Best Ancient Cultures In Humankind - Guide and Tier List

[@pinegolem7323]

Thanks for watching! What ranks in this tier list do you agree/disagree with? Update on the Zhou: they do in fact buff influence gains because pops in 90%+ stable cities produce an additional influence! They are still A tier, but even better than I thought!

[@imblackmagic1209]

i disagree with the hittites, they literally have nothing going for them, unit is hard to get, you have to tech a lot to get it, your eq doesn't give you any benefit to get your unit... egyptians are by far the most powerful culture in the ancient era, their district industry discount is pretty significant late game, the pyramid + the extra industry from the trait is better than the miceneans, builder stars are easier to get than militarist stars. assyrians ransack bonus is good to burn down admin center while at war, as you do it faster, while at war, if you don't have claims over a territory, better burn it down, claim it and extend the war that way as well, i wouldn't rate them higher tho

[@pinegolem7323]

I definitely agree with the first 2 points, Hittites could be D. I've had experiences where certain players are able to get enough extra strength on their units that I need to be an era ahead to compete, which can make it harder to go slow and farm stars. But its very difficult to get that much extra strength. For assyrians, the ransack buff for killing admin districts is a good example of how to use that trait. Ill have to use it for that more going forwards!

[@tjhc2397]

Didn't check, but do the Zhou get multiple extra stability from districts that count as multiple quaters at once (e.g. the Carthagian Emblemetic District giving +6 stability - 10)? I know that is a thing with commons quaters.

[@pinegolem7323]

From what I recall that was not the case with the Zhou, "On District" seem to be once per. But its great to get that extra stability from common quarters

[@imblackmagic1209]

@@pinegolem7323 for sure, the +1 CS from the hittites is pretty lackluster, and definitely not worth taking the economic hit from not having a proper EQ, in the ancient era not having that eco boost sets you back pretty heavily zhou stability is good, but i take them for the science (if i have a school placement with 3 mountains, pass if not), the UU is heavy cavalry, and it can't take cities, so that takes away from them as well, and that they are aesthetes detracts even further as well, even with the 90+ stability, is not going to give you enough influence to get those 3 stars in ancient era u.u this is me nitpicking now, but tier list evaluations should be self contained, it's not about if they are good they go in S, it's about the average, that is, if all your cultures are A tier, better make that one B and restructure the list, as we want to know how each culture compares to the others, in that system, that an item is C tier doesn't make it bad, it only means that other items are way better (like i said, figure out the average power tier, and classify based on that, as syndrome said, if everyone is super, then nobody is)

[@anthonycastellaneta4956]

Really looking forward to more videos on the next eras. Great for putting the civs in perspective

[@pinegolem7323]

Great to hear! Is there anything you would like to see done differently in the next tier list video?

[@yabryzgalov]

Great video! Thanks a lot! Never played Mycenaeans, but now will try them. I've got a couple suggestions: a) It''s crucial to make overview of cultures trait, ED and unit before analysis. It's hard to remember all of them. b) It'll be nice to see screenshots or video witj ED or units, when you talk about them.

[@pinegolem7323]

Great points! Ill definitely have that for the next one. Hope your Mycenaeans run goes well!

[@Wasserkaktus]

I would argue Myceneans are probably the best of all the ancient civilizations. No other civ is as capable of early game warfare as them: You can churn out army divisions of their EU and Archers really quickly, and their ED is simply the best one of the early civs, as if provides lots of production, is a defensive fort, and it also can be built anywhere on a territory. You don't even need to build more than one city: You can just conquer other nearby cities with them early on.

[@pinegolem7323]

Yup! Im also interested in testing out a Nubian Ta-Seta archer rush, seems like being able to hit any unit in the fight with a 19 strength attack could be really powerful!

[@Wasserkaktus]

@@pinegolem7323 Nubians lack that production oomph that Myceneans have. You could float gold to fast churn out some units, but that requires calendar and thus more time needed to get good divisions going. Myceneans are ready for full warfare after just researching city defense and carpentry.

[@samv3663]

Finally someone who gives really good comment and usefull tips on humankind (thx Pine Golem !)

[@pinegolem7323]

No problem, thank you!

[@DrZaius3141]

I once had a game where I picked Egyptians and delayed the next era for a bit in order to plop down as many EDs as possible. When I finished the game, I gathered more fame in the ancient era than any other player did across the entire game. It was easy to hurry through the other eras because I had so much production, everything spiraled out of control quickly.

[@pinegolem7323]

Totally agree, Egypt is my go-to for a smooth game! I also like using a few of their EUs to farm some military stars

[@DancingSamurai]

Thanks for the guide! IMO for those of us that haven't memorized every ability, showing each culture's bonuses in the background while you are talking would have made it easier to follow along - here I felt like I needed to look on the wiki while you were talking to remind myself what the abilities were!

[@pinegolem7323]

Great point! Ill have them for the next one!

[@Meinejambalaya]

Please provide culture specifications (Emblematic Q, special unit, etc) when you talk about them, otherwise I need to go to game to watch it myself The video is great though!

[@francisconaveira1024]

Good video. You have my sub, but please make one of these videos for the each era !

[@pinegolem7323]

Thanks!! Will do!

[@pancakes4193]

Very helpful guide! I´d love to see more tier videos with the later cultures.

[@pinegolem7323]

Thanks! Is there anything about the format of this video you would like to see changed for the next one?

[@renaissancepress247]

Really good video - you earned my sub 😎👍

[@ratpongkraiwiwat5988]

Thanks for the effort. Agreed with all of them esp Mycenaeans as many people still underrate them.

[@pinegolem7323]

Yeah I was going to make them B or A until I played them and realized the ED exploites industry!

[@malcolmcooke7131]

Cool stuff, additional era videos would be awesome

[@pinegolem7323]

Sounds good! Is there any extra information you would like to see in the next one?

[@malcolmcooke7131]

@@pinegolem7323 something that i think would be nice is to have the info about what the civ's special benefit, emblematic quarter, and unit on screen when you're talking about them. It's pretty easy to look up but i don't have them all memorized and would be nice context

[@kubawieczorek2562]

Hi Golem, great guide, do you happen to know how to get the "ominist" achievement on Steam? You could also make a video on fastest/easiest ways to get some of those achievements, that are more tricky, maybe even on some playthroughts.

[@pinegolem7323]

Hey! From what I know the only way to change your state religion is to lose a war and become someone's vassal or cave into their demand to change to their religion. When you lose to an AI you can choose what happens to you, so go for vassal!

[@elswae]

This is great! Thanks so much!!

[@jesseg4164]

That jazzy intro tho 😏

[@kubaszostak7222]

heaving high stability gives you +2 influence per pop in city so zhou are generating influence

[@pinegolem7323]

Yup! I learned that right after making this vid, I added a footnote in my comment. I like them even more now

[@MS-tm2yz]

Useful. Good info. Thanks.

[@Patrick462]

This was incredibly helpful, a great overview of the cultures available. I have noticed that the cultures in Humankind are somewhat less important than the civilizations in Civ VI. Humankind cultures are important, but picking the "wrong" culture won't kill your game. You can alway pick another civilization in the next era to make up for any shortcoming of you current culture. Also, there are multiple cultures for each Affinity. So for example if you desperately want Aesthete for some reason, and you don't get the Zhou, you may be able to grab the Olmecs. My advice would be to (over the course of many games) try to hit every culture. Play the game, don't get in a rut, do some min-maxing but don't let that dictate how you play the game and what cultures you take. If you do find a guaranteed win path, play that maybe one more time, then try something different.

[@pinegolem7323]

Thanks! I definitely agree that you can play with any culture, I also think thats because humankind is a bit easier than Civ in general. Also great point about switching affinities from culture to culture to round out weak areas, its a great way to get more stars! Do you have a favorite culture combo?

[@Patrick462]

@@pinegolem7323 Favorite Culture Combo? That's a good question, I haven't played enough so I've played only one or two cultures per Era. What does everybody else think?

[@michaelahurt]

@@Patrick462 Zhou into Achaemenid Persians is my favorite. Use Zhou EQ to get enough science to boost through ancient and classical era then use their affinity ability to assimilate Independent people, which is less influence than building new cities and gives you free armies. Assimilate 4th city (or 4th and 5th) right before you convert. City cap penalty instantly goes away with Persians +2 city cap trait then you can steal some choice territories/resources using their expansionist affinity while you build up your economy and trade with their EQ and expand. You come out of classical era with 6-7 cities. Plus Immortals are awesome

[@pinegolem7323]

Yeah its nice having something to upgrade your spears into in the classical era! Nice usage of free cities, I need to start taking them over more

[@liamyoo6739]

twiddling my thumbs waiting for Pine Golem brand Hawaiian shirts..............

[@frostfour668]

Nice video, although I think since I just remember all the traits etc it was easier for me to follow than, lets say, someone new to playing the game as they wont know all the traits/units/buildings yet

[@pinegolem7323]

Very good point, Ill put those details in my next one!

[@nwsharpe]

Still waiting on your next video! 😀

[@forestgreenhobbit]

Nice review

[@rubenlopezusa]

I find this video to be a little lame, lacks detail. For me the best are:| Zhou: 20% more stability, that means you save yourself from having to build 2 stabilizing districts per each 10 producing districts (farms and industry); building faster is crucial to win. Myceneans: defense (huge mega walls) and attack (+25%). Assyrians: ransacking and building faster and more.

[@joaoabegao2888]

I'm wondering if the expansionist civs aren't also being harmed by what seems to be a ridiculous high bar for adding new territories to gain stars. Each time I've chosen them in any era I can never get the most out of their expansionist ambition. Just seems like they expected too much from the expansionist civs.

[@pinegolem7323]

I would agree, expansionist stars are the hardest to get, which is a big nerf for expansionist affinities cause you can lose out on up to 300 fame in the era

[@joaoabegao2888]

@@pinegolem7323 imo there needs to be a whole restructuring of the concept of "expansion". They should convert it to not just adding territories but also the spread of religion and influence. That would make it much more interesting as for example the Romans didn't just dominate in territorial expansion, their culture and identity was also imbued into the conquered. That's my opinion at least. Expansionist civs are certainly the most underwhelming ATM.

[@pinegolem7323]

@@joaoabegao2888 i like the idea of having religion more directly help stars. Influence coverage may overlap a bit too much with influence stars imo, but I think the easiest approach would be to reduce the terry requirement for the stars by a bit. It seems like to get 3 gold stars and era you need to defeat half the players by era 3.

[@joaoabegao2888]

@@pinegolem7323 I haven't been paying much attention to the forums but I know that the devs do follow up on what is discussed there. As this issue been raised in there to your knowledge? I'm just trying out today the beta and unfortunately the only civ balance they seem to have made was on the Mongols or the Huns (not sure which one of it it was).

[@pinegolem7323]

Top players definitely are on the record on agreeing this is an issue, it might be a low priority balance since you can technically fix it by increasing the world size, keeping the players the same, and reducing the % land

[@steeneugenpoulsen8174]

I feel like you seem to have completely forgotten what the game is about. You don't mention how easy or hard to get the stars that the culture buffs. What good is Zhou when you can't focus the influence stars, because it simply isn't possible to generate influence fast enough or expansion that requires that you attach land to a city, that again requires the hard to get influence. Something like science, money, food and military is the cultures worth playing for fame, because you can actually focus the primary stars.

[@pinegolem7323]

Being able to generate your affinitie's stars is definitely something I consider, but its not the whole picture. The extra fame from getting 3 stars in your affinity is the same as getting 2 stars in any other category, so i think that some strong cultures can gain good score even if its not in their Affinity. For the Zhou its science. Just one copy of thier Building provides almost as much science as Babylonians trait after researching the entire ancient era tech tree.

[@reb0rn2k5]

Thx💪🏽

[@pinegolem7323]

Np!

[@imblackmagic1209]

the district discount from the egyptians shouldn't be a thing on ancient era, it's too strong

[@pinegolem7323]

Yeah I think removing that would be pretty fair. The other option is to buff the weaker cultures!

[@RAWxxx07]

Thx a lot. Really great info. I would love to see a letsplay as well, since you seem to be a very experienced player. Ps: I hope you cover the other eras as wel :)

[@pinegolem7323]

Will do!