I have played dozens of CIV4 vanilla games and your great mod too. This is the first time I ever saw one of the AI civs allied with the barbarians.
I like to have two games of FFH going at the same time. One a regular game at marathon speed. Then, for more action I like to play what I call Barbarian Invasion. I choose a huge map with one less civ (9) at Prince, set it for Raging Barbarians and sit back and watch 'em come. It is a different strategy entirely as those who try to expand quickly are soon overrun by the barbarian hoards. I usually get only 1-2 cities established to protect with their improvements. It is really then a matter of watching the AI civs go down one by one while you fight off the stacks of barbarians. Those Lizard Men buggers are particularly a nuisance as they sit in small lakes off my cities and attack while I cannot get to them
Anyway, today I was playing my favorite civ, Hippus, with those great Raider units. I had a real job on my hands as Orthus came a knockin' at my door early with a stack of 20+ of his cronies. I dispatched them and got his axe. I was feeling really good about myself until I noticed something I had never seen before.
The civ next to me was Jonas Endain. It had built a city just next to mine. I noticed all the other civs had been wiped out by the barbarians. Nothing new there. However, I also noticed that the suckers were bypassing Jonas cities and improvements and just coming for me... in waves I had not seen before. The biggest stack was in the 40s.
But, here's what really got me...
I noticed not only did the barbs ignore Jonas' units, but they even SHARED SAME TILES. Huh? Although we were definitely not at war and Jonas did not attack me, he appeared to be allied with the barbs.
I'm not sure of the race of Jonas Endain, but the units looked the same as the barbarians - Orc Spearmen anyway.
Needless to say, this game is not very winnable as Jonas is free to build up his civ while I get the pleasure of defending again 40+ stacks of barbs.
A bug, or is it possible for a civ to ally with barbarians?
Anyway, thanks Kael to you and your team for the great mod. I am a retired American diplomat living in Bangkok, Thailand and your mod has really made my retirement much more enjoyable.