The Advanced Civilization rules are written to accommodate only eight players. This is because of the way the game handles Barbarian Hordes and Piracy Calamities. The tokens from the ninth set are used to represent the parties involved in those calamities. This has implications to the game, usually not seen. Because these tokens are not player controlled, these tokens are not affected by secondary affects of other calamities, and can only be removed by an attacking player. These non-player tokens are also static. Once placed, they do not expand their population.

This has usually lead to two reactions to these non-player tokens by players. The first one, and most common, is that these tokens are ignored. This is especially true if the players are using Western Expansion Board. With the additional space to expand to, the players opt not to expend valuable population in conflicts with these non-player tokens, especially if they do not expand their population. The second reaction, and the only one for some players, is to battle off these tokens. Players like Egypt and Babylon in particular, have very valuable city sites on that side of the board, and usually cannot expand to take other city sites without conflict with other nations. It is usually a safer bet to attack the non-player tokens that cannot retaliate from the attack.

The nine-player variant changes the rules, only slightly, but changes the game greatly in nuance. The only component change is that an extra civilization card will be needed for each stack. The Advanced Civilization game only comes with eight cards of each type. In most cases, if you can muster nine players, you usually have multiple sets of Civilization to utilize. In addition, it is greatly recommended that the Western Expansion board be utilized. Avalon Hill has recommended that only 47 tokens be used under rule 16.2, even with the Western Expansion board. We have found that the Nine-Player variant works well with a full compliment of 55 tokens when used with the Western Expansion board, and 47 tokens when without the Western Expansion board.

To facilitate rules replacement, I have numbered and worded the rules changes below, to match the Advanced Civilization Rules of Play and Gamer's Guide.

30.5211 - The player with the most tokens in stock is the beneficiary for the Barbarian Hordes. Cities are not counted to determine the beneficiary. If the primary victim has the most tokens in stock there is no Barbarian Hordes. Ties between would-be beneficiaries are broken by counting up who has the most cities in stock. If a tie still occurs, the player furthest behind on the AST will resolve the tie. If a tie still occurs again, the player with the least total number of points in Civilization cards becomes the beneficiary.

30.5212 - Fifteen tokens belonging to the beneficiary are placed in one of the primary victim's start areas (or all remaining units in stock, if less than fifteen). These Barbarian tokens are placed in the start area which causes the greatest damage to the primary victim. If the primary victim does not have units in any of his start areas, the Barbarians are initially placed in an empty start area. They may be placed in an area which contains units belonging to a player other than the primary victim only if no other area is available.

30.5213 - Immediately after initial placement, conflict is resolved between the newly-placed Barbarians and any units, including those of nations other than the primary victim, in the area occupied by theBarbarians.

30.52131 - Barbarian units do not benefit from the use of civilization cards possessed by the beneficiary of the calamity to resolve the outcome of this calamity.

30.5235 - All movement and conflict involving Barbarians is completed during the calamity phase, prior to the resolution of any other calamities. Once the Barbarians have stopped moving, they remain on the board and control of these units are handed to the beneficiary, as per rule 30.528.

30.528 - After resolution of the calamity, the beneficiary of the Barbarian Hordes gains control over any remaining tokens. These units now gain the benefit of any civilization cards held by the player, and are treated like any tokens owned by the player, including, but not limited to, population expansion, city support, calamity resolution, etc.

30.911 - The player with the most cities in stock is the beneficiary of the Piracy. Only cities are counted to make this determination, not population tokens. If the primary victim has the most cities in stock there is no Piracy. Ties between would-be beneficiaries are broken by counting up who has the most tokens on the board to better support the cities about to be gained. If a tie still remains, the player furthest behind on the AST becomes the beneficiary. If a tie still remains, then the player with the least total of Civilization cards becomes the beneficiary.

30.912 - The primary victim loses two coastal cities. The player rading the card selects the cities. These cities are replaced by two cities belonging to the beneficiary.

30.913 - Two coastal cities belonging to two other players are similarly replaced by the beneficiary cities, even if the primary victim had fewer than two coastal cities and was thus not himself fully affected. The primary victim selects these cities. The secondary victims may each lose only one city. The player who traded Piracy to the primary victim, and is the beneficiary of the calamity, may not be selected as a secondary victim.

30.914 - If the beneficiary does not have enough cities to complete the resolution of Piracy, then the remaining coastal cities that fall victim to Piracy are replaced by the next in position to become the beneficiary, and so on, until complete resolution of the calamity.

30.915 - After complete resolution of the calamity, all cities involved are returned to the control of their owners. City support is now calculated, and resolved normally. These cities are now treated just like any city owned by the respective players, and gains the benefits of civilization cards.

The nuances of Advanced Civilization is greatly changed by the simple alterations of this Nine-Player variant. Not only does it further crowd the seemingly overcrowded game board, but it also makes it very hard to determine who is ahead in the game, since the leader will be victim to trade embargoes and random conflicts.

The changes in rules also change the nuances stated above according to Barbarian Hordes and Piracy. Since these units are no longer Non-Player units, they are prone to the effects of calamities. Unfortunately, since these units are now player controlled, they benefit from population expansion and are used to benefit the controlling player. This makes the tactic of ignoring these units dangerous. Finally, these new rules allow players that are desperately behind the opportunity to advance. They no longer just benefit from Civil War, but also benefit from Barbarian Hordes and Piracy. This is no guarantee that the leaders will be hurt by these calamities, as these calamities are tradable, but still give hope to the players at the bottom.

There has been a tactic used to give Barbarian Hordes and Piracy to the would-be beneficiary of the calamities to cancel these calamities out. This usually works for the would-be beneficiary to work deals with other players to hold the card. This can also be a wily opportunity for the would-be beneficiary to also be the "trading" player. This is of particular benefit for Piracy, since the trading player selects the cities in which to be converted.