turn down barbarians

[I was NC]

Is there a way to turn down the effect of barbarians or have them start appearing later? Would that be a mod?

 

[wcbarney]

In the Advanced Setup screen you can select
1. No barbs
2. Raging barbs
3. Or just don't select anything for barbs & take whatever you get.

Most folks enjoy the barbs, just for the XP and a little challenge.

Also -- especially important in the early turns -- you often get CS missions to eliminate barb camps. If you complete the mission then you get 50 (40?) influence points with each CS that wants that camp eliminated. If you're really lucky then you can rescue a CS worker & get another 40 (50?) influence points. Plus you you will usually get 12 influence points for each barb you kill. Bottom line: Extremely good way to get early CS alliances. Even if the alliance only lasts a few turns you continue to get benefits from that CS 'til your influence has decayed below the friend level of 30 points.

 

[FeiLing]

On settler difficulty they will never enter your territory.
You can also try to have full vision of your own land, which prevents barb camps from spawning. Or just kill them for like free xp and some gold

 

[I was NC]

Right, I'm hoping for an intermediate level. A "few barbs" or "late barbs" option. I've played dozens of games with the regular setting but do not enjoy having several encampmemts during the first 20 - 50 turns. During that time I'd like to just build. However no barbs ever is boring.

Is there a way to change the code? Or a simple mod?

Actually an increasing level would be ideal. Having them pop up late game would be a fun challenge.

 

[TractorBoy]

You could try playing epic speed, at least once you take a barb camp it will take proportionally more time to spawn in the same vicinity again.

 

[Optional]

Your only option is modding. In Civ5HandicapInfos (in BNW that would be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\Expansion2\Gameplay\XML\GameInfo) there's a value given for 'EarliestBarbarianReleaseTurn'. For most levels a zero is given, meaning barbs will appear from the start. I've never tested it, but if you would fill in a higher number, say 50, for the level you're playing at, you shouldn't have any barbs for the first 50 turns.

On settler difficulty they will never enter your territory.

They're simply absent from the level:

<EarliestBarbarianReleaseTurn>10000</EarliestBarbarianReleaseTurn>

Another option would be to do something with the amount of fog tiles needed to spawn a barb camp, figures for that are listed in Civ5Worlds, which is in the same place as Civ5HandicapInfos.

With changing that last setting I do have some experience, but then I set the amount of fog tiles lower, to raise the number of barb camps instead of lowering it. I like my barbs (uploaded once a mod here somewhere called 'More Barb Camps').
I do agree the games becomes easier with more barbs. If you increase the amount of barb camps a lot, it especially becomes very easy to snap up captured workers and gaining influence. It's like cheating.

What also would decrease their number, without modding, is having more CS's or civs on the available land. Increasing the sea level should also do the trick. Then there are less barbs because of less space, but there would also be less space for you.

 

[I was NC]

Thank you Optional! I have G&K, and while the folder names are almost the same I could not fin that file. There's one called "BarbarianCampPopup" with code I couldn't understand.

 

[liltrogdor]

I've played on Settler pretty much every time I play I've been trying warlord, so I'm getting better. Back to the point barbs do come in pillage your territory at least in vanilla in GnK I remember it.

 

[njmfff]

In the Advanced Setup screen you can select

Most folks enjoy the barbs, just for the XP and a little challenge.

"I am at war with *this civ* and I have 30+ happiness with 60-70 gpt... Oh wait, no, I am -10 happiness with -15 gpt. What happen? Oh, barb camp spawned right next to me and left unchecked. Ten barbs visited. We are just visiting."

and I adore when barb horseman pops up out of nowhere and picks up my worker right after he's built.

 

[TractorBoy]

I have never seen a barb horseman.

 

[Browd]

I have never seen a barb horseman.

If I recall correctly, you only play vanilla. Among the many things you are missing out on: barb horsemen (BNW). They can be particularly irksome.

 

[TractorBoy]

If I recall correctly, you only play vanilla. Among the many things you are missing out on: barb horsemen (BNW). They can be particularly irksome.

You are quite right, and I can just imagine what sort of problems they must be causing. Is it just horsemen or all types of horse soldiers as we move through the eras? What would happen if you played as Germany and you captured a barb horse but you didn't have the resource?

 

[b7fanatix]

On standard settings barbs aren't too bad, but i often choose a large map and turn the city states down to 0, adding a few extra civs to compensate. I just don't like having to micromanage and bribe these and Alexander can get a bit runaway with them.

Of course , this also means lots of empty space on the map which barbarian camps will spawn in. It can get to look like a "raging barbarians" game at times. It only stops when you're rubbing shoulders with other civs on all your borders... which is when you start getting DoWs thrown at you left and right from the AI. Just have to hope for an edge of the map spawn, and keep my civ compact and defendable.

 

[Optional]

Thank you Optional! I have G&K, and while the folder names are almost the same I could not fin that file. There's one called "BarbarianCampPopup" with code I couldn't understand.

I don't recognize that file, you must have followed the wrong file path? For G&K it's C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\Expansion\Gameplay\XML\GameInfo. There are 13 XML files in there, one of them is Civ5HandicapInfos.
But if liltrogdor says he still gets barbs on settler I'm not sure if changing a value for 'EarliestBarbarianReleaseTurn' actually works. I've never tested this and sometimes things don't work the way one would think.

 

[I was NC]

My problem was not realizing the handicap file was in that folder. What I've done is copy and paste the Settler settings in the other levels up to mine (King), with the exception of release; instead of 1,000 it's 60. While there have been barbs from the beginning, they are much less of a problem. I'm able to build/improve/etc. without having to constantly drop everything, which is very nice.

Bottom line- thank you Optional for helping me enjoy Civ a lot more!

 

[wcbarney]

... I'm able to build/improve/etc. without having to constantly drop everything, which is very nice. ...

Yeah, but you're not getting the benefits of having barb camps to pick on. So you're missing half the fun.

 

[mintcandy]

In vanilla, the benefit to having lots of barbarians was that they were fairly useful in keeping the Ancient/Classical era expansion of AI civilizations in check, which in turn makes the game a bit easier.

Is that still the case in Brave New World?

 

[I was NC]

So you're missing half the fun.

There can be benefits, but after a few dozen games of being annoyed for the whole Ancient era I've decided to go another direction. Definitely not for everyone but a lot more fun for me.

 

[Fish Man]

I've played on Settler pretty much every time I play I've been trying warlord, so I'm getting better. Back to the point barbs do come in pillage your territory at least in vanilla in GnK I remember it.

A good difficulty to start, once you get basic game mechanics, is prince. You and the AI get no bonuses, so it's fair and quite a challenge, at least for the first few rounds. Don't play chieftain or warlord; those difficulties are a crutch and eventually make you depend on your bonuses. Settler is good for learning the game.

OT: I simply like to turn barbs off. When they're on, I have the worst luck and they make me rage. About to settle your second city? Barb camp spawns in that space and steals your settler. Moving your great scientist to your capital? That one tile of hidden space between your cities contains a barb camp, and the brute inside it kills your GS. A worker building improvements? Barb traps it in an unescapable location.

 

[I was NC]

I simply like to turn barbs off. When they're on, I have the worst luck and they make me rage.

I tried that for the same reason but missed them. With the help from Optional I'm now all set.