Civ Discussion - Chola

[bengalryan9]

Shifting back to our march through the Exploration Age, the Chola are next up for discussion. The Chola are a diplomatic and economic civ with a tropical and coastal starting bias. Their associated wonder is the Brihadeeswarar Temple (+3 influence and +1 happiness adjacency for all buildings next to navigable rivers). Playing as Chola unlocks the Mughal, Nepalese, and Siamese civs in the modern age.

Their unique ability is Samayam, which gives an additional trade route from the "Improve Trade Relations" action.
Their unique military unit is the Kalam, a Cog replacement that gets an extra attack per turn (if movement points allow) but which has slightly lower bombard strength.
Their unique civilian unit is the Ottru, a unique fleet commander with increased movement and sight, and which gives -3 CS to enemy units in its command radius.
Their unique buildings are the Manigramam (+4 base happiness with bonus gold or happiness for adjacent wonders, quarters, and gold buildings) and the Anjuvannam (+5 base gold and +50% production towards naval units, with bonus gold for adjacent coast, navigable rivers, and wonders). Together these make up their unique quarter the Five Hundred Lords, which gives +5 land trade route range and +15 naval trade route range.

Chola civics:
Nagaram - +50% influence towards improving trade relations and unlocks the Manigramam. At mastery it unocks the Anjuvannam and gives +2 resource slots to the capital.
Kanakam - unlocks the Devakoshta tradition and gives +1 gold from active diplomatic actions you started or supported.
Digvijaya - unlocks the Marakkalam tradition and gives the Kalam +1 movement and sight
Monsoon Winds - unlocks the Brihadeeswarar Temple, the Angadi tradition, gives +1 settlement limit, and gives the Ottru the convoy promotion.

Chola traditions:
Devakoshta - +3 culture on gold buildings
Marakkalam - -2 gold maintenance for naval units
Angadi - +4 gold in settlements other than your capital if they have a water building

Thoughts on the Chola? Strong, weak, or just right? Good leaders to pair with them and good targets to switch to at the age transition? Any changes you'd like to see here?

 

[bengalryan9]

I quite like the Chola. They have a very good design and fit a role that not many other civs do in that they are an absolute naval powerhouse. The Ottru and Kalam are both fantastic IMO. You won't always find yourself engaged in naval warfare but if you do the Chola are hard to beat. Their ability and quarter allow you to easily establish multiple trade routes with pretty much anyone on the map which ensures you'll be swimming in gold (which their unique buildings also help with) and resources, and they get enough bonus happiness from buildings and resources that you probably won't have to worry about war weariness and can more easily over settle as well.

Their traditions maybe aren't great - Devakoshta is probably the best, with the other two being more negligible (I'm not even 100% sure what is considered a "water building" since I think this is the only place in the game that term is even used). The Temple wonder can be all right if you've got a good spot for it, though I've had decent luck building that as other civs so it's not super hotly contested like some wonders are either.

Chola pairs well with leaders like Amina, World Renouncer Ashoka, Queen of Wa Himiko, Achaemenid Xerxes. Mughal and Siam are both automatic unlocks that make sense for Chola, but if you want to go off the beaten path I think that the Qing also make a lot of sense.

 

[Navelgazer]

Chola is, essentially, the Aksum of the Exploration Age. Which means that I love them, but YMMV.

Samayam is whatever, but I feel like UAs tend to be meh in this game. At least it points you towards how you want to play this civ: settle the coast as much as possible, trade with everyone you can, and beat the snot out of anyone who won't trade with you. the Kalam is one of the game's most fun UUs, and the Ottru just makes it better.

The Five Hundred Lords UQ is pretty average as far as UQs go, but the extra trade route range is worthwhile, at least. Both the Manigramam and Anjuvannam are solid, but nothing you'd miss if you didn't have them. Still, they fit with the gameplan, at least. It's not hard to build these in places with good adjacencies, and they'll last through Modern, which is especially nice if you're evolving into Mughal.

Non-tradition/UB goodies from the civics tree are:
• Extra influence for improving trade relations (not huge, but nice for how Chola wants to play)
• +2 resource slots in capital (always welcome)
• +1 Gold from starting or supporting diplomatic actions (kinda negligible, tbh)
• Extra movement and sight for Kalam (very nice)
• +1 Settlement limit (pretty standard, but hey, Aksum didn't get it!)
• Free Convoys promotion for Ottru (Nice, and lasts into Modern)

The traditions are pretty mid, but still useful. Extra culture from buildings you were going to build anyway (Devakoshta) is good. Less maintenance for Naval Units (Marakkalam) is good if you're going to be relying primarily on a navy, which Chola is. And Angadi is weird, but presuming that a fishing quay counts as a water building (and I assume it does), then I'm buying one of those immediately in every new distant lands settlement anyway.

Brihadeeswahar Temple is, again, pretty meh, and doesn't seem to fit the Chola strategy that much, but you'll probably get some use out of it, so it's better than Byrsa, at least.

But basically, these bonuses aren't super-powerful on their own but all add up to a strategy that perfectly fits with how to thrive in Exploration. Own the seas, build up trade, settle every coastal resource you can, and maybe steal a few more settlements off your enemies. Basically, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts here.

Recommended with Amina, Isabella, Xerxes-A, and Machiavelli.

 

[Leucarum]

I don't get especially excited about playing Chola, but I don't hate it either. I think this is a civ I might enjoy once the distant lands mechanics and exploration legacy paths are more interesting. Their naval combat niche really pushes them to a colonization game and those mechanics aren't finished cooking yet.

Thematically though they are a hit for me.