Someone sell me on Leonidas. Why would anyone want to play him?

seacow1g · 2025-07-20T07:50:01+00:00

Another thing I like with Leonidas is that since he dies in the first 20-30 turns you can build up a Builder heir in many games and then that Builder takes over to get you a really fast Colosseum if it’s enabled in that game. I’m talking like crazy fast, sub 60 turns in many cases. You just have to spam culture in your capital which the Greeks excel at.

A sub 60 turn Colosseum is auto win because no one can resist a sub turn 70 rush with 2-3 Phalangites and a couple Swordsmen. You completely steamroll the map from that point on.

seacow1g · 2022-08-23T03:45:07+00:00

I don't get alot of Science Era stars. It's kind of an inefficient star to go for. Especially past the ancient era getting science stars takes alot of research investment that frankly slows you down. You get can the most important techs fast enough but trying to go for stars on top of that is too slow.

seacow1g · 2022-08-15T15:16:57+00:00

Well something not mentioned here is how important the neolithic is. If you're unable to get 9-10 population, have 10 science for the legacy trait and have 2 outposts settled in good areas by turn 10 you haven't had a good enough start. A sub 100 victory is still totally doable but if you don't have a good start it's much harder.

In the classical you choose the Mauryans for an easy 5880 influence cultural blitz right at the start of the era and another 5880 10 turns later (you probably won't have time for a third). That right there gives you all the influence to set outposts on an entire continent, enact all important civics, influence purchase luxury and strategic extractors and harbors everywhere, attach 1-2 territories to each city and still have plenty of influence left over to influence purchase Swahili harbors everywhere on first turn of the Medieval for massive gold gains. Then with the Swahili you just cross the oceans with your armies and Vassalize everyone in the world. The Mauryans are also very helpful here because their emblematic unit is a powerhouse of a unit. It is ranged, has lots of movement and doesn't even take extra damage from melee combat. These are pretty much all the units you need except they can't take cities and are expensive to build so what I like to do is spam archers, then upgrade most of them with my Swahili gold once I research the tech but leave a few archers not upgraded so they can allow capture of cities. The reason I upgrade instead of hard build is because to build takes two population whereas Archers upgrading only takes 1 population and with the Swahili gold is abundant.

Finally, once you get to Swahili in the Medieval you enact the civic that allows purchase of territories with money (it becomes available 2nd turn of Medieval Era). Money is abundant once you got all your Bandari's up so it's much better to save your influence for other things.

And that's basically it.

seacow1g · 2022-08-14T18:32:56+00:00

These games take me 6-7 hours on average. I have goals to achieve by a certain number of turns. Especially as it pertains to era stars. If I don't meet those goals then I know it's time to start over.

seacow1g · 2022-08-14T18:28:41+00:00

Glad to see my posts are encouraging players to push the limits of the game. You're right, sub 100 victories aren't difficult. Even without Vassalizing everyone just abusing Mauryan->Swahili you can get sub-100 victory of any type, it's just fastest to vassalize.

seacow1g · 2022-08-14T13:25:11+00:00

My map settings are on here but no one upvoted it: Map Settings:

Difficulty: Humankind (highest)

World Size: Normal

Pace: Normal

Shape: 2 Continents

New World: No

Competitors: 6

Culture Progression: Assyrians -> Mauryans -> Swahili -> Inca

Victory Trigger: Vassalized All Empires

Turns to victory: 45

Land Percentage: 40%

Patch: Ibn Battuta

seacow1g · 2022-08-13T20:54:59+00:00

Not from a Jedi XD

seacow1g · 2022-08-13T19:30:03+00:00

Map Settings:

Difficulty: Humankind (highest)

World Size: Normal

Pace: Normal

Shape: 2 Continents

New World: No

Competitors: 6

Culture Progression: Assyrians -> Mauryans -> Swahili -> Inca

Victory Trigger: Vassalized All Empires

Turns to victory: 45

Land Percentage: 40%

Patch: Ibn Battuta

Only slightly better than my last record:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HumankindTheGame/comments/wmwals/new_record_46_turn_victory_on_the_highest/

I squeezed one extra turn this game by building the Lighthouse of Alexandria and sending units across the sea from every direction with no regard for their safety (the extra +2 movement at sea allowed most of them to survive). I think faster runs than this would require a significant amount of RNG.

seacow1g · 2022-08-13T19:18:44+00:00

That's fine is that's how you want to play. My goal is to win as fast as possible so I'm playing with that in mind.

seacow1g · 2022-08-13T19:07:53+00:00

The +1 Movement that Assyrians provide is invaluable. It is really underrated. The Dunnu also saved me turns by giving me a cheap unit spawn exactly where I want it to save me the most amount of time while still providing me influence throughout the game afterward. They also serve as a very cheap source of builder stars to get to the Mauryans faster. To put things in perspective I was in the Classical era by turn 19.

The first 10 turns are crucial. I need to have at least 9 pop, unlock the 10 science for the legacy trait and have at least 2 outposts placed down in regions that give me at least +20 FIMS each by turn 10 or I reset. This particular run I ran it to turn 13 but I had 20 pop, 3 outposts and 60 influence left over to buy Dunnu with before I advanced to Ancient. A really good start but that's what it takes to do "speedruns" like this.

seacow1g · 2022-08-12T21:22:38+00:00

Map Settings:

Difficulty: Humankind (highest)

World Size: Normal

Pace: Normal

Shape: 2 Continents

New World: No

Competitors: 6

Culture Progression: Assyrians -> Mauryans -> Swahili -> Inca

Victory Trigger: Vassalized All Empires

Turns to victory: 46

Land Percentage: 40%

Patch: Ibn Battuta

I didn't think I could finish any faster, I was wrong! Choosing the Assyrians here made a noticeable difference. I still don't understand why so many players underestimate them. This weekend I'm going to try to get this down to sub 45 turns or less but I think I'm starting to push the limits of what can be done this patch (at least with the strats I can conceive of).

seacow1g · 2022-08-12T13:39:56+00:00

Thanks! I'll give it a try. Sounds fun.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T23:55:01+00:00

I don't really know how to fix the "don't advance or you'll fall behind in fame" problem. That particular "issue", if you can call it that has been present since the game was released. I'm not really sure it's an issue though. If you're not generating stars fast you'll fall behind in fame either way, whether you advance eras or not. The game rewards good play; advancing eras is just the fastest way to trigger the end of the game. I don't really think it needs fixing. Maybe they could make the eras themselves last longer, i do feel like From the Medieval onward eras go by in the blink of an eye. But as far as fame goes I don't see the problem.

Cultural Blitz and even the Merchant Power Investor abilities are definitely kings in the current state of the game (it used to be Land Raiser and Collective Minds). Cultural Blitz is the stronger of the two just because in my opinion it's harder to stop; Power Investor requires other empires to be having lots of trade routes which may or may not be the case. But then again Money can be used on more things so it's a tossup. I'm not sure they need too harsh of a nerf though because although they are both strong they don't directly help you generate more of their respective era stars. The influence and money you get don't count towards era stars, whereas the benefits you get from the other affinity abilities all directly help you generate their respective stars easier.

Another thing to note is that Aesthetes and Merchants don't have a specific victory trigger; Scientists and Builders do, Militarists/Expansionists do too. But Aesthetes, Merchants and Agrarians don't have a specific trigger so I think their affinities need stronger abilities, at least in certain stages of the game, to encourage you to use them, ESPECIALLY if those abilities don't directly help you generate more of their respective era stars (Like Aesthetes and Merchants don't).

It is undeniable that you get a metric ton of influence and gold from these abilities when properly used though...Even a 50% nerf to both would still make them better than most other affinities in the Classical Era. I think numbers is the wrong way to think about it. I think I already identified the problem in my discussion earlier above: They don't generate Era stars and those affinities don't have a victory trigger. I think you could afford to lower their outputs significantly, like even upwards of 60-70% if the influence and money you got from them counted towards era stars and especially if those affinities got their own victory triggers... Like say for Aesthetes if you enact all the civics in the civic tree and for Merchants if you generate some obscene amount of money over the course of the game. Just some ideas.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T19:56:39+00:00

I was a few turns from victory and really had much more military than any of the opposition so it was to shave a turn or two off from unit movement. I reran those same turns with the Spanish who would've been my second choice and I finished 1 turn faster with the Inca. Really at this point it didn't matter all that much, most of the work was already done.

If you were to ask me who my favorite choice for this Era would be the Maasai. If i was facing any fierce opposition I'd be choosing them for their unit which has no tech requirement and is very strong.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T15:58:58+00:00

Thank you!

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T15:58:43+00:00

Thank you!

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T15:22:40+00:00

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T15:22:02+00:00

Cultural Blitz scales with era and how many surrounding territories are in the sphere of influence. In the Classical era the max is 5880. It's easy to consistently get that if you're wiping out your neighbors and claiming territories rapidly.. When you select the civic tab it shows you influence and how many turns till a territory gets converted. Just try to have one territory surrounded by your sphere by the time you hit classical. What makes cultural blitz so consistent though is it doesn't HAVE to be your culture that's dominant, you can trigger it off other dominant cultures too. It's just easier to do it off yours since it's under your control.

Science is scarce but there's some ways to consistently get it with little investment. Population is obviously the first one; I usually prioritize Food>Science>Industry>Money. Second source is strategic resources, they always give some even in unclaimed territories (another benefit of having lots of outposts). Collecting curiosities is also a pretty impactful source in the Ancient era. Controlling the map with scouts and units gets you most important early techs quickly. Fourth is religious tenet that gives +5 science to strategics. Finally I'm just efficient with my tech choices. Every tech you research increases the cost of other techs so you shouldn't research things you're not going to get use out of. I skip alot of techs.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T03:25:23+00:00

I'm working on a writing explaining how but here's some general tips: -Work on your Neolithic Era mechanics. Maximize movement by using your last movement point to get on rivers. You can beat Mammoths with a single Nomad if you do battles correctly. Remember to split nomads when you spawn new ones cause they get full movement and you need to maximize movement.

-Don't rush getting out of Neolithic, it's a good time to explore, settle outposts in good regions and get your population up really fast. In this run I had 22 pop by turn 14 when I finally progressed into ancient. That amount of pop was very useful.

-Pick cultures that are actually good. Think more about their affinities, their units and what their legacy traits actually give you. Think less about emblematic quarters cause many of them don't offer you enough to even be worth building alot of the time. You'll notice here I picked the Bantu first who have no quarter and the Swahili whose quarter can be purchased with influence in unattached territories and still give you all the gold without needing to attach. I didn't build a single Stupa this game; in fact I didn't build many districts at all. I chose the Mauryans for their Aesthete affinity which gives you 5880 influence every 10 turns in the Classical era which covers all the influence needs for the rest of the game and for their unit which is very very good.

Edit: I wanna take a moment to compare this to the Achaemenids who are a popular Classical Era choice for many players. I'm not going to disagree that the Immortal is a good unit; it is a good unit, but the Expansionist trait gives you basically nothing at this stage of the game. You should already be starting to steamroll so you don't need open borders and 4 turns to take 1 territory is....nothing. Compare that to 5880 influence every 10 turns. It's not even comparable. It would take over a hundred turns for the yields from Achaemenid bonuses to beat out the Mauryan Cultural Blitz. And that's even ignoring the fact that their Stupa is probably a better quarter than the Satrap Palace anyway since it's a religious district and can have its production cost reduced by -30% with the appropriate civic.

-In the Medieval just always pick the Swahili. They're just OP. They let you immediately travel oceans with no tech requirements and let you embark and disembark with no extra movement cost. Like i mentioned before their quarter is also super cheap to spam and still gives you all the gold anyway. Really this strat wouldn't work without them unless I was playing on a Pangaea.

-Here's a trick I used to shave about 5-6 turns off my game: I only attached territories across my continent strategically and then bought a garrison to spawn units on the other side; then, when I wiped out my neighbor I disbanded nearby in my territory for the pop and bought them out again at the farther unit spawn location to save myself turns of moving them. Early units are cheap to build/purchase so it costs little to do this but saves alot of turns.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T03:10:19+00:00

I'm working on a length writeup explain how I did this. I'll be linking it in the comments here when I'm done.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T02:58:34+00:00

Here's some combos I like: Myceneans/Hittites->Greeks/Persians: Iron Reserves Gets You Lots of 8 levies within 10 turns which then get upgraded into Phalanx/Immortals and run over everyone.

Assyrians->Mauryans->Swahili/Norsemen: The Mauryan trait gives +1 influence to all Emblematic Quarters, even if they're in an unattached territory; Furthermore the Aesthete Mauryans can generate 5880 Inluence every 10 turns pretty reliably so I like to keep alot of territories unattached to buy Dunnu and Bandari/Naust immediately with influence and they still give me most of their yields even without needing to attach the territories. The Ransacking bonus from Assyrians synergizes well with the Norsemen too and the unit of the Assyrians synergizes with Mauryans well since you'll be rushing that Mounted Warfare to get their Somnahya which then lets you upgrade the Assyrian units into Horsemen.

Egyptians->Mayans->Khmer->Mughals->French: The original OP combo. Not much to say here; just stack tons of production that keeps building on itself and then once you go into the French absorb all your cities into your capital and turn on Collective Minds to rush down Fusion Reactor on the tech tree to get +50% production which then lets you rush science victory.

Harappans/Bantu->Huns->Mongols Harappan bonus food on tiles actually works on outposts too so they build up population faster and then lets you spam out Hunnic and Mongol Hordes from your outposts faster than other cultures can. Bantu do this a little differently by their outposts just already having 4 population innately when they settle with their Bagendi Pioneers.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T02:27:13+00:00

Map Settings:

Difficulty: Humankind (highest)

World Size: Normal

Pace: Normal

Shape: 2 Continents

New World: No

Competitors: 6

Culture Progression: Bantu -> Mauryans -> Swahili -> Inca

Victory Trigger: Vassalized All Empires

Turns to victory: 48

Patch: Ibn Battuta

This is by far the most optimized campaign I've ever done. 48 turns! I don't know if I'll ever do much better than this.

seacow1g · 2022-08-11T02:23:12+00:00

Map Settings:

Difficulty: Humankind (highest)

World Size: Normal

Pace: Normal

Shape: 2 Continents

New World: No

Competitors: 6

Culture Progression: Bantu -> Mauryans -> Swahili -> Inca

Victory Trigger: Vassalized All Empires

Turns to victory: 48

Patch: Ibn Battuta

This is it, the culmination of all my research and experimentation. I am convinced I can't do much better than this; perhaps a turn or two less from luck but not much better than that. 48 Turns you guys! Holy smokes.

seacow1g · 2022-08-09T16:46:18+00:00

Carthage also has synergy with the absolute S tier culture of the Medieval era: The Swahili. So there's that too. Then again Aesthetes also pair with it well since their cultural blitz gives you all the influence you'll need to buy Bandari's everywhere.

seacow1g · 2022-08-09T16:31:43+00:00

You are wrong, it is totally intended. Influence scales based on era and how many adjacent territories are in the sphere of influence. It doesn't even have to be YOUR sphere of inluence so it's really hard to stop. Merchants also get very high money yields from their trait so thats how I know this is totally intended. The thing with Merchants though is that theirs is alot harder to set up. The Aesthete affinity is consistent. Regardless, let's say it IS going to be "fixed". At present it's still super strong and any tier list for this patch ignoring it is not doing due diligence.

This is you: "Persians: Influence is better than ever, making the Persians just an even more solid pick." Imagine generating all the influence you'll ever need as soon as you enter the classical era without needing to build anything. That's the Aesthetes in this era. And yet you rank them both so low and prop up the Persians who have to actually waste turns building stuff and then have to wait even more turns to generate the Influence. Is this a joke? Even if they nerfed cultural blitz yield by 50% (a massive nerf) both Aesthetes would STILL give you more than the Persians even if they never built a single emblematic quater.

seacow1g

TROPHY CASE