HUMANKIND™ News

After last week's look at how naval battles will change in the next update, it's time we turn our attention to how we will handle strategic and luxury resources in the next update, and touch on some of the changes that should make control of the oceans more appealing.


Resource Deposits: Riches of the Land

Before we delve into how strategic and luxury resources will work in the next update, we need to say a few words about what they won't be: a stockpile-based system. We know many of you were hoping that we could switch to a system in which you produce and consume resources every turn and your stockpile changes accordingly, with consequences for running out, but changing from the current access-based system to a stock-based system would be such a fundamental change that it would have taken too much of our attention away from other tasks.

So, if we are not switching to stockpiles, then how are we handling resources in the upcoming patch?

While we are sticking with an access-based system of strategic and luxury resources, we are aiming to increase its granularity and diminish the effect an abundance or scarcity of any given resource will have on your economy. To that end, resource deposits on the map will now usually yield more than one copy of each resource. This not only generates some variation in the (strategic) value of different deposits, it also allows us to add some effects that increase the yield of deposits so you can improve your economy without exploiting new deposits. The higher number of resources in your economy also ties into some changes to the trade system that we will discuss next week.




Strategic Resource Requirements: Supply and Demand

Of course, with easier access to strategic resources from horses and copper all the way to oil and uranium, we've had to increase the resource requirements of units and infrastructures. Won't that just leave us at square one, though, where you are just a single copy of a resource short of building that cool Emblematic Unit you just unlocked? That's why we are also changing the resource requirement system: Now a single copy of each of the required resources will be enough to unlock construction, but falling short of the requirement will make it inefficient as each missing copy increases the industry cost. 


Luxury Resources:  People-pleaser

There's been no shortage of feedback about luxury resources since the game's release. Some people found that access to luxury resources made stability both trivial and volatile, as it was as easy to gain massive stability bonuses as it was to lose them. Others found that an abundance of a few select resources could catapult their economy to new heights. The general consensus was that luxury resources in Humankind were very, very powerful. 

Obviously, leaving them untouched as we increase the number of copies of each luxury was a no-go, but even tweaking their power might not suffice. 

To rein in the growth spike an abundance of any specific resource can give you, but maintain resources as a valuable goal for expansion, trade, or even conquest, we have split the effects of luxury resources into three categories: 

• The diversification effect: This effect is earned with the first copy of a luxury resource you have access to and does not stack. Generally, this bonus will offer a moderate boost to Food, Industry, Money, or Science, as well as a stability bonus to your cities. 
• The cumulative effect: This bonus stacks per copy of the luxury resource you have access to, but only offers a smaller boost to FIMS than the diversification effect does. 
• The wondrous effect: Earned by controlling the luxury manufactory of a resource, this effect is a stacking percentage bonus to the appropriate FIMS yield. 

Of course, the “manufactured” resources like Weapons or Pharmaceuticals do not have Wondrous Effects and do not necessarily follow the pattern outlined above. 


Internal Trade: Shipping and Handling

So, how do you take advantage of these new resource effects? 

The first step hasn't changed much: You still build a resource extractor on a deposit in your territory, even if you can later upgrade its yields with infrastructure. However, this extractor no longer supplies your entire empire directly. Instead, all your resources must first be taken to your capital by way of domestic trade routes, from the extractor to its administrative center and then territory by territory to the city center of your capital. 




Resources will only affect your empire if this path can be traced without interruption, so you might lose the benefits of faraway resources without losing control of the deposits, especially if they have to cross neutral or foreign territory. Since many ocean regions cannot be claimed, resources found outside your home continent are particularly vulnerable to poaching. 


Hang on a minute... 

Poaching? 

Well, you'll just have to come back next week to learn about that.

For the second day of Endless Summer 2023, we're looking at Humankind and taking it to the high seas as we dive into what the naval update will bring to the game. 


While the focus of this update is on maritime gameplay, many of the changes to make control of the oceans more rewarding will also impact the land-locked parts of your empire. We are expanding the resource system to make access to resources more granular and are rebalancing luxury resources in the process. We're also reworking the trade system to make it clearer, with fewer but more valuable and more vulnerable international trade routes, opening lucrative opportunities to disrupt your enemies' trade through ransacking or other means.

But we will discuss those changes in the coming weeks. Today, we want to talk to you about naval combat. 




Naval Unit Rebalance: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Many of you let us know that you found naval units too slow and weak compared to land units, especially once gunpowder entered the picture. 

In the next update, we're rebalancing the abilities and costs of naval units pretty much across the board. Most naval combat units (as well as air units for proper carrier support) will see increases to their movement speed, attack range, or combat strength. Late game capital ships in particular will deliver devastating blows to land units if they get a chance to fire on them. 


Larger Battlefields: From Boarding to Bombardment 

With faster speeds and longer ranges, the combat areas were starting to feel a bit cramped. We increased the size of naval battles to let you take full advantage of the new-found mobility and firepower of your navies, and stretched the deployment zones to the edges of the battlefield to begin every battle in the most favorable position. Finally, these battles will not feature a flag to capture, as a supply camp made little sense on the open seas. That does not mean all battles end in complete destruction, though, as in the second turn of a battle you may be able to call a retreat and fall back to the edges of the battlefield if you have taken heavy losses. 


Ranged Retaliation: Early Modern Warfare 

Faster movement, longer ranges, greater firepower... Won't this just amplify the first move advantage in combat many of you have pointed out? You might think so, but your enemy will be shooting back now! The attacker may still have the advantage of being the first to concentrate their firepower, but they'll take a chunk of damage in return. 


New Classes and Abilities: Top of the Line 

While all the changes mentioned above will help to set naval battles apart from land battles, they are merely the bones of the naval combat changes. The meat and flavor are in the changes and additions to the mid and late game naval units. 

Starting in the Early Modern age, you will have access to two classes of ships, Capital Ships and Escorts. Not only are capital ships armed heavily enough to support your sieges by destroying walls, their sheer bulk means they take less damage from attacks! Most of them also have the Ship of the Line ability that gives them even higher combat strength when they're next to two other allied units, encouraging you to form a battle line and meet your enemies with a withering hail of cannon fire. 

Capital ships are, however, quite expensive. This is where the escorts come in: Cheap and fast, they are an excellent option for patrolling your trade routes so you can bring the might of your capital ships to bear where it is most needed, and to further support these behemoths in battle. With the advent of torpedo warfare, they will also help to screen your capital ships against attacks, while serving as a spotter for their massive guns on the side.




A Note on Land Battles 

We know that some of these changes to naval battles would also be interesting improvements for land battles, and that a good part of our players would welcome them, so we want to be upfront with you: We may not be able to add ranged retaliation or retreat to land battles, as both features face additional technical and design challenges in land battles. However, the expanded deployment zones are shared between sea and land battles, and air squadrons stationed within the battlefield can be used during the battle for both. 



That's all for today but join us next week for a closer look at some of the economic changes. 

We're hosting our Endless Summer event this week, so this month we will take Humankind to Auriga! It's a beautiful planet... you know, apart from the impending end of the world. Better get ready to leave together to the stars. 




The Aurigan Summer Scenario Challenge

Auriga, home to such iconic factions as the Vaulters, plays a key role in the unfolding story of the Endless universe. It's a beautiful planet, but also a dangerous one. Wracked by cataclysms before, the world seemingly recovered, only to spiral towards destruction once more. Can you lead your people to find a way to escape or to survive the increasingly hostile environment, even without the help of the near-magical powers of Dust? 


How to play the scenario:

1. Download the save AuriganSummer.ctr
2. Place the save in “/Documents/Humankind/Save Files”  
3. Load the save labeled “AuriganSummer” in game  
4. (optional) If you want to submit a score to the leaderboard, check this post  

(We know that downloading and manually placing a save file is inconvenient. However, we do not currently have the means to deliver these directly in game, though we are exploring this option.)


Scenario Conditions

• Victory Condition: Most Fame at game end  
• End Condition: Space Race, Endgame Technologies 
• Game Conditions: Nation difficulty, Fast game speed, no DLC or mods  
• Leaderboard Submission Deadline: August 28th 
• Leaderboard Ranking: Fastest Victory, tiebreaker by Fame 

We hope you'll have fun building a glorious city full of wonderful structures! 

After we set you on the warpath last time, this time around we want to focus on more peaceful pursuits once more. Let's build some beautiful cities. Well, one beautiful city, your capital. After all, massive construction projects that everybody talks about seem to be a great way to be remembered throughout history. 

 




From ancient pyramids to modern skyscrapers, massive construction projects can be found throughout history. Though they may have been built for different reasons, they always fascinate us, and they always require exceptional effort and careful planning. That won't deter us, though, as we want to create a grand city for perhaps the most simple reason: Vanity, because a ruler needs (or at least wants) an impressive seat of power. Let's see who can build the most impressive capital city filled with Cultural Wonders! 

 

[h3]How to play the scenario:[/h3]

1. Download the save Scenario-CityOfWonders.ctr
2. Place the save in “/Documents/Humankind/Save Files”  
3. Load the save labeled “Scenario-CityOfWonders” in game  
4. (optional) If you want to submit a score to the leaderboard, check this post on G2G 

 

[h3]Scenario Conditions[/h3]

• Victory Condition: Most Fame at game end  
• End Condition: Turn Limit 
• Game Conditions: Nation difficulty, Fast game speed, no DLC or mods  
• Leaderboard Submission Deadline: July 23rd 
• Leaderboard Ranking: Most Cultural Wonders in your capital, tiebreaker by Fame 

 

We hope you'll have fun building a glorious city full of wonderful structures!

STEAM WORKSHOP

• Fixed an issue where the "Upload Map" pop-up could not be closed without actually uploading a map.
  
• Fixed an issue where a Mod could not be re-uploaded through the Humankind Mod tool if it was deleted through the Steam Workshop page.
  
• Fixed an issue where the UI could break when refreshing mods in certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Description field in Steam Workshop was lacking formating possibilities.
  
• Fixed an issue where a recurring "mod mismatch" message was displayed when launching the game after unsubscribing a Mod.
  

OTHER FIXES

• Fixed an issue where some custom maps validated by the editor caused an error when starting a new game on it. To fix the issue, Creators need to reopen their map, and go to the territory tab, then the validation tab, to re-validate their maps.
  
• Fixed an issue where incorrect text was displayed in the "Upload Map" tooltip.
  
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip of the Random button was not clear in Multiplayer Lobby.
  
• Fixed an issue where a few Game Updates illustrations were in greyscale when all the others were colored.
  
• Fixed other minor UI and localization issues.
  

PARA BELLUM WONDERS PACK FIXES

• Fixed an issue where the Kaiserliche Werft was incorrectly updating its own industry bonus in the Cultural Wonders tab.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Kaiserliche Werft wonder tooltip was missing information that it is considered a harbor.
  
• Removed "Domestication" technology prerequisite from The Stable of Pi-Ramesses.