Civilization VII strategy: Maurya in the Antiquity Age

Civilization VII is a considerably different game compared to Civ V and Civ VI. As such, the leader guides that I wrote for those games won't quite work for Civ VII. Instead, I'm going to be experimenting with a slightly different format of doing independent guides for civilizations and for leaders separately. Leader guides will be complicated, so I'm starting with civilization guides while I figure out how I want to tackle the problem of creating guides for leaders that can change civs 3 times in a single game. Unfortunately, the lack of Hot Seat multiplayer severely limits my ability to do specific testing of things like the damage dealt by unique units in different circumstances, certain diplomatic actions, pillage effects, and other things. Hopefully, Hot Seat will be added soon.

As always, I welcome feedback. I will probably need a lot of feedback as I learn the new game and experiment with the format of these guides. Of course, you can also support the creation of this content by becoming a Patron.

As has been my tradition with these guides, I plan to start by focusing my attention on civilizations and leaders who have never been playable in Civilization games before.

The early life of Chandragupta Maurya is steeped in legend with few historical facts known. What is known is that around 322 BCE, after the death of Alexander the Great, Chandragupta raised an army to overthrow the Nanda Empire and Greek occupiers of India. He was the first to unify most of the Indian subcontinent, and may have abdicated his throne after converting from the Brahmanism religion to Jainism late in his life. One of his successors, Ashoka, would go on to convert to Buddhism, and declare Buddhism to be the official state religion of the increasingly-urban empire. Ashoka would go on to oversee the construction of many stupas and temples across India and expanded the influence of the religion into Afghanistan and Thailand.

Maurya gets to adopt multiple pantheons, and it excels in keeping its citizens happy. That happiness can then be converted into other yields, or be used to support military conquest.

DISCLAIMER:

Civilization VII is a "live service" game, which means it will be periodically updated with new content, new features, and balance changes. I may update this guide if Firaxis updates the game such that it considerably impacts this civilization, or if new strategies are discovered by the community. This guide is up to date as of the 1.2.5 patch on 30 September 2025.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.