Since its launch a month ago to the day, Humankind has been bereft of a key, high-seas war strategy: naval sieges. The way sieges currently work in the 4X game means that players have been unable to take island cities because often there's no land to put armies on, and naval units are unable to directly siege a city. But, that's about to change – in a (very hefty) rundown of changes coming to Humankind's beta branch before they roll out to live, Amplitude has revealed that coastal sieges are on the way.
While there aren't any details on this new mechanic beyond just that single patch note listed – literally, “added coastal sieges” – the list does reveal some related tweaks the studio has made to the game which will likely play into it.
There's “improved feedback for naval transports, militias, and siege weapons” coming up, as well as some fixes that tidy up siege and naval gameplay, including an AI-focused one that solves an issue where AI doesn't “launch a siege assault when no other options are available”. So, hopefully the game will be primed for launching coastal attacks no problem when the changes roll out.
There are some other neat changes detailed in the notes, too. Pollution, for example, is getting some tweaks that mean you’ll have an easier time managing it without triggering the end of your game by over-polluting the planet. Amplitude has upped the global pollution thresholds by a factor of 2.5 and effects now scale with your district count, so you should have a little more breathing room in tackling the mechanic.
The pollution impact of airports, airfields, and “other special districts to which pollution reductions don’t apply” has also been slightly dialled down.
There are tons of other additions, changes, and fixes to get a look at besides. This set of patch notes reflects what’s on the game’s latest beta build, which you can dive into by following the instructions on the studio’s blog post. It’s not clear exactly when these changes will hit the live game, but the post does indicate it should be at some point in the coming weeks.
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For now, check out our Humankind war, Humankind sea crossing, and Humankind influence guides for some handy pointers on how to come out on top.