Ghandi has always represented India in the Civilization series, but Civ 6 allows multiple leaders for each empire. For players who want an aggressive military campaign, 4th-century BCE ruler Chandragupta Maurya lets you rule India like never before. It's not all about just training a bunch of warriors and rushing into battle, though.
Playing as Chandragupta means planning ahead and taking a proactive stance against your rivals, using your large cities filled with religious devotees to keep your armies well-supplied and zealously marching onward. Here's how to set yourself up for success as the majestic Maurya!
Chandragupta's Abilities
Like Ghandi, Chandragupta has access to the Indian Varu and Stepwell, as well as the subcontinent's Dharma ability. Instead of Satyagraha, though, he has Arthashastra, which lets him start wars easily and end them quickly.
Arthashastra
Named for a treatise on governance and warfare written by Chandragupta's personal tutor, Chanakya, Arthashastra helps you avoid most of the diplomatic repercussions of aggressive wars. Chandragupta gains access to the War of Territorial Expansion Casus Belli much earlier in the game, which generates far fewer Grievances and can target anyone with a city that's reasonably to India's borders.
Additionally, whenever Chandragupta declares a war using this Casus Belli, his units all gain +2 Movement and +5 Combat Strength for ten turns.
Dharma
India gets the Follower Beliefs of any religion that has at least one Follower within its cities, and all Indian cities gain one Amenity for each religion that has at least one Follower living there. Indian Missionaries can spread religion two additional times, and Indian trade routes generate twice as much religious pressure.
Stepwell
The Stepwell is India's unique tile improvement. It must be built on flat land, but provides both Food and Housing. It provides more Food for each adjacent Farm, and provides Faith if adjacent to a Holy Site.
Varu
India's unique unit is the Varu, a war elephant that counts as Heavy Cavalry. It ignores zones of control, allowing it to push through enemy lines if necessary, and debuffs adjacent enemies' Combat Strength by five.
With an impressive Combat Strength of 40, the Varu can handle most foes, especially with its debuff. It still needs to be careful around large groups of Spearment, or those supported by Ranged units, but it can handle itself much better than most cavalry. It's perfect for breaking through to the back line to hit priority targets or just doing heavy damage.
Getting Started As Chandragupta
Chandragupta works best if you spend the first fifty to a hundred turns building up a powerful military before unleashing it on the world. Start by founding a religion if you can, sending out Scouts to look for Natural Wonders and rushing Astrology so you can build Holy Sites as soon as possible. Even if you are beaten to all the Great Prophets, you still want to be able to generate a healthy amount of Faith throughout the game.
Try to get the Crusade belief, since it gives your troops an amazing +10 Combat Strength in the territory of enemy cities that follow your religion. It's not a Follower Belief, so you can't get it via Dharma.
Next, research Irrigation and start building Stepwells with Farms, ideally next to your Holy Sites. Since both Stepwells and Farms get better as you move down the tech tree, this is a great investment for your cities and allows you to focus on war and conquest later without having to do as much correcting for growth.
While you're settling new cities and building them up, send Warriors and Slingers out to hunt Barbarians. Even if they don't pose a threat, kill Barbarians on sight and destroy their camps. This will give you the boosts for critical techs like Bronze Working and Military Tradition.
Research Horseback Riding to unlock the Varu. The Barbarians won't know what hit them.
How To Use Arthashastra
Once you research Bronze Working, build an Encampment as quickly as you can. Doing so will trigger the boost for Military Training, which allows Chandragupta to declare Wars of Territorial Expansion once researched. As it happens, Military Training also unlocks the Statue of Zeus, which can greatly increase the size of your army if you manage to build it.
You need to be fast when declaring war, since Chandragupta's bonus only lasts ten turns. Before making your move, lay the groundwork by sending Traders to or through your target city; that way, there will be roads to speed your troops' advance. It's too risky to mass your forces on the border, as your opponent might force you to declare a surprise war or promise not to attack, so the roads are essential, especially in hilly or heavily-forested terrain.
Once you reach the mid-game, Military Engineers can also build roads, freeing up your Traders to pursue profit elsewhere.
Conquer as many cities as you can before the bonus expires ten turns after declaring war. If you need an extra turn or two to finish your current siege, go for it, but don't get bogged down. It's much better to negotiate favorable peace terms, wait out the truce, then declare war again for a fresh ten turns of buffs than to risk losing your momentum and stalling out.
Continue using this strategy whenever you have the opportunity. During periods of peace, make alliances with far-off neighbors, especially Research and Religious pacts that will give you extra Science and Faith. Use Science to keep your military technology on the cutting edge, while you use Faith to spread your religion (and prepare conquest targets for a Crusade). The Theocracy Government works very well for this strategy if you have lots of Faith, as you can use it to purchase more combat units!
You'll probably have to use other Casus Belli to justify wars on other continents, since they won't be enough to your cities.. The best option is to trigger a Golden Age in the Industrial Period or later and take the To Arms Dedication. Try to take at least two nearby cities when you do this so that your later wars can use Territorial Expansion.
As the game advances, keep updating your tactics along with the times. Combine your units into Corps and Armies as they become available, and transition to air power to soften up city defenses in the late game. After centuries of focused, surgical strikes against key border cities and capitals, a Domination Victory should be within your grasp!
