Scenario League Design Tips - The Barbarian Paper V1.1

| Design Tips Index Scenario League Apolyton Civ2

The Barbarian Paper by Willliam Keenan | (November 99)

Updated Vers. 1.13

Make better use of barbarians by accounting for the trigger technologies that cause changes in their appearances.

The Goal

The Barbarian Paper is designed to assist Civilization II scenario builders who wish to use the randomly appearing barbarians in their scenarios. By coordinating story progression with the discovery of the trigger technologies that cause changes to barbarian appearances, a great deal of challenge, depth, and atmosphere can be added to advanced scenario designs.

Updates to this Paper (Vers. 1.13)

Version 1.0 included only the quick lookup tables and a minimum of explanatory text. The rebellion entries for Mobile Warfare and Guerrilla Warfare had errors and/or omissions in this version.

Version 1.1 corrects previous errors. The mode chart from version one has been sub-divided into six tables each with verbose, beginner oriented explanations. Also included is a outline of the Barbarian Activity option.

Version 1.11 includes additional information: brief discussion of the number of barbarians in rebel hordes and pirate vessels and an explanation of unit support for mercenaries from goody huts.

Version 1.12 includes information on Barbarian Wrath, a new found level of barbarian activity beyond Raging Hordes.

Version 1.13 includes information on the longevity of barbarian units and their behavior based on role and domain.

Planned future updates additional topic areas:

Technology templates to assist advanced designers working with modified technology trees to order the appearance barbarians with a minimum of effort. Detailed information on how to change the text messages related to barbarian activity.

Civilization II: Test of Time scenario building. Another addition of this paper is planned to cover

Selecting the Level of Barbarian Activity

The best advice I could give to the fledgling scenario is to know what level of barbarian activity you want to have BEFORE you create the your scenario. The only way the change this setting is to create a new scenario file which means you need to start from scratch placing units and cities on the map. If in doubt I suggest using the Villages Only option, as this is the easiest level of barbarian activity to work with.

Table 1 Barbarian Activity Options
Technology | Villages | Frequency | Rebel Bands | Pirate Crews | Leader Value
Villages Only | Yes | Never | N/A | N/A | N/A
Roving Bands | Yes | Half Normal | Small | Small | 50 Gold
Restless Tribes | Yes | Normal | Medium | Normal | 100 Gold
Raging Hordes | Yes | Normal | Large | Normal | 150 Gold
Barbarian Wrath | Yes | Normal | Maximum | Normal | 200 Gold

The Villages Only setting produces barbarians units only when one of your non-helicopter units enters a square containing a minor tribe village. Villages (hereafter referred to as goody huts) produce both friendly (mercenaries) and unfriendly units (hordes). Pirates and rebels do not appear when the Villages Only option set.

With the Roving Bands setting pirates and rebel bands begin to appear, but with half the frequency of the restless tribes setting and in smaller numbers.

The Restless Tribes option is the standard setting for barbarian activity.

Raging Hordes produces the largest number of barbarians. Rebel bands of up to 39 barbarian units have been reported at this setting.

Barbarian Wrath is a level of barbarian activity that can not normally be chosen, it is only achievable through hex editing. Rebel bands number between 75 and 100 barbarian units. The number of piratical barbarian units appearing is normal however.

To eliminate all barbarian activity in your scenario choose the Villages Only option when selecting the level of barbarian activity. Then after creating the scenario file toggle the menu option Cheat> Scenario Parameters > Wipe All Goody Boxes.

Controlling the Huts

Goody huts will produce friendly units (hereafter referred to as mercenaries) that join the player's standing army and unfriendly units (hereafter referred to as hordes) that surround and attack the player's discovering unit.

The tables below are listed in order of precedent with technologies at the bottom of the table having precedent over technologies listed above them. Goody huts will always produce units of the highest level of precedence. For example, if Chivalry is discovered after Monotheism then goody huts will continue to produce Crusader mercenary units since crusaders have a higher level of precedence then knights.

At any given point in the game goody huts will produce a minimum of two types of units. I have broken these varieties up into two logical groups (A and B). Mercenary units will come from group A about 67% of the time and from group B 33%.

Mercenary units obtained from goody huts will be supported by the city closest to the hut. Should the closest city not be yours then the unit will have support of None.

Table for Group A is broken up into three columns. Units from Group A may come from any of the three columns. The probability of a unit coming from any of the three columns is equal.

Table 2 Goody Huts - Mercenary Units - Group A
Technology | Unit Slots
None | Horsemen | Chariot | Horsemen
Polytheism (PT) | Horsemen | Chariot | Elephant
Chivalry (Chi) | Knights | Knights | Knights
Monotheism (MT) | Crusaders | Crusaders | Crusaders
Leadership (Ldr) | Dragoons | Dragoons | Dragoons
Conscription (Csc) | Riflemen | Riflemen | Riflemen

Tip: Assigning Conscription (Csc) to one or more civilizations at the beginning of the scenario will minimize the number of units slots used by barbarian units.

All the technologies listed on Table 3 are required to produce unit listed to the right of it. For example, if Gunpowder is discovered prior to Iron Working then huts will continue to produce Archers until Iron Working is discovered at which time Musketeers will be produced skipping Legions altogether.

Table 3 Goody Huts - Mercenary Units - Group B
Technologies | Unit Slots
None | Archers
Iron Working (Iro) | Legions
Gunpowder (Gun)¹ | Musketeers
Guerilla Warfare (Gue)¹ | Fanatics
¹Also requires technologies listed prior to it, e.g. musketeer mercenaries are produced only if Iro and Gun are both discovered.

Tip: The removal of Iron Working (Iro) from the technology tree will minimize the number of unit slots used by barbarian units.

Hostile barbarian hordes appear in the squares surrounding the goody hut and can number from one unit up to as many as eight units. The types of units appearing depend on the discovery of key technologies and the type of terrain the barbarian unit appears in.

Table 4 Goody Huts - Barbarian Hordes
Technology | Unit Slots
Non-Mountain | Mountain
None | Horsemen | Legions
Metallurgy (Met) | Knights | Musketeers
Guerilla Warfare (Gue) | Partisans | Fanatics

Tip: Assigning Guerilla Warfare (Gue) to one or more civilizations at the beginning of the scenario will minimize the number of units slots used by barbarian units.

The Rebellion

Beginning on game turn sixteen rebels bands begin to appear in wilderness areas on the periphery of settled regions. The owner of the closest city will receive a warning message when they appear.

The exact formula for calculating the number of rebel units comprising a given band is still unknown. What we do know however is the the number appearing runs in cycles. Rebel bands start off with two units then grow in size over time. When a technology discovery triggers a change in the barbarian type, like gunpowder for example, the number appearing is reset once again to two.

The first four units of the band will be of the primary unit type. The next four will be of the secondary unit type. Units nine through twelve will be primary; thirteen though sixteen will be secondary, etc.

There is an equal probability of a band being of Group A or Group B with the exception of the Gue category. Fanatics will appear in densely populated areas and Partisans in more remote areas.

Table 5 The Rebels
Technology | Group A | Group B
Primary | Secondary | Primary | Secondary
None | Horsemen | Chariots | Chariots | Horsemen
Gunpowder (Gun) | Elephants | Archers | Elephants | Archers
Industrialization (Ind)¹ | Musketeers | Cannon | Musketeers | Cannon
Mobile Warfare (Mob)¹ | Riflemen | Artillery | Riflemen | Artillery
Guerilla Warfare (Gue)¹ | Partisans | Cavalry | Fanatics | Cavalry
¹Also requires all technologies listed prior, e.g. Mob, Ind, Gun needed to produce Riflemen rebels.

Piracy!

Sea-borne barbarians begin to appear on game turn sixteen. These groups will be comprised of one vessel, a leader, and some number of regular pirate units from Table 6 below. These pirate units will number two plus one for every full one hundred game turns elapsed. Thus, if you are on game turn 350 then each pirate ships will have five piratical units plus one leader. The chance of these units being from Group A or Group B is equal.

Pirates appear in a random ocean square and will continue to roam the seas until they find a suitable landing site. What pirates consider suitable is any land square within six squares of any city (including barbarian cities). The owner of the closest city will receive message warning of their landing.

Table 6 Pirates
Technology | Group A | Group B
None | Archers | Archers
Iron Working (Iro) | Legions | Legions
Chivalry (Chi) | Knights | Crusaders
Tactics (Tac) | Dragoons | Dragoons
Mobile Warfare (Mob)¹ | None | None
¹The discovery of Mobile Warfare ends piracy.

Table 7 Pirate Vessels
Technology | Vessel
None | Trireme
Navigation (Nav) | Caravel
Magnetism (Mag) | Frigate

Tip: Assigning Mobile Warfare to one or more civilizations at the beginning of the game prevents piratical units from ever appearing.

Unit Domains, Roles and Longevity.

The unit's domain (ground, air, sea) and role (attack, defend, settle, etc.) effect how the civ engine uses the unit and it also impacts on how long the unit lasts before it is automatically disbanded by the AI.

Ground Units

- Longevity
  - Event generated barbarian ground units tend to last indefinitely.
  - Barbarian ground units build by a barbarian city tend to last indefinitely. They are, of course, destroyed if the city is captured.
  - Randomly generated Barbarian Ground units will tend to disappear if they are not near a city.
  - Randomly generated Barbarian Ground units will last indefinitely if they take up residence in a city or fortress.
- Attacking Barbarians, defined as any domain 0 barbarian with a role of 0.
  - Will take up residence in a city if there are no other units in the city.
  - Will take up residence in an empty fortress.
  - Should a defensive barbarian unit or a barbarian leader arrive in the city the attacking unit will leave.
- Defending Barbarians, defined as any domain 0 barbarian with a role of 1.
  - Will take up residence in a city if there are less then two one other barbarian units in the city.
  - Will take up residence in an empty fortress or a fortress containing an attack role barbarian unit.
  - Should a barbarian leader arrive in the city or fortress it will displace one of the defensive units already there.
- Barbarian Leaders, defined as any domain 0 barbarian with a role of 6 (diplomacy)
  - Uses the the barbarian leader unit graphic - the last unit in the units.gif or units.bmp.
  - Will take up residence in a city if there are less then two one other barbarian leader units in the city.
  - Will take up residence in an empty fortress or a fortress containing an attack role or defense role barbarian unit.
  - Barbarian leaders will always displace other barbarian ground units in a city or fortress.

Sea borne barbarian units

- Barbarian transports, defined as any domain 2 barbarian that can carry ground units regardless of the role assigned.
  - Are immediately disbanded when no ground units are aboard. This only applies to ground unit carriers, those that can carry air units are not disbanded for lack of units aboard.
  - Will attack enemy ships, if able.
- Barbarian warships, defined as any domain 2 barbarian units that can not carry ground units or can carry air units.
  - Will shore bombard enemy ground units, if able.
  - Will attack enemy ships, if able.
  - Are unlikely to be disbanded by the AI.
  - Given the choice between attacking ground units or or ships they will choose ground units.

The Quick Lookup Charts

Table 8 Technology Cross Reference
Technology | Role | Unit | Units Replaced
None | Horde | Legion |
None | Horde | Horsemen |
None | Mercenary | Archer |
None | Mercenary | Horsemen |
None | Mercenary | Chariot |
None | Pirate | Archer |
None | Rebel | Horsemen |
None | Rebel | Chariot |
Chivalry | Mercenary | Knights | Horsemen, Chariots, Elephant
Chivalry | Pirate | Crusaders | Archer, Legion
Chivalry | Pirate | Knights | Archer, Legion
Conscription | Mercenary | Riflemen | Horsemen, Chariot, Elephant, Knight, Crusader, Dragoons
Guerilla Warfare | Horde | Partisans | Horsemen, Calvary
Guerilla Warfare | Horde | Fanatics | Legion, Riflemen
Guerilla Warfare¹ | Mercenary | Fanatics | Musketeer
Guerilla Warfare² | Rebel | Calvary | Artillery
Guerilla Warfare² | Rebel | Fanatics | Riflemen
Guerilla Warfare² | Rebel | Partisans | Riflemen
Gunpowder¹ | Mercenary | Musketeer | Legion
Gunpowder² | Rebel | Archer | Chariots
Gunpowder² | Rebel | Elephant | Horsemen
Industrialization² | Rebel | Cannon | Archers
Industrialization² | Rebel | Musketeer | Horsemen, Chariots, Elephant
Iron Working | Pirate | Legion | Archer
Iron Working | Mercenary | Legion | Archer
Leadership | Mercenary | Dragoon | Horsemen, Chariot, Elephant, Knight, Crusader
Magnetism | Pirate | Frigate | Trireme, Caravel
Metallurgy | Horde | Knights | Horsemen
Metallurgy | Horde | Musketeer | Legion
Mobile Warfare | Pirate |  | All types
Mobile Warfare ² | Rebel | Artillery | Cannon
Mobile Warfare ² | Rebel | Riflemen | Musketeers
Monotheism | Mercenary | Crusaders | Horsemen, Chariot, Knight, Elephant
Navigation | Pirate | Caravel | Trireme
Polytheism | Mercenary | Elephant |
Tactics | Pirate | Dragoon | Archer, Legion, Knight, Crusader
¹ Has additional technology prerequisites. See Table 3 Goody Huts: Mercenary Units Group B ² Has additional technology prerequisites. See Table 5 The Rebels

Table 9 Unit Roles as Barbarians and Trigger Technology
Unit | Rebel | Pirate | Horde | Mercenary
Archer | Gunpowder² | None | N/A | None
Artillery | Mobile Warfare² | N/A | N/A | N/A
Calvary | Guerilla Warfare² | N/A | N/A | N/A
Cannon | Industrialization² | N/A | N/A | N/A
Caravel | N/A | Navigation | N/A | N/A
Chariot | None | N/A | N/A | None
Crusaders | N/A | Chivalry | N/A | Monotheism
Dragoon | N/A | Tactics | N/A | Leadership
Elephant | Gunpowder² | N/A | N/A | Polytheism
Fanatics | Guerilla Warfare² | N/A | Guerilla Warfare | Guerilla Warfare¹
Frigate | N/A | Magnetism | N/A | N/A
Horsemen | None | N/A | None | None
Knights | N/A | Chivalry | Metallurgy | Chivalry
Legion | N/A | Iron Working | None | Iron Working
Musketeer | Industrialization² | N/A | Metallurgy | Gunpowder¹
Partisans | Guerilla Warfare² | N/A | Guerilla Warfare | N/A
Riflemen | Mobile Warfare² | N/A | N/A | Conscription
Trireme | N/A | None | N/A | N/A
¹ Has additional technology prerequisites. See Table 3 Goody Huts: Mercenary Units Group B ² Has additional technology prerequisites. See Table 5 The Rebels

Credits

Written by William Keenan

Email: isys@bellatlantic.net

With technical input from John Possidente

Editing and HTML by Cam Hills

Special thanks to the Scenario League

Table Index

Table 1 : Barbarian Activity Options
Table 2 : Goody Huts - Mercenary Units - Group A
Table 3 : Goody Huts - Mercenary Units - Group B
Table 4 : Goody Huts - Barbarian Hordes
Table 5 : The Rebels
Table 6 : Pirates
Table 7 : Pirate Vessels
Table 8 : Technology Cross Reference
Table 9 : Unit Roles as Barbarians and Trigger Technology
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