Charlemagne is a powerful militaristic leader inCivilization 7. He receives a lot of bonus Happiness, a consistent way to generate production-free units, and some great combat buffs during Celebrations. Much of Charlemagne’s strategy revolves around warfare, although balancing his happiness requirements while taking cities and dealing with war weariness makes Charlemagne a little harder to pilot than some of the easier leaders in Civ 7.
This guide covers the best Charlemagne strategy to get the most out of his free cavalry units, the best civilizations, research paths, and more.
This guide is based on singleplayer Civilization 7, not the multiplayer mode. Strategies will likely change!
Charlemagne Overview
Charlemagne, the Father of Europe, has some excellent leader bonuses. He really wants to lean into amilitary playthrough, earning multiple free cavalry units via Celebrations. This bonus can get wildly out of control even in the Antiquity Age, especially if you have a strong start with plenty of Happiness.
This bonus gets really, really out of control in the Modern Age where you are essentially printing high-tier cavalry units for free.
Likewise, Charlemagne likes to focus on Science due to the Happiness adjacency bonus from Science buildings. Generally, you will want to tackle the Military and Science tech and civic tree as a primary focus.
Military and Science buildings receive a Happiness adjacency for Quarters.
Gain 2 free Cavalry Units, once unlocked, when entering a Celebration.
+5 Combat Strength for Cavalry Units during a Celebration.
Happiness Adjacency
Charlemagne’s Happiness Adjacency on buildings likeLibrariesandBarrackswill help you manage your overall happiness levels, as long as you’re smart about your adjacency planning.
You can read 7 adjacencyhere.
Free Cavalry
Charlemagne receivestwo free cavalry unitsevery time he enters a celebration. While this is a bit slow at the start of the game - it requires you to researchThe Wheelto unlock cavalry units - things can start to get really out of hand later in the game.
There are multiple methods to stack celebrations so that you instanty enter another once the current celebration ends.Repeat this over and over and print free powerful units with Charlemagne- in the Modern Age, this means free tanks. You can’t go wrong with free tanks.
Extra Combat Strength For Cavalry During Celebrations
One of the simplest ways to overpower enemy armies is to verify that your combat strength is higher than theirs. It sounds simple, but you need to know where to find these bonuses.
On Deity difficulty, the AI receiveshugecombat strength bonuses.
Charlemagne gets a nice solid boost of +5 to Cavalry combat strength while in combat. Considering you should be in a celebrationalmost constantlycome the Modern Age, this is a great help.
Best Antiquity Age Charlemagne Strategy In Civ 7
Regardless of your civilization (we’ll get to the best civs to pick for Charlemagne in a moment), Charlemagne has a solid strategy that focuses around generating early Happiness via theAltar.
Then youpush for an earlyLibraryto earn theBronze Workingtech quickly, and then start to earn lots of cavalry units via thecelebrationsearned by your excess happiness.
Scouting And Discoveries - What Should You Choose From Discoveries?
As we recommend for every leader in the game, you should always buildtwoorthreescouts as your first production in your capital. This is because early gameDiscoveriesare so important.
Discovery Priority List
Best Government
There are two options here: either grab theFoodandProductionor go forScienceandInfantry Unit Production.Food and Production provides more all-round benefits, whereas Science and Infantry can really push for that military victory in the Antiquity Age.
Early Tech And Civics
Generally, we like to pick upPotteryintoWritingon Charlemagne to start earning science early on.
In terms of civics, you want to get your general online as soon as possible, soDisciplineintoMysticism(to pick up a decent production Pantheon) is a great path.
No two games of Civ 7 will be the same, andyour early strategy can often change moment to moment- especially depending on which civilization you’ve chosen to pair with Charlemagne.
Settling, Resources, And Conquering
Depending on the closeness of your neighbors, you may want toforego settling too many towns yourself. Charlemagne is a warmonger, and there’s no reason why you can’t just scoop your neighbor’s juicy capital as one of your early cities.
That being said, you want to be on the lookout for some key resources when playing as Charlemagne, regardless of civilization choice:
Read to use army commanders here.
Best Civilizations For Charlemagne
Charlemagne has some great early options for civilizations in the Antiquity Age, such as theKhmer,Maurya,and theMaya.While these don’t seem like obvious picks for the European King, they do make sense within the context of Charlemagne’s bonuses.
You can choose an additionalPantheonafter unlockingMysticism.
+30% Production towards constructingSanchi Stupa.
The Maurya have one of the best Antiquity Age cavalry units, thePurabhettarah.This unique unit receives an extra +5 Combat Strength against Fortified Districts. Pair this with Charlemagne’s +5 Combat Strength to cavalry during celebrations and you suddenly have a menacing +10 Combat Strength cavalry unit.
The Maurya’s focus on both growth and happiness also complements Charlemagne’s playstyle. TheDharamshalaandViharaunique buildings bothprovide Happiness, and theMatha(the unique Quarter with both districts inside) provides aboost of +10 percent happinessin the settlement.
You can use the Maurya’s extra Pantheon to grab some useful Pantheons early on, like the Wonder building Pantheon, or the Pantheon that provides +10% Growth in the settlement.
Districts on Rivers do not remove thenatural yieldof the tile.
+30% Production towards constructing the Angkor Wat.
The Khmer boast a powerful Antiquity Age cavalry unit, theYuthahathi. It has higher combat strength than regular cavalry from the Age, but it does move slower. Also immune to flood damage.
It’s not as powerful as the Mauryan cavalry, but if you’re playing a leader who gets free cavalry,you might as well get the best units possible.
Much of the strategy for the Khmer revolves around theBaray, their unique tile improvement. This provides +3 base food, which is a pretty sizable bonus - but it also provides +1 Food on all floodplain tiles in the settlement. Lots of food to fuel production in Charlemagne’s cities.
The Palace gains +0.5 Science foradjacent Vegetated Terrain.
+30% Production towards constructingMundo Perdido.
The Maya are currently ourdefault pickfor leaders in Civilization 7 if we just want todominate sciencefrom an early stage. While science is definitely not as crucial as in previous games - there are plenty of other avenues to win the game - it’s still veryuseful,particularly for a military leader like Charlemagne.
The quicker you manage to get toBronze Workingtech, the quicker you may start to generate yourfree cavalry unitswith celebrations. The Maya can get there quickly. Very quickly with the right start.
The Maya’s default bonuses aren’t amazing - that extra Science from Vegetated Terrain can be totally useless if you get a city start in a barren spot - but it’s really their civics and science adjacency that cause scientific mayhem in the Antiquity Age.
TheK’uh Nahunique building provides +1 Science adjacency for Wonders (amazing), and the civics that revolve around science adjacency for the Altar are also fantastic. You can quickly getsizablyahead on Science with the Maya.
