Influence is an important resource in Humankind. It represents your Empire’s ability to command people and get things done. Without enough Influence, players cannot create Cities and Outposts.
It is also necessary to enact Civics, buyout Constructibles in your Outposts, and to make Culture Pressure reach other Territories.
It is something that can completely stop your Empire’s growth if you don’t have it, so it’s something that should constantly be on your mind during a playthrough.
This guide will show you how to get Influence in Humankind and maximize it for your Empire’s success.
Increasing the Influence of Your Empire
Empires use Influence to make the population do their bidding. So it might not be surprising that an Empire’s Influence comes from the Empire’s Cities.
A City’s Stability is defined as Calm, Strained, or Mutinous. That is going to directly affect how much Influence each City generates.
- Calm Cities have their Stability in over 90%, and they generate +2 Influence per Population.
- Strained Cities have their Stability between 30% and 90%. They generate +1 Influence per Population.
- Mutinous Cities have their Stability below 30%, and they do not generate any Influence on the Empire.
So as you can see, the best way to have Influence is by having many stable cities throughout your territories. Some cultures are very good for generating a lot of Stability, which you can use to generate Influence as a consequence.
What Are Spheres of Influences?
An Empire can spread its Influence to several areas of the map by producing Influence. Players do not have to do anything else for that to happen. However, the spreading of Influence can be checked on the Society Screen.
A territory will fall under your Sphere of Influence if your Empire’s Influence on the Territory is 20% higher than other Empire’s Influence.
An Empire under another Empire’s Sphere of Influence suffers from many penalties, depending on the action that it wants to take.
For instance, declaring war against the Empire that has you in their Sphere of Influence makes you lose War Support every turn.
There is also a chance of receiving Osmosis Events for having Territories in the enemy’s Sphere of Influence. They can be either Civics Osmosis or Science Osmosis.
Science Osmosis
This happens if a Foreign empire has your Territory under their Sphere of Influence, and they have a technology that you haven’t unlocked yet.
The City will demand that technology. Players can unlock it immediately with Money, or they can dismiss the offer and choose to Boost Research in order to develop the technology.
Civics Osmosis
If a Foreign empire has enough Influence over a Territory that belongs to another Empire, but their Civics are different, then a Civic Osmosis might be triggered.
Players will receive a notification pop-up that says the population demands change. Empires will get to choose if they revoke the Civic or refuse to do so.
Keeping the current Civic will cost you 10 Stability for ten turns. On the other hand, changing it will have no cost, and it will increase the Ideological Proximity with the Empire that influenced yours.
Ideological Proximity
Ideology is the name given to your Empire’s more subtle and political areas and how it’s governed. It includes how laws are made, the duties of the citizens, how much freedom you are granting to your population, and much more.
Ideological Proximity is a measurement that shows how similar to other Empires yours behave. This directly affects diplomatic relationships and can significantly influence Attitude, Treaties, and War Support.
There are three levels of Ideological Proximity:
- Distrust: both Empires are significantly different in how they operate.
- Tolerance: There are a few differences, but both Empires can manage to work together.
- Kinship: The empires have only a few differences in their ideology, which makes cooperation easy.
Final Thoughts
Influence can help you force other Empires to behave more like yours, which can make them cooperate much easier.
It is a valuable resource to deny external interference as well, since you might not want to shape your Empire and change your political strategy because other Empire are doing it differently.
So make sure you have enough stable cities that will produce enough Influence for you to enact your Ideologies the way you want. Be the one shaping the other Empires.
If you want to learn more about the basics of Humankind, make sure to check our 21 Humankind Beginner Tips for Learning & Improving.
