Part 1 – CI

March 06, 2026

NopeCopter

Abstract

Empires are born and religions are founded as civilizations struggle to stake their claim on key parts of the continent, be it through settling… or through force.

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Hello and welcome back to Chandragupta’s Invitational! I’m NopeCopter aka u/daXfactorz, and I hope you’re ready, because we’ve got a lot to cover this part. Before anything else, though, let’s see how the civs’ second cities have been placed, hm?Beginning in the far west of the map, the Zunbils have settled south to hopefully carve out a large empty region for themselves, while Afghanistan settles a fairly defensive second city in Kabul. The White Huns, meanwhile, settle east to hopefully break out of their isolated corner of the map.

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Pakistan makes the bold but necessary decision to forward-settle Harappa, in order to secure themselves a decent amount of space to grow in the future. Harappa, meanwhile, is content to play along, settling north.

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The Ghaznavids and Punjab both settle fairly indefensible but very fertile second cities with lots of nearby wheat and River tiles. Meanwhile, up north, Kashmir forward-settles the Indo-Greeks, and Ladakh places Stok among the mountains.

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The Ghurids ignore the expansive plains to their south and east in favor of settling Ghazna in the desert. There are worse places to put a city, to be fair, but it is a bit silly. Meanwhile, Delhi and the Mughals decide to play nice for now, settling in opposite directions.

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Gujarat plays it safe with a defensible coastal city right next to their capital, but India places Mumbai in such a way that it could easily cut off Gujarat’s access to the wider ocean! Shock! Meanwhile, Pratihara forward-settles Mewar.

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Guge, fairly isolated, makes ample use of their space by settling Tsaparang far from their capital. Plenty of luxury resources nearby, too.

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Gupta and Nepal both play fairly conservative with their second cities, picking well-forested areas near their capitals, but Maurya seems to be acting a bit bolder. In fact, they haven’t even settled their second city yet! Where will they put it?

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Pala, fairly trapped from the outset, places Bikrampur to the north of the Bengali capital in an effort to carve out some room for themselves. Bengal, in turn, also settles east, and Bhutan tries breaking out of their Himalayan home with a southerly second city. Bangladesh, meanwhile, is satisfied playing more conservatively, and settles a nice little coastal city right next to their capital.

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The Khoshuts make the curious decision to settle north, potentially leaving the wide-open Tibetan Plateau vulnerable to outside settlement. Yarlung isn’t interested, though, and they just settle south.

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In contrast to some other, friendlier regions, Gajapati and the VOC immediately settle toward each other, each seeking to take greater control of Odisha. Batavia looks hard to reinforce, though…

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Hyderabad also has not settled yet, boldly (or foolishly) seeking to claim land far to the east. Luckily for them, Rashtrakuta and Kakatiya seem willing to let them get away with it - both elect to settle north. Meanwhile, the British Raj plays things fairly safe with a southward settle, ignoring the massive open land to their north.

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Maratha settles east, away from the fertile coastline and into the rugged desert, eager to secure themselves some space inland to avoid being locked out. Ahmadnagar, meanwhile, settles the defensible-looking city of Junnar.

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Vijayanagara plants their second city in a nice-looking spot on a hill overlooking a river, threatening Rashtrakuta off the bat. Mysore, meanwhile, chooses to play defensively with their second city, placing it amidst the mountains.

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Tamil Nadu is already looking chaotic here as Travancore, Pandya, and the EIC all settle coastal cities, with Travancore and Pandya in particular already looking like rivals. Chola, however, elect to settle inland, despite the fact that they have a naval-focused design and their capital is inland.

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Kandy continues the trend of settling a coastal second city - a valuable decision, given their status as an island civ. Surely the fish-filled western coast would have been a better spot, though?

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The Maldives, isolated as ever, settle north for their second city. At the very least, going north first minimizes the odds of some mainlander grabbing some of their islands for themselves… if they keep settling, that is.

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In northern Myanmar, both Shan and Konbaung grab nice-looking riverside locations for their second cities. Mrauk U, meanwhile, focuses on luxuries with their second city. What’s odd is that, like Chola, Mrauk U has ignored the coast despite being a navally-focused civ. Will this come back to bite them?

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Finally, in southern Myanmar, Pyu works quickly to start walling off Pegu from northward expansion. Pegu doesn’t seem to mind much, though - they just focus on grabbing luxuries with the city of Dagon.

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Hyderabad finally settles Aurangabad just shy of the coast. Depending on who settles next (and where), this could either wall Kakatiya off from all that land to their south or lead to Hyderabad being split in half - a risky and exciting maneuver.

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And our final civ to settle is Maurya, electing to place their second city to the northeast and block in Pala rather than take advantage of the ample room to their south.

Here we can also see one of our first Pantheons: Kashmir’s Rite of Spring! That… doesn’t seem very relevant in the hilly Tundra, but sure, why not.

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Our other Pantheon this turn is Yarlung’s God-King belief, which massively powers up their Palace! This is a respectable bonus, but it does seem like it would be better for smaller empires… this may bode poorly for their future expansion plans.

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There’s not much action immediately following all these second cities, but there are plenty of Barbarians out there stirring up trouble - for instance, harassing Delhi’s young city of Badayun.

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Kandy (sharing an island with noticeably more well-behaved Barbarians) is the next to a Pantheon, selecting the Sacred Path belief which grants them bonus Culture from Jungle tiles. Considering how many of those there are on Sri Lanka, I’d say it was a solid choice.

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War! As early as turn 17, we have war! The East India Company is sick of having Chola all up in their face, and they’ve enlisted the help of Pandya to try and clear some room in the far south. This may have been a slightly premature war declaration, though. Chola doesn’t have many troops, but the EIC seems pretty underprepared as well, and Pandya hasn’t even started moving toward the front lines.

That’s not the only big news here, though! Just to the west of Pandya, Travancore has decided to try and expand their realm through different means: producing a third Settler!

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War continues to erupt across the subcontinent, but in the Deccan, Settlers are the top priority. Both Maratha and Rashtrakuta have a third Settler at the ready, hoping to carve out some decent land for themselves before their neighbors can get any ideas.

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Okay, now let’s look at those new war declarations. Starting up north, the Ghaznavids find themselves assailed by the White Huns, who have sent three corps of brave-hearted Warriors on the long trek toward Multan. I somehow doubt the Ghaznavids are in much danger here.

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But the Ghaznavids also have a second threat to worry about: the Ghurids, sporting shiny new Chariot Archers, who have decided to employ the bold new tactic of fighting a war AND building a Settler! Still, between the low unit counts and the distance between the combatants, I wouldn’t expect much to come from this war.

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Thanjavur is actually taking a surprising amount of damage from the EIC’s Archers, and without any melee units, they’d be in serious trouble if a melee unit got into position. Pandya’s also moving an army toward the front lines, which is certainly terrifying. Chola does have a third Settler out, but without anything to protect it, it might be in danger…

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Punjab is the next civ to found a Pantheon, selecting the Sun God belief. This isn’t great for spreading their religion or generating Faith, but it’s still quite powerful as a Food bonus, especially with all that Wheat nearby. Meanwhile, the Ghaznavids prepare a third Settler.

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Here’s a quick look at Ladakh, whose military is looking quite impressive already! Lots of Chariot Archers in particular, which maybe aren’t the best choice with all this rough terrain, but it’s still something. Plus, they have another Settler ready, too!

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Oh my goodness, we have our first city capture! Only 23 turns into the game, Pandya has managed to maneuver a Warrior in place to capture the Chola city of Thanjavur, sniping it from the EIC units who’d been doing all the work! There is a Chola Warrior nearby to maybe flip the city back, but this is effectively a death blow for an already boxed-in civilization.

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The Deccan is home to some awfully ambitious civs, as both Rashtrakuta and Hyderabad have built not only a third, but also a fourth Settler! At this rate, poor Kakatiya could easily end up squeezed out.

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Travancore is the first civ to officially settle a third city! This is a massive step in the right direction for a civ in such a packed region, and Kozhikode looks to be both defensible and fertile. They could still easily end up boxed in, though - Mysore has a third Settler out, too, and Pandya’s military still looks pretty terrifying.

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On the same turn as Travancore settles a third city, the VOC settles a third city of their own, electing to place Ambon inland to take advantage of all the empty space available. Gajapati also has a third Settler prepared on top of a decent military, so Odisha is looking to be a tense region, but for now there’s plenty enough room to share.

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The Burmese civs are starting to get into gear as well, as both Mrauk U and Konbaung prepare third Settlers. For now, though, it’s hard to point to any clear frontrunners.

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Woah, look at Mewar’s military! They’re looking pretty intimidating right about now - Kannauj would probably fall easily if they invaded Pratihara. With that being said, though, Pratihara has a third Settler out, so if they manage to withstand the invasion (or don’t get invaded at all), they’re probably looking better long-term.

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While nobody in Gujarat (the region) has any notable units, both Gujarat (the civ) and India have Settlers prepared. A lot of the land here isn’t that great, being mostly Desert and Marshland, so they’d better act fast to get the good stuff.

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The Zunbils have a third Settler ready to go, preparing to further wall Afghanistan out from southern expansion. There’s a lot of room left to claim in that western corner of the map… if the Zunbils get all or even most of it, they could become a force to be reckoned with.

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Gupta scores a monster of a Pantheon in the form of Arboreal Communion, granting +1 Culture AND Faith for every single Forest and Jungle tile they own. Between the heavily-forested region they currently inhabit and the two extra Settlers they have prepared, they’re likely to end up with a religion pretty damn quickly.

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Bhutan, meanwhile, selects the simple but effective Oral Tradition belief for their pantheon. This will help their religion spread faster, and in a region where plenty of other civs are likely to have powerful religions, that’ll be quite helpful.

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Poor Kashmir seems to be slowly getting walled in, as the Indo-Greeks place down their third city and both Punjab and Ladakh prepare additional Settlers. They do have a solid military, though - could they invade the Indo-Greeks and take them out early?

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Mewar launches an invasion of Pratihara, who are so busy trying to settle that they’re completely unprepared! Mewar looks to be in a solid position here, with a massive military advantage and units all around Kannauj, so if they don’t screw up and split their forces, this should be an easy win.

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Yarlung, with their third Settler sitting around, is the first civ to a religion! We’ll take a look at their beliefs later, but for now, this looks like a solid start for this Faith-focused civ.

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The Ghurids are the next civ to adopt a Pantheon, and they select the powerful Desert Folklore belief! With their access to a massive amount of Desert tiles, expect them to end up with a very strong religion. Their war with the Ghaznavids, meanwhile, is looking somewhat less exciting. I think they might have forgotten about it.

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The British Raj is looking quite powerful, taking advantage of all their extra room with a third city and a fourth Settler. However, Kakatiya has woken up and produced two Settlers of their own! This is looking to be a very strong region.

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While Konbaung manages to place down a third city without issue, disaster strikes the Shan States as their third Settler is taken by Barbarians! This is a brutal setback for a civ that’s already slowly being cornered

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Mewar’s Chariot Archers have knocked Kannauj into the yellow, and they show no signs of slowing… the Pratihara Settlers continue their march eastward, but they’d better hurry up, because at this rate Mewar might not stop at one city.

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Travancore, now with a fourth Settler on the march, picks up a powerful Pantheon belief: Ocean’s Bounty, granting them Faith for every single Coast tile they own. Given their entire empire so far is coastal, they’re likely to be the dominant religious force of this region.Meanwhile, Cholapuram looks safe at the moment, but Pandya has taken Chola’s Settler! This is a devastating blow to any hope of recovery.

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Moving to the Deccan again for a moment, we can see Maratha preparing a fourth city. Ahmadnagar isn’t too far behind with a third Settler of their own, but they’re going to have to race Maratha to the best land. Both of these civs are looking pretty pathetic on the military side, though - they’re lucky nobody here’s bothered to build an army yet.

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Gujarat and India engage in some dubious shenanigans as they send Settlers far from their capitals, directly towards each other’s cores. Deeply unserious region. I think this is a much wiser decision for India than it is for Gujarat, though, considering the terrain.

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Afghanistan is rapidly getting crowded out by the Zunbils, but now they have a Pantheon, and their belief grants them bonus Happiness in cities on rivers, so that’s something! Still should probably be building Settlers, though.

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Hyderabad, still practicing their patented “Dual Core” settling strategy, have picked up the Spirit Animals Pantheon belief, granting them bonus Culture and Faith on various animal resources. They have proceeded to completely ignore a large collection of Bison resources to the south of Aurangabad. At least Kakatiya is apparently focusing north, because they look VERY vulnerable to being cut in half if they can’t bridge the gap between Hyderabad and Aurangabad soon.

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The invasion of Chola has died down and Cholapuram looks safe, but that might not be the case for long: Pandya has their Unique Unit, the Maraval! This Spearman replacement has Amphibious and also gains an extra Impi-style attack when starting next to the coast.

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While we’re at it, let’s also discuss Harappa’s Unique Unit, the Bullock Cart! This is a simple yet effective Worker replacement: it generates extra Gold when it improves a Luxury Resource. Maybe Harappa should use all that extra Gold to start funding an army, though… they’re looking pretty vulnerable right now, especially if Pakistan starts getting ideas.

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Gupta settles their third city of Mathura right in Nepal’s face, but instead of Nepal punishing this transgression, it’s a band of roving Barbarians! Maybe Nepal hired them to stir up trouble?

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Pegu picks up the God of War belief for their Pantheon, which could get them quite a lot of Faith if they decided to strike out at Pyu (their only accessible target). Speaking of Pyu, though, they’re steadily being boxed in by Mrauk U, who are seemingly determined to build a very linear empire.

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Gujarat settles Cambay directly above the Indian capital of Porbandar, in what is either a very bold or very foolish move. India has no military to speak of, but this city could be easily split off, and Gujarat doesn’t have many troops, either…

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Mrauk U selects the dubious Glacier Spirits belief, granting them bonus Faith for every Snow tile in their empire. I don’t think there’s a single Snow tile on the entire map, though… unless the Mountains count, because I believe they are technically Snow tiles with Mountains on them. Meanwhile, Pyu is moving quickly to avoid becoming trapped, with a fourth Settler being built.

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Pratihara picks up a Pantheon, and they’d better start praying, because Kannauj is in the red and the Barbarians have stolen one of their Settlers. Monument to the Gods is a pretty solid belief, granting bonus Production to early Wonders, but it’s not going to help them if they’re reduced to a rump state before they can use it.

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Next on our Pantheon tour is Ladakh, who have selected the Earth Mother belief! This grants them bonus Faith from Mines, which seems quite useful given their hilly terrain. Combine that with their four whole cities and an extra Settler on top of that, not to mention a solid military, and Ladakh is looking pretty respectable right now.

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The White Huns select the Goddess of Love as their Pantheon belief, granting them +1 Happiness in all cities with 5 or more Population. So far, that’s just their capital, and they only have two cities, to begin with… seems like a bit of an awkward choice.

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The Pyu are the next civilization to found a Religion, creating Theravada. They’re also beginning to expand rapidly, with three cities and two Settlers, though they honestly look pretty squeezed in at the moment.

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India picks up the Rain Dancing belief, grinding them bonuses from Oases - a solid choice, given how many are nearby. That’s about the only good thing that can be said about them right now, though. Where is their third Settler? Where is their military?

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Guge is the next Himalayan civilization to hop on the Pantheon-founding trend, selecting Blessed Be The Cheesemakers, which grants bonuses for Pasture resources. One problem: there don’t seem to be any Pasture resources nearby.

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And… Mewar fumbles it! They fumble a free city! On the verge of taking Kannauj, they decide to sue for peace for seemingly no reason! At the very least, they do still have a Settler out to expand more peacefully, but still - what a waste! (Also: say hi to India’s Settler, still on its sightseeing journey!)

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The Ghaznavids, rapidly being squeezed between Punjab and the Ghurids, adopt the Religious Settlements belief, increasing their border growth rate by 20%. This should hopefully help them claim more land before it’s all gone, but this is still a bit of an awkward position to be in.

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Gupta has made the bold decision to commit to the Horizontal Line as the optimal settling pattern. This comes from a divine revelation, coinciding with the founding of Vaishnavism in their capital of Ayodhya. A sneaky Maurya Settler hears of this holy settling strategy and makes a pilgrimage to learn of Gupta’s secrets.

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Chola, running out of options, turns to religion for answers to their current predicament. They settle on the Divine Adornment belief, granting Culture and Faith from precious metals and Gems. They do have a couple of sources of Copper, so hey, maybe this will help them out a bit. Meanwhile, Travancore is expanding rapidly with two Settlers headed for new lands, and Mysore is building up a rather impressive army.

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Maurya is the next civ to a Pantheon, picking up Ancestor Worship for the Culture bonuses to Shrines, Temples, and Libraries. Aside from that, though, they actually look to be in an interesting position. Gupta, Nepal, and Pala are all slowly encroaching on Maurya lands, but Pataliputra has reached a massive 11 Population, and they even have their unique War Elephant! This is a slower and more expensive but more powerful and versatile version of the Chariot Archer which also doesn’t require Horses, and it could be a massive help for some early warring thanks to its lack of terrain penalties.

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War erupts in the mountains as Ladakh declares war on Kashmir! Honestly, though, the odds of this war going anywhere are pretty minimal - the terrain is incredibly difficult to traverse.

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Pakistan, the next civ to a Pantheon, picks the Stone Circles belief. They seem to have at least one source of Stone, and so the bonuses to Quarries should be at least a little helpful. Their army is starting to build up nicely, too - not a terrible spot for them to be in!

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Rashtrakuta, building up nicely in the center of the map, has picked up the Religious Idols belief, granting some bonuses to Monuments. Not the most helpful, though the extra Gold and Faith is nice, but honestly they look like they’re doing well enough even without a strong Pantheon.

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Pala, another of the Kannauj trio, also grabs a Pantheon, choosing Mystic Rituals to boost their Cotton, Dyes, Incense, and Silk. It’s a nice boon, but they’ll need more than some extra Culture and Faith to get out of the cramped space they’re in.

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The Shan States may be trapped deep inland with only two cities to their name, but they have big dreams, as evidenced by their choice of Pantheon. Aquatic Underworld grants large bonuses to Lighthouses, which will be extremely useful if they can ever somehow reach the coast. (Pretty rough for all the coastal and island civs to miss out on this one, though…)

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The British Raj, another member of the Cult of the Line, is our first civ to advance to the Classical Era! With plenty of cities, plenty of space, and a lot of Science, they’re looking pretty good right about now - there isn’t really anybody who can punish their relatively lack of a military right now, either, which is another plus.

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Early warmongering always comes at a cost, as Pandya is finding out just now. Both the EIC and Mysore declare war on their Tamil neighbor, and while neither looks all that threatening at the moment, this still isn’t the best position to be in/ Meanwhile, Travancore continues to look for a good place to settle.

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War in the south is followed up by war in the east, as Pala launches an invasion of Bengal! Pala’s military is pretty large, and they have Chariot Archers, too - if they can focus their units at all, they might actually be able to threaten Bengal’s capital.

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The Khoshuts are going kind of insane on expansion, with three cities and three additional Settlers. Given their position at the edge of the map with Yarlung just a bit further south, it’s probably for the best that they commit so hard to settling.

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The Ghurids and Ghaznavids make peace without ever even flirting with the idea of actually engaging in combat. Both civs decide to focus on other things, instead, namely settling the ample free land in the region.

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The Maldives, already in the process of an island settling spree, pick up the God of War Pantheon belief. +2 Production from Barracks isn’t anything crazy, and it won’t get them a religion, but that’s effectively +2 Production per city in a region where cities can easily be packed together. Not too bad.

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The Mughals decide that there’s only room for one MC civ in this region, and it’s going to be them. They declare war on Delhi, who look woefully underprepared! If they can just focus on one target, the crown jewel of India could be within Akbar’s grasp.

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Travancore, still in the process of figuring out where to settle, founds their very own religion - and with Chola being the only other Pantheon-holder in the area, it looks like Catholicism will be pretty strong. Meanwhile, a fairly scary-looking EIC army seems to be moving on Thanjavur, but the city hasn’t taken any damage quite yet…

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India’s wacky adventuring Settler seems to be on its way back home, and Gujarat, afraid of being boxed in, declares war! Neither civ here has any military whatsoever, so I doubt much will happen, but Cambay does look pretty indefensible…

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Kashmir, still dealing with Ladakh’s “invasion” to the east, suddenly gets attacked by the Indo-Greeks, as well! This war could hypothetically go somewhere with the slightly more hospitable terrain, but given both civs have a solid military and there are hills everywhere, Kashmir will probably be okay. They even have a couple more Settlers wandering about!

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Whoops, ignore my previous statement about Travancore’s religion - there is some competition after all. Kandy founds Smartism, which is a neat little bonus for this somewhat isolated civ. But if they’re so smart, how come they still only have two cities, hm? Think about it.

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In a shockingly quick and successful blitz, Pala has taken Bengal’s capital! There are a couple of Bengali Spearmen nearby, but as a whole, Bengal does not look to be in position to recoup their losses here. This is an incredible play by Pala, who needed to play smart to not get boxed in early - now they’re looking like a pretty high-tier civ even if they don’t take anything else, just due to all that empty space left to settle.

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War continues to rage across the cylinder as the British Raj and Rashtrakuta gang up on Kakatiya. The distance involved here makes any major gains look unlikely, but the Raj does notably have Swordsmen, which are quite strong for this point in the game. Even if nothing is taken here, though, Kakatiya looks to be falling a bit behind here; the Raj and Rashtrakuta both have additional Settlers out and about, while they don’t.

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Mrauk U continues to follow the teachings of the Holy Line, and with four cities plus two extra Settlers, I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job of it. They’d better be careful to beef up their core’s defenses a bit too, though - Konbaung and Pyu both have some pretty solid-looking armies out and about.

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Pandya’s brief stint at the top has come to a swift end as the EIC takes Thanjavur! This is a pretty nice win for them, bringing them up to four cities, and it’s a pretty rough loss for the very militarized Mysore who very easily could have secured themselves a lot more room to expand right here. Travancore has also settled another city, so the fate of southern India is still far from decided. It’s just not looking very good for the Tamils.

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The Mughals, evidently not seeing much success in the war against Delhi, decide to try and pick on another civ that’s just as much of a failure as they are: Mewar. Unfortunately for them, Mewar’s actually been expanding, and also they’re kind of out of units. Perhaps the Mughals should just focus on one enemy at a time…

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The war in Gujarat looks to be a gigantic mess as both India and Gujarat have materialized armies out of thin air to attack each other’s poorly-defended cities. We may be about to witness one of the most convoluted city trades in history if someone can’t figure out how to mount a proper defense.

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Kashmir manages to break out of the Himalayas with the settling of Suyyapura, but in doing so they’ve given Ladakh an actually feasible target! If Ladakh can focus their efforts even a little bit, this city could be done for. At the very least, the Indo-Greek invasion seems to be going about as well as expected.

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And that’s all the action slides for this part! From here on out, it’s just stats - if that’s not your thing, then thank you for reading! Otherwise, let’s take a look at the state of the game together.

Before all that, though, here’s a quick overview of the map. Nobody’s looking super dominant just yet, but things are starting to fill up nicely. Also of note: Kakatiya has, in fact, settled south and split Hyderabad in half.

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Kakatiya also dwarfs the competition in terms of Population, with only Kandy being even remotely close.

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However, Pala and Kandy have the highest Food yield - perhaps they’ll be the Population superpowers of the future?

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96

Ladakh currently leads in Production with their hilly terrain, but the Indo-Greeks and Kakatiya aren’t far behind.

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97

The Maldives are far and away the civ with the highest GNP.

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98

Ladakh packs the largest military, with Mysore in a solid second place. Mewar… seems to have broken something, somehow.

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99

Somehow, seven entire civs are already facing Happiness problems!

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100

Kandy is currently the most advanced civ, with 13 techs, but the British Raj is right behind with 12.

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101

Six civs are already in crippling debt, including Ladakh already facing double-digit gold losses! Will they be okay?

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102

Five civs are at five cities, but nobody has quite broken the six-city barrier just yet.

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103

The British Raj and Kakatiya have the highest Science output, with Kandy right behind, so they’re likely to continue dominating the tech race.

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And finally for this round of stats, the Indo-Greeks lead in Culture output, with Pyu in second place.

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Now, it’s time for Religious beliefs! Here are the beliefs for Vajrayana, Vaishnavism, and Theravada…

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106

Next up, Sunni and Smartism, plus a few Pantheons…

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Here’s a few more Pantheons…

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And then the beliefs of Catholicism and Arianism, plus the last of the Pantheons.

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And finally, here’s a general overview of the religions founded thus far!

Thank you very much for reading! There’s plenty of excitement yet to come, so be sure to check back for the next part soon. Until then, I’ve been NopeCopter aka u/daXfactorz, and thank you for reading.