It's rare for games to have a scale like Humankind. This Civilization-like 4X game asks players to take control of a small human tribe and turn them into a history spanning empire.
Since Humankind is on Xbox Game Pass, it's likely that many of the game's players will be unfamiliar with the genre. They might not even know what 4X stands for: explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate.
When faced with a complex game, it's best to start with the simplest actions. And the simplest core action of every empire management game, including Humankind, is building cities.
Start With an Outpost
It's important to note that a player cannot build cities in Humankind's first era: the neolithic era. They can only do so in the second era, the ancient era, and onward. Instead, players can only build outposts at the start. But learning to build outposts is an important first step. Not only are outposts how players claim territory, but outposts can become cities.
In order to claim a territory, players simply need to select a unit, and click on the "claim territory" button in the unit's menu. It looks like a watchtower. From there, they click on an unclaimed tile. Note that this costs 5 influence. The easiest way to get influence early on is to investigate highlighted curiosity tiles.
Upgrade the Outpost
Once the player has advanced to the ancient era and chosen a culture, they automatically get the "city creation" action. When the player clicks on an outpost, the action will be under the infrastructure tab.
When they click the "city creation" button, it will turn the outpost into a main plaza. This is the core of a city, and the player can expand it outwards with other structures, unlocked by researching new technologies.
Better Ways to Build
As the player progresses through the game, they will encounter different city creation methods, each one building progressively more productive cities.
Players can unlock the "colony model" method in the medieval era by researching feudalism. Next, they can unlock the "colony plan" method in the early modern era with 3 masted ship technology. The industrial era offers the "colony blueprint" method with steam engine technology. Finally, the contemporary era gives players the "colony grid" method using civil engineering technology.
Beyond the Outpost
Once the player reaches the early modern era, they can skip establishing outposts and move straight to building cities. But this method is more resource intensive.
Players need to use a settler unit, and send it to the unoccupied square. From there the player can consume the unit to build a city with some pre-established infrastructure. Once they reach the contemporary era, they can upgrade this process with the construction team unit.
It's important to note that the game has just released, and the developers have promised both Humankind's continued development and mod support. There may be more ways to build cities in the future.
Humankind is out now for PC and Stadia.