In the grand strategy of Civilization VI, leading America under the Bull Moose persona of Teddy Roosevelt offers a clear and potent path toward a Domination Victory. His abilities are intrinsically geared for conflict, particularly on his home continent. However, a powerful army is only one part of the equation. True mastery and efficient conquest come from the shrewd appointment and promotion of Governors. These are not mere administrators but extensions of national will, capable of turning a fledgling war effort into an unstoppable global force.
This guide provides a definitive analysis of Governor promotions tailored specifically for a Teddy Roosevelt domination game. The strategies outlined here are synthesized from extensive community analysis and professional player feedback, designed to maximize Teddy’s unique advantages at every stage of the game. The core principle is to leverage his early combat bonus to establish momentum that becomes an insurmountable advantage in the later eras.
The Core Philosophy: Governors as Instruments of Power
For a domination-focused leader like Teddy Roosevelt, Governors serve three primary functions: securing loyalty in captured territories, fueling the military-industrial complex, and accelerating the technological and civic progress that unlocks superior military power. While every Governor offers a baseline +8 Loyalty simply by being assigned to a city, their specialized promotions are what truly shape the course of a campaign.
A common mistake is to view Governors as static city managers. For a successful conquest, they must be deployed dynamically. They are your strategic assets, to be moved to the front lines, positioned in your industrial heartland, or assigned to your centers of research as the needs of the war effort dictate. The selection of promotions should be deliberate, creating a synergistic effect that complements Teddy’s inherent strengths.
Victor (The Castellan): The Tip of the Spear
Analysis on forums consistently places Victor at the top of the list for any domination-focused civilization, and for Teddy, he is indispensable. Victor is the engine of your front-line operations, transforming newly conquered cities from rebellious liabilities into fortified assets. His promotion tree is a masterclass in offensive and defensive military strategy.
Foundational Promotions for Conquest
Garrison Commander: This is Victor’s cornerstone ability and should be the first promotion selected. It grants +4 Combat Strength to units defending within the city’s tiles. While this defensive bonus is valuable, its most critical function is the +4 Loyalty per turn it provides to the city. When conquering a city, especially one deep in enemy territory, loyalty pressure can cause it to rebel before it can be stabilized. Assigning Victor with Garrison Commander is the immediate countermeasure. The moment a city falls, Victor should be on his way. His rapid 3-turn establishment time means this loyalty boost comes online quickly, often being the deciding factor in holding a new acquisition.
Redoubt and Embrasure: These two promotions work in tandem to create resilient forward operating bases. Redoubt prevents a city from being put under siege as long as it has a garrisoned unit, and it increases the city’s Ranged Strength. Embrasure further enhances the city’s Outer Defenses’ strength. For Teddy, who benefits from fighting on his home continent, these promotions are doubly effective. A conquered city on your continent becomes an incredibly tough nut to crack, allowing you to mass your forces for the next offensive push without worrying about losing ground. A popular strategy is to leapfrog Victor from one captured city to the next, leaving a trail of fortified positions in his wake.
Mid-to-Late Game Dominance
Air Defense Initiative: As the game progresses into the modern era, air power becomes a significant threat. The Air Defense Initiative, which provides a +25 Combat Strength bonus to anti-air support units within the city, is a crucial defensive tool. It protects your staging areas from enemy bombing runs, ensuring your armies can heal and reinforce unmolested. This is particularly relevant for Teddy, as you will want to protect your own unique P-51 Mustang fighters while they are stationed in your forward airbases.
Arms Race Proponent: This is Victor’s ultimate promotion and a game-ending tool. It grants +100% Production toward nuclear devices and doubles the uranium accumulation in the city. While the use of nuclear weapons is a final resort, possessing this capability is the ultimate deterrent. For a domination victory, having the ability to quickly produce these weapons can force a capitulation or break a stalemate against a heavily fortified opponent. The strategic value lies in making your military threat absolute.
Strategic Deployment of Victor: Think of Victor as your campaign manager. Before an invasion, he should be placed in one of your own cities near the enemy border. Once the first enemy city falls, he should be immediately reassigned to that new city. This provides an instant loyalty boost and begins the process of turning it into a forward base. As you push deeper, he continues to move with the front line, always stationed in the most recently captured, and therefore most vulnerable, city.
Magnus (The Steward): Fueling the War Machine
While Victor is on the front lines, Magnus is the master of your economic and industrial heartland. A sustained war of domination requires a colossal amount of production and a steady flow of resources. Many professional gamers suggest that without a well-promoted Magnus working in the background, even the most successful military campaign will eventually grind to a halt.
Building the Engine of War
Provision: This is arguably one of the most powerful promotions in the entire game for any expansionist strategy. It allows the city where Magnus is established to train Settlers without losing a point of Population. For Teddy, who wants to quickly settle his home continent to maximize his combat bonus, this is non-negotiable. Your capital or a high-food city with Magnus can continuously produce Settlers, expanding your empire and your production base, without sacrificing its own growth and development. This early expansion is critical for establishing the multiple high-production cities needed to field a large army.
Surplus Logistics: This promotion increases Food from domestic Trade Routes and grants +2 Production in the destination city. A network of domestic trade routes feeding your primary military production centers can significantly accelerate unit creation. Imagine a core of 3-4 cities, each with an Industrial Zone and a Workshop, all receiving production bonuses from Magnus-inspired trade routes. This creates a factory-like system for churning out units.
Advanced Industrial Management
Industrialist and Black Marketeer: These promotions address the resource constraints of a long war. Industrialist increases the production bonus from Industrial Zone buildings, further enhancing your manufacturing capacity. Black Marketeer is a subtle but powerful tool, increasing the strategic resources harvested in a city by 50%. In the mid-to-late game, when advanced units require significant amounts of Iron, Niter, and later, Oil and Aluminum, this promotion can be the difference between fielding a modern army and being stuck with obsolete units. It ensures your unique Rough Riders and P-51 Mustangs can be produced in overwhelming numbers.
Vertical Integration: This promotion provides a substantial production bonus from the adjacency bonuses of Industrial Zones. For Teddy, this has a unique synergy with his ability to easily gain Envoys. By becoming the Suzerain of multiple industrial or scientific City-States, you can dramatically increase the yields of your districts. When combined with a wonder like Kilwa Kisiwani, which Teddy can leverage better than almost any other leader, the production bonuses can become truly staggering. A city with Magnus, Vertical Integration, and suzerainty over several industrial city-states becomes a military production powerhouse.
Pingala (The Educator): The Unseen Advantage
In a domination game, it’s easy to overlook a “peaceful” Governor like Pingala. However, community analysis shows that a technological and civic advantage is often the most powerful weapon of all. Pingala does not win battles directly; he ensures that you arrive at the battle with superior technology, more powerful units, and better government policies than your opponent. For Teddy, this means reaching his unique units and powerful military governments ahead of the curve.
Accelerating to Victory
Librarian and Researcher: These are Pingala’s core science-boosting promotions. Librarian provides +1 Science per citizen in the city, while Researcher grants a flat +15% bonus to all Science generated. Placing Pingala in your primary science city—ideally one with a strong Campus, a Library, and a University—creates a research hub that can propel you through the tech tree. For Teddy, this means unlocking the Rifling technology for his Rough Riders or Advanced Flight for his P-51 Mustangs while opponents are still fielding earlier-generation units. This technological gap is a massive strategic advantage.
Connoisseur and Grants: These promotions do for Culture what the others do for Science. Connoisseur provides a +15% culture bonus, and Grants doubles Great Person point generation. The cultural acceleration is vital for a domination victory. It allows you to quickly unlock key military civics, such as those that boost production towards units, reduce unit maintenance, or provide extra military policy slots. Rushing to governments like Oligarchy in the early game for its +4 melee unit combat strength, or Fascism in the late game for its massive unit production bonus, is a cornerstone of many domination strategies. Pingala makes this possible.
Strategic Use of Pingala: Pingala should be established early in your most promising science or culture city and should remain there for most of the game. He is a long-term investment that pays dividends in the form of consistent technological and civic superiority.
Amani (The Diplomat): The Loyalty Specialist
While Victor is a blunt instrument for loyalty, Amani is a surgical tool. She excels in situations requiring a more nuanced approach to loyalty management. According to the player community, she is best used either to defensively secure a critical border city against overwhelming loyalty pressure or to offensively flip an enemy city without firing a single shot.
The Art of Influence
Emissary and Prestige: These are Amani’s key loyalty promotions. Prestige provides +2 Loyalty to your own cities within 9 tiles, creating a defensive buffer zone. Emissary is her offensive weapon, causing enemy cities within 9 tiles to lose 2 Loyalty per turn. A classic strategy is to place Amani in a city bordering a rival’s territory. Combined with other sources of loyalty pressure like population, amenities, and policy cards, her Emissary promotion can slowly erode an enemy city’s loyalty until it rebels and becomes a Free City, ripe for the taking. This is an excellent way to soften up a target before an invasion.
Situational & Niche Promotions (Moksha & Liang)
While Victor, Magnus, and Pingala form the core of your gubernatorial team, Moksha and Liang offer niche promotions that can be useful in specific circumstances.
Moksha (The Cardinal): His “Laying on of Hands” promotion allows units to heal fully in a single turn within his city’s territory. In a protracted war where you need to cycle damaged units back to a safe haven for rapid recovery, this can be surprisingly effective.
Liang (The Surveyor): Her “Zoning Commissioner” promotion, which allows districts to be built 20% faster, can be useful for quickly establishing military infrastructure (Encampments, Aerodromes) in newly founded or conquered cities.
Strategic Timeline: A Phased Approach to Governor Deployment
A successful domination game with Teddy requires a clear, phased approach to using your Governors.
Early Game (Ancient – Classical Era): Your first Governor title should go to Magnus, placed in your capital. Immediately promote him to Provision. Your entire focus should be on producing Settlers to claim your home continent while building an early army of Archers and Warriors to leverage your +5 Combat Strength bonus.
Mid Game (Medieval – Industrial Era): As you begin your first major conquests, your second Governor should be Victor. He should be deployed to the front lines as described above, with Garrison Commander as his first promotion. Your third Governor should be Pingala, established in your best science city to begin the race towards Rifling and your powerful Rough Riders. Magnus should continue to work from your industrial core, fueling the production of your armies.
Late Game (Modern – Atomic Era): Victor remains your most active Governor, moving with the front line. Amani may be brought in to deal with specific loyalty hotspots or to apply offensive pressure on a stubborn opponent. Pingala continues to accelerate your research towards late-game technologies, while Magnus ensures your war machine has the resources it needs to achieve final victory.
Conclusion
For Teddy Roosevelt, Governors are the essential mechanism through which his potential for domination is realized. A purely military approach will eventually falter due to loyalty problems or production shortages. The strategic, phased deployment of Victor, Magnus, and Pingala creates a powerful synergy that addresses every aspect of a successful conquest. Victor secures the front, Magnus fuels the army, and Pingala provides the technological edge. By mastering this gubernatorial strategy, you transform Teddy’s home-continent advantage from a temporary bonus into the foundation of a world-spanning empire, ensuring that you can, indeed, speak softly while carrying a very big stick.