Advanced City Planning

Unlock the secrets to dominating Humankind on the highest difficulty! Learn advanced city planning strategies, AI bonuses, and how to scale your empire effectively.

Hey there! So you're ready to tackle Humankind on the hardest difficulty, huh? That's awesome! This guide is all about helping you get there, sharing what I've learned from beating the game on 'Humankind' difficulty multiple times. Keep in mind, the game's still pretty new as I'm writing this, so some things might change with updates, but the core ideas should stick around.

Let's dive into what makes 'Humankind' difficulty so tough and how to work around it.

Humankind Difficulty and General Strategy

The AI gets some pretty sweet bonuses on this difficulty, which can feel like a real punch in the gut early on. Here's the breakdown:

• Food: +3 Food per Farmer in all Cities
• Industry: +3 Industry per Worker in all Cities
• Money: +3 Money per Trader in all Cities
• Science: +3 Science per Researcher in all Cities
• Stability: +60 Stability in all Cities
• Combat Strength: +2 Strength on all Units

Now, the FIMS (Food, Industry, Money, Science) bonuses are flat. This means they're super impactful at the start when your cities are small, but they don't scale as well later on. For instance, early on, that +9 Industry from 3 workers in a 9-population city might take you a while to match with districts. But in a massive late-game city with 60 population and 15 workers, that +45 Industry bonus is much easier to overcome with just one or two specialized districts.

The combat bonus is no joke, though. It's like giving every AI unit a special culture unit upgrade right from the start. You're basically going to be outmatched in combat during the Neolithic and Ancient eras, so your best bet is to avoid fighting altogether until at least the Classical era, and usually, it's better to wait until the Medieval era.

That +60 Stability bonus is a bit harder to quantify, but it definitely helps the AI keep their cities happy. Your strategy here is to lean heavily on trading for luxury resources to keep your own stability high.

So, the general game plan looks like this:

1. Avoid Early Wars: Seriously, don't pick fights until at least the Classical era, and ideally wait for the Medieval era.
2. Trade for Luxuries: Get those trade routes going to snag luxury resources. They're key for stability.
3. Go Wide, Scale Up: Pick up early cultures that focus on farming and building (like Agrarian and Builder cultures). The AI's FIMS bonuses become less of a big deal as the game progresses, so building lots of cities ('going wide') is a great way to scale your empire.
4. Star Power: The ultimate goal is to rack up as many stars (Fame) as possible. Remember, the game ends when someone hits the Fame cap, so just focus on accumulating those stars efficiently.