Civ Discussion - Maurya

[bengalryan9]

After a pretty lackluster thread on the Khmer (TBF, I posted it on patch day), hopefully we can pick things up a bit with a discussion of our next civ, the Maurya. The Mauryans are Militaristic and Scientific with a starting bias towards Vegetated terrain. Their associated wonder is the Sanchi Stupa. They unlock the Chola and Majapahit in the Exploration Age, and Nepal (but not, oddly enough, the Mughals) in the Modern Age.

Their unique ability is Dhamma Lipi, which allows you to choose two pantheons after researching Mysticism.
Their unique military unit is the Purabhettarah, a chariot replacement that has +5 combat strength against fortified districts but lower movement.
Their unique civilian unit is the Nagarika, a unique settler that gives +2 happiness to the settlement’s city hall.
Their unique buildings are the Dharamshala, which gives +3 base happiness and bonus science for adjacent quarters and wonders, and the Vihara, which gives +3 base happiness and bonus culture for every adjacent mountain and wonder. Together they make up Maurya’s unique quarter, the Matha, which gives +10% happiness to the settlement.

Mauryan civics are:
Acharya – unlocks both unique buildings, and the Charvaka tradition
Vyuham – unlocks the Kshatriya tradition and gives +3 combat strength to infantry and cavalry when adjacent to each other.
Ayurveda – unlocks the Shreni tradition and allows units next to the Purabhettarah to heal +5HP per turn.
Mantriparishad – unlocks the Arthashastra tradition and gives +10% to all yields in settlements not founded by you and +1 settlement limit

Mauryan traditions:
Charvaka - +3 happiness on science buildings
Kshatriya - +4 happiness on military buildings
Shreni - +1 gold for every 5 surplus happiness in cities
Arthashastra - +1 science for every 5 surplus happiness in cities

I feel like I haven’t seen a ton of discussion about this particular civ since release so I’m curious to hear what everybody’s thoughts are. Do you like them? Hate them? Find them strong or weak? Which leaders do you think pair well with them, and what civs are you looking to switch to during age transitions when playing as them?

 

[bengalryan9]

My thoughts are that this isn't your father's India in a Civ game. These guys can be aggressors and receive benefits from doing so. You get ton of bonus happiness to help deal with war weariness, extra yields in conquered settlements, and bonus CS and healing to your units... I didn't play them as a domination civ, but they sure seem built for doing so.

I'm curious to see what people think of their ability, which mainly comes down to what people think of pantheons in general. I personally sometimes struggle to get altars up outside of my capital in a timely situation, but I could see where this would be strong. What combos do you all like?

Gotta rush but I'll post more thoughts later. Curious what others think!

 

[Navelgazer]

Maurya is fun. They basically let you play with Happiness as an expendable resource in a way that few if any other civs do, allowing you to go very wide in Antiquity if that's your gameplan. Or you can be more modest in your empire-spread and use it to get constant celebrations (and the social policy slots that come with them, of course!) while the gold and science piles up as a by-product. Honestly, the Maurya-Chola-Mughal path is pretty easily the best thing this series has ever done with India, and it's a blast to play through.

Either Ahsoka persona fits it well, of course, and wildly no Antiquity-era civ is a better match for Charlemagne.

 

[Leucarum]

Maurya is very flexible, happiness can be channelled into having a huge empire or racking up a big excess that you turn into science and money. Or one then the other. Their traditions drive this too so you can repeat the cycle every era, which feels appropriate.

Beyond what has been mentioned, their UQ has a mountain adjacency which I think makes them a really solid base for an Inca/Nepal playthrough... My last game as them was with Pachacuti and was a blast!

They're definitely a sleeper hit for me, a civ I didn't have on my radar as one I'd enjoy, but I think (after Maya and Aksum) they're my 3rd favourite in antiquity. In terms of pure fun I'd put them as A tier, very close to the top, but not quite edging out my favourites... But they get bonus points for being unexpectedly fun.

 

[bengalryan9]

Beyond what has been mentioned, their UQ has a mountain adjacency which I think makes them a really solid base for an Inca/Nepal playthrough... My last game as them was with Pachacuti and was a blast!

Worth pointing out that if you are playing without the new "all civs unlocked" option that Nepal has a pretty difficult unlock condition (IMO) but one you get automatically as Maurya.

 

[MutilationWave]

I just started my first game with them yesterday, as Ashoka WR. I intended to do the India path, but my territory is bursting with mountains. I might have to change path to Inca then Nepal.

I'm not far in but I'm really enjoying them. I can't wait to see how much gold and science I can rake in with a peaceful antiquity (if the AI will let me have it). I'm also excited to see how they will lead into Inca with Ashoka rather than Pachacuti.

For my second settlement I did the dirtiest forward settle I've done in 7 so far, to grab all tiles of Hoerikwaggo, rice, and two gold.

Had to go back and drop my third settlement in between this and my capitol.

 

[Lord Lakely]

I've played a few Antiquities with them as a pacifist and found them quite effective.

Nothing in the kit is particularly mind-blowing, but the double pantheons usually allow you to get some good RCI from buying Altars over Warehouse buildings in your Settlements, and the traditions that give bonus science/gold from spare happiness can add up well. The UBs get easy culture and science adjacencies too.

You need to play them with a leader that gets substantial happiness bonuses though. Ashoka, Charlemagne, Isabella. Those three are the best choices.

 

[disjointaccount]

This might be a little bit of a hot take but I don't think massive happiness generation is a fantastic asset by default. Happiness is quite weird in that it's kind of a capped resource by default. Once you're earning a celebration every 10 turns, it doesn't matter if you're 1 or 1000 happiness over that threshold. So to get more out of excessive happiness, you need to build a strategy around that.

Play a conquest game and go way over the settlement limit (cough Ashoka WC). Make a ton of food and play tall with a crazy number of specialists (cough Ashoka WR). Happiness can be insanely powerful if you have a strategy that makes use of it (which is why both Ashokas are so fantastic with this civ - they take the happiness and turn it into resources which then utilise the happiness further - either production for war or food for specialists). However, there are a lot of leaders and a lot of games where having the ability to generate ridiculous happiness does absolutely nothing for you.

In that regard, I actually quite like Maurya. They're a civ that takes a little bit of thought and strategy to get the most out of, which is something I enjoy. They might not seem the strongest by default, but their ceiling is astronomically high if you lean into how they play. They provide a little bit of a place to use the happiness themselves with their traditions and wonder, and when paired with the right leader the potential is wild.

Dhamma Lipi is a pretty bland UA. Fine for a little bit of extra snowballing but nothing too game-defining.

I think I said something similar in the Ashoka WC thread, but I'm neither here nor there on units having extra strength into walls. It's nice, but I still end up just bringing a ballista or two 90% of the time. This is a much worse bonus to justify a movement nerf than the Yuthahathi.

Nagarika is nice enough but another civilian UU with relatively minimal impact.

Unique quarter is fantastic. Kind of the defining part of the civ. Happiness, happiness, and more happiness. Decent source of ageless science and culture too.

Fantastic traditions, both for antiquity and future ages. Even more happiness, and then ways to turn that happiness into other useful yields (which the Sanchi Stupa does too). Possibly the best full set of traditions out of any civ we've talked about so far?

For leaders, the Ashokas are obvious, and I like Charlemagne too. I hope we get more leaders that can do interesting things with excess happiness. For a subsequent pick, the Chola unlock is fun just because I like Chola, but I do also like going Norman from Maurya, just for even more happiness spam.

Overall, Maurya isnt a complex civ in the sense that, say, Civ 6 Babylon really had a unique playstyle, but I think happiness is an interesting resource that requires building around to get the most out of, so I really like Maurya for being one of the deeper civs currently in the game.