Magadha/Strategic Overview

Faction Overview	Strategic Overview	History
*Strengths: Good economic bonuses, access to some strong land units.
*Weaknesses: Very few heavy units, cavalry component is too slow and inflexible, predictable gameplay. Nearly no mercenaries. Poor wonder selection. Poor navy.
By far and large, Magadha's army — a traditional Indian one — is noteworthy of several things. Firstly, it has some fairly decent units, as well as siege capability (which is in full contrast compared with Gandhara, which is more reliant on mercenaries). Magadha is notable for its use of siege weapons just like the Greeks, which provide her with a powerful means of taking enemy cities — if the elephants don't prevail, then the catapults, along with other siege weapons like Mantlets and Trupanons, will make short work of them. 
However, the near-lack of proper heavy units — except for two units or so — as well as the lack of mercenaries means that Magadha in the field often tends to lack staying power, especially since there is no proper access to horse cavalry for Magadha. While Magadha has powerful Heavy Chariots and Varu, their slow speed, and their vulnerability to missile weapons makes them very questionable and difficult to use. Magadha nevertheless has access to Longbowmen (shared with her sister-civ, Gandhara) who in theory can help even the odds and protect your costlier cavalry unless they are separated and defeated in detail. Against Magadha, it is important to remember that they rely on poor-quality infantry, as well as super-heavy cavalry. One method, as an Indian or Persian player, is to use the same weapons that they have against them — the Achaemenid Harma Drepanephore is thus optimal for use against Magadha as it is against Gandhara, and hoplite-heavy Greek factions. If that isn't enough, then use cavalry — even Greek Hippeis Thessalikoi can work wonders against Magadha armies owing to the inferior quality of their horsemen. 
Despite her cultural sophistication, Magadha is still considered fairly backward owing to her lack of wonders, so such a limited number of Wonders will forever damn her ability to negotiate an allied victory to frustration, especially in in free-for-all games. Still, Magadha has one of the fullest tech trees, and would be able to access almost every Upgrade in Alexander, except for Night Fighting (Level 3 Attrition) meaning that Magadha's economy is not only supercharged by her cultural bonuses, but is also technologically superior since most resource extraction and recruitment bonuses are available - the Grand Library wonder only makes them easier to obtain! For this reason, Magadha is not suited towards turtling, but is instead meant best for militaristic booming. Use your cities' awesome abilities to make them more efficient, thus claiming more land for your farms, and then flooding the enemy with your awesome armies backed by elephants and chariots in the van. Magadha is best used for military strategies — either seize vast tracts of land, or blitz the enemy capitals one by one without any letup until victory or death.
Category:Magadha
Category:Spoiler