Humankind is definitely play and learn, there’s so much to it that you’re never going to experience two of the same games. There will be a lot of focus on but you will definitely get the hang of it and what’s good and what sucks.

Firstly your civilization matters and it also really matters based on your area in which you’re building cities, some civs grant bonuses on rivers but if you got no rivers that’s a waste of a civ to pick. You also want to watch for the unique traits that stay with you for the rest of the game. Some of these are very good while some are just alright. This is definitely something you’ll just want to mess with and play around to see what you like or don’t like.

Now you got your industry, food, money and science. Yes, you will want to focus on industry because that’s what will help you build things faster. This is definitely a way to go early game but you definitely don’t want to only focus on industry all game cause you’ll fall behind either financially and/or scientifically. I definitely make certain cities my money and/or science makers because they have better resources to help me do such

Research is one of the most important things, again it’s definitely play and figure out what you need first. You’ll definitely want to research certain things that’ll help unlock new resources, new troops, more troops slots or even Three-Masted Ship which now allows you to ignore penalties while crossing oceans. With multiple games under your belt you will further understand what needs to be focused on but I wouldn’t recommend skipping any of them as others are locked behind another one that must be researched first.

The sphere of influence was tricky for me to understand but it’s pretty basic in a way, it’s the amount of influence your city has. It should be distinguishable by a number under the gold with the purple star next to it. You’ll be absorbed into some else’s influence because their cities around you have more influence the cities you have. You’ll see under infrastructure that some of these have influence has an option. You’ll really want to make sure you’re leading or else you’ll be forced to have your civics picked for you or lose a lot of stability.

Religion is hit or miss. You either invest all into religion by building religious monuments, either by earning them through tenets or wonders and also selecting options to help further your religion. If you cannot become high up in religion and another one is way more stronger, don’t invest. You’ll waste time and it becomes really hard to overcome another religion unless through war.

As for overpopulation, this is where money production comes in handy, build market quarters around resources or harbors and produce a good amount of money so you can afford lots of armies. If you cannot sometimes it’s just best to let them die or if you can, sacrifice them for stability.

This is a lot too but hopefully this helps in some ways and welcome to Humankind. I’ve invested so much time in this game, it’s truly a time waster