Barbarian Clans (Civ6)

Back to Game Modes

Barbarian Clans game mode icon

Barbarian Clans is the seventh game mode in Civilization VI, introduced in the February 2021 Update. It expands the abilities of the Barbarian tribes, allowing diplomatic interaction with them and even granting them the ability to civilize and become city-states. It is available to all players, regardless of their ownership status of the expansions and the New Frontier Pass.

Mechanics

This mode makes Barbarians even more interesting! Instead of being just an annoyance and a major disruptive force in the first turns of the game, Barbarians can now be used strategically, both to aid a player and to hinder the player's enemies. You can now interact with Barbarian outposts diplomatically and enlist their help instead of just fighting them. What's more, Barbarians now realize that there is a path forward other than total war.

Every Barbarian outpost is now considered a separate Clan - a minor political entity with its own command structure and progress. You will notice that each outpost now has a banner, similar to those of cities. Each Clan has its own name, and belongs to one of 7 possible types. All units belonging to this clan also bear its name, to facilitate their distinction not only from other clans, but also from rebels and Free Cities' units.

Apart from the standard units Barbarians have access to, each Clan can now claim and produce a unique unit from a major civilization that was not selected during game setup. These units will appear only when the world reaches the era to which the unit belongs. Other than that, each type of Clan prefers different types of units - see below for more details.

Barbarians' basic behavior is still the same as before, as long as they don't interact with the major civilizations. That is to say, they will produce scouts and explore the land, then produce units to raid nearby civilizations. There is one major difference, however: Barbarians now strive to become civilized!

In this mode, Barbarians' technology level scales faster and you may meet advanced barbarian units that no civilization has currently unlocked. Barbarians unlock a new technology once a player unlocks it or gets its Eureka. This is unlike regular barbarians, which unlock a technology when 50% of players have it. This might be intentional so that players have powerful barbarian units to hire.

Civilizing

The Barbarian Clans mode adds the new civilizing mechanic, through which a Barbarian Clan can turn into a full-fledged city-state. This is accomplished by accumulating progression points for each separate clan. Each turn the clan gains a certain number of points as the most enlightened Barbarian thinkers begin to realize that endless war is not the way. A civilization's interactions with a given clan can also hasten or slow its progress. Should a given clan make full progress towards civilization, the Barbarian outpost will disappear, and in its place will be a brand new city-state (which, of course, will be selected from those not presently in the game). City placement rules still apply, which means that a Barbarian outpost within 3 hexes of another city will not turn into a city-state.

Consequently, with Barbarian Clans mode enabled there will always be more city-states than there are in a normal game. This is because some Barbarian outposts always spawn in faraway areas where players and city-states tend to leave them in peace, allowing them to progress towards civilizing while the big guys are occupied with more important matters. A wise player can take advantage of this by exploring as many remote areas as possible to discover remote Barbarian outposts which remain hidden from other players. When the Barbarians found new city-states, these will automatically appear in your list (and you may even gain the free Envoy for being the first to meet them). You can then easily become their Suzerain and gain special bonuses without competition.

Maybe the most interesting part of the mode is the new interaction possibilities. To interact with a Clan, you simply need to discover their home outpost and click on its banner - this will bring up a menu with interaction options, which are described below.

Expanded Barbarian interactions

The number of turns that Bribe, Hire, and Incite can each be used and remain in effect are dependent on game speed. Numbers below are for Standard speed.

• Bribe - This action costs a modest amount of Gold, and keeps the Barbarians of a given clan from attacking your cities for 20 turns - that is, it closes your borders to them. It does not protect your units from the clan's attacks, nor does it prevent you from attacking them. It adds 8 points towards civilization, because it shows the barbarians that peaceful cooperation is possible with other entities.
• Hire - This action costs a moderate amount of Gold, and causes one count of the clan's unique unit (if available) to appear under your control on the outskirts of one of your nearest cities; hired naval units will choose a location with Coast or Lake. It adds 5 points towards civilization, as well - the barbarians feel honored that a major civilization values their military might enough to hire it. This can only be performed once every 15 turns.
• Incite - This action costs a lot of Gold, and causes the clan to attack a nearby civilization or city-state. Thanks to plausible deniability, your relationship with this target is undamaged. This causes the clan to lose 5 points towards civilization, because it feeds their frenzy and their belief that the only possible way forward is war. Can only be performed once every 15 turns.
• Ransom - This action costs a large amount of Gold, and can only be undertaken with a clan that has captured one of your civilian units. The clan will relinquish control of that unit to you. This also causes the clan to lose some progress towards civilization, as they are encouraged to continue their violent ways.

Dispersing vs. Raiding

Should you defeat a Barbarian outpost in this mode, the choice becomes available to you whether to Disperse the outpost or simply to Raid it. Dispersing it will cause the outpost to act like a defeated Barbarian outpost does in the base game - the Clan will disappear and you will gain any Historic Moments and benefits related to this, but you will not gain Gold. Instead, the unit doing the action will gain 10 XP. There is also a random chance of getting multiple Eurekas when dispersing an outpost (even if the outpost was recently raided). Raiding the outpost leaves it intact, simply capturing a sum of Gold from it. The raiding unit will be ejected from the outpost on the next turn, when a new barbarian unit appears there (this is called a "reprisal attack"). This action does, however, set back that Clan's progress towards civilization, and can only be performed once every 10 turns. Raiding an empty outpost along the coast with a naval raider unit will disperse it, awarding the unit 10 XP.

Clans

This mode includes seven types of Barbarian Clans. Each clan type has its own preferred range of units to field and requires a different set of map conditions in order to appear.

• Flatland Clan – Prefers to place their Outposts in open terrain away from woods and hills. They prefer a balance of melee units for attack and ranged units for defense.
• Woodland Clan – Prefers to place their Outposts in or adjacent to woods and rainforests. They prefer greater numbers of ranged units than melee units and use them for both attack and defense.
• Hills Clan – Prefers to place their Outposts on open terrain with hills. They strongly prefer melee units, even to the point of excluding ranged units completely.
• Rover Clan – Require a nearby Horses resource and prefer to place their Outposts in open terrain away from woods. They prefer as many mounted units as possible, using both light and heavy cavalry for attack and defense.
• Chariot Clan – Require a nearby Horses resource and prefer to place their Outposts in the desert. They prefer mounted vehicles and light cavalry in all roles, rarely using ranged units at all.
• Jungle Clan – Requires a nearby Ivory resource and prefer to place their Outposts inside rainforests. They prefer a mixture of light and heavy cavalry units supported by foot and ranged units.
• Seafaring Clan – Always place their Outposts on coastal plots. They defend their Outposts with land-based anti-cavalry units, but otherwise they exclusively use naval melee and naval ranged units for scouting and attacking.

Civilopedia entry

The word "barbarian" comes from Greek (with a related term, "barbara", in Sanskrit), where it refers to people who could not speak the language (and sounded like they were saying "bar bar bar"). So what "barbarians" had in common was not being of a different race or ethnicity, but being on the outside of what people thought of as the cultural center. Whether we are talking about the Gauls (barbarians to the Greeks), or the Sakas ("mleccha" to the ancient Indians), or the Xiongnu (one of the "Five Hu," or Five Barbarians who plagued Han Dynasty China), empires and states had a way of determining who was "in," and who was "out."

But despite the best propaganda efforts of empires, historical barbarians were not the savages that their settled rivals thought them to be. They were neither backwards people who had yet to progress to settled life, nor were they people that existed uncontacted by nation-states. Rather, non-state peoples existed in tandem with nations. As the geographer James C. Scott writes, early states made great efforts to control (often coercively) populations into living in close-clustered and unhealthy communities where their surplus production could be controlled and appropriated. Barbarian life, on the other hand, offered an option for freedom, and barbarian groups became both a source of raiders and pirates that preyed on the states, but also a means through which states could extend trade and diplomatic networks across territory that they did not have to control directly. Barbarian and civilized – the two are interdependent.

Gallery

Treat With Tribe popup

Eagle Warriors being used by Barbarians

Videos

Civilization VI Game Update - February 2021

Developers discuss the Barbarian Clans mode.

February 2021 Game Update Developer Livestream

February 2021 Update Developer Livestream.

Related achievements

Finder's Fee Ransom 5 units from Barbarian Clans in a single game. A finder's fee is a payment that's given to the person or the group facilitating the deal between two different people.

Frenemies Hire, Bribe, Incite, and Raid the same Barbarian Clan. 'Frenemies' is the plural of 'frenemy', a portmanteau of 'friend' and 'enemy' that refers to a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry.

Limited Edition Hire a unique unit from a Barbarian Clan. A limited edition product is produced only for a short amount of time or in small quantities.