America
Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider)
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusCultureDomination
Kit at a glance
Rough Rider Teddy monetizes home-continent warfare: fighting on your own continent is easier, and Rough Rider kills there feed your civic progress. It is a culture game that welcomes being attacked.
Opening: the first 60 turns
Rough Rider Teddy opens like a defender who expects company. Warrior, scout, slinger, then settler, and a second slinger before the second settler so that archers arrive by turn thirty. Bronze Working comes early both for the Encampment option and to see iron, and Masonry follows so walls can go up in the border city. Three cities by turn fifty is enough; they should all sit on the home continent, ideally along a river or behind hills that create a single approach. Civics run Code of Laws and Craftsmanship for the Discipline and Agoge cards, then Foreign Trade, Military Tradition and Political Philosophy. The capital plays as the culture engine with an early Monument and later Theater Square, while the frontier city hosts the barracks and takes the wars.
Unique to this civilization
Unit
P-51 Mustang
Replaces Fighter
Technology: Advanced Flight
Building
Film Studio
Replaces Broadcast Center
Technology: Radio
Adjacency effects
No adjacency bonus — standard district rules apply.
Try Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider) in the adjacency calculator →
How to play it
Bait aggressive neighbors into your territory, garrison chokepoints, and once Rough Riders arrive, let every repelled invasion bankroll your civics. Expand only across your own continent to keep the bonus everywhere you fight, then pivot the culture lead into tourism.
Victory paths
The main line is culture, financed by warfare on home soil. Each enemy unit a Rough Rider destroys on your home continent pays culture, so once Rough Riders arrive an ambushed invasion is worth several civics' progress; the trick is inviting the war without losing land. That culture lead is converted to tourism through Theater Squares, Great Writers and later the Film Studio, whose tourism swing lands hardest against civs that neglected culture. Domination on the shared continent is the second path and often the same path: once a neighbor's army has been ground down on your borders, march the survivors out and take their capital while it is undefended. Avoid overseas wars entirely; without the continent bonus and kill rewards the persona is an ordinary civ.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
Militaristic city-states that send you units on levy or give barracks bonuses, like Kabul or Valletta, matter more than cultural ones early, because the kit converts military exchanges into culture anyway. Victor in the frontier city with Garrison Commander makes the killing ground stickier, and Amani parked in a nearby city-state helps hold its suzerainty. The Great Wall-style thinking applies to wonders: Terracotta Army for promotions, then Kilwa Kisiwani once city-state suzerainties stack. Policy cards Conscription and later Retinues keep the standing army cheap while you wait for an invasion, and Grand Opera boosts the tourism phase. God of the Forge or Goddess of the Hunt fits the pantheon slot, and Rough Riders under Chivalry flood the field in the Industrial era.
Weaknesses and counters
The persona is hostage to opponents' behavior: if nobody attacks, the culture reward never triggers and you are a modest builder with a defensive bonus. Human players know this and simply refuse to invade, choosing to out-build you; AI leaders with peaceful agendas do the same. Baiting wars by settling aggressively can backfire, since a war you lose still costs cities. Continents maps with your civ alone on a small landmass are the worst draw, because there is nobody to fight at home and every expansion abroad loses the bonus. Common mistakes include chasing kills overseas, where the culture stops, and neglecting Theater Squares while waiting for kill culture that only Rough Riders provide. The Film Studio arrives too late to fix a tourism deficit built over 200 turns.
Similar civilizations
Related guides
- Culture Victory: Planning Cities for TourismHow tourism actually beats other players' culture, where Theater Squares and Great Works belong, how to protect appeal from the first settle for National Parks and Seaside Resorts, and the late-game push with trade routes, open borders, and Rock Bands.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Which Civilization Should You Play? Picks by Victory TypeThree to four leader picks for each victory type — science, culture, domination, religion, and diplomacy — with the reason each one teaches that victory well, plus flexible all-rounders and a guide to matching a civilization to how you actually like to play.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
Last reviewed: 2026-10-03