Humankind Game by Amplitude

[Elhoim]

Gotta say I'm loving how the city is protected by a perimetre wall, and the farmlands are located outside.

Although I do find it amusing that there's a hex in the centre of the territory that is walled-off for seemingly no reason. In my head I'm imagining that's where a grumpy old man lives who won't allow anyone to build on his land XD

That's the farm for when the city is under siege

 

[Vincent_lacruz]

Gotta say I'm loving how the city is protected by a perimetre wall, and the farmlands are located outside.

Although I do find it amusing that there's a hex in the centre of the territory that is walled-off for seemingly no reason. In my head I'm imagining that's where a grumpy old man lives who won't allow anyone to build on his land XD

After the memorable 3800BC sheep stampede, the concensus was to wall those abominations deep inside the city, where they will always remembered. At least the victory méchui was kind of good...

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

After the memorable 3800BC sheep stampede, the concensus was to wall those abominations deep inside the city, where they will always remembered. At least the victory méchui was kind of good...

Great! It will be remembered by later archeologists as the Babylonian Bronze Age Ovine Event.
On a more serious note, though, IF Humankind uses Adjacency Bonuses for certain Districts as Civ VI does, that tile could be 'reserved' for a Science or Religious District that gets a 'cliff' adjacency Bonus. The more detailed map with 'extra' terrain features like waterfalls, cliffs, elevations, provides the potential for expanding Terrain Benefits dramatically over what Civ has provided.
For instance, I could see a 'source' for an aqueduct on top of a set of cliffs like those behind the city providing an extra bonus to the aqueduct for both the city and irrigation of the low-lying fields, and even for Special Projects like city parks or gardens (including Hanging). The different Terrain Model already shown in the Humankind snapshots could be a source for a whole bunch of added features to other parts of the game like Cities, Districts, and Improvements . . .

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

It was pointed out on g2g that you can actually see little people walking around the city tiles in the latest screenshot.

 

[Prester John 2]

Fine, this nurtures even more our underlying infantile desire to exert total control over all, as Alfred Adler described it.

 

[mitsho]

Please don‘t do themed districts with adjacencies. It just creates a mini-puzzle game that distracts from the story. Do we have any indication they want to go with districts? I‘m btw. not against having building adjacencies and placing the buildings in specific locations. That way, you don‘t have to plan for the observatory placement when you place the science district in the ancient era. And I feel Humankind is much more about that kind of flexibility than Civilization and I‘m very much looking forward to that.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Please don‘t do themed districts with adjacencies. It just creates a mini-puzzle game that distracts from the story. Do we have any indication they want to go with districts? I‘m btw. not against having building adjacencies and placing the buildings in specific locations. That way, you don‘t have to plan for the observatory placement when you place the science district in the ancient era. And I feel Humankind is much more about that kind of flexibility than Civilization and I‘m very much looking forward to that.

I agree completely that the "tile agencies" model is Bad, if for no other reason than that it assumes the agency bonuses remain the same regardless of technological, cultural, or terrain/climate changes. So, in addition to other problems, it encourages the game to "freeze' climate and terrain models from start to finish, and that is simply no longer a realistic model of the world for the last 6000 years. I didn't mean to state or imply that Humankind is going in that direction as completely as Civ VI does - I'd be very, very surprised if they simply copied a mediocre game mechanic. On the other hand, it would be counter-intuitive if, for instance, a Farming/Food Producing District didn't provide more 'yield' on a green river tile than on a bare hunk-of-rock tile.

 

[Karmah]

I agree completely that the "tile agencies" model is Bad, if for no other reason than that it assumes the agency bonuses remain the same regardless of technological, cultural, or terrain/climate changes. So, in addition to other problems, it encourages the game to "freeze' climate and terrain models from start to finish, and that is simply no longer a realistic model of the world for the last 6000 years. I didn't mean to state or imply that Humankind is going in that direction as completely as Civ VI does - I'd be very, very surprised if they simply copied a mediocre game mechanic. On the other hand, it would be counter-intuitive if, for instance, a Farming/Food Producing District didn't provide more 'yield' on a green river tile than on a bare hunk-of-rock tile.

Seeing as district adjacency have been the trademark of endless legends ('long' before civ6 went out ) and it seems that this game is another spin-off (after endless space) , I'm expecting district adjacencies to be in the game close to the way it is in civ6

 

[Elhoim]

There will be district adjacency, but definitely more flexible than in Civ 6. For starters, districts in EL and here seem a bit more generic, and you can place more than one of them.

I think they stated they will not repeat what they did with EL that created the "diamond" shaped cities as an optimal strategy.

 

[bbbt]

Please don‘t do themed districts with adjacencies. It just creates a mini-puzzle game that distracts from the story. Do we have any indication they want to go with districts?

Endless had districts before Civ did. Not 'themed', just one type basically. From what I recall you could either expand your city with a district or 'level up' a district.

However, I believe in Endless you only 'worked' the tiles directly adjacent to your city. So expanding with a district allowed you to work more tiles (at the cost of losing one).

Not sure if they'll do Humankind in the same way or not.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Endless had districts before Civ did. Not 'themed', just one type basically. From what I recall you could either expand your city with a district or 'level up' a district.

However, I believe in Endless you only 'worked' the tiles directly adjacent to your city. So expanding with a district allowed you to work more tiles (at the cost of losing one).

Not sure if they'll do Humankind in the same way or not.

Given the pictures of sprawling cities in Humankind that have been released so far, I think a couple of conclusions are already justified:
1. You can build different types of Districts, given that some 'tiles' of the cities show different buildings/constructions in them
2. You can build the same District multiple times in the same city, given that identical street/structure patterns show up in multiple Districts.

I don't think they have released anything about the exact types of Districts, but given the pattern (inherited from EL) of Food, Production, Gold (EL's "Dust"), Science and some sort of Cultural/Political "Influence" being the basic denominations in the game, I'd bet on, as a minimum, Districts that produce each: Food/Farming, Production/Manufacturing, Gold/Finance/(Trade?), Science, and Culture/Influence.
After that, anything goes, but some sort of Harbor, Airport/Transportation Hub, and maybe "Wonder" District would be logical - the illustrations so far have shown District-sized structures identifiable as St Basil's Cathedral and possibly Etemenaki/Great Ziggurat, either of which could be a 'National' or 'World' Wonder. (And No, we don't know if Natonal Wonders are included in Humankind - yet)

As always, the Devil Is In The Details of how Output is modeled from a given District, what modifies Output, how easy the modifications/bonuses are to get, are they modified by a Bonus from the Faction you are playing, etc.
I confess one of the Big Questions for me is Can You Change A District? That is, if a District is now excess to your requirements, can you 'demolish' it and replace it with another? Is Urban Renewal part of the game, as it is sadly lacking in Civ VI.

 

[CivLuvah]

The map looks so amazing... The different elevation, the city tiles that actually look like cities, people walking around...

It's been a while since I posted anything of note. Life has taken over me, basically (new jobe who diz).

I must say if those city sections are districts, then they did a fine job of depicting districts as blending in with the urban sprawl instead of looking almost like they're mini-cities like in Civ6.

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

I am curious to see how Humankind will handle difficulty. I wonder if the AI will actually be able to provide a meaningful challenge as is or will they go the Civ route of giving the idiot AI flat bonuses and extra units to compensate.

One thing I am hopeful for is that we won't be subject to psychotic denouncements in Humankind. It gets really, really tiresome in Civ VI.

 

[Kaan Boztepe]

it is extremely hard and costly to code AI for a game with so many different aspects and units etc. , on the other hand if your arts and UI department doesnt measure up you lost the audience before they can appreciate the AI , so most companies put the AI on the to do list as "at a later date" and then go the give bonuses and let it cheat route.

 

[pokiehl]

I imagine the best indicator of Humankind's AI is the AI in Endless Legend.

 

[bbbt]

I am curious to see how Humankind will handle difficulty. I wonder if the AI will actually be able to provide a meaningful challenge as is or will they go the Civ route of giving the idiot AI flat bonuses and extra units to compensate.

I don't understand why people think this is Civ specific. Pretty much EVERY game scales difficulty with bonuses like that. All of the Endless games (made by Amplitude - who are making Humankind), all of Paradox's games (i.e. EUIV and the like), Total War games, every RPG I've ever played (up the difficulty - get more enemies with harder stats).

The only major game I can think of that doesn't is the new 'HD' versions of Age of Empires have had an AI revamp so they no longer get bonuses. Which is easier to be competitive in an RTS than a turn based, but still a pretty impressive accomplishment.

Anyway, based on Endless Legend, the AI in Humankind will likely be pretty bad out of the box, but may have some help from modders eventually.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Another new screenshot

https://twitter.com/humankindgame/status/1196828048886321157?s=19

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

What we can tell (at first glance) from this Screenshot:
1. This is apparently a much earlier city than the others that have appeared: only about 3 - 4 "districts" or separate tiles appear to be developed.
2. There are already two Structures shown that are separate and graphically distinctively different. Since one of them (the 'Ziggurat-looking' structure) also appears in the previous city screenshot released, bet you it represents the Palace or center of government - or maybe just a City Center, depending on how they are formulating city management.
3. There is a minimal 'stockade' type wall around the city, with what looks like barely-developed farmland outside the wall. This hints at (no surprise!) an Endless Legend type mechanism in which tiles adjacent to the city tiles are automatically worked by the city, while the rest of the 'region' provides sources of Resources.
4. To the right rear is what appears to be a Harbor-type installation which is Separate from the city tiles. Assuming it is in the same region as the city (no regional borders are showing that I could see) it means some 'Districts' of the city don't have to be contiguous with the rest of the city. Which means, potentially, that they could act like 'satellite cities' eventually being incorporated into the Main City as it spreads - like Ostia or Pireaus with Rome and Athens, respectively, or Cambridge, Massachusetts (an 'educational' District if you will) that is now incorporated into the Boston urban sprawl.
5. There is a sailing vessel to the left rear of the city, but whether this is an actual Unit, a 'special' ("Unique?") Unit, or just a graphic indication of a Trade Route is not apparent.

 

[Cerilis]

I don't understand why people think this is Civ specific. Pretty much EVERY game scales difficulty with bonuses like that. All of the Endless games (made by Amplitude - who are making Humankind), all of Paradox's games (i.e. EUIV and the like), Total War games, every RPG I've ever played (up the difficulty - get more enemies with harder stats).

The only major game I can think of that doesn't is the new 'HD' versions of Age of Empires have had an AI revamp so they no longer get bonuses. Which is easier to be competitive in an RTS than a turn based, but still a pretty impressive accomplishment.

Anyway, based on Endless Legend, the AI in Humankind will likely be pretty bad out of the box, but may have some help from modders eventually.

Age of Empires 2 is also a 20 year old game and the AI can have 20 years of player strategies fed to it. ^^

 

[Cerilis]

What we can tell (at first glance) from this Screenshot:
1. This is apparently a much earlier city than the others that have appeared: only about 3 - 4 "districts" or separate tiles appear to be developed.
2. There are already two Structures shown that are separate and graphically distinctively different. Since one of them (the 'Ziggurat-looking' structure) also appears in the previous city screenshot released, bet you it represents the Palace or center of government - or maybe just a City Center, depending on how they are formulating city management.
3. There is a minimal 'stockade' type wall around the city, with what looks like barely-developed farmland outside the wall. This hints at (no surprise!) an Endless Legend type mechanism in which tiles adjacent to the city tiles are automatically worked by the city, while the rest of the 'region' provides sources of Resources.
4. To the right rear is what appears to be a Harbor-type installation which is Separate from the city tiles. Assuming it is in the same region as the city (no regional borders are showing that I could see) it means some 'Districts' of the city don't have to be contiguous with the rest of the city. Which means, potentially, that they could act like 'satellite cities' eventually being incorporated into the Main City as it spreads - like Ostia or Pireaus with Rome and Athens, respectively, or Cambridge, Massachusetts (an 'educational' District if you will) that is now incorporated into the Boston urban sprawl.
5. There is a sailing vessel to the left rear of the city, but whether this is an actual Unit, a 'special' ("Unique?") Unit, or just a graphic indication of a Trade Route is not apparent.

Might be random, but did you notice that the "district" tile to the right of the 2 structures has much larger (residental?) buildings that are also present in the tiles with the structures (yet smaller), while the one to the left has a different kind of buildings with lots of smoke rising, suggesting its maybe a commercial or industrial district?

Compared to the other screenshot, where the residental looking buildings are all around the lowland area (downtown? ) while the more industrial ones are up on the rise.

Edit: Might also represent different levels of districts like in EL.