Beginner Tips & Advice Thread

pokiehl

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Hi everyone,

With the release of the game, I thought it'd be nice if we could have a thread of tips and helpful advice as we're all learning the game. Please feel free to ask questions as well!

Here's one:

Disbanding units in a city's territory increases the city's population. In the early game you tend to get a lot of free units ("refugees" and whatnot); taking these units and disbanding them can be a good way to boost your first couple cities.

Moderator Action: Moved to Strategy and Tips forum. leif
 
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Early on try to explore one tile at a time. Fog of war can really mess with pathing if you're clicking outside of it in an area with lots of cliffs.

Also moving onto a river takes all of your remaining movement, but subsequently traveling along the river is just one movement point. So if possible move onto a river with your last move of a turn then follow it starting on the next turn.
 
Hi everyone,

With the release of the game, I thought it'd be nice if we could have a thread of tips and helpful advice as we're all learning the game. Please feel free to ask questions as well!

Here's one:

Disbanding units in a city's territory increases the city's population. In the early game you tend to get a lot of free units ("refugees" and whatnot); taking these units and disbanding them can be a good way to boost your first couple cities.

Already done so! :thumbsup:

In addition to that, although I literally just started playing a couple hours ago and maybe this isn't good advice:

- Don't be afraid to have negative growth in the early game, as long as you don't let the timer reach zero.

upload_2021-8-17_20-1-52.png


I have two pops atm, none producing food. If I leave it like this I'll lose a pop in 4 turns. However, by putting a pop into Science, I cut Domestication research from 7 turns to 3. Since I'm Assyria, I really want that tech asap. I'll wait to get that tech then switch back to food production, thus getting the tech sooner and preventing the pop loss.
 
Already done so! :thumbsup:

In addition to that, although I literally just started playing a couple hours ago and maybe this isn't good advice:

- Don't be afraid to have negative growth in the early game, as long as you don't let the timer reach zero.

View attachment 605783

I have two pops atm, none producing food. If I leave it like this I'll lose a pop in 4 turns. However, by putting a pop into Science, I cut Domestication research from 7 turns to 3. Since I'm Assyria, I really want that tech asap. I'll wait to get that tech then switch back to food production, thus getting the tech sooner and preventing the pop loss.

This is a good example of another Interesting Thing in Humankind that we haven't talked about much anywhere else yet:

"Population" in Humankind really means "Specialists" in Civ: it's the people that can be assigned to specialize your city. Not as specific as Civ, where you could assign them to individual buildings in Civ V as I remember, but generally, to the acquiring of the 'basic currencies' of Food, Industry, Money and Science in the game. And as long as you have 'empty' slots, you can move the Population around At Will.

In your instance, if you were in a panic about losing population, notice that you are getting 6 Food per Population assigned to Food, so moving a Pop from Industry or Science to Food would stabilize your population/Food. Not saying this would be your best strategy, but you have the Option.
Also note that building a Unit costs 1 (or for many Mid and Late Game Units: 2 or More) Population, so if your city is finely balanced, keep an eye on how long it will take to build the Unit versus how long until the city adds a Population, and always try to have the Unit complete just after the new Population appears: that keeps you from losing some Food, Industry, Money or Science output in exchange for your shiny new Archer.
 
Also note that building a Unit costs 1 (or for many Mid and Late Game Units: 2 or More) Population, so if your city is finely balanced, keep an eye on how long it will take to build the Unit versus how long until the city adds a Population, and always try to have the Unit complete just after the new Population appears: that keeps you from losing some Food, Industry, Money or Science output in exchange for your shiny new Archer.

I REALLY like the fact that it costs me population to get military units. There was a mod in Civ that accomplished this, but it's really not the same when the base game (and AI) is not built around it.
 
I REALLY like the fact that it costs me population to get military units. There was a mod in Civ that accomplished this, but it's really not the same when the base game (and AI) is not built around it.
Costs you population to get military units? I'm pretty sure that's just conscripting units from Civ 4
 
Doesn't that require an advanced civic?

You can also sacrifice population to rush production, like in Civ 4. I missed that option in Civ 6.
Welp, in the newer games population only translates to science pretty much. Shame.
I did like being able to conscript units with that crappy grassland city 5 miles away that I placed
 
A single army per city can provide stability to it, by adding +5 stability per unit in the army. Be sure to keep a garrison if you are having stability issues!
 
Welp, in the newer games population only translates to science pretty much. Shame.
I did like being able to conscript units with that crappy grassland city 5 miles away that I placed

I'm not sure what you are saying here:
In Humankind, your city gets 'Slots' for Money, Industry, Science, and Food from building the various types of Quarters: Market, Makers, Researchers, Farmers Quarters, respectively, and you can fill any of them with 'Population' for extra Points in each. Population and Quarters/Districts then, translates into the basic currencies in the game, and you can move the Population points around at will to 'emphasize' what you need most at the moment

On the other hand, and where Humankind is, frankly, Head and Shoulders above Civ VI, the various systems in Humankind actually work together. So building a bunch of Districts/Quarters to scoop up the points/Population costs you Stability (-10 Stabilty per Quarter in most cases) - but later in the game, you can build Commons Quarters that Increase Stability. OR you can from nearly the start of the game, build Garrisons that increase Stability (This isn't a Unit as a garrison, but, basically, a Fortification to overawe the citizens and keep them in line) and then other Infrastructures like Public Fountains, Aquaducts, Sewers that increase Stability ("Amenities" ya gotta call 'em). Civics choices can change Stability. Diplomatic Actions can change Stability. Luxury Resources exploited or Traded increase Stability - so declaring war on a Faction you are trading with can suddenly drop the Stability in your cities, which could be Disastrous if Stability is already less than perfect.
There are other Infrastructures that increase the number of slots in the various Quarters, or the amount of points of the various Currencies you get from them, so you can (and should) constantly switch back and forth from building Quarters for Slots to building Infrastructure to 'enhance' the Quarters to building 'special' Quarters like Commons and Fortifications that offset the Stability loss from building Quarters. It is an extremely dynamic and integrated system that for much of the game keeps you constantly thinking about your next action in regard to each city to maintain them and get the maximum benefit from them.
 
A single army per city can provide stability to it, by adding +5 stability per unit in the army. Be sure to keep a garrison if you are having stability issues!

Are you really sure the army gives +5 stability? I‘ve tested it and no effect was observed.
 
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Are you really sure the army gives +5 stability? I‘ve tested it and now effect was observed.

I think there is a city project that adds +5 stability on garrison - the district not a garissoned unit. Maybe this caused some confusion?
 
Every unit on a city tile gives +5 stability. It may have changed in the last patch and I didn't notice, but it worked like that since release.

Building the city watch gives +5 stab on garrison districts. It might be confusing, but both effects are there alongside each other.
 
Are you really sure the army gives +5 stability? I‘ve tested it and no effect was observed.

It seems it was sneak removed in the latest patch.
 
What would be a good setup (number of opponents, map type, map size, etc). I've was watching a video and noted that they were playing against AI personas I don't have by default. I think he had a couple with the "stubborn" trait, for example. I know there is only one persona I have that is rated "normal". So I don't want to play against "expert" or whatever. So if I should play more than one opponent, I need to know who to use.

I did try one game. I ended up on a small island sized continent. The normal lady (what ever her name is) was on a continent twice my size. There was a third empty land mass. By the time I got to it, the neutrals started to populate it. I just missed winning a turn victory. I think I know what I did wrong. My biggest mistake was not splitting my initial scout into multiple groups. I probably made many others.

I want to try another game, but looking for some basic advice.
 
What would be a good setup (number of opponents, map type, map size, etc). I've was watching a video and noted that they were playing against AI personas I don't have by default. I think he had a couple with the "stubborn" trait, for example. I know there is only one persona I have that is rated "normal". So I don't want to play against "expert" or whatever. So if I should play more than one opponent, I need to know who to use.

I did try one game. I ended up on a small island sized continent. The normal lady (what ever her name is) was on a continent twice my size. There was a third empty land mass. By the time I got to it, the neutrals started to populate it. I just missed winning a turn victory. I think I know what I did wrong. My biggest mistake was not splitting my initial scout into multiple groups. I probably made many others.

I want to try another game, but looking for some basic advice.

Just seeing this for whatever reason, but I suppose I would say default settings are not too bad. If it feels overwhelming, lowering the difficulty is not a bad idea--even one level can make a difference pressure-wise. You can get personas from the G2G site, but the default ones are fine for learning the ropes. I personally recommend a Pangaea map with a lower percentage of land and more resources for getting to know diplomacy and the need for managing available land. Continents can be fun but highly variable in terms of what each player gets to work with.

Strategy-wise, assuming you are playing at standard speed, you can use a couple milestones:
  • By T10, you will want to think about choosing a culture. The AI can choose even a few turns before but on larger maps, everyone cascades in the following few turns. It is important to build up population (especially on higher levels where you need an early military) by around this turn, it is good to ask yourself whether the additional units (and neolithic legacy trait) are worth the loss of sedentary yields.
  • By T50, you will want to think about choosing a new culture. In general, changing cultures every 50 turns is not a bad rule of thumb. The longer you stick around, the more fame you will generally accrue, but the more vulnerable you will be to superior military forces. In my experience, on higher difficulties, the AI will alternately stick around to optimize fame or, more generally, cycle closer to every 30 turns.
    When you follow the 30-50 turn cycle, you will quickly become aware of when your strategy is earning fame and when it is holding you back. In general, everything gets easier in the mid-game.
Anyhow, these are just some basic points. Feel free to share any early lessons you took away.
 
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