Short story of a civ newbie...

[maxp779]

So my friend is new to civ, he bought civ V on a steam sale and we tried multiplayer. Ive been playing since civ II but ive never tried multiplayer before. Anyways he tells me over steam chat hes having trouble with barbarians and I tell him just build a few units and kill them off, he got faith healers as well so they shouldn't be too much trouble... 10 minutes later he tells me "they're everywhere, I cant stop them!" I was a bit skeptical so I asked for a screenshot to see wtf was going on with his empire, this is what he sends:

Spoiler :

I just found that hilarious! The whole place is burnt to the ground and its a warzone

I explained the importance of happiness to him

 

[Naokaukodem]

The least we can say is that global happiness, despite its wannabe over simplism, is problematic for newcomers.

 

[dasaard200]

And if you can get happiness under control, THEN you can go romp-and-stomp !!

 

[DarkestOnion]

Seems likely that he got Rebels for Being Below 10 Happiness. Tell him to focus fire on a particular Barbarian Unit until it dies while he builds a Ranged Unit. After that, he needs to Repair Luxuries with a Ranged Unit Guarding his reclaimed Worker. Then it is time for Circuses, Colosseum , and other Happiness Buildings.

 

[Lord Katana]

other thing to note for him.. strategic resources.. right now that longswordman isn't worth anything... hanging on to your own resources also helps killing bad guys