Optimizing Turn Times

Learn how to optimize your turns in Humankind, focusing on early-game strategies and leveraging AI bonuses to your advantage as the game progresses. Master FIMS and combat!

Alright, let's talk about making your turns in Humankind as snappy and effective as possible. This guide is all about getting the most out of every single turn, especially when you're playing on the highest difficulty. We'll cover how to deal with those hefty AI bonuses and how to make sure you're always one step ahead.

Understanding the AI's Edge on Humankind Difficulty

First off, you need to know what you're up against. On the highest difficulty, the AI gets some pretty sweet bonuses:

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

Now, here's the interesting part: these bonuses, especially the FIMS (Food, Industry, Money, Science) ones, are flat. What that means is they're super powerful early on when your cities are small, but they don't scale as well later when your cities grow. For instance, an early game bonus of +9 Industry from 3 workers in a 9-population city is a big deal. But later, if an AI city has 60 population with 15 workers, that's a +45 Industry bonus. That kind of bonus is actually pretty easy to overcome with just one or two specialized districts like a Strip Mine or a Jama Masjid. So, while you'll feel the pinch early, the game should theoretically get easier for you as it goes on.

That +2 Combat Strength bonus for AI units is no joke, either. It's basically like comparing a standard unit to a culture's unique unit. You're not going to be able to match that early on, so your best bet is to just avoid combat in the first two eras (Neolithic and Ancient). Later in the game, though, you can totally balance this out. Picking up the Professional Soldiers Civic and leaning towards the Homeland ideology will really help close that gap.

The stability bonus is a bit harder to pin down, but it likely works similarly – stronger early on and less impactful as you get more ways to boost stability. Your best strategy here is to trade for luxury resources to keep your cities happy.

Your General Strategy for Success

So, putting it all together, here's the game plan:

1. Avoid early wars. Seriously, hold off on fighting until at least the Classical era, and usually, it's best to wait until the Medieval era.
2. Focus on trade. Make sure you're actively trading for those valuable luxury resources.
3. Go wide, not tall. Grab early cultures like Agrarian and Builder, and then focus on expanding your empire. This 'wide' approach makes it much easier to scale up and overcome those AI FIMS bonuses later.
4. Aim for stars. The ultimate goal is to rack up as many stars (Fame) as possible. Remember, it's not just about winning the game, but *how* you win it.