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In the grand strategy of Civilization 6, few leaders are as intrinsically linked to the very land they inhabit as Bull Moose Teddy Roosevelt. His path to a Culture Victory is not paved with aggression or blind faith, but with the breathtaking beauty of his empire. For players aiming to leverage Teddy’s unique abilities to their fullest, the early game is a critical period of strategic decision-making. The wonders you choose to build—or to forego—can set the stage for a dominant cultural endgame or leave you struggling to catch up. This guide provides a definitive analysis of the early game wonders that should be on every Teddy Roosevelt player’s radar, offering a clear roadmap to a successful and culturally resonant civilization.
The Bull Moose Advantage: Understanding Teddy’s Strengths
Before diving into specific wonders, it’s crucial to understand the mechanics that make Bull Moose Teddy a cultural powerhouse. His abilities are not just passive bonuses; they are a strategic blueprint that should inform every decision, from city placement to wonder construction.
According to the player community, Teddy’s entire strategy revolves around tile Appeal. His leader ability, Antiquities and Parks, grants +2 Science to Breathtaking tiles adjacent to a Natural Wonder or Mountain, and +2 Culture to Breathtaking tiles adjacent to a Wonder or Woods. This is a foundational bonus that can provide a significant early-game boost to your science and culture, accelerating your progress through the tech and civic trees.
Furthermore, his Roosevelt Corollary ability grants +1 Appeal to all tiles in a city with a National Park. This creates a powerful feedback loop, where high-appeal tiles make for powerful National Parks, and National Parks, in turn, increase the appeal of surrounding tiles. This synergy is the engine of Teddy’s tourism machine.
Analysis on forums shows that the most successful Teddy players are those who obsess over Appeal. They meticulously plan their cities, districts, and improvements to maximize the number of Breathtaking tiles. This focus on Appeal is the lens through which we must evaluate every potential early game wonder.
Top-Tier Wonders: The Must-Builds for Teddy
While many wonders offer tempting bonuses, only a select few provide the kind of synergy that directly accelerates Teddy’s game plan. These are the wonders that, if the opportunity arises, should be prioritized above all others.
The Oracle: Your Gateway to Greatness
Many professional gamers suggest that The Oracle is arguably the single most important early game wonder for Teddy Roosevelt. Built in the Ancient Era, it provides a modest +1 Culture and +1 Faith, but its primary benefit is far more significant: Great People purchased with Faith or Gold cost 25% less.
For a leader aiming for a Culture Victory, Great People are not just helpful; they are essential. Great Writers, Artists, and Musicians are the primary source of the Great Works that will fill your Museums and Broadcast Centers, generating the tourism you need to win. The Oracle’s discount makes it significantly easier to acquire these key individuals, allowing you to outpace your rivals in the race for cultural dominance.
A popular strategy is to combine The Oracle with a strong Faith-generating economy. By building Holy Sites and prioritizing Faith-based beliefs and policies, you can create a steady stream of Faith that can be used to “patronize” Great People at a reduced cost. This allows you to save your Gold for other essential purchases, such as buildings, units, or even other Great Works from the AI.
Furthermore, The Oracle’s +1 Culture and +1 Faith are not to be dismissed. In the early game, every point of culture and faith matters. The extra culture helps you unlock key civics like Drama and Poetry (for Theater Squares) and Political Philosophy (for your first government), while the extra faith contributes to your ability to found a pantheon and, eventually, purchase those discounted Great People.
Temple of Artemis: A Conditional Powerhouse
The Temple of Artemis is another Ancient Era wonder that can be a game-changer for Teddy, but its effectiveness is highly conditional. It provides +1 Amenity and +1 Housing for every Camp, Pasture, and Plantation in the city where it is built.
For Teddy, the primary benefit of the Temple of Artemis is not the amenities or housing, but the potential for a massive population boom in a key city. A large, thriving city is the engine of any successful empire, providing the production, science, culture, and gold needed to fuel your ambitions.
The ideal scenario for building the Temple of Artemis is a starting location with an abundance of resources that can be improved with Camps, Pastures, or Plantations. If you find yourself surrounded by deer, cattle, sheep, or other bonus and luxury resources, rushing the Temple of Artemis can be a brilliant strategic move. The resulting population growth will allow you to build more districts, work more tiles, and generate more yields, giving you a significant advantage over your opponents.
However, analysis on forums shows that the Temple of Artemis is a trap as often as it is a boon. If your starting location lacks the necessary resources, the wonder’s benefits will be minimal. The production you invest in building it could be better spent on settlers, military units, or districts. Therefore, a careful assessment of your surroundings is essential before committing to this wonder.
High-Priority Situational Wonders
Beyond the top-tier wonders, there are several other early game options that can provide a significant boost to Teddy’s game, provided the circumstances are right. These wonders are not always the correct choice, but in the right situation, they can be incredibly powerful.
The Pyramids: A Builder’s Dream
The Pyramids, a Classical Era wonder, are a perennial favorite among Civilization 6 players, and for good reason. They provide +2 Culture and a free Builder, but their most powerful effect is granting all of your Builders +1 build charge for the rest of the game.
For Teddy, who often needs to carefully manage his tile improvements to maximize Appeal, the extra build charges from the Pyramids can be invaluable. It allows you to be more flexible with your Builders, using them to clear features, build districts, and create the carefully manicured landscapes that will become your National Parks.
A popular strategy is to use the extra build charges to create a network of lumber mills on unimproved woods. This allows you to generate production without removing the woods, which are essential for maintaining high Appeal and for the adjacency bonuses they provide to Teddy’s abilities.
However, the Pyramids are one of the most highly coveted wonders in the game. The AI prioritizes them heavily, and it can be difficult to secure them on higher difficulty levels. If you decide to go for the Pyramids, you must be prepared to commit a significant amount of production to the project, potentially at the expense of early expansion or military development.
Colosseum: The Heart of Your Empire
The Colosseum is a Classical Era wonder that can provide a massive boost to your empire’s Culture and Amenities. It grants +2 Culture and +2 Amenities to all cities within a 6-tile radius.
For Teddy, the Colosseum is a powerful tool for building a happy and culturally vibrant empire. The amenities it provides can help to offset the war weariness from any necessary early-game conflicts, and the culture bonus can help you speed through the civic tree.
The key to maximizing the Colosseum’s effectiveness is careful city planning. To get the most out of its area-of-effect bonus, you need to settle your cities in a tight, clustered formation around the planned location of the wonder. This requires foresight and a bit of luck with the surrounding terrain, but the payoff can be immense.
Many professional gamers suggest that the Colosseum is particularly powerful for Teddy because it helps to create a core of strong, productive cities that can support his later-game tourism efforts. A happy empire is a productive empire, and the Colosseum is one of the best ways to ensure your people are content.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: The Coastal King
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is a Classical Era wonder that is often overlooked, but for a coastal Teddy, it can be a game-changer. It provides +1 Faith, +1 Science, and +1 Culture on all coastal tiles in the city where it is built. More importantly, it grants all Great Engineers an additional charge.
For a Teddy player with a coastal capital or a strong coastal city, the Mausoleum can provide a significant boost to yields. The extra science and culture can help you keep pace with your rivals, and the faith can contribute to your Great Person fund.
The real power of the Mausoleum, however, lies in its bonus to Great Engineers. Many of the most powerful wonders in the game, including the late-game wonders that are essential for a Culture Victory, can be rushed with Great Engineer charges. The Mausoleum’s extra charge can be the difference between securing a key wonder like the Eiffel Tower or Christo Redentor and losing it to another civilization.
Wonders to Reconsider: Common Traps and Alternatives
Just as important as knowing which wonders to build is knowing which ones to avoid. Some wonders, while tempting on the surface, can be a waste of production for Teddy, diverting him from his primary strategic goals.
Stonehenge: The False Prophet
Stonehenge is an Ancient Era wonder that grants a free Great Prophet and allows you to found a religion. For many leaders, this is a powerful opening move. For Teddy, however, it is often a strategic misstep.
While a religion can be a useful tool for any victory type, Teddy’s primary focus should be on culture and tourism, not faith. The production invested in Stonehenge could be better spent on a Holy Site, which will provide the faith you need for your pantheon and, eventually, for purchasing Naturalists and Rock Bands.
Analysis on forums shows that Teddy players who rush Stonehenge often fall behind in the early game. They neglect the exploration, expansion, and district development that are so crucial to his success. It is far better to let another civilization found a religion and then use your own faith generation to enhance your culture game.
Hanging Gardens: The Growth Trap
The Hanging Gardens are a Classical Era wonder that provides +15% population growth in all cities and +2 Housing in the city where it is built. On paper, this sounds like a powerful bonus. In practice, however, it is often a trap.
While population growth is important, the Hanging Gardens’ bonus is often not as impactful as it seems. The +15% growth is a “soft” bonus that can be easily replicated with other, more flexible strategies, such as building Granaries, prioritizing food-rich tiles, or running the right policy cards.
For Teddy, the production invested in the Hanging Gardens is almost always better spent on settlers. Expanding your empire and securing key locations for National Parks is far more important than a modest boost to population growth.
The Long Game: Wonders That Define the Mid-to-Late Game
While this guide focuses on early game wonders, it’s important to remember that Teddy’s strategy is a long-term one. The decisions you make in the Ancient and Classical eras should be setting you up for success in the mid and late game.
Two wonders, in particular, are so powerful for Teddy that they are worth mentioning here: Kilwa Kisiwani and the Eiffel Tower.
Kilwa Kisiwani, a Medieval Era wonder, is widely considered to be one of the best wonders in the game. It provides a massive bonus to your yields based on the number of city-states of which you are the suzerain. For Teddy, who can often find himself with a surplus of diplomatic favor, becoming the suzerain of multiple city-states is a very achievable goal.
The Eiffel Tower, a Modern Era wonder, is the capstone of Teddy’s culture game. It provides +2 Appeal to every tile in your empire. This is an absolutely massive bonus that can turn a good National Park into a great one, and a great one into a tourism-generating behemoth. Many professional gamers suggest that when the Eiffel Tower becomes available, you should drop everything and build it.
Conclusion
For Teddy Roosevelt, the path to a Culture Victory is a journey of careful planning, strategic patience, and a deep appreciation for the natural beauty of the world. The early game is not about rushing every wonder you can, but about making smart, targeted investments that will pay dividends in the long run. By prioritizing wonders like The Oracle and the Temple of Artemis, and by making shrewd, situational choices about wonders like the Pyramids and the Colosseum, you can set yourself up for a dominant cultural performance. Remember that every decision should be made with an eye towards maximizing Appeal, the cornerstone of Teddy’s power. Build a beautiful empire, and the world will flock to your shores.