In September 1848 UK offered Portugal a full alliance. Unwilling to commit, Portugal refused. War exhaustion is very hard on a country; the best witness to that is US infrastructure that in the end of 1849 had only 9 railroaded provinces more than in the beginning of the game.US is typically covered with tracks long before 1849, so are major UK colonies. Neither happened in this hame. Portugal had level 2 railroads on all of the European provinces save one.
By October 1848 22.9% of Portuguese citizens were socialist. This has come out of nowhere; I was seriously considering adding more social reforms. Currently I only had one at the lowest level. Another African region was claimed; at this point Portuguese Africa consisted of Angola (6 provinces, 3 more than in 1836), Mocambique (9, 3 more than 1836), Malawiland (1), and Northern Rhodesia (4). Interestingly enough, this time Malawiland stayed independent; it tends to "blend" into Mocambique when claimed. May this be a timing issue? Now that Portugal owned an uninterruptible chain of land from coast to coast, a railroad was pondered. Perhaps Sao Paolo de Loanda (coffee at 4.0) - Kabinda (cattle at 1.3) - Livingstone (cattle at 1.3) - Bornma (cattle at 1.3) - Zandia (grain at 1.5) - Sofala (tobacco at 1.5)?
In January 1849 I found out that perhaps spawning unlimited POPs does not work after all? My Timor POP of 31 laborer disappeared while the other ones kept on growing marginally. That still does not explain where did 2 Aristocrat POPs go from Timor. Perhaps I ought to do a detailed demographic analysis in 1851. Elsewhere in the world, Persia was being plagued by many revolts, with half of its country under rebel control. UK was slowly taking back parts of Canada, owning about 10 provinces. USA's war exhaustion was 22.0% and it was curious to see what would happen in 1861. UK's exhaustion was 3.9% - difference due to size? economy? technology? USA did not have that many more wars than UK...
In March 1849 in addition to level 1 healthcare level 1 minimum wages were added. The socialists dropped to 22.1% of population - thanks to the new colonies in Africa. Still, this was very concerning. In a private conversation, Portuguese monarch vowed not to take a single European province in the next 10 years, but rather concentrate on uneducated farmers of the Black Continent.
In May 1849 level 1 safety was added. There were now 3 policies, all at level 1.
By June 1849 less than 10% of Portuguese were socialist.
In September 1849 Germany took control of NGF. Portugal started recruiting 3 new divisions. Like the previous 7, all of these came from the European homeland. The colonial race for Tanganyika was on, the only region Portugal was not 100% sure to get. Perhaps it was foolish to start, with French being really close. Perhaps.
In October Portugal learned that failed diplomatic deals (of the kind when 95% does seem like a good chance, until the wrong 5% is picked) cost in relations.
In November Portugal learned that "1 clerk for 1 craftsman" rule means "2 clerks for every 3 craftsmen". In other words, a fully stocked level 3 factory could take only 6 clerks. A scandal in Faro involving "overclerking" production was hushed down by local authorities.
As of the end of 1849, a good look at economy showed that small arms were slowly declining in price, yet the level 3 6 clerk / 9 craftsmen factory in Lisboa on top of a level 2 regionwide railroad still turned 200 gold a day of pure profit. Cans were still hanging there, whereas producing wine and liquor has become totally unprofitable: level 1 2 clerk / 3 craftsmen factory in Oporto on top of a level 2 regionwide railroad turned 13 gold of profit a day. It was decided that the region shall host some more advanced factories when available. Prestige of 251 (5th in the world) definitely helped in most cases - but not all. If not for a barely profitable glass factory, I could have forgotten about colonization altogether. Forever. (Portuguese colonization strategy was Missions only to keep natives peaceful).
By mid-march of 1849 all social reforms were at level 1. That did drop the socialist voters down to 6.8%, although 22.1% of population were socialist. Since Portuguese voting is based on wealth, it is very interesting to observe the phenomena of rich socialists. Elsewhere in the world: UK was winning back Canada. Almost all of Quebec was British. USA's war exhaustion was up to 30%! Portuguese army was up to 10 divisions, 7 stationed in Portuguese Africa, 3 in Lisboa. With several technologies developed, the fire values were up to 5 for a no-brigade infantry (3 in 1836).
1850 flew by in a snap. In June level 2 wages were initiated in hopes of attracting some of the war-weary POPs of UK and USA. Speaking of which, UK was knocking on Ontario's gates, took Portland. USA's war attrition was up to 31.4%
On September 9, 1850 Portugal claimed Southern Rhodesia (4 provinces). Aside from Katanga (late 1850, 3 provinces), Swaziland (mid 1851, 1 province), and - potentially - Tanganyika (approximately 1856, 7 provinces), this was the extent of Portuguese colonialism. 306 prestige, 6th in the world. But still a Great Power.
Socialist voting population rose up to 7.1% despite the expansion, however.
On October 26, 1850 Boston fell to the advancing UK armies. Portugal parliament has briefly pondered jumping in to reap the spoils.
On December 1, 1850 Katanga (3 provinces) was claimed. 368 prestige - 4th in the world. 2 new divisions (Infantry Engineers) were initiated.
Screenshots of 1-1-1851:
Africa: 2 major French colonies, 1 huge Portuguese. Swedish colony completing in Angola (5 buildings completed, 2 under way, 1 empty province). Note that the American war is costing UK a lot. It costs it time, and what is more important than time?
Who cares about Mexico? Get those Englanders off our backs!
Railroads are not for everyone.
Goes without saying.
This must be one bad dream: all of those light yellow provinces are controlled by China. I wonder how would Chinese have fought the Sikh rebellion...
So, British can lose every now and then after all?
remember that the "The King farts in the bathtub" event precipitated the end of the SOmme offensive, what did Portugal do?
