First Impressions

My first impressions of the animals and neutrals mechanic built into the game are fairly positive. Having these creatures and other beings clearly marked in the world, walking aimlessly can add a lot of character to a distinct area, and makes exploration more interesting: more to see. The content of how they are implemented remains subject to changes, I would contend there shall be constant new additions with updates. Hopefully, however, there shall be many more of these unique neutrals walking around the world as we play. This is perhaps the only 'negative' of my first impression: there really aren't that many yet. We have seen deers, true, but beyond that it seems more 'bear'.

Feedback

1. Variety: Many of my below feedback suggestions can be traced simply under the headline 'variety'. I would like to see many more of these neutrals and animals roaming the world, with distinct variations on core types based on the biome they have generated within (for example, core type of fox becoming a snow fox in the tundra). More unique, rare, even fantastical (could be enabled via an game setup option) could be added to really bring out the spice of the living world.
2. Authentic Living World: An authentic living world requires at least three elements. First is the soundscape, which is already in fantastic shape. Second is the variety of creatures and neutrals roaming around distinct biomes. And, third is goals and history. Regarding the neutrals and animals, should these neutrals be roaming aimlessly, or should they follow from place to place to find food - obviously not actually implementeing food, this would be too much detail - and interact with one another (primarily to kill)? The answer is that for the world to feel authentic, the neutrals and animals must be designed with a goal in their mind - what are they actually doing in the game world.
3. 'Modability': The word speaks for itself. Make this part of the game a little modable, and infinite content and ideas can be added from this simply neutral and animal mechanic.
4. Era/Tech Uniques: Sort of building on from my variety and authentic feedback, having some appear and some disappear overtime based on tech level would thrust the history requirement of the living world into this aspect of the game (already apparent in many other aspects). Aka, let me indulge in a bit of fantasy here: throw grey men aliens roaming about as neutrals/animals very late on in the game. Obviously aliens are not the only option here. Rare mythical creatures based on the era (such as athenian legends) could be used to make the world feel more unique while still being authentic and life like - also aliens are cool. Please.

The main problem with this is that developing a unit takes precious development resources. They could choose between adding one more type of animal or one more type of tank, or more variety in how different cities look for different cultures. Considering that animals are basically just filler enemies for early game, I don't think putting a lot more resources into developing more is really justified. If Amplitude had unlimited money then I'd like to see every animal in the world, but sadly they do not. So we have to consider that when we are requesting they spend their limited resources on.

Eulogos wrote:

The main problem with this is that developing a unit takes precious development resources. They could choose between adding one more type of animal or one more type of tank, or more variety in how different cities look for different cultures. Considering that animals are basically just filler enemies for early game, I don't think putting a lot more resources into developing more is really justified. If Amplitude had unlimited money then I'd like to see every animal in the world, but sadly they do not. So we have to consider that when we are requesting they spend their limited resources on.

Hey eulogos, thanks for the reply

I would say my feedback is not a request for many many more animals neutrals necessarily from the get go, and I'd agree that in their current form they serve little purpose. 

However, things can be added in updates, dlcs, and the like. Further, changes can be made to mechanics (for example, using animals as late game luxury resources) to expand their Usefulness beyond the early game. 

I should hope that we find the concepts of variety and authenticity agreeable with regards to constructing this explorative and authentic journey of a civilisation in Humankind. Animals are important to cultures. Animals are important in the design of any world. The more we can have, be that from launch or later, the more Immersive the world becomes. 

Eulogos wrote:

The main problem with this is that developing a unit takes precious development resources. They could choose between adding one more type of animal or one more type of tank, or more variety in how different cities look for different cultures. Considering that animals are basically just filler enemies for early game, I don't think putting a lot more resources into developing more is really justified. If Amplitude had unlimited money then I'd like to see every animal in the world, but sadly they do not. So we have to consider that when we are requesting they spend their limited resources on.

So far we've seen non hostile animals in the open dev, Deer and Mamoths, but it is known that hostile life existed at those times and it would be important to represent that. Maybe these already exist and becaus ethe scenario was ment to test certain aspects like economics growth etc these were not introduced as they would hinder the purpose.

Guah wrote:
Maybe these already exist and becaus ethe scenario was ment to test certain aspects like economics growth etc these were not introduced as they would hinder the purpose.

They mentioned they have bears and other aggresive animals, so yeah, they left it out for this scenario.

I appreciate your idea. And I wish in humankind the creatures can interact with the environment or with other creatures, which i think is AUTHENTIC. Like if we have some hostile animals ,they can fight with or eat the dear and mammoth; or they may attack the village if their population increases to a certain level, and here we can add an task: Find out the den of these beasts, destroy it and you can get money/food etc. By this way, the game becomes alive and vivid. Also, the balance between hositile animals and herbivores would be important cuz if the population of hositile anmals is large, there might be a huge of them attack your village constantly or some bad events will happen. And on the contrary, if the herbivores population increases sharply, they could eat your wheat and destroy your fields so you will get a profit reduction on food/money. This system can be contained within the macroscopic environment system and become a dlc just like the GATHERING STORM in CIVILIZATION VI.