Humankind - the Civ killer?

[Tonitrus]

It's almost looking like just a mod of Endless Legend in a "real-world" setting.

[PDH]

It is the soul of a game that intrigues me.  If it isn't there, I won't play it much.  The worst possible thing is to make a MOO3 and it looks great but has no "there" there.

[crazy canuck]

Not sure if I want to pull the trigger on this.  Is it a blander Civ-lite or an unpolished gem that needs a year of bug fixes and expensive DLC?

I have played the Beta and now a couple of hours of the full game.  It is neither of those things.  But it also may not be everyone's favourite game.   It is more complex than CIV and imo more polished than CIV even after all its DLCs.   But those are also its weaknesses for people just looking for a basic CIV like experience.

[FunkMonk]

It is available to download and play on Game Pass if you have that.

I've tooled around a bit for an hour. You start off with a unit of tribesmen in the Neolithic era hunting mammoths and foraging for food  I kinda like that a lot, actually.

In the Neolithic you have to earn points by hunting and exploring the world to advance into the Ancient era. Once there you can choose your first culture. It happens pretty quickly.

In the Neolithic you also can build an outpost which claims a territory for you. I assume it eventually upgrades into a city as it grows.

Pretty neat so far. Definitely not a civ clone.

[Josephus]

yeah, I been playing with it for a couple hours.

I'm learning my way around, trying to figure it out. It does seem complex. I like complex, as long as I can figure it out. Will have to watch a lot of youtube

[viper37]

It is the soul of a game that intrigues me. 

It's Amplitude Studios.  No such thing.  All the critics this game has can be laid at all their games since the first.

[crazy canuck]

yeah, I been playing with it for a couple hours.

I'm learning my way around, trying to figure it out. It does seem complex. I like complex, as long as I can figure it out. Will have to watch a lot of youtube

I don't think so.  I find it pretty intuitive.  The challenge is going to be using all the tools available to get the fame you crave 

And I think that is situational rather than a cookie cutter - hard to put into a how to video.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I bought it. Haven't been able to play yet.

[crazy canuck]

One of the big differences with Civ is the way civilizations are chosen.  There is the bit about choosing every era, but that is just one aspect of the decision.  The other big decision is when to make the jump.   Once you collect enough stars (achievements) to make the jump up, you still have to decide if you do it or not.  Sometimes it is better to wait because you are just about to finish off more achievements and collect the fame for those accomplishments.  If you jump up you lose that fame.  But if you don't jump up now someone else might take the civilization you wanted in the next era. 

This is I think one of the big differences.  When playing Civ, you know exactly what your strategy is going to be when you pick you civilization.  But with Humankind, because you first have to make it to the era where you get to pick, the civilization you wanted may already be taken, so you need to adapt.  And adapt throughout the game.  There really is no cookie cutter strategy here.

[Josephus]

I've played five hours so far and am enjoying it. Still learning some of the mechanics. I went to war once and had no idea what I was doing.

[The Brain]

I've played five hours so far and am enjoying it. Still learning some of the mechanics. I went to war once and had no idea what I was doing.

In Afghanistan?

[DGuller]

Too soon.

[FunkMonk]

Brb evolving my Persian Afghanistan into Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

[Josephus]

I've played five hours so far and am enjoying it. Still learning some of the mechanics. I went to war once and had no idea what I was doing.

In Afghanistan?

[FunkMonk]

After getting gangbanged by 3 surrounding empires on a hard difficulty in my first game learning how to play I restarted on lower difficulty (Metropolis, the middle difficulty level) and happened to start in a much more pleasant starting area. Took Olmecs as starting culture and used the extra influence to claim territories throughout the lower half of the continent, which was largely uninhabited except by me. A little later, because I had a ton of influence, I assimilated and absorbed an independent nation. Ran into the Huns soon after.

The Huns started as some other culture, I don't remember what, but had already vassalized another empire, the Achaemenid Persians, near them in the upper half of the continent. Their cultural unit, the Hunnic Hordes, easily pwned a couple of my smaller armies I had sent north to skirmish with. Then the Huns captured an independent nation situated to my immediate west and it was panic stations at the disco for me.

In the meantime I also entered the Classical era, where I chose the Romans. Their cultural traits allows army stacks to have +1 unit in each stack (default is 4, so 5 per stack) and lowers army upkeep. So as the Romans I can make and maintain bigger armies, which I figured was my only hope against the Hunnic Hordes traipsing across the continent.

I forcibly conscripted a ton of Spearmen and other units (units also cost population as well as gold) in a hurry and sent them all  west where the Huns and their newly captured city lay in waiting. I had a forward base hugging the central continental mountain range which served as a jumping off point for my forces. Soon after the Huns attacked and our armies sprawled out across the plains overlooked by my mountain redoubts.

The Huns had two full stacks of their Hunnic archers but were heavily outnumbered by my Spearmen, warriors, and mercenaries bought from friendly independent nations nearby. Eventually my numbers just overwhelmed them and their entire army was destroyed with the loss of only an archer and a scout. I assaulted the city walls soon after.

Some turns later the Huns came back with more horde units but the result played out largely the same: A huge battle with vast does arrayed out on a vast plain where my numbers just swallowed up the Huns.

Later I took one of their outposts for it's strategic resources before accepting their pleas for peace. It's good to be the Olmec-Romans.