New World Map Strategy

Unlock the secrets to dominating Humankind on the highest difficulty. Learn early-game survival, trade strategies, and how to leverage cultures for a late-game victory.

Alright, let's talk about tackling Humankind on the toughest setting, 'Humankind' difficulty. It's definitely a challenge, but totally doable once you know the ropes. This guide is all about helping you get there, sharing what I've learned from beating the game multiple times.

Keep in mind, the game's still pretty new as I'm writing this, so updates could change things. But the core ideas should stick around.

Humankind Difficulty & General Strategy

So, what makes 'Humankind' difficulty so brutal? The AI gets some serious boosts:

• +3 Food per Farmer in all their cities.
• +3 Industry per Worker in all their cities.
• +3 Money per Trader in all their cities.
• +3 Science per Researcher in all their cities.
• +60 Stability on all their cities.
• +2 Combat Strength on all their units.

Here's the kicker: those FIMS (Food, Industry, Money, Science) bonuses are flat. This means they're super powerful early on when your cities are small, but they don't scale as well later. For example, an early bonus of +9 Industry is huge, but a late-game AI city with a +45 Industry bonus is much easier to counter with a single Industry District or a special building.

That +2 Combat Strength bonus is no joke, either. It's like giving them a free upgrade on all their units. Trying to fight them head-on in the early eras (Neolithic and Ancient) is basically a losing battle. You'll want to avoid combat until at least the Classical era, and usually the Medieval.

The stability bonus is harder to pin down, but it likely decreases in impact as the game goes on and you get more ways to boost stability. Your best bet to counter this is by trading for luxury resources.

The Winning Strategy

So, how do you actually win? Here’s the game plan:

1. Avoid early wars. Seriously, don't pick fights until at least the Classical era, and often it's better to wait until the Medieval era.
2. Focus on trade. Getting luxury resources is key to managing stability and keeping your empire happy.
3. Pick the right cultures. Start with Agrarian and Builder cultures to get your economy going. Then, transition into cultures that excel in the late game, as that's when the AI's bonuses start to fall off. Building wide (lots of cities) is usually more effective than building tall (a few large cities) for scaling.
4. Aim for stars (Fame). Ultimately, you win by accumulating the most Fame.