VP 1.18 (and 1.19?) any way to prevent barbarians from spawning on visible tiles?

[Ellye]

I hadn't played VP in a while, and right now the barbarian spawns are a bit too annoying for me. In the middle of a war, barbarian camps keep spawning right besides where units are battling, for example.

I've found some discussion from a couple years ago listing the changes for spawns, including that they can now spawn in visible hexes - is there some easy to disable that on my end?

 

[Recursive]

I hadn't played VP in a while, and right now the barbarian spawns are a bit too annoying for me. In the middle of a war, barbarian camps keep spawning right besides where units are battling, for example.

I've found some discussion from a couple years ago listing the changes for spawns, including that they can now spawn in visible hexes - is there some easy to disable that on my end?

Yes.

MODS\(2) Vox Populi\Database Changes\CustomModOptionChanges.sql

Set BALANCE_ENCAMPMENTS_SPAWN_ON_VISIBLE_TILES to 0 (at the start of the file) and save your changes.

 

[Ellye]

Thanks!

 

[Tekamthi]

i like the amount of barbs in recent versions, they are actually a threat sometimes rather than the minor nuisance they were for years

that said the spawning in visible tiles with no rhyme or reason feels a little gamey -- idk what the solution is but i've long hoped to see some depth added to the barbs. civ 5's is amongst the most simplistic barb implementation in the series

 

[pajdek]

Yes.

It is possible to add checkbox when setting a game?

 

[azum4roll]

that said the spawning in visible tiles with no rhyme or reason feels a little gamey -- idk what the solution is but i've long hoped to see some depth added to the barbs. civ 5's is amongst the most simplistic barb implementation in the series

Without that the barbs can't spawn in higher difficulties as AI units have +1/+2 sight.

 

[Recursive]

It is possible to add checkbox when setting a game?

It is possible, but the Advanced Options menu is rather crowded already. I'm reluctant to add too many new options.

 

[Tekamthi]

Without that the barbs can't spawn in higher difficulties as AI units have +1/+2 sight.

yes im not suggesting it should be removed, at least not without an alternative -- just wish for something a little more thematic, that the barbs spawned as a result of player actions rather than pure rng in the middle of nowhere

 

[usadefcon1]

I hadn't played VP in a while, and right now the barbarian spawns are a bit too annoying for me. In the middle of a war, barbarian camps keep spawning right besides where units are battling, for example.

I've found some discussion from a couple years ago listing the changes for spawns, including that they can now spawn in visible hexes - is there some easy to disable that on my end?

If you don't want to change the file every time you update the game you can put this code into any SQL mod instead:

UPDATE CustomModOptions
SET Value = 0
WHERE Name = 'BALANCE_ENCAMPMENTS_SPAWN_ON_VISIBLE_TILES';

 

[Bromar1]

I like the threatening barbs but the spawns are a bit ridiculous sometimes. I just had a barb camp spawn on a road I had between 2 cities, instantly pillaging a trade route. I literally couldn't even react to move a unit to block them. Is there anything that can be changed to prevent random BS like that?

 

[azum4roll]

You aren't supposed to leave your roads and surroundings unprotected. Even AI knows to avoid building roads outside of their territory.

 

[Tekamthi]

In recent game, I was defending a worker from other barbs in early game, when borders hadn't filled in yet, and when the escort unit gave chase to an almost dead axeman, a camp spawned between it and the worker it had been escorting.. i think i moved about 3 plots away while the worker was still building the road, and had vision on all nearby plots to know it was 'safe'

its fine, like i said i'd prefer it this way than too few barbs -- but having them spawn in visible tiles just pulls back the curtain on the rng mechanism they rely on. The formerly unseeable mechanism that left something to the imagination is now on full display, and it looks flimsy at times. On my wishlist is some mechanism that results in same amount of barbs but makes their appearance more connected to the game world.

for example, just spit-balling and only proposing this as illustrative of a more thematic alternative: in my example above, had the almost-dead axe 'built' a camp in the tile it was in rather than that camp appearing out of thin air a few plots away, it would've been much less jarring for same effect of one new camp

 

[azum4roll]

If barb camps prefer to spawn where barbs are, all of them will be confined on uninhabited islands.

 

[Tekamthi]

agreed -- such a mechanism could not be the only way they spawn

another thought for discussion, not necessarily fully practical: somewhere in the modmod sub i adapted one of whoward's mods, the population/refugees mod that very simply generates a civilian unit from a razing city, which can be resettled in another city. Using that unit concept as a model, say all cities generated extra population from time to time as a barbarian unit, and that barbarian unit tried to flee into unowned territory, where it makes a camp... the actual spawn of the initial unit in the city would still be rng but it would be much more satisfying in that these people actually came from somewhere, and the player had some chance to intervene...

It strikes me that this community has reworked features like withdraw-from-melee and even eliminated the events system to do away with RNG influence -- but the barbs are still very visibly rng

 

[azum4roll]

Barbs are somewhat predictable after the initial settling spree - anywhere that a barb camp can spawn WILL spawn one.

 

[Tekamthi]

yeah i agree, its consistent over many turns but in any given turn its a little wild -- most of the time nothing special but every now and then the spawn affects something sensitive. We've seen some rather brilliant reworks of various systems in vp and its modding community, to a great extent remaining potential for improvements are only incremental -- this barb stuff on the other hand, though in an acceptable state, may have big gains yet to be realized

 

[CppMaster]

It is possible, but the Advanced Options menu is rather crowded already. I'm reluctant to add too many new options.

Is it feasible to add "folders" to options that can be collapsed or expanded? That way there could be plenty of options, while not UI is still not cluttered and is easy to use.

 

[Recursive]

Is it feasible to add "folders" to options that can be collapsed or expanded? That way there could be plenty of options, while not UI is still not cluttered and is easy to use.

That's...actually a good idea. I'm not a UI wizard, but I like the idea.