Farming Barbarians

You will (hopefully) notice several empty villages in your area; often, they appear greyed out on the map of the world.  These are barbarian villages, also called barbs, and they are a gold mine for your farming needs.

Barbarians are wonderful for several reasons.

• 1) They continually gain resources, usually at a higher level if they have a lot of points.
• 2) They don’t retaliate
• 3) You can eventually noble them, or they will remain farms throughout the game.

Before starting to farm a barbarian, keep the following tips in mind.

• Scout them first.  They likely have troops, and depending on how many scouts you send, you can get a pretty good idea of how big.
• You may not be the only player with your eye on this barb.  If you are smaller, or part of a tribe with members nearby, ask around before assuming.  Unless you don’t care… and then, by all means, proceed at your own risk.
• Send a lot of spears- they have the best carrying capacity for their cost, and are easily replaced.  If you are concerned about the size of the barbarians army, employ a strategy such as Axes Escorting to ensure minimal losses.
• Visit frequently!  Once you have an idea for how quickly resources are generated, time your farming expeditions to maximize hauls.