Persians Strategy Guide

Learn how to conquer Humankind on the highest difficulty. This guide details AI bonuses, optimal map settings, and early-game strategies for the Persians.

This guide provides strategies for beating Humankind on the highest difficulty, focusing on the Persians. It details the AI bonuses at this difficulty level and offers advice on how to overcome them.

Humankind Difficulty and General Strategy:

1. Avoid early warfare; engage no sooner than the Classical or Medieval eras.
2. Prioritize establishing trade routes for luxury resources.
3. Select Agrarian and Builder cultures early on to scale into the late game, as AI FIMS bonuses become less impactful over time. Building wide is generally more effective than building tall.
4. Focus on accumulating the most stars/fame. It is often not optimal to immediately transcend cultures, as this can lead to missing out on era stars and overall fame.
5. Trigger the end game condition once sufficient fame is acquired. The science ending (researching all technologies) is generally the fastest and most consistent. Alternatively, if mid-game conquest was successful, eliminating or vassalizing all other cultures can be faster, especially with fewer AIs.

Map Settings:

The following map settings are recommended to support the outlined strategy:

• World size: Huge (more landmass allows for expansion before conflict and more opportunities for minor cultures).
• World shape: Large Pangea (facilitates scouting and finding trading partners; avoids being gated by water until Cogs are researched).
• Land Percentage: 70-80% (provides enough land for expansion while ensuring sufficient ocean for naval trade routes).
• Climate: New World (ensures specific environmental conditions).

The AI receives the following bonuses on Humankind difficulty:

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

The guide notes that the flat FIMS bonuses scale less effectively as the game progresses, making the early game challenging. The combat strength bonus is significant and difficult to offset early on, making avoidance of combat in the Neolithic and Ancient eras crucial. The stability bonus is also noted as being easier to manage later in the game, particularly through trading for luxury resources.