Ashoka (Dhammaraja), World Renouncer / World Conqueror - Leader Discussion

Laurana Kanan

Laurana Kanan

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Ashoka, World Renouncer

Ashoka, World Renouncer (Base Game)​

Lauded as a chakravartin, a "wheel-turning monarch," for spreading Buddhism, Ashoka had a checkered past. Known for his ferocity as the emperor of the Maurya, Ashoka experienced a profound revelation upon witnessing his slaughter of the Kalinga in 260 BCE. Afterwards, he spread a message of non-violence around his lands and abroad, seeking to steer others away from his own legacy of destruction.

Unique Ability (Base Game)​

Dhammaraja: Adds Food in Cities for excess Happiness beyond a set amount. Increased Food in all Settlements during a Celebration. All Buildings gain a Happiness adjacency for all Improvements.

Attributes (Base Game):​

  • Diplomatic
  • Expansionist

Agenda (Base Game):​

Without Sorrow: Increase Relationship by a Medium Amount with the player with the highest Happiness yield. Decrease Relationship by a Medium Amount with the player that has the lowest Happiness yield.

Starting Bias (Base Game):​

  • None

Ashoka, World Conqueror (Persona)

Ashoka, World Conqueror* (Persona)​

Much is made of how Ashoka, the bloodthirsty emperor of the Maurya, embraced non-violence and Buddhism. But what of Ashoka before this revelation? Had he not experienced a profound revelation upon witnessing his own troops' bloody slaughter of the Kalinga around 260 BCE, his legacy today may be one of conquest by the sword, rather than the mind.

Unique Ability (World Conqueror Persona*)​

Devaraja: Increased Production in Cities for excess Happiness beyond a set amount. Increased Production in Settlements not founded by you. Declaring a Formal War grants a Celebration. Large increase to Combat Strength against Fortified Districts for all Units during a Celebration.

Attributes (World Conqueror Persona*):​

  • Diplomatic
  • Militaristic

Agenda (World Conqueror Persona*):​

Without Regret: Decrease Relationship by a Medium Amount with the Leader whose lands cover the most tiles and Increase Relationship by a Medium Amount for the one with the least.

Starting Bias (World Conqueror Persona*):​

  • None
*Ashoka, World Conqueror leader persona is part of the Sid Meier's Civilization® VII: Founders Content Pack DLC. The Founders Content Pack is included in Sid Meier's Civilization® VII Founders Edition. It is not included in the Standard or Deluxe Editions, but is available for separate purchase until February 28, 2028 (base game required).
 
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Bonyduck Campersang said:
Does that gesture he's making have a special meaning?
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The circle represents perfection and Buddhist law; the gesture represents intellectual discussion and the transmission of Buddhism. It's called the Vitarka Mudra.
 
Zaarin said:
The circle represents perfection and Buddhist law; the gesture represents intellectual discussion and the transmission of Buddhism. It's called the Vitarka Mudra.
Click to expand...
I wonder if his more agressive counterpart persona (assuming it’s real) will make a more hindu hand gesture.

the food focus is interesting. i’d associate that more with modern india (the indian green revolution) than the post-Kalinga Ashoka, where i’d be more leaning towards a religious, maybe even isolationist, ability
 
I think I’d rather have a different leader entirely than an Ashoka persona if they want to have a more militaristic playstyle for this path. It seems that’s the route they’re going down though.
 
moondog385 said:
I think I’d rather have a different leader entirely than an Ashoka persona if they want to have a more militaristic playstyle for this path. It seems that’s the route they’re going down though.
Click to expand...
a militaristic playstyle for india would’ve fit well if Rajaraja Chola or Rajendra Chola was on the cards. Chandragupta Maurya too, but he obviously was just in civ 6.

Ashoka is 100% the best character you can do dual personalities for perhaps in the entire game, not just out of the indian options
 
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moondog385 said:
I think I’d rather have a different leader entirely than an Ashoka persona if they want to have a more militaristic playstyle for this path. It seems that’s the route they’re going down though.
Click to expand...
Me, too, but it looks like personae are here to stay.
 
I'm still a bit bummed by the plainly visible historical errors on this guy's attire. :run:
I'll preface this by saying I'm not an expert on Maurya period India nor someone with a large body of knowledge specifically in Indic cultures, but that type of sword hilt in 200BCE seemed awfully out of place so I tried to research their fashion a bit and these were my observations:

  • The sword handle being mid-late 1st milennium CE, rather than a Mauryan style.
    You can glean what those might have looked like here, no basket hilts, no handles past the pommel, no ring pommel, etc... the features of his sword are very typically "Indian" but not Mauryan.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/comments/iw5fnc/ancient_indian_double_edge_swords_for_the_last
  • The use of stitched trousers which were also not accessible to people living in India at the time.
    Again, culture of stitched garments developed later and I would expect a dhoti or a variant thereof instead. If you look for historical statues of Mauryans, that's their garment of choice.
  • His depictions on statues also don't feature belts and this one seems elaborate enough to be based on some real artifact... but I could only find notes about soldiers sometimes using Persian belts, and again I'm slightly hesitant to make the call but Achaemenids seem to have a different kind of belt design culture.
  • The large bling necklace seems to match the Mauryan artworks.

Again, I could be wrong on any of these points but given the importance placed on the leaders, I would expect a more attention to historical detail. At least in places where it has no impact on the presentation... obviously a historically authentic Mauryan female will never get in a game like Civ since the culture lacked a taboo for bare female chests, but Ashoka here would still wear something pant-like and brandish a sword, just one that existed in his time.
 
1) +1 Food per 5 Happiness doesn't sound like much, unless Happiness is everywhere. We do know 5 Happiness per city is the cost for going over your Settlement cap.
2) Buildings gain a +1 Happiness adjacency for all "Improvements"? Either they mean Rural Districts and haven't fixed the wording, or... something can be Improved?
3) If the above means Rural Districts, then it sounds like Ashoka might want to do the opposite of Augustus: make most of your settlements into mid-sized Cities because they can all feed themselves if you build max-building "wings" to create as much adjacency to Rural Districts as possible.
 
Atlas627 said:
1) +1 Food per 5 Happiness doesn't sound like much, unless Happiness is everywhere. We do know 5 Happiness per city is the cost for going over your Settlement cap.
Click to expand...
Depends how much happiness you can amass in a standard empire, right?
 
Nikolai II said:
Depends how much happiness you can amass in a standard empire, right?
Click to expand...
Hmm, Happiness is local, then excess goes Global. I assumed this was giving +1 Food to the City per excess Happiness it was outputting toward the Global, but I suppose it could actually be ALL Cities get +1 Food per excess Global Happiness. In that case, Ashoka even more wants to make a bunch of mid-size Cities than I was thinking.
 
+1 Food is useful to speed up growth of the smaller cities, if it plays anything like the previous two games in this regard. That jump from 1 pop to 2 or 3 is very important. It's especially useful in locations with poor access to food but which are otherwise rich in other useful resources.

In Civ 6 it was also very important in order to shield against foreign loyalty pressure, but that might be specific to that game.
 
AntSou said:
+1 Food is useful to speed up growth of the smaller cities, if it plays anything like the previous two games in this regard. That jump from 1 pop to 2 or 3 is very important. It's especially useful in locations with poor access to food but which are otherwise rich in other useful resources.

In Civ 6 it was also very important in order to shield against foreign loyalty pressure, but that might be specific to that game.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, it does say Cities. I think we know that you can't convert a Town into a City until pop 7?
 
Atlas627 said:
Unfortunately, it does say Cities. I think we know that you can't convert a Town into a City until pop 7?
Click to expand...
No, Towns can't specialize until level 7. We don't know if there is a minimum level converting to a City, but we know it does cost Gold.
 
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