always get a Barbarian bonus of 50%. On Prince, you get 33%, sliding down to 0% for Deity. Barbs also can't enter AI\Chieftain land until turn 60. The barb target ranges and spawns are also low for AI\Chieftains, plus they get 40 gold from camps instead of 25 on Prince+.

The Barb Bonus for each difficulty is 75 - 50 - 40 - 33 - 25 - 20 - 10 - 0

 

[PhilBowles]

Yeah, hardly ever seen another civ's military or scout units get killed. It's like they're just waiting there, taking the potshots forever, until you come along and kill the barbs for them so they can steal the gold.

I very often see AI units badly damaged by barbs, and just now my Trireme spotted barbarians dealing the killing blow to an Ottoman Warrior.