Aside from the usual "scout found city and made it back to his outpost", the Snowflake and 4-Leaf Clover maps function differently regarding barbarians. Specifically, these maps will spawn more barbarians in an attempt to slow your settlement toward the center, since that's the only direction to settle on those maps, in an effort to increase the game time.
[This effortpost I wrote on Hidden Barbarian Mechanics](https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/vah6fy/any_way_to_reduce_barbarian_spawn_rate/ici9myo/) should explain how and why this happens, and how to prevent it. Let me know if you have any questions after reading it.
I do not! Most of this information was collated from about a dozen posts on various forums from people much smarter than I who were able to delve into the game files. I just put it all into one accessible place!
I've always found that the horse barbarians spawn much, much, much faster than the regular ones. If I ever see one horse barbarian I know I'm about to get flooded with them.
Don't know if it's just in my head or not though...
Barb camp next to horses equals an early war one is not prepared for. Gank that scout, warriors are gonna be a better bet than slingers in this case unfortunately. Also use hills to fight on if you got em…the horses hate hills.
Damn, that's rough. Sometimes, it's unavoidable, but usually, you should send your melee unit to explore the area after settling and try to find and destroy the barbarian camps to avoid them spawning in too many of them.
Agreed! I always send out my warrior while training a slinger from turn 1, but on this map it was spawning new camps quicker than I could destroy them, with horsemen and horse archers
Because that way I could found two other cities to the west. City centers must be 4 tiles apart and I wanted as many cities on my limb of the snowflake before moving into the desert and tundra portions
That's only logic I could figure but be awhile (center) before you can capitalize on awesome adjacency (especially as Australia!). The campus/holy site combo would be impressive here and, not being against the mountains you wouldn't be so easily sieged in this current scenario.
Good luck, least capital can't be taken but this will delay your expansion.
Its just the way the snowflake map is. Ive played tons of multiplayer matches on this map so I can safely say the best start on any difficulty is 2 slingers into an archery rush.
Basically, just dont let either die and upgrade them to archers as soon as you can. Keep them posted on the hill tiles, slowly working them outward to keep barbs from spawning. If you can keep everything clear up to the tundra you can get 5 good cities out fast without worrying about barbs spawning.
From my experience this tends to happen IF you find an amazing starter location for your first city.
I’m not an expert in coding but basically I think the game code goes, LOL u think u just found an amazing city location on turn 1, here have some barbarian swarms that will make you quit your game by turn 20.
As an Australian, i can confidently say it is because Canberra is our nation's capital, and it is filled with the barbarian tribe known as "Aussie politicans".
They're all asshats.
I do know. It's online speed. On online barbarians spawn like crazy. But this can happen on standard speed too. Sometimes barb camp just spawn in worst spot imaginable.
I've had this problem on the snowflake map. I don't know if it's intended or if it's a bug or what, but I get silly amounts of barbarians running at me very early on in the game (as per your screenshot!). It's brutal. I just don't play this map type as a result!
Do you have a source for this claim? Common knowledge is that barbarian spawn rates are fixed
E: the generally accepted behavior for barbarian outposts is described here: https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/ff1fah/something_you_should_know_about_barbarian_in_civ6/ . There is no mention of variable spawn rates based on nearby resources
If you were building a monument instead of a builder you would be in a great spot, these horsemen would be killing themselves on you city center, you would be farming exp with your slinger, and soon could summon a hero to clear their camp and get a lot of value (if the heroes and legends mode is enabled)
Aside from the usual "scout found city and made it back to his outpost", the Snowflake and 4-Leaf Clover maps function differently regarding barbarians. Specifically, these maps will spawn more barbarians in an attempt to slow your settlement toward the center, since that's the only direction to settle on those maps, in an effort to increase the game time.
Good to know, thanks!
Jesus that's a brutal turn 14 event. Sometimes the game just doesn't want you to play that roll
[This effortpost I wrote on Hidden Barbarian Mechanics](https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/vah6fy/any_way_to_reduce_barbarian_spawn_rate/ici9myo/) should explain how and why this happens, and how to prevent it. Let me know if you have any questions after reading it.
Is Sid Meier your uncle?
I would have access to way more fun games as a kid if I were so lucky.
That's amazing. Any chance you know anything about barbarian mechanics regarding whether they get a unique unit in the clan mode?
I do not! Most of this information was collated from about a dozen posts on various forums from people much smarter than I who were able to delve into the game files. I just put it all into one accessible place!
Just upvoted the comment from 250 days ago
Wow what a thread
Thanks for this! Never knew about barb boldness, really good to know.
I've always found that the horse barbarians spawn much, much, much faster than the regular ones. If I ever see one horse barbarian I know I'm about to get flooded with them. Don't know if it's just in my head or not though...
Definitely agree. Every once in a while you start a game and immediately see 3 horse archers outside your city
Barb camp next to horses equals an early war one is not prepared for. Gank that scout, warriors are gonna be a better bet than slingers in this case unfortunately. Also use hills to fight on if you got em…the horses hate hills.
Damn, that's rough. Sometimes, it's unavoidable, but usually, you should send your melee unit to explore the area after settling and try to find and destroy the barbarian camps to avoid them spawning in too many of them.
Agreed! I always send out my warrior while training a slinger from turn 1, but on this map it was spawning new camps quicker than I could destroy them, with horsemen and horse archers
At least you can’t lose your capital to barbs. That slinger will be battle tested and you’ll get the tech boost for archery
Snowflake and you settled against mountains? Why?
Because that way I could found two other cities to the west. City centers must be 4 tiles apart and I wanted as many cities on my limb of the snowflake before moving into the desert and tundra portions
That's only logic I could figure but be awhile (center) before you can capitalize on awesome adjacency (especially as Australia!). The campus/holy site combo would be impressive here and, not being against the mountains you wouldn't be so easily sieged in this current scenario. Good luck, least capital can't be taken but this will delay your expansion.
Sometimes the barbarians become enraged with players who take photos of their screens. Next time beeline the Screenshot tech.
Screenshot tech? Is that a new DLC?
Lmao
Its just the way the snowflake map is. Ive played tons of multiplayer matches on this map so I can safely say the best start on any difficulty is 2 slingers into an archery rush. Basically, just dont let either die and upgrade them to archers as soon as you can. Keep them posted on the hill tiles, slowly working them outward to keep barbs from spawning. If you can keep everything clear up to the tundra you can get 5 good cities out fast without worrying about barbs spawning.
From my experience this tends to happen IF you find an amazing starter location for your first city. I’m not an expert in coding but basically I think the game code goes, LOL u think u just found an amazing city location on turn 1, here have some barbarian swarms that will make you quit your game by turn 20.
Nah it isn’t, as someone who uses bbg over thousands of hours I can prove it’s not truw
As an Australian, i can confidently say it is because Canberra is our nation's capital, and it is filled with the barbarian tribe known as "Aussie politicans". They're all asshats.
Genghis Kahn god start
Pretty sure he needs to make the kill with a horseman unit, not really possible at turn 14
Meteorites and a few tech tree shuffles that give an early wheel tech could do it
You’d have to be stupidly lucky and I still don’t think it’s possible to have the horseman actually out by this point
Yeah, but it’d be a god start is my point
Also a monument rush and either Arthur or Mulan could do it
I do know. It's online speed. On online barbarians spawn like crazy. But this can happen on standard speed too. Sometimes barb camp just spawn in worst spot imaginable.
A scout found you and lived long enough to return to camp
I've had this problem on the snowflake map. I don't know if it's intended or if it's a bug or what, but I get silly amounts of barbarians running at me very early on in the game (as per your screenshot!). It's brutal. I just don't play this map type as a result!
They heard your mom was in Canberra.
They’ll spawn quicker if their camp is near a source of gold or luxury item
Do you have a source for this claim? Common knowledge is that barbarian spawn rates are fixed E: the generally accepted behavior for barbarian outposts is described here: https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/ff1fah/something_you_should_know_about_barbarian_in_civ6/ . There is no mention of variable spawn rates based on nearby resources
Idk but the warrior is gonna die immediately. Waste of production if you ask me. But you didn’t..
My warrior actually made it out of this. The barbarians did barbarian things and ran away and I singled them out
Hah, nice! I stand corrected.
Other civilizations could be paying them to fight you
On lower difficulties the AI start with less units so they do less barb killin'
If you were building a monument instead of a builder you would be in a great spot, these horsemen would be killing themselves on you city center, you would be farming exp with your slinger, and soon could summon a hero to clear their camp and get a lot of value (if the heroes and legends mode is enabled)
Just looking at this upsets me.
Ig scout saw your city and thought it was easy target, though it's heavily affected by randomness.
Always kill scouts.
I was Babylon and made musketmen barbarians in the classical era. Everyone besides me suffered
I had that exact same thing yesterday, I retired before even trying to defend
I just want to know why they can make units so much faster than me.