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.

Firaxis is almost done with its New Frontiers DLC pass for Civilization VI. In January, they released a pack including the leader Bà Triệu of Vietnam. New Frontiers updates are planned through March of 2021, so I expect we'll see another pack with one or two new civilizations or leaders.

With Firaxis wrapping up with New Frontiers leaders, I may go back and write guides for the new game modes. I'm especially interested in the Corporations and recently-released Barbarian game modes. I may put up a poll on my Patreon page to let my Patrons decide what guides to create next. I hope you'll consider supporting the creation of this content on Patreon, and exercising your voting power to help influence the content I create. Your support is greatly appreciated!

The state of Vietnam, located along the eastern coast of the Indochinese Peninsula, has spent much of its existence under the rule or occupation of other states. Classical Vietnamese kingdoms existed as early as the 29th century BC. The borders of Vietnam shifted over the next couple thousand years while warlords fought each other for dominance of the region, before Vietnam was annexed by the Chinese Han Dynasty in 111 BC. After some short-lived independence movements from leaders such as the Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu, the state finally gained full independence from the Chinese in 938 AD, but saw periods of Chinese, French colonial, and Japanese occupation in the following centuries before defeating the United States in 1975 and beginning the process of reunification under communist rule.

During the Three Kingdoms period of China during the third century, Bà Triệu lead an unsuccessful campaign to liberate Vietnam from Chinese occupation. Little is known about her life, and all of what is known comes from now-legendary Vietnamese sources. She is believed to have been an orphan who witnessed atrocities commited by the Chinese Wu Dynasty, and, as a teenager, raised an army in a secret military camp in the mountains. Her campaign saw two years of success at driving out Chinese occupations over the course of more than 30 battles. After the Chinese finally began taking her rebellion seriously, Lady Triệu held her ground for months before finally being defeated by the overwhelming forces of the Chinese. Some sources say she was killed in battle, while others say that she survived, but was so dismayed at her defeat that she committed suicide by throwing herself in a river (in the same fashion as the rebellious Trưng Sisters centuries earlier). While the Chinese records never bother to mention her name (or that the leader of the rebellion was a woman), she quickly became a legendary national hero among the Vietnamese, and began to take on exaggerated super-human qualities. The Ho Chi Minh army even recruited a large number of women soldiers during the American Vietnam War in keeping with the tradition set by The Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu.

DISCLAIMER:
Civilization VI is still a "living game". Strategies for the game (and for specific leaders and civs) may change as Firaxis applies balance patches, introduces new features, or expands the game through further DLC or expansion packs, or as the Civ community discovers new strategies or exploits. As such, the following strategy guide may change from time to time. I will try to keep it up-to-date, and will make notations whenever changes are made. I'll also post links in the official 2K forums and CivFanatics, where I'll also report any changes made. If possible and practical, I will try to retain the original content of the strategy for posterity.

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.

This guide is up to date as of the release of the "New Frontiers" January 2021 Update (ver. 1.0.9.9)

Bà Triệu is a highly defensive leader who can also be a potent threat in an offensive guerrilla war. Vietnamese cities and units all benefit from colonizing dense forests or jungles, as districts must be placed on these features.