Brazil
Pedro II
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusCultureScience
Kit at a glance
Pedro's Brazil monopolizes Great People: a big rebate on every Great Person earned lets him claim the next one sooner, and rainforest adjacencies feed Campuses, Holy Sites and Commercial Hubs alike. Carnival keeps amenities and Great Person points flowing.
Opening: the first 60 turns
Pedro wants rainforest, and lots of it, kept standing. Scout, warrior, settler, settler, builder, with Pottery and Animal Husbandry first, then Bronze Working purely for the option of clearing the few jungle tiles that block a district site. Settle so that each future Campus, Holy Site and Commercial Hub touches two or three rainforest hexes plus a river. Civics head to Early Empire for settlers and then State Workforce and Games and Recreation, since the Street Carnival should be up by the Classical era to start Carnival projects. Send the first trade route from the capital to a city-state to pull in gold for tile purchases. Four cities by turn fifty, each with a district slot already earmarked among the trees, is the target.
Unique to this civilization
District
Street Carnival
Replaces Entertainment Complex
Civic: Games and Recreation
District
Copacabana
Replaces Water Park
Civic: Natural History
Unit
Minas Geraes
Replaces Battleship
Civic: Nationalism
Adjacency effects
- CampusAdjacent Rainforest+1 Science
- Commercial HubAdjacent Rainforest+1 Gold
- Holy SiteAdjacent Rainforest+1 Faith
- Theater SquareAdjacent Rainforest+1 Culture
How to play it
Keep rainforest tiles next to your districts instead of chopping them all, and run Carnival projects between builds. Focus the Great People that fit your victory — writers and artists for culture, scientists for space — and let the rebate lap the competition.
Victory paths
Culture through Great People is the primary route. Because part of each Great Person's cost comes back, Brazil recruits Great Writers, Artists and Musicians in a rhythm nobody else can match, and Carnival projects add the points while giving amenities; by the Industrial era the Theater Squares are full and the tourism lead is structural. Science is the second path using identical land: rainforest-adjacent Campuses backed by the same refund on Great Scientists produce a strong Renaissance research spike. The decision point is around the Medieval era, when you see whether writers or scientists are being contested. Religion is only a side benefit from the Holy Site adjacency, and domination is off the table until Minas Geraes battleships appear, too late to matter.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
Cultural city-states like Antananarivo, which adds culture for every Great Person you have earned, are made for Pedro; Kumasi and Nan Madol help too. Pingala with Grants and Curator belongs in the Great Person capital, and Reyna's Forestry Management makes unimproved rainforest pay gold while keeping the adjacency. Wonders that fit are Chichen Itza, which rewards every rainforest tile you left standing, Oracle for cheaper Great People, and later Bolshoi Theatre and Broadway. Policy cards Inspiration and Revelation in the Classical era, then Invention and Frescoes, chain naturally with the refund. Pantheons should either be Goddess of Festivals for plantation-heavy jungle or Lady of the Reeds and Marshes for river-and-marsh starts; Sacred Path is tempting but faith is not the bottleneck.
Weaknesses and counters
Without rainforest the civ is nearly featureless, so tundra, desert or plains starts should be rerolled or played as a plain Great Person civ with no adjacency edge. Rainforest also slows early growth and movement, and the temptation to chop it for a fast Monument or settler quietly deletes the mid-game adjacencies. The Great Person refund only helps if you are already winning the race; a rival Greece or Kongo with more Theater Squares still takes the writer first, and then the refund does nothing. Players skip Street Carnivals in favor of more districts and lose both the amenity cushion and the project points. Opponents beat Pedro by taking the Great Writers and Artists early and by building Eiffel-era tourism defenses; a well-timed war also works, since Brazil has no early military identity.
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