Civilization 6: Guide to Winning With India

There are so many civilizations available to play in Civilization VI. At launch, the game features a whopping 19 different civilizations to choose from, and each has strengths and weaknesses lending themselves to varying victory conditions. Want to win with India? Here’s what you need to know!

Want to check out our other Civilization VI guides? Follow the links below:

• America
• England
• Sumeria
• Greece
• Rome
• Districts Guide
• Map Overview

Changes from Previous Games

In Civilization V, India’s special ability revolved around unhappiness. The ability was called Population Growth and caused higher unhappiness with more cities. India favored a few larger cities until they reached a certain size.

There has been a shift away from this ability in Civilization VI as now India’s civ ability is all about religion. The Dharma ability allows the player to receive all the follower beliefs of all religions present in their cities.

Time to make a pilgrimage to Calcutta?

India’s Leader

Returning as India’s leader is Gandhi. He is loved the World over for his passive resistance movements and was one of the big voices in India’s independence away from the British Empire.

His passive resistance movements inspired his special ability in-game called Satyagraha. For each civilization that India meets, that has founded a religion and is currently living in peace, India gets a substantial bonus in faith. Any opposing civilizations fighting India receive a happiness penalty for fighting against Gandhi.

Unique Indian Buildings / Unit

India’s unique unit is the elephant-mounted Váru. They are ready to stomp over enemies, reducing their combat effectiveness by 5 when on an adjacent tile. If more than one Váru unit is near an enemy, the count is cumulative.

The Stepwell is a unique tile improvement for the Indian civ. It provides both food and housing. If it is built next to a farm, then it will provide additional food and if it is built next to a holy site then it will generate more faith.

Elephants were used because they terrified horses

India’s Victory Conditions

As expected, Gandhi’s agenda is as a peacekeeper. You will want to try and befriend any civ which wants to keep the peace. You don’t want to declare war on anyone and you need to steer clear of warmongers. With all the bonuses gained from being at peace and accepting of all other world religions, you will want to make sure you keep everything calm and. At the end of the day, you will benefit from extra housing resulting in higher production and higher population.

Do you think you can conquer the World without resorting to war? The peaceful general will win the campaign for India. Have you played with this civ yet? Was it hard to play without resorting to violence and keeping everyone happy? We would love to know so leave your comments below!