Humankind: Beginner's Guide - first turns Humankind guide, tips

On this page of the Humankind game guide you will learn the necessary steps to transform your tribe into a full-fledged civilization. Although some of these may seem obvious, it's a good idea to expand your knowledge. Humankind approaches many familiar aspects of other 4X strategy games from a different perspective.

• Gaining additional tribe members
• Exploration
• Scientific curiosities
• Outposts and the first city's territory

Gaining additional tribe members

Each army (or group of units) in the Neolithic Era has an indicator that determines how many food points are required to obtain the next unit. Each such group must collect 20 food points to "train" the next unit and add it to the army. In the Neolithic era, each army can acquire food in several ways:

1. Hunting: to successfully hunt animals, it's good to have at least two units with full health, especially if the group of hunters is going to fight a mammoth. You can play out the battle yourself, but with two units against one, it's better to choose the automatic outcome of the battle. On the battle preparation screen, there is a special bar that informs you about your chances of winning. Pay attention to the terrain on which you fight - battling in a narrow pass is better for strong units, since an advantage in numbers won't help. It's better to choose an open area or keep your units on higher ground or in the woods. By defeating animals you will earn not only food, but also Influence points.
2. Plundering Sanctuaries - plundering these specially marked locations on the map (e.g. animal habitats or food-rich tiles) grants additional food points to the plundering army. Your unit must use a special order and spend 1 turn there to gain additional food and Influence points. On the other hand, such a location will "produce" neutral units, making it a great place to hunt.
3. Collecting food and scientific Curiosities on the map: Additional food, influence or science points in different quantities can be earned by finding collectibles, which are scattered across the map. Curiosities appear every turn, in random places. They can even appear in sections of the map that you have already explored! They might also disappear if they are caught in the fog of war or simply picked up by another nation. Collecting these bonuses is not only very helpful, but it's also the most important activity for your units in the first turns of the game.

Exploration

Divide your units into several groups to speed up the exploration process. When you gain additional tribe members, it's a good idea to split your army into two groups. Simply click on the unit portrait (or select several units) in the army screen and give the order to move. You can freely split or fuse armies, as the action only costs movement points. Having more groups on the map gives you more opportunities to explore the terrain, hunt and find bonuses scattered on the map. Your goal should be to send scouts to different parts of the map as soon as possible to search for territories rich in resources.

Curiosities, i.e. bonuses scattered around the map, can provide food, science or influence points.

Scientific curiosities

It's a good idea to seek out these collectibles (they can be compared, for example, to the abandoned villages in Civilization 6). Each bonus provides you with additional science and influence points. The latter is needed for capturing new territories and developing cities. Additionally, collecting these bonuses is safer than fighting animals and is often the easiest way to advance to the next era.

Outposts and the first city's territory

1. Build an outpost: all your units have the ability to build outposts - buildings needed for attaining control over a given territory. Gather Curiosities to gain Influence Points. Each region has set boundaries that will not change throughout the game. The outposts are a first step on the path to build cities and gather resources.
2. The game has a hint system, which will show you the best tiles in a given territory. It's a good idea to seek out regions with a large number of rivers and forests. Avoid swamps and rocky or desert regions. Such zones are not viable for the creation of your first city. It's not a good idea to select tiles with extreme values, e.g. 2 food and 18 production or vice versa. Such a city will quickly get stuck in a vicious cycle - either you will have a problem with population growth, or with the development of the city. In the later stages of the game, you can choose to build in such locations, since you will already have developed cities. In these circumstances, building outposts will not be a problem.

Memphis has good territory for development and has luxury resources, although the area is not particularly rich in resources. On the other hand, a desert outpost is a bad idea - there is no food here, even though the place has a very high production yield.

The Porrima outpost has 6 population points. After advancing to the city level, the name changed, but the population didn't and Londonia still has 6 inhabitants.

1. New tribal units can be trained in outposts - it costs several influence points and 1 population point! Outposts, like cities, collect food from the surrounding tiles and can develop. If you turn this outpost into a city, that population will automatically become part of the new city. In the Neolithic Era, it is still possible to use the population to train units, so it's a good idea to build outposts in areas rich in food. An outpost can have zero population points, but then it will be unable to train new units.
2. Choose the right culture! After earning the era's required stars, you will be able to select a new culture. Each option grants you different bonuses and you will keep the legacy trait until the end of the game (it stacks with subsequent cultures). You will need to choose what is more important - a bonus for the next few rounds, or a bonus that will help in the following eras (special districts and units).
3. For example - is a production bonus better than a special maritime district that will increase your food and money production? Are there many other civilizations nearby? Maybe it's better to choose a warrior culture with a strong offensive unit? It's always a good idea to select food, production or science bonuses at the start of the game. Money, influence and army bonuses will be more useful in the next eras, where technological development and army maintenance will be necessary to develop your empire.