Raging barbarians

[The Tyrant]

I searched for the answer to this question, and found some related posts, but nothing that really answered it, so... Does the raging barbarians setting give the player an advantage?

About three weeks ago I finally decided to try a raging barbarian game and now I'm addicted. I love raging barbarians. That extra early pressure really makes the game more fun. The only time it sucks is when there is no copper and no iron nearby. Even then it is doable, just more difficult.

In my current game (Monarch, Marathon, continents, raging barbs) I chose continents so I wouldn't have any fog-busting help from nearby AIs. It was a long hard battle, but I finally achieved total fog-busting on my continent before 1100 BC (I think the exact year was 1120 BC, but I can't be sure). I later discovered that Germany, who didn't have any copper or iron hooked up, had lost Berlin to the barbs. The replay shows they lost it before 1400 BC. Two thousand years later, the barbs still hold Berlin even though Bismark has completely settled the rest of his continent. The other AIs didn't seem to have any trouble handling the barbs.

With 20/20 hindsight I realize that continents may not have been the option I should have used. The human player knows that raging barbarians has been checked, and plans accordingly. The player knows to actively use fog-busting units fortified on forested/jungle hills. Does the AI use fog-busters? If not, then checking raging barbarians would actually give the player an advantage. I'm using raging barbarians to make the game more of a challenge, but if it hurts the AI more than it hurts me, then I don't want to use that option.

 

[shivute]

I love them too and always play with them switched on. I find at emperor level and above though, archery has to be the 1st tech researched as any improvements get pillaged (those chariots are a pain in the ass!). Normally 2 or 3 archers can defend a city effectively, chariots slaughter warriors for fun.

But as regards your question, at emperor level and above the AI has enough units to deal with the barbs and don't tend to be eliminated very often. They do still lose cities though. The AI doesn't use fog busters as far as I am aware.
The barbs are a hindrance at the higher levels to the AI but even more to the player as you have less starting units and less time to build and prepare for the onslaught.
I believe at Monarch level and lower the raging barb option is actually a benefit to the player, as you have time to get archery and build a few for defense. I have noticed that certain AI leaders always seem to struggle against raging barbs - Louis, Washington, Lizzie are often eliminated by them.

The game that springs to mind though was on Monarch, with raging barbs, on Huge with 18 civs on continents (5 or 6). The barbs eliminated 5 of the AI civs.

In conclusion, at Monarch the AI suffers more than the player with raging barbs and this increases the lower the difficulty level. However at levels higher than Monarch I believe the player suffers more.

 

[The Tyrant]

Ah, thanks for your answer. I'm not quite ready for Emperor yet, so I might have to go back to regular barbs until I step up. It won't help me improve my skills on Monarch if I'm actually giving myself an advantage by using raging barbs. Oh, man, and I love that option, too. Oh, well... I'll just switch them back on after I'm able to handle a normal game on Emperor.

 

[shivute]

Keep them on, they are fun. If you can discipline yourself not to use units as fog busters and only as city defenders and to defend tiles within the city, then they are a blast! I love trying to weather the storm until the barbs start building cities.
I would think that should balance out the advantage you would have at Monarch as well.

 

[joasoze]

I am not so sure that it is an advantage. It will hinder your development more than them as they start with a few archers if I remember correctly. They also have som fighting advantage if I remember correctly. A bonus against barbarians I believe. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[voek]

i think the bonus only implies animals, not barbs. I think we can only say something on the advantage when tested. Play the same map with different settings (i think you can save the map with worldbuilder). I am curious if it would be an advantage or disadvantage playing emperor (large or huge mapsize).

 

[aviator99_uk]

Sometimes RageBar can work against you. I had one game; continents, marathon, (probably prince), where one AI (Lizzy or Vicky) became overwhelmingly dominant on that continent because the other AI civs on that continent were hammered back to the stone age by Barbs. When I got to caravels and found her, I think she was something like 20 citys and 10 techs ahead, the other two civs on that continent had never got going at all. Made it seriously dificult, even on prince (might have been Noble even).