Nuclear Warfare & Deterrence

Learn how to navigate the complexities of Nuclear Warfare and Deterrence in Humankind. This guide details AI bonuses, strategic advantages, and tips for success on the highest difficulty.

This guide provides strategies for overcoming the challenges of Nuclear Warfare and Deterrence in Humankind, particularly on the highest difficulty settings. It details the AI's advantages and offers advice on how to counter them.

Humankind Difficulty and General Strategy

On the highest difficulty, AI players receive significant bonuses:

• +3 Food per Farmer
• +3 Industry per Worker
• +3 Money per Trader
• +3 Science per Researcher
• +60 Stability
• +2 Combat Strength on all Units

These FIMS bonuses are flat and scale with the number of workers, making them more impactful early game. The combat strength bonus is substantial and makes early warfare inadvisable. Stability bonuses are harder to quantify but can be mitigated by trading for luxury resources.

General Strategy:

1. Avoid early wars (until Classical or Medieval era).
2. Prioritize establishing trade routes for luxury resources.
3. Select Agrarian and Builder cultures early to scale into the late game when AI bonuses diminish. Expanding widely is generally more effective than expanding deeply.
4. Focus on accumulating as many stars/fame as possible. It is often not optimal to immediately transcend cultures due to how Fame is calculated.