Q&A Livestream TODAY 6PM CEST

[SupremacyKing2]

 

[Elhoim]

It's on!

 

[Krajzen]

Unfortunately I cannot watch. Have they said anything we don't know about?

 

[Elhoim]

The 3 scenarios will be released one every week.

 

[Stringer1313]

Is this video posted somewhere? If not, can a kind person list out all the Q&A's or at least the significant ones?

 

[CivLuvah]

Here is the VOD of the stream:

http://www.twitch.tv/amplitudestudios/v/694307912?sr=a&t=424s

 

[Elhoim]

From reddit:

Didn't know there was a livestream. I'll give it a watch an summarize as it goes.

• Open Dev is very very soon. (We've been informed by good ol' Cato that it'll come out this month. Probably.) Keep your eyes peeled on your email.
  
  
• Most of the devs are working from home still thanks to Covid.
  
  
• Why Open Dev? To gather feedback from the players and make the game with the community. The scenarios allow them to get some more "laser focused" feedback on specific aspects of the game that are the focus of the scenarios.
  
  
• Scenario 1: It's coming up very soon. Not giving away too much, it's focused on city building, territory management, and exploration, playing as the Babylonians trying to build Babylon. The scenario has been custom built to be pretty good. It starts on not quite turn one.
  
  
• Scenario 2: Focused on battles. Bitesized scenarios within scenarios. Sadistic pleasure was taken in setting up the battles, which are quite tricky. Some are quite hard, done so in order to show off mechanics such as flanking, high ground, and using rivers and forests. From this, they're hoping to learn what was understood, what wasn't, and what needed improving.
  
  
• Scenario 3: They had a lot of fun on this one. The scenarios are all in rising difficulty, so the final scenario is the most difficult. If you beat it, wear it as a badge of honor. They expect to see lots of discussion on how people beat it. The final game likely won't be as difficult as some of these encounters play out though.
  
  
• How valuable is scenario feedback? Since the dev team is in a "developer vacuum," player feedback is vital. They want clear data from players to find what they find is most important, what they want changed, what they didn't understand, and what they loved, because positive feedback is always welcome too. Hold nothing back, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  

Questions from Chat:

• Do independent people evolve over time? In the beginning, there are ancient era independent peoples, throughout the game, new independent peoples will emerge based on the era. How they evolve, they can't go too deep on it at the present time.
  
  
• How long of intervals will there be between the Open Dev Scenarios? A week between each.
  
  
• Will the first scenario involve combat? This was actually a big question. It was originally to be purely focused on city building and the like, but they did include some animals for you to kill.
  
  
• Will their be Diplomacy in Open Dev? No, unfortunately. It's still being worked on, and they'd rather not include them in the Open Dev because it may dilute the feedback they're looking for.
  
  
• Are we going to see feedback results implemented earlier than final release? The information is not yet to be shared.
  
  
• How does one get involved in playing? Sign up with to join the Open Dev!
  
  
• Exploration was teased with ruins and whatnot on land, is their similar stuff at sea? There are indeed shipwrecks to find, and oil deposits can be found at sea as well.
  
  
• I wanna play the Aztecs! No Aztecs available in the pre-build scenarios to play as. The levels are pre-built specifically for the scenarios, so it would be awkward to switch it around so you could play the Aztecs as opposed to the English who are designed to be the played culture.
  
  
• Do battles have a turn limit? Yes. Humankind's depends on the number of units that are included in the battle itself. So early battles of like 2 units may only last a single turn. Late game fights may last many turns.
  
  
• Press Release didn't have religion. Will we see it in Open Dev? No, like diplomacy, they don't want to dilute the feedback that is specifically about early game city building and the like. Eventually, you'll get to give them a go.
  
  
• Will there be a more open demo eventually, like the first 50 turns? The First Scenario is very similar to this. The end is more open, just the beginning isn't.
  
  
• In the full release, will we be able to customize our flag and colors like we can customize our leader? Can't talk about how the leader is designed just yet, the mock ups for the lobby and the like are still work in progress, no promises just yet. An off screen Frenchman does confirm you get to choose your Emblem.
  
  
• Will we get to play the Scenarios again after we play them? Y E S.
  
  
• A quick apology is made to press and content creators for the mispronunciation of "hoplite" as "hop-i-lite." Apologies all around for mispronunciations. The names they try and select are as authentic as possible to the culture, and there was some philosophical debate around some names, as they don't want people to be completely lost. But with the icon, art, and brief description, they think they've minimized potential confusion.
  
  
• Can we stream or post AARs of the open dev on socials and forums? Yes! You are encouraged to do so! They are meant to be challenging for "regular people" not super geniuses, so they're expecting things like "I beat the open dev fights without losing a single unit!"
  
  
• Are the open dev tests going to be same for all participants or are there going to A/B styled testing with some people trying slightly different things? No, all scenarios are same for everybody. They're trying to get pinpointed feedback on specifics as opposed to lots of comments about lots of different stuffs.
  
  
• If you're accepted into one scenario, will you get into all scenarios? Yes. If you get selected for an early scenario, you get access to all the scenarios, and if you're selected later on, you can still go back and play previous scenarios.
  
  
• One last thing about the open devs. There is a questionnaire at the end of the scenarios, the devs worked hard to figure out what and how to ask the questions, so please fill them out to your best of your abilities.
  

4x themed rapid fire questions!

• Favorite Ancient Era Culture to play as? Carthage. Loves setting up ports! Off screen Frenchman with the save, pointing out Carthage is Classical. The answer is Phoenicians then. Hittites are fun too, good for rushing. It's possibly a good idea to take some neighbors down a peg before making money (in the following era.)
  
  
• Resource you prioritize early game? Industry first, money second. Tries to get horses quickly so they can be used to explore and grab curiosities.
  
  
• What type of 4x player do you hate playing against? Ironically since rushing was just talked about, rushers. A gentlemanly engagement is preferred. Like the Emu War, says the off screen Frenchman.
  
  
• Aggressive or Diplomatic? Diplomatic, but depends on the mood. Talk softly but carry a big stick.
  
  
• Apologies on the Ancient/Classical slip up. He's still struggling to get the names straight as they were still different for half the development.
  

Two more questions!

• What Civilization is best for those who despise fighting? Since you're choosing a new culture each era, aesthetes and merchants are perhaps best for "non-violent" play. There are plenty of choices, and many cultural building blocks that you can use to create a "pacifist" civilization. There's also plenty of opportunities to pivot. Like starting as the Hittites to rush neighbors, and if you succeeded or failed, you can go merchant in the next era as a reaction to that. You can also plan ahead in order to get more fame, say you've taken out a neighbor so there's a large section of territory for you expand into, so you can pick an Expansionist culture in the next era to reap more fame. Expansionists cultures are not necessarily military focused, by the way.
  
  
• What is it like to play as the Harrappans? The Canal District sounds fun to play with. Yeah, the Canal district essentially allows you to build rivers, and if you play your cards right, you can get some crazy benefits.
  

Open Dev is very soon btw. Keep your eyes on your emails. Might be in the junk mail.

What if? Contest Winners. The Theme of the week was Rules.

The winners are judged in four different categories. Originality, Adherence to the Theme, Dev Crush, and a sort of "Grand Winner."

memes

A thank you for joining, all the questions, Open Dev is very soon. They're streaming something tomorrow so pop back in if you like Humankind. Like favorite subscribe all that jazz.

And that's it.

 

[CivLuvah]

Can we stream or post AARs of the open dev on socials and forums? Yes! You are encouraged to do so! They are meant to be challenging for "regular people" not super geniuses, so they're expecting things like "I beat the open dev fights without losing a single unit!"

I asked that one

 

[Elhoim]

Will the first scenario involve combat? This was actually a big question. It was originally to be purely focused on city building and the like, but they did include some animals for you to kill.

I asked this one

 

[Catoninetales_Amplitude]

That's a very nice writeup, Elhoim.

Off screen Frenchman with the save

I don't think I qualify for either part of the word "Frenchman," though.

 

[Elhoim]

That's a very nice writeup, Elhoim.

Thanks, but I lifted it up from Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/HumankindTheGame/comments/i05l68/what_did_we_learn_from_todays_livestream/

Props to RobotDoctorRobot