the best governor promotions for teddy roosevelt in civ 6

The Best Governor Promotions for Teddy Roosevelt in Civ 6

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Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the most versatile and strategically fascinating leaders in Civilization 6. With two distinct leader personas—Bull Moose and Rough Rider—he can pivot between a dominant Cultural Victory and an aggressive Domination Victory. This unique duality means that a one-size-fits-all approach to governor selection is insufficient. The optimal governor and promotion path depends entirely on which facet of Roosevelt’s identity you embrace.

Analysis on player forums consistently shows that the key to mastering Teddy Roosevelt is aligning your governor choices with your victory condition from the early game. For Bull Moose, the strategy revolves around amplifying the immense Science and Culture yields from high-appeal tiles. For Rough Rider, the focus shifts to leveraging his formidable combat advantages on his home continent. This guide provides a definitive breakdown of the best governor promotions for both playstyles, offering a clear, actionable framework for success.

Governor Strategy for Bull Moose Teddy: The Cultural Naturalist

Bull Moose Teddy’s “Antiquities and Parks” ability is the cornerstone of his strategy. It grants +2 Science to tiles with Breathtaking appeal adjacent to Mountains or Natural Wonders, and +2 Culture to Breathtaking tiles next to Woods or man-made Wonders. This creates the potential for staggering yields, turning your empire into a powerhouse of innovation and artistic expression. The primary goal is a Cultural Victory, which necessitates a heavy focus on tourism, Great Works, and National Parks.

Primary Governor: Pingala, The Educator

For a Bull Moose Teddy playthrough, Pingala is not just the best choice; he is essential. He should be established in your most promising city—typically your capital or a city with exceptional appeal and potential for wonders—as early as possible. His promotions directly amplify the yields that are critical for a Cultural Victory.

Promotion Path and Analysis:

  1. Librarian (Default): Provides +15% Culture and Science in the city. This is a solid foundational ability that immediately enhances the output of your primary city, setting the stage for the more powerful promotions to come.

  2. Connoisseur: This is arguably the most critical promotion for a Cultural Victory. It provides +100% Tourism from Great Works of Art, Music, and Writing in the city. For Bull Moose Teddy, who will be generating significant Culture to unlock civics for buildings like Amphitheaters, Museums, and Broadcast Centers, this promotion is a game-changer. Player analysis suggests rushing this promotion to maximize early tourism accumulation. When combined with America’s unique Film Studio building in the Modern era, which also boosts tourism, the effect is exponential.

  3. Grants: This promotion provides +15% Science and Culture generation in the city where Pingala is established. While the default Librarian ability provides a similar boost, Grants stacks with it, leading to a cumulative +30% increase. In a city already supercharged by Bull Moose’s appeal-based yields, this creates an engine of progress that will propel you through the Civic and Technology trees, unlocking crucial wonders and policies faster than your rivals.

  4. Researcher: This promotion grants +1 Science for every citizen in the city. For a high-population capital, this provides a substantial and reliable stream of Science. Many professional gamers suggest this as the next pick after Connoisseur and Grants because it ensures you don’t neglect technological advancement while pursuing culture. This is vital for unlocking key wonders like the Eiffel Tower and Cristo Redentor.

  5. Curator: Providing +1 Culture for every citizen in the city, this promotion mirrors Researcher but for your cultural output. In a sprawling metropolis, this translates to a significant boost, accelerating your progress towards late-game civics that unlock powerful tourism-generating policies and the all-important National Park.

  6. Space Initiative: While not directly aligned with a Cultural Victory, this promotion’s +30% Production toward Space Race projects can be a valuable pivot. If another civilization is running away with a Cultural Victory, a strong scientific foundation, nurtured by Pingala, allows you to switch gears to a Science Victory. It’s a strategic safety net.

Secondary Governor: Reyna, The Financier

A robust economy is the backbone of any successful empire, and a Cultural Victory is expensive. You will need gold to purchase builders, move Great Works, and, most importantly, acquire Naturalists to create National Parks. Reyna, The Financier, provides the economic power to fuel your cultural ambitions.

Promotion Path and Analysis:

  1. Land Acquisition: Reyna’s starting ability allows the city to purchase districts with Gold. This is incredibly useful for quickly establishing Theater Squares or Holy Sites without diverting production. A popular strategy is to place Reyna in a new, promising city and immediately buy the districts needed to get it contributing to your victory condition.

  2. Forestry Management: This promotion is uniquely powerful for Bull Moose Teddy. It grants +2 Gold from every unimproved feature (Woods, Rainforest) in the city. Since the ideal locations for National Parks are often filled with unimproved woods to maximize appeal, this promotion allows you to generate significant income from tiles you were already planning to preserve. This gold can then fund the very Naturalists needed to turn those features into tourism-generating parks.

  3. Harbormaster: If your city is on the coast, this promotion doubles the Gold adjacency bonus from Commercial Hubs and Harbors. This is a straightforward but effective way to boost your income, especially in cities that will also host Seaside Resorts for additional tourism.

  4. Tax Collector: Granting +2 Gold for every citizen in the city, this is a powerful, direct injection of cash. In a high-population city, this can generate more income than any other single source, providing the liquidity needed for late-game expenses.

Situational Governor: Moksha, The Cardinal

Faith is a surprisingly crucial yield for a Cultural Victory. It is the primary currency for recruiting Naturalists and Rock Bands. Moksha can transform a city into a fountain of Faith, directly supporting your tourism efforts.

Promotion Path and Analysis:

  1. Divine Architect: This is Moksha’s most powerful promotion for a non-religious victory. It allows the city to purchase districts with Faith. This is a phenomenal ability for Bull Moose Teddy. You can use Faith generated from Holy Sites (which themselves can be placed to boost appeal) to instantly build Theater Squares in new cities, dramatically accelerating your cultural development.

  2. Patron Saint: This promotion doubles the Great Person points generated from the city’s districts. Placing Moksha in a city with a Holy Site and a Theater Square will significantly speed up the acquisition of Great Prophets, Writers, Artists, and Musicians, all of whom are vital for a Cultural Victory.

Governor Strategy for Rough Rider Teddy: The Continental Conqueror

Rough Rider Teddy is a military powerhouse, especially on his home continent. His “Roosevelt Corollary” ability grants all his units +5 Combat Strength on his capital’s continent. This, combined with the powerful Rough Rider unique unit, makes him purpose-built for a Domination Victory. Governor choices should focus on military support, loyalty, and efficient expansion.

Primary Governor: Victor, The Castellan

When waging war, Victor is your most valuable asset. He is a purely military-focused governor whose promotions are designed to make a city an unbreakable fortress and a staging ground for conquest. He is essential for holding newly captured territory and projecting power.

Promotion Path and Analysis:

  1. Redoubt (Default): Victor’s presence increases the city’s Combat Strength by +4. Furthermore, enemy spies operate at 2 levels below their actual level. This immediately makes the city he is in a hard target, discouraging enemy attacks.

  2. Garrison Commander: This is Victor’s most important promotion for an offensive war. It grants +5 Combat Strength to units defending within the city’s territory and provides +4 Loyalty per turn to the city. When you capture an enemy city, immediately moving Victor there is a common strategy. The loyalty bonus helps prevent the city from rebelling, while the combat bonus makes it nearly impossible for the enemy to retake it.

  3. Embrasure: This promotion allows the city to make an additional ranged attack per turn. This effectively doubles the city’s defensive firepower, turning it from a passive defender into an active participant in battles. It is particularly effective at clearing out wounded enemy units that are foolish enough to remain within range.

  4. Air Defense Initiative: This promotion grants +25 anti-air Combat Strength to the city. As you progress into the mid and late game, air power becomes a significant threat. This promotion helps secure your forward operating bases against enemy bombers and fighters, protecting your ground troops.

  5. Arms Race Proponent: This promotion provides +30% Production toward nuclear armament. While situational, in a late-game stalemate, having the ability to rapidly produce nuclear weapons can be the key to breaking the deadlock and securing a Domination Victory.

Secondary Governor: Magnus, The Steward

A successful domination campaign requires not only strong armies but also the industrial capacity to build and maintain them and the population to support them. Magnus is the master of production and growth, making him an ideal governor for your core industrial cities.

Promotion Path and Analysis:

  1. Provision: This is one of the most powerful expansionist promotions in the game. It ensures that the city does not lose a Population when it trains a Settler. For Rough Rider Teddy, who wants to expand rapidly across his home continent to maximize his combat bonus, this is invaluable. It allows you to churn out Settlers from your capital without stunting its growth.

  2. Surplus Logistics: This promotion increases city growth by 20% and provides +2 Food to domestic Trade Routes originating from the city. This helps your core cities grow tall, allowing them to work more tiles and support more districts, which in turn fuels your war machine.

  3. Industrialist: This promotion provides +2 Production for each strategic resource in the city. For a domination-focused player, securing strategic resources like Iron, Niter, and Oil is a top priority. This promotion turns those resources into a direct production advantage, allowing you to build units and military infrastructure more quickly.

  4. Vertical Integration: This promotion ensures that a city’s Industrial Zone provides a production bonus to not just one, but all cities within 6 tiles. A popular strategy is to build a “workshop” city with Magnus, featuring a powerful Industrial Zone, and have it supply production to a cluster of surrounding military-focused cities.

Situational Governor: Amani, The Diplomat

Amani’s strength lies in her ability to manipulate the world of city-states. For Rough Rider Teddy, her abilities synergize perfectly with his “Roosevelt Corollary,” which grants two envoys for every one sent to a city-state with which you have a Trade Route.

Promotion Path and Analysis:

  1. Puppeteer: This promotion instantly doubles the number of envoys you have in the city-state where Amani is established. Combined with Teddy’s ability, you can establish suzerainty over a key city-state with incredible speed. Sending a single envoy via a trade route (counts as two) and then moving Amani there can secure a city-state with minimal investment.

  2. Affluence: This promotion provides +2 Gold for each resource in the city-state. While not a primary focus, this can provide a welcome economic boost to fund unit upgrades and maintenance.

  3. Prestige: This promotion grants the player +2 Loyalty in their own cities for each city-state they are the suzerain of within 9 tiles. This can be a useful tool for maintaining loyalty on your borders, especially near a cluster of city-states you control.

Conclusion

The path to victory with Teddy Roosevelt is a tale of two strategies, and governor selection is the pen that writes the story. For the culturally inclined Bull Moose player, the synergy between Pingala’s promotion tree and the leader’s appeal-based yields is the engine of a tourism victory. The focus is on creating a vibrant, high-output core that churns through civics and generates Great People, supported by the economic and faith-based utility of Reyna and Moksha.

Conversely, the Rough Rider player must think like a continental conqueror. Victor is the indispensable field marshal, securing gains and turning captured cities into loyal fortresses. Magnus fuels the war machine from the heartland, ensuring a steady stream of settlers and units, while Amani masterfully manipulates city-states to build a powerful coalition. By understanding these distinct strategic pathways and aligning your governor promotions accordingly, you can unlock the full, formidable potential of either of Teddy Roosevelt’s personas and lead America to a decisive victory.