Barbarians (2005-2007 proposals)

These are some plans for future barbarian changes. Nothing is yet set in stone.
== Barbarians as one normal player ==
New script trigger on researching a specific tech (Currency?) by any player; barbarian player generated from lua script.
The barbarian player gets some new effects:
* EFT_NO_DIPLOMACY - cannot engange in any kind of diplomacy
* EFT_NO_DEATH - never dies. (Not sure if we need this one; we could just ressurect when we need him.
* EFT_LOOT_ONLY - barbarian units only loot cities, do not take them over
Add barbarians on tiles that border on fog after AI has moved, to give player chance to react; send message with coordinates too.
Additional script API needed:
* coord find_hostile_spawn_point(vs player)
* Player create_player(leader name, ...)
New unit variable required and available from lua: turn_created; scripts may use this to remove unit after some time (perhaps considering veteran level as well).
== Barbarian raids ==
The role of barbarians is to to balance certain strategies (nuclear, smallpox, and later razing cities), and to endanger expansions (make horizontal expansion risky). However, barbarians should not wipe out players, nor should they seriously endanger your main cities.
Barbarians raid cities but leave them in your control. All production and storage is reset (food and shield boxes). City size is reduced by one (potentially destroying the city). Then the raiding unit is disbanded. Successful raids increase your bad karma, and thus your chance of getting raided more.
Barbarians should be land barbarians if possible (there are good potential spawn points on your continents), sea barbarians when not. Land barbarians are always horse type units. Horse units should get the BadWallAttacker unit flag and higher firepower at the expense of attack power, so that if you build city walls, you will be almost safe from their attacks. This will allow you to make your main cities safe, while keeping expansions at risk.
Category:Design