I've won 3 full playthroughs now (at normal speed) on Nation difficulty. Research outpaces the cost and time to produce units so much, I blast through the endgame super fast. Usually I reach turn 300 with musketeers, knights, and halberdiers. I have yet to build a battleship, airplane, or tank. I feel like there's a whole chunk of gameplay I'm missing out on.

I hope a patch addresses it. In the meantime, have you found any game settings or play strategies to slow down the endgame? I just want to build a nuke, dammit.

You can always put the game to endless mode and see how the game pacing changes things for you. Honestly even on endless game speed I personally wish it could be even slower.

After finishing my first playthrough on Normal speed, I also feel like there are some pacing issues. Having turn 300 hit when I'm just completing railroads and noticing pollution ... it feels like an incomplete experience, and this along with being far ahead of most AI factions (several were hardly into the Early Modern era). 

I'll be starting a new game on Slow or Endless and am considering upping the difficulty (there was a noticeable lack of AI aggression and an over eagerness to offer alliances, but maybe that's my lacking experience in balanced diplomacy), but it seems like one should be able to expect "Normal" speed to carry your average 4x player through every culture and nearly to completion of the contemporary tech tree. All in all I felt rushed.

Yeah similar thoughts as echoed. Most nations seem to be finihsing up industrial era techs, maybe, by the time turn 300 roles around. Nevermind seeing any nukes or modern units. Halberds are basically the most technologically advanced unit fielded

The middle and end game is indeed way too easy to rush, especially with scientific nations. Playing at Nation difficulty level, I won the game after 250 turn for having finished all the research three with most of researchs from the industrial  accessible in one or two turn only and +14000 fame against +9000 for my closer openent....  With an ennemy AI  super passive, my last serious use of military units was with muqueteer againts primitive tribes...  boring and such a pity!...

Same here.

Finished my game at normal speed and metropolis difficulty.

I had won by turn 190 or something like that because noone could beat me, my religion and influence was everywhere... and I didn't even need to actually recruit any new single unit.The game ended around 260 and at one point i simply decided to queue every single remaining tech. I was researching around 2.5 techs per turn or something like that in the end.

I will try a more difficult game with a bigger map with slower research. Endgame felt bland but had a great time until industrial. Never ever used aircraft or trains though.

 I would also love it if the difficulties actually told you what they do... like what bonuses do they give to AI and such.

Be careful that "Endless" speed makes everything costs more, take more time, and develop slower.

It doesn't give you more time per se, it spaces out decisions so snowballing exponential growth becomes incredibly powerful while random events create less of an impact.

Kaede11 wrote:

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 I would also love it if the difficulties actually told you what they do... like what bonuses do they give to AI and such.

Here you go: Humankind - Difficulties !