CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• Removed the cakeification on city centers and the unicorn spawn boost. Cake-city centers will remain as long as they are not renovated.

FIXES

• fixed an issue resulting in the game being blocked into infinite turns pending when a white peace was proposed to an AI, in rare occasions.

Today, we're wrapping up the one year anniversary of Humankind. Thank you all for celebrating with us, and for the many kind and encouraging messages we received. 


As part of the celebration, we had prepared a short video looking back at the past year. Some of you may have already seen it on our anniversary livestream, but we know our fans are spread across the world, and the middle of the week isn't always convenient, so here it is again for you to watch at your own leisure:



While we've been celebrating the past year, we also want to take a look forward into the future. We've prepared a new overview of what we'll be working on in the next few months. 






Of course, this list isn't exhaustive, and we have other plans for improvements and additions to the game. But we're not quite ready to talk about those yet, so stay tuned to our channels if you don't want to miss any big announcements! In the meantime, check out the Games2Gether rewards section for one final anniversary gift: A pack of three What If themed wallpapers. 

As part of our One Year Anniversary for Humankind, we are continuing our new format for in-game challenges. Thank you to everybody who participated in last month’s challenge for your interest and feedback. We are happy with the positive reception of the new format, but we knew the devil’s in the details and there would be many improvements to make, so your ongoing feedback will be invaluable. For this month we are using a map handcrafted by one of our designers and trying different scoring conditions, and we look forward to hearing about your strategies and what you think of the scenario.



The 100 Years War Scenario Challenge

In this scenario, you start in the medieval era as the Franks, in control of Paris on a huge map of France. The English have already made landfall, and it is up to you to push them back. But act swiftly, for only the quickest to defeat the English by taking all their land or vassalizing them shall enter the Hall of Fame! The scenario itself will be available permanently, but if you want to be added to the leaderboard you need to submit your score by September 14th. 


How to Enter the Leaderboard 

1. Start the scenario from the Play section of the Main menu
2. Win the scenario as quickly as you can 
3. Create a new submission in the 100 Years War section of the Contests page, including 
   • A screenshot of your victory screen 
   • A save of your victory turn (found in \Documents\Humankind\Save Files) 
4. If you play a second time, please update your existing submission (Do not create a new one) 

All entries will be added to the leaderboard, ranked by how quickly they won the scenario (faster victories ranking higher). In case of a tie for the victory turn, the player with higher Fame score will be ranked higher. If that is still not enough, the player who destroyed more units will be ranked higher. 

While everybody will be entered into the Leaderboard displayed in the contest section after the challenge ends, only the top players will be worthy of entering the “Hall of Fame” and receiving a special Games2Gether badge to commemorate their success. Please note that the badges may not be ready by the end of the challenge, and you may receive them at a later date. 

 

If you're not interested in entering the Hall of Fame, perhaps you would rather lead your civilization through all of history on this map. We have made a four player version available on our mod.io page.



Have fun leading the Franks to victory! 

It's been a year since the release of Humankind, and it's been a busy one! We've had several major updates, various events, two DLCs expanding the selection of cultures, and the announcement of the console edition. This week we want to celebrate the birthday of Humankind with you, and we have brought gifts and games:



First off, the in-game events and their rewards are back! Couldn't finish the Dia de los Muertos challenges and unlock La Catrina? Missed out on the cool player icons from the da Vinci event? No problem. Just jump back in and grab what you missed. Except this time, there's no time limit! You can finish these challenges and unlock their rewards at your own pace. The Lunar New Year challenge has also been re-opened for a second chance to unlock the persona.


If you're not into this kind of challenge, we got a new Challenge Scenario for you instead! Carefully crafted by our game designers, the 100 Years War scenario pits you as the Franks against the English on a map of France. How quickly can you defeat them? You can download the 100 Years War scenario conveniently from the play section on the main menu of the game this time! If you do feel competitive and want a shot at entering the Hall of Fame, check the scenario blog for information on how to compete for fame and fortune bragging rights. You can also grab a https://humankind.old.mod.io/official-france-map to play on it with any cultures you like. 



We've also added some new avatar customization options for everybody: Hats, at long last! Well, at least some of them could reasonably be called hats... Among the selection of hairstyles, you will find six new headdresses ranging from ancient pharaonic to modern styles to adorn your ruler. Heavy is the head that wears the tricorne. You might also notice a few other, temporary changes to the game. 



Finally, we're joining the celebration ourselves with a stream! Tune in to http://twitch.tv/Amplitudestudios for our anniversary stream with interviews and gameplay. We'd love to see you hanging out with us in chat! 

 

- The Amplitude Team

CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• Added the "One Hundred Years War" scenario.
  
• Added hats in the avatar customization panel.
  
• Added all previously released community challenges.

SPECIAL TIME-LIMITED FEATURES

• Added the Cakeification constructible for City Centers.
  
• You might also see magical animals running around. Who knows?

Balance is an important topic for many of you, as it informs your strategies and your choice of cultures, which in turn affects how different your games will feel. Since replayability is important for a 4X game, with the Battuta Update, we focused on improving many of the less popular or less picked cultures to make them more appealing. Some of you may have already tried these changes in the beta, and we’ve seen some excitement for the options the reworked cultures offer. For those of you who did not play the beta or haven’t heard about the Battuta Patch before, here’s a quick recap of the main features (click on the names in bold or see below for more details):

 

• Culture Balancing (see below): Rebalanced numerous cultures, including various new effects and abilities 
• Improved Militarist Action (see below): Added an option to upgrade militia into proper combat units, and fixed various bugs with the ability 
• Rebalanced Influence costs(See below): Cost of enacting civics, attaching territories, and merging cities grows far less over the course of the game 
• Improved Religious Districts: Various Tenets now provide economic bonuses on religious districts and religious districts are clearly marked in their tooltip 
• Better Civics Tooltips: Civics tooltips now show the effects of both options, even before you unlock them 
• Immersive Player Names: Diplomatic notifications now focus on the persona and give them a title appropriate for their government 
• Line of Sight Rework: Improved Line of Sight rules to generate more intuitive results and allow easier use of direct fire units
• City visuals: Improved variety of Commons Quarters and facing of quarters to reduce repetitive patterns in large cities 

 
We hope you’ll have fun exploring new strategies in the Battuta Update! 




If you have been around for the beta you will be familiar with these changes, BUT we have tweaked a couple of things (underlined), these tweaks can be "real" changes or changes that weren't on the previous blog but that they were on the beta.

You probably know how many players bring up the rapidly growing influence costs for various actions in the game. To be honest, some of those costs did spiral a bit out of control in the mid to late game. So we are adjusting some factors to the following:

• Civics: Reduced the cost impact of Number of Enacted Civics
• Attaching Outposts: Reduced the impact of already attached territories by 40%
• Merging Cities: Reduced the impact of Infrastructure Buyout Cost by over 50%

Forcefully Vassalizing an opponent after a war will now be cheaper if you have more Fame than them. Roughly every 200 Fame should provide a 10 point reduction in War Score Cost. We also fixed the bug where (re-)vassalizing an empire after they tried to break free wasn't free as intended.

While the Iron Reserves ability is incredibly powerful when exploited by an experienced player, we found that most more casual players find it extremely weak and almost never use it. So, we are making some tweaks to it to make it feel better to use for casual players, while fixing some bugs and unintended uses:

• Militia units in Eras 5 and 6 now cost 2 pop each to raise (sieges unaffected) 
• Militia units can be upgraded into professional units in the Anti Cavalry branch (starting from Spearmen up to Rifles in the 6th era) 
• Fixed Militia units being free to heal
• Fixed an exploit that created population when upgrading and disbanding units
• Adjusted Ability Cooldown to scale with gamespeed and army size

To give you additional options when building your cities, Harbors will now serve as a "construction anchor" the same way Hamlets do, letting you build new districts next to them. We think this will particularly benefit naval cultures with "counts as" effects on their Emblematic Harbors, or otherwise maritime cultures. (Looking at you, Dutch V.O.C. Warehouse...)





Now we're getting into the meat of the balancing

Phoenicians

• Phoenician LT loses early naval tech cost reductions, gains +1 CS and +1 Movement Speed on naval units
• EU becomes Naval Transport, unlocked with Fishing. 13CS, 2 Movement Speed (14CS and 3 Move Speed with LT)
• Phoenicians gain access to Pentekonter
• EQ gains a +1 Food worker slot 

Hittites

• LT: tech cost reduction to wheel replaced with "+20 to FIMS per Occupied City on each of their Own Cities" (Note: This effect ends with the war.)
• Emblematic Quarter provides +3 Money and +20 Health Regen to friendly units in territory

Assyria

• Dunnu counts as Commons Quarter
• EQ gets Influence yield raised to +3 (was +2)

Myceneans

• EQ loses additional industry bonus
• EQ Stability bonus is now +5 (instead of +15)

Olmec

• LT now gives +3 Influence per territory (was +1)

Egyptians

• EU loses “Indirect Fire” 

Romans

• EQ now permanently gives +5 Influence, +5 Stability for each adjacent district 
• EQ now counts as Commons Quarter 
• EQ gives +50 Fame if completed while city is Victorious 
• LT –30% upkeep reduction replaced with +50% experience gain on unit
• LT lost -30% Research Cost for Imperial Power
• Praetorian Guard lose 1CS (now 29)

Goths

• LT: Removed Ransack Combat Strength Bonus 
• LT: Added "+5% of Ransack Gains earned as Science per Army Unit (bonus scales with amount of units in ransacking army) 
• EQ Base Yields unchanged, but no Stability penalty
• EQ also increases overall ransack bounty by +5% 
• EQ now counts as Commons Quarter

Era 2+ nomads (Huns, Mongols)

• No longer gain food as combat spoils 
• Now can collect special “Pasture” curiosities that spawn on Prairie and Dry Grass which give food

Huns

• LT: Added +5 science per Unit on hostile territory

Garamantes

• EQ removed +1Food per adjacent Rocky Field and Stone Field
• EQ gains +1 food on exploitation on territory (there is a bug on the UI that doesn't mention "on territory")
• EQ now must be build next to Sterile, Stony Field, or Rocky Field
• EU losses “Indirect Fire” 

Aztecs

• EQ now counts as Commons Quarter
• EQ now gives +10 Stability (was +5)
• Sacrifice Action now causes each EQ to get +100% to their stability output
• Additional Sacrifice effect gives +1 CS to Heavily Damaged (<33%) Units per Sacrificing settlements

Mongols 

• LT: Added -25% Vassalization cost reduction

Khmer

• EU loses “Move and Fire” 
• EU gain Elephant Platform (no penalty from melee attacks).
• EU loses “Indirect Fire” 

Ming

• LT: Replaced "+1 Influence on Territory" with "+10 Influence per enacted Civic"
• EQ: No longer provides Stability, but counts as Commons Quarter instead
• EQ: +1 influence per district in same territory as emblematic quarter

Poles

• EQ now counts as Commons Quarter

Venetians

• LT: +1 influence per trade route, +1 money per trade route, +2 money per naval route   
• EQ: +2 Money base yield (was +1)
• EQ: +2 Influence per adjacent District (was +1 per market before)

Spain

• EQ now gives +5 stability (was -10)
• EQ now counts as Commons Quarter

Ethiopia

• LT effect boosted to +10 Science on Garrisons (was +5)
• LT gains "CS of hostile units within borders gained as Science"
• EQ now counts as Commons Quarter
• EQ now properly counts as Garrison

Zulu

• EQ now counts as Farmers Quarter
• EQ now serves as construction anchor like Hamlet
• EQ now gives +25XP on new units (was +10)

French

• EQ loses "Collective Minds" effect
• EQ gains +2 Science per trade route

Russians

• LT loses old effects
• LT gains "-25% outpost creation cost"
• LT gains +10 Fortification on settlements

USSR

• Resource now only applies CS bonus only if unit is Supplied

Americans

• EQ loses "strength on adjacent units"
• EQ no longer reduces Stability
• EQ gains gold synergy with Garrisons
• EQ counts as Market Quarter
• EQ counts as Commons Quarter
• EQ gives +3 Bombardment Strength (Yes, this is global)

Japan

• EQ loses inherent synergy effect with Makers and Research quarters (infrastructures that give synergy to Makers and Research quarters still work)
• EQ: Restricted +2 Science and +2 Industry effects to local territory

Turks

• LT buffed to +3 Food per pop (was +1)

Brazil

• EQ: gains "+3 Science per adjacent Farmers Quarter"
• EQ: gains +1 Researcher slot
• EQ now counts as research quarter

India

• EQ: count as Common Quarter and Religious District
• EQ: exploits industry and food of tiles (as Hamlets)
• EQ: does not need to be placed next to another district
• EQ: loses +2 Faith per population
• EQ: provide +1 Science, +1 Influence on Religious District
• LT: +5 influence (instead of +3), +2% money per territory under influence 

Cuba

• EQ: count as Science Quarter
• EQ: removed +1 Food per population per Pharmaceuticals on all Cities
• EQ: +1 Food per Food Worker per Pharmaceuticals on Overpopulated cities 
• EQ on Settled cities  (>90% Stability) 
  • +1 Industry per Pharmaceutical access per Industry worker
  • +1 Money per Pharmaceutical access per money worker
  • +1 Science per Pharmaceutical access per Science worker

We've added an explicit line in the "counts as" section for religious districts. Currently, the list of Religious Districts includes all Holy Sites ("normal" and cultural wonders, but this may not be displayed yet), and the the following Emblematic Quarters

• Aztec
• Maya
• Edo Japanese
• Spanish
• Russian
• Umayyads
• Maurya
• Celts
• Goths
• Aksumites
• Teutons
• Ottomans
• Nazca
• Mississippians

In addition to that, we have added an additional effect to the following Tenets

• Tier 1
  • Respect the seas’ bounties : +2 Food on Religious District
  • Abstain from Intoxicants: +2 Industry on Religious District 
  • Seek Wisdom: +2 Science on Religious District 
  • Shelter the True Oracles: +2 Influence on Religious District 
  • Be virtuous as Water: +2 Stability on Religious District 
  • Reject Luxury: +2 Money on Religious District 
• Tier 2 
  • Undertake Pilgrimage: +2 Influence on Religious District 
  • Bear not False Witness: +2 Science on Religious District 
  • Give Alms: +2 Money on Religious District 
  • Observe Fasts : +2 Food on Religious District 
  • Protect the Weak: +2 Stability on Religious District 
• Tier 3 
  • Develop the Intellect: +2 Science on Religious District 
  • Purge Idleness: +2 Industry on Religious District 
  • Mandate Patronage: +2 Money on Religious District 
  • Proselytize Daily: +2 Influence on Religious District 
• Tier 4 
  • Raise Monuments: +2 Science on Religious District 
  • Donate Generously: +2 Money on Religious District 
  • Sustain the Faithful: +2 Stability on Religious District

IMPORTANT CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• Introduced the new Empire Name system.
  
• Heavily rebalanced cultures, including Militarist Iron Reserves rework, Phoenicians EU becoming naval transport, etc.
  
• Rebalanced influence costs, especially late game: Enact Civic, Attach Territory and Merge City influence costs grow slower.
  
• New Line of Sight calculation (should be more intuitive).

Please find all balance changes here : https://www.games2gether.com/amplitude-studios/humankind/forums/168-general/threads/49496-battuta-patch-balance-changes?page=1#post-357922

OTHER ADDITIONS AND CHANGES

• New Loading screens.
  
• New Loading tips.
  
• Borders are now turned off when removing the UI overlay with Shift+F10 (for nicer screenshots!)
  
• Civic Bonuses shown in tooltips for locked civics.
  
• Improved rotation of quarters, buliding placement in city plans and variety of Commons Quarters to avoid repetitive patterns in large cities.

FIXES OF ISSUES SPOTTED BY THE COMMUNITY (THANKS!)

• Vassalizing an enemy after they try to break free should now cost 0 war support
  
• Fixed several issues with the Wonder-Full achievement not unlocking properly.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Pacesetter achievement not unlocking properly.
  
• Fixed an issue where "Falling Out" achievement was not unlocking correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where the "International Trading" civic was not unlocking when the prerequisites were met.
  
• Fixed an issue where War Support changes did not match between the battle aftermath and diplomacy screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where an AI controlled empire could get stuck in the Neolithic.
  
• Fixed an issue with no texture appearing on the Great Zimbabwe wonder.
  
• Fixed an issue where the community folder could have too many folders when building mods often.
  
• Fixed an issue where Air and Artillery strikes could corrupt a save in very rare occasions.
  
• Fixed an issue where units with the Bombard ability could not attack a unit on a tile with destroyed fortifications.
  
• Fixed an issue where armies standing on an outpost of an empire that just signed a non-aggression pact would get destroyed.
  
• Fixed an issue with resource pins not correctly updating when replacing an embematic resource with different types of resource extractor.
  
• Fixed an issue where the yields of the Aesthete ability were working differently than described in the tooltip.

OTHER FIXES

• Fixed an issue where a player who was not the host could change DLC content spawn probability settings in the multiplayer lobby.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Mississipians' emblematic quarter wasn't giving money to adjacent districts.
  
• Fixed an issue where resource pins remained on tiles that became Wastelands.
  
• Fixed an issue where the "See more" button in the new update panel on the main menu was incorrectly localized in several languages.
  
• Fixed an issue where armies could not ransack tiles belonging to one of their vassal empires.

CULTURES OF LATIN AMERICA FIXES

• [Community] Fixed an issue with the Baira Hunter's tooltip not correctly showing the Indirect Fire ability.
  
• [Community] Fixed an issue where the Inca's emblematic quarter could not be build next to some mountain tiles.
  
• [Community] Fixed an issue where the Inca's emblematic quarter could not be built next to mountain natural wonders.
  
• [Community] Fixed an issue where Sapa Inca Guards had their Anti-cavalry bonus applied twice.
  
• [Community] Fixed an issue where the Taino emblematic unit did not replace the crossbowmen.
  
• [Community] Fixed an issue where units minor factions added with the Cultures of Latin America had incorrect art.
  
• [Community] Fixed an issue where the Machu Pichu wonder would lose functionality after its territory was split, upgraded to a city, then merged.
  
• Fixed an issue where bonuses from Machu Picchu also applied to outposts.

When we launched the Humankind events with the Dia de los Muertos event last year, we wanted to encourage players to pursue different goals than usual and get creative with their strategies, while also rewarding successful players with some neat but not essential in-game rewards. However, many of you felt that we missed the mark on this, voicing your concerns about various aspects of the events, from the specific challenges to the FOMO of their timed nature. 


Clearly, we had to rethink our approach to challenging our players, but we needed time to weigh out options. In the meantime, we relied on the existing system to continue providing challenges, while also experimenting with other formats like the Amplified and Lunar New Year Community Challenges and the Push Humankind Too Far Challenge. 


In the end, we decided to keep things simple: Scenarios instead of challenges. 

Many players had suggested scenarios as an alternative to the time-limited goals of the events, and it is an idea we like and had considered before. Unfortunately, hand-crafting scenarios like the first OpenDev takes a lot of work from our designers, and it will take time to create them. So, while you can look forward to some big scenarios, we also want to pass the time between them by providing smaller, more straightforward scenarios, like the first scenario we are releasing today to try the new format. Whether big or small, these scenarios will be provided as a save by us, you will be able to replay them any time you want with no time pressure.

However, playing the scenario early will still have some small benefits. As an added competitive element, we will maintain a Hall of Fame, but entry into this leaderboard will be limited to a certain time after the scenario is first published, and the top scoring players may receive a Games2Gether badge as a reward. Beyond those bragging rights, though, there will not be any other rewards for these scenarios, as we do not want anybody to miss out. 



Scenario Challenge 01: Summer Heat 

Since we want to focus on trying the new format with this first challenge, we have kept the scenario fairly simple, pitting you against 9 Empire-level AI on a standard-sized map on fast speed, with only 150 Turn Limit as the end condition to keep scores comparable. But water is scarce in this world, with a desert spanning across the center of the map, and barely any rivers, lakes, and oceans. How great an empire can you build in these conditions?

Note that this scenario was created to be compatible with the Ibn Battuta Update, which unfortunately means it is not backwards compatible with the Bolivar update. To play this scenario, you will have to use the beta branch or wait for the release of Ibn Battuta.


Download the Scenario Save here:https://medias.games2gether.com/forums/the-cat-o-nine-tales/ScenarioChallenge01-SummerHeat.ctr

How to use it?

1. Download the Save File
   
2. Copy the file into the "Save Files" > C:\Users\"username"\Documents\Humankind\Save Files
   
3. Make sure you are on the Battuta Beta (otherwise will crash)
   • If not, Right Click on the Game on Steam > Properties
     
   • Betas > Select "ibnnattuta_beta"
4. Open the game > Play > Load > Select the "CommunityChallenge01-SummerHeat"
   
5. Enjoy and submit your result on the contest section ^-^

 
For the time being, we are using the contest section on Games2Gether to collect submissions to the leaderboard. If you want to compete against other players for the Hall of Fame, please create a new contest entry, and include a screenshot of your final score as well as the save game on the turn you won. For the sake of fairness and verifying your scores, mods will not be allowed for leaderboard entries. If you played the scenario a second time and got a better score, feel free to update your submission, but please do not create a new entry. We will close submission to the leaderboard in two weeks (July 27th). 



However, the new scenario format does not mean our old events and rewards are lost to time. We may reactivate these events to give all players the chance to unlock their rewards at their own pace in the future. This will require some preparation, though, so we cannot yet tell you when that may happen.


We hope you will enjoy this little challenge, and the bigger scenarios we have in mind for the future.

The Ibn Battuta Update will arrive soon, but we have one last sneak peek for you. Today we want to take a look at cultures and balancing. 


While we made some general balance changes in this update, like making vassalization easier for famed empires and making most influence-based actions cheaper in the mid and late game, our focus was on the cultures. We wanted to give a boost to some of the weaker or less interesting cultures to offer more compelling choices, though we also changed some of the cultures that were just too powerful. About two dozen cultures have been tweaked in some way, and there's not enough room in this blog to cover all of them, so the best way to learn what has changed is to give it a spin yourself in the Ibn Battuta beta available for Windows on Steam now! Just opt into the ibnbattuta_beta branch in the game's properties. 

If you're unsure about trying the beta, or just want to know a little more before jumping in, you can read about four of the cultures that have received major changes below, or check out a more complete list of changes on the forum. 


Phoenicians 

The Phoenicians were a naval power who founded cities along the coasts of the Mediterranean and were influential traders.  Unfortunately, many of you found that this legacy was not represented well in Humankind. The Bireme may have let you explore the waters more freely than other cultures, but your outposts and thus your empire were still landlocked. While your boats zipped off to far away lands, your scouts would trudge across difficult terrain... 

Not anymore, though! We've told your land-lubbing soldiers to get on the boat and get out there to claim some land: Biremes are now transport ships that unlock with the Fishing technology, allowing you to easily expand along coastlines and maybe even snatch a few inviting islands. If you need better protection for your explorers, you can now also build the Pentekonter like other cultures, but your Legacy Trait will give you a slight edge. 




Goths 

What if you get sea-sick, or are just not a good negotiator? Don't worry, you can still benefit from the riches and knowledge of your neighbors. You just have to take a slightly more... direct approach to it, and the Goths got your back. 

The Goths haven't exactly been a popular pick so far. While the Gothic Cavalry is decently powerful, especially on the charge, neither their Legacy Trait nor their Emblematic Quarter seemed particularly appealing to players, especially compared to the economic bonuses of other cultures. We knew we had to offer the Goths some economic benefits, but we wanted to stick with the ransacking theme of their Legacy Trait, so instead of ransacking faster you will now gain some Science from ransacking. The Tumulus will further boost this less-than-friendly knowledge sharing, and benefit from some tweaks made to the religious tenets (more info on that below), while no longer reducing your stability. 




Mounted Nomads: Huns and Mongols 

Speaking of powerful mounted forces, both the Huns and the Mongols have gotten some changes and small buffs. 

On their own, their emblematic units were in a good spot in combat; difficult to catch but not overly powerful in a fight. Their tendency to multiply and raise new troops after killing yours caused some problems, though. You might enjoy fending off a couple of horse archers the first time around, but weathering an endless horde of them in a large battle or prolonged war could be tedious, if not frustrating. So, we've reined in these seemingly necromantic practices: Mounted Nomads will no longer grow from defeating enemy units. Instead, you can find special "Pasture" curiosities that will provide some growth to your army, and you can still grow by pillaging enemy districts. 

Since many players also felt that these two cultures were too similar, we've added some additional bonuses to their legacy traits: The Huns will now gain a small amount of science for each of their units in hostile territory, encouraging you to be aggressive even when you are not out to conquer. The Mongols, on the other hand, can make some extra money from tributaries, as vassalizing other empires will be easier for them. 




Americans 

Let's skip ahead a couple of centuries to the Contemporary Era and take a look at the Americans. The Defense Agency has frequently been criticized as one of the weakest Emblematic Quarters in the Contemporary Era, if not the game. Between its synergy to garrisons and its very localized effect on combat, many players felt it offered very little benefit, with its cost only growing as you tried to maximize its effects. 

Thanks to some internal restructuring, the Defense Agency is ready to be a boon to your economy, and a boom to your military. Not only does it no longer reduce your stability and gain bigger synergies with garrisons, it now also counts as a Market and Commons Quarter to benefit from additional synergies. More importantly, it now supplies your troops with shiny new high-tech weapons. Explosive ones, mostly: Every Defense Agency in your empire will increase the strength of your bombardment abilities, whether it's your army, navy, or air force. 




Religious Districts and Tenets 

So, what about those tenet tweaks we mentioned? 

When reading the feedback, we noticed that many cultures with a religious Emblematic Quarter tended to be among the less popular choices. Faith was just not considered a strong yield by many players, as they largely relied on Holy Sites and Cultural Wonders to spread their religion, and they preferred more direct economic benefits. To help these cultures be more appealing to players, we are adding some economic benefits to them through the tenets: Each non-militaristic tenet will now provide a small resource yield on Religious Districts (including Holy Sites). We've also fixed a problem where these Religious Districts where not properly marked in their tooltip, so they will be easier to identify now. They might not rival dedicated districts, but each religious district should now add to your economy based on your religion, and we hope a religious playthrough will now be more interesting. 



We hope you'll enjoy the new culture balancing and the opportunities it should open! 

Last week, we gave you a first glimpse at the Ibn Battuta update by telling you about the upcoming leader names and titles. This week, we want to tell you about a couple of improvements  that should create a smoother, more enoyable experience: Visual updates to cities, better civics tooltips, and improved line of sight.

 

Beautiful Cities

We often see praise for the 2D and 3D art in Humankind, but some players rightly pointed out that large cities could get a bit repetitive. While this might have been intentional for some of the more rigid road layouts, it didn’t feel right with the more curved, “organic” tiles. Now some tiles will be rotated at random to break these patterns, and we’ve also fixed an issue that kept the game from using the full variety of Commons Quarters. And while we were at it, we also configured the “Toggle UI” hotkey to also remove territory borders, so nothing will get in the way of taking the prettiest screenshots possible. 



The differences are subtle, but should make cities look more organic

 

Law of the Land, Part 2 

In the Bolivar Update, we added the unlock conditions of civics to their tooltips, allowing you to plan your short-term goals without guessing at what you need to do, but that was only the first step. In the Ibn Battuta Update, we are adding the effects of both choices of every civic to their tooltips, so you can decide if they are worth pursuing. Between the unlock conditions and the effects, you should now have all the information you need to shape your empire’s policies and traditions according to your vision. 



Civics effects are now easily visible from the main Civics screen

 

Let Slip the Fog of War

Speaking of vision, we’ve also overhauled the Line of Sight system. The old system favored the defender in many ways and had some quirks that were unintuitive and frustrating to many players. Why would these forests and units get in the way of your cannon on the crest of a hill? Clearly, the world of Humankind is inhabited by giants and Redwood trees... This could make it very difficult to line up a good shot without exposing your units too much. 

So we’ve cut units and forest down to size to make it easier to exploit elevation to bring your full firepower to bear. At the same time, we’ve improved the Line of Sight check to be more accurate. Your frontline should interfere a bit less with your shooting now, while cliffs should have a bigger impact: You may need to get right up to the edge to shoot down at your enemies, and you will be much less safe from return fire. 



Getting a clean shot is easier now, while obstacles are marked more clearly



That’s all for now, but we hope you will enjoy these visual improvements to the game. Come back next week for an early look at some of the changes we are making to cultures. We think they’ll offer some exciting new opportunities!