Hey everyone,
We are proud to release a new Scenario for Humankind: The War in the Pacific Scenario. This scenario is based on Operation Cartwheel, the campaign for the Solomon Islands during World War 2. This will let you experience naval and amphibious warfare (with air support) at a scale you might not usually encounter during the course of a game of Humankind, including various custom elements to improve the experience.
Custom Map: Ranging from Rabaul in the north-west to Guadalcanal in the south-east, this map of the Solomon Islands may be the biggest Humankind map yet
Custom Fame Condition: Gain Fame for every enemy unit you destroy
Custom End Condition: The Scenario will end when one side has lost too much combat strength. You can see the total combat strength in the Diplomacy screen.
Custom Events: Scenario-specific events will introduce you to the situation, and potentially deliver reinforcements down the line
Custom Empire Flavor: Bespoke player names, avatars and icons for both leaders in this conflict to improve your immersion.
Custom Gameplay Rules: The scenario features a few changes to the normal rules of Humankind
No Buyout: You can't just rush out new troops. Make the most of what you have.
No Fallback Units: If you are missing resources, you will not be able to fall back on units of earlier eras. Wooden ships just won't cut it.
Limited Research: The research tree has been shortened and already fully research. No space lasers, sorry.
Reduced Unit Upkeep: Maintenance costs should not be a concern for you in this scenario
Stable War Support: A massive War Support bonus from being part of a larger war ensures you can see this through to the end.
No Influence Generation: Your cities won't produce any influence. You're not here to muck about with civics, after all.
No Instant Resolution: You are here to conquer these islands. Don't just hand your job off to the AI.
Note: We have heard reports of the AI acting very slowly during battles in this scenario. We are investigating the cause. Quitting the game and reloading the save may resolve the issue.The scenario is not all we are delivering to you today! While working on the scenario, we took this opportunity to work on several related improvements to the base game:
These changes are not specific to the scenario and will affect the core game.
AI Improvements
Better AI management of Embarked Units: they deploy in the rear, will avoid engaging naval forces, try to disembark on ground, and avoid seeking naval forces in a naval engagement.
Better AI Air Strike management:
AI will account better for anti-air before striking, avoiding too high casualties.
AI will spread out strikes (note : While this is slightly less optimal in theory than focusing a single tile, it avoids "overstriking" which it was prone to do, i.e. sending more than the required amount of squadrons to hit a tile)
AI will include more infantry in their later era armies to avoid having to rely entirely on tanks.
AI can use Naval & Ground Anti-Air patterns to escort armies both embarked and on ground, providing a modicum of security against air strikes.
AI will not fall back from naval engagements where their CS is lower than the enemy's but the enemy only has embarked units & not the AI
Gameplay Changes and Fixes
Land tiles are properly included in a battle if embarked units are present in a naval engagement
Occupied Cities will no longer have Civics Osmosis events.
Occupied Cities that are Mutinous will spawn Rebels from the occupied Culture, not the occupier's (which could result in an easier or harder crisis to deal with, according to respective tech levels)
Fully embarked armies can now fall back from naval engagements even if their CS is superior to the enemy's
Reduced Terrain / POI destruction chance from 25% per air / arty strike to 5%
Added possibility to buyout some specific Extensions with Influence in Occupied Cities (Extractors, Train Stations, etc), like Outposts.
Fixed an error with air strikes.
Fixed an error with destroyed fortified districts during battle
We hope you enjoy the scenario and the improvements to the base game coming with it. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!