India
Chandragupta
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusDominationReligion
Kit at a glance
Chandragupta reads India as a conqueror: wars of territorial expansion grant his armies movement and combat bonuses, turning the usually peaceful kit into a burst-aggression machine with varu elephants leading the charge.
Opening: the first 60 turns
The first 60 turns are peaceful preparation for a war that begins the moment Military Training's casus belli becomes available. Build Scout, Warrior, Settler, Builder, Settler, and use the builder on Stepwells beside farms and a Holy Site, since Irrigation unlocks them early and they carry India's growth while the army is being assembled. Techs go Animal Husbandry, Mining, Bronze Working and Horseback Riding for the Varu; Archery on the way gives the ranged support the elephants need. Civics take Craftsmanship into Military Tradition, then Political Philosophy, with the war declared under Oligarchy or once the casus belli is unlocked. Founding a religion is worth it only if a Holy Site can be started before turn 30, because Dharma's amenity and belief-sharing help most when several faiths mingle in captured cities.
Unique to this civilization
Unit
Varu
Technology: Horseback Riding
Adjacency effects
No adjacency bonus — standard district rules apply.
How to play it
Unlock the casus belli, mass your army in peace, then declare and ride the temporary buff hard — the bonus window is the whole plan. Varu debuff adjacent enemies; lead every push with them. Between wars, India's growth kit rebuilds your economy.
Victory paths
Domination in bursts is the design. A war of territorial expansion grants movement and strength for a limited window, so the correct Chandragupta game is a series of short campaigns, each planned to take two or three cities before the timer ends and followed by a peace treaty while India's growth kit digests the conquest. Varu debuff every adjacent enemy, which makes them the anchor of every push. Religion is the second path and it grows out of conquest: captured cities bring their religions with them, Dharma shares every follower belief present, and Stepwells adjacent to Holy Sites turn the growth tiles into faith. A Chandragupta who stops at three capitals can pivot to spreading a religion with the faith stock and still win. Science works through the sheer number of captured Campuses, but culture is not supported.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
Militaristic city-states supply reinforcements between bursts, and a religious city-state early adds the faith that Dharma otherwise leaves on the table. Victor follows the army and Moksha sits in the Holy Site capital; Magnus's promotion that lets settlers claim conquered space keeps the empire contiguous. Policy cards rotate with the war timer — Agoge and Maneuver during the burst, then Limitanei and Retainers for the loyalty of fresh conquests, with Raid making pillaged Holy Sites pay in faith. River Goddess fits the Stepwell-and-Holy-Site cities, and a Crusade or Defender of the Faith belief once a religion exists stacks directly on the war bonus. Terracotta Army promotes the entire first-wave army, Statue of Zeus adds free units for the second wave, and Mahabodhi Temple hands apostles to the religion path without diverting production from the front.
Weaknesses and counters
The buff has a clock, and the enemy knows it. A defender who retreats behind walls, delays with peace-offer refusals and simply survives the window faces an ordinary Indian army afterward, and India's unique unit line stops at the elephant. Wars of territorial expansion still bring grievances, and Dharma cannot fix the loyalty and amenity strain of five captured cities at once, which leads to the classic Indian problem of conquered towns flipping back. Opponents counter Chandragupta by never letting him mass unseen — spies and open borders reveal the army before the declaration — and by pre-placing anti-cavalry to answer the elephants. The typical mistake is declaring without the whole army already adjacent to the target: every turn of marching inside the window is a turn of the bonus thrown away.
Similar civilizations
Related guides
- Domination: Building Cities That Feed a WarHow to lay out an empire for conquest in Gathering Storm: which cities become production cores, where the Encampment goes, the four classic attack windows, siege composition, holding conquered cities, and when to stop fighting and win another way.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Which Civilization Should You Play? Picks by Victory TypeThree to four leader picks for each victory type — science, culture, domination, religion, and diplomacy — with the reason each one teaches that victory well, plus flexible all-rounders and a guide to matching a civilization to how you actually like to play.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
Last reviewed: 2026-10-03