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You certainly don't have much to work with in terms of economy. If you can ever muster up a decent military though then that base in Goa would be a very useful springboard into British India. Or maybe we'll see a German expeditionary corps in the subcontinent instead of the sands of North Africa (assuming the
AI's smart enough to do something like that).
 
While you have certainly laid out your strategy for short term goals but I am wondering about Portugal in the medium term. Where do you hope to be by 1938 or 39. Are there targets for early land acquisition? What about alliances once your neutrality declines? There seems to be an inclination toward letting the game "take you where it will". While I agree that it it always good to be flexible and capitalize on opportunities, a set of goals are necessary for ultimate success.
 
All minors seems to have 3.XX leadesrhip so start with. When I loaded up as Manchuko, I got 3. Hungary: 3. It seems Portugal has 3 too. Not much of historical research there:(
Anyways I'm going to watch this AAR, looking good so far. Good luck.
Thanks, Zaku! I appreciate it!


Looks very interesting! I've followed some of your other AARs before I registered on the forum.
Question, though. If you're going to include Goa, why not Nagar and Haveli?
Great to hear, Vitae! Welcome! As for Nagar and Haveli, I’m not even familiar with them. If this AAR were for another purpose, I might include them for the purpose of historical accuracy, but since any advantage I might get from these small locations is mirrored better by Goa, I think I’d best stick with that.

Will follow.
Excellent! Thanks, Insignificant, and welcome!


Ah, a good gameplay AAR, by Rensslaer no less. Excellent!
Glad to have you along, Kanil! Welcome!


Nice introduction, Rensslaer! I'm not sure how deterministic the Spanish Civil War event is in HoI3, but I imagine you may soon have an opportunity to intervene -- much to Portugal's benefit on the Iberian Peninsula.
Welcome, TheHyphenated1! I’m looking forward to trying to involve myself in the war…. I’m less confident of my ability, given the restrictions I have to overcome. We’ll see!

So many AARs to read, so little time. I'll definitely have to keep my eyes on this one.
Oh, and nice avatar, Rens. I barely recognized you. :D
Thanks, Dublish, and welcome! I think I’ll go back to my Imperial German Ensign avatar, once the option for custom avatars opens up again, but for now, I’ll advertise my “new country”. :)


I am actually a little embarrassed that I haven’t seen your new AAR before today Renss, but now I have read through the story so far. A modest beginning, but then again I guess it is difficult to do anything else20than start in the modest way considering your resources and IC there is little you can do this early…
Still this looks like it shall be a nice story to read, so I will be following it from now on :)
No reason to be embarrassed! I’ve been “flying under the radar” by starting a story and letting it languish while I finish work on other HOI 3 projects! :p Now that I’m back in the saddle, let’s get this horse moving! Welcome, Lord E! Great to have you along!


Well thought out start. This is one of the fun parts about playing minors...you really have to think out what your strategy is and focus in on it with every decision. One wrong step can completely wreck you. Much like RL.
Thanks! Yes, it’s easy to irretrievably kill a minor, even with the best of intentions! ;)


I'll be watching this one with great interest, I love a good combination of well-written story along with detailed gameplay narration and plenty of screenshots.

Is it too much to hope for a Portugal controlled Iberia;)?
Thanks! Plenty of screenshots, I can guarantee! Portugal has to find a way into Iberia first… It would almost be a blessing if the Republicans won the civil war….


A title that reads "Império Novo" denotes that it is talking about a particular empire not one in general, one that will be or that has been. It is like saying "the new empire" as opposed to "a new empire".
So the title suggests he is calling the Portuguese government "Império Novo" instead of suggesting that Portugal will build a new empire. Though if it was your objective to suggest a new empire for Portugal, Rensslaer, then you probably should change the title to "Novo Império".
Either way I'll be following this with interest. :)
Thanks, Kayapo, and welcome! I may get a chance to take your advice with the unit names, but that’s only if I find I have time.


Renss! How are you? I'm in for this one. Can't wait. Also, that intro post was excellent. Good to see you character writing again.
Vann
Thanks, Vann! Welcome! Yes, I’m definitely enjoying the character writing again! I’ve actually done some character stuff, here and for my own purposes, but it’s only a small portion of what I really would love to be writing! We’ll see.

Strangely, I follow four AARs. Three on Mauser's 'approved' list and this one. -- Beppo
Thanks, Beppo! Welcome! Appreciate your interest in mine as part of this select group! :)

This AAR is hereby "Approved"!:cool:
I'm interested, what are the other three you follow?
Excellent! :D Thank you, von Mauser!


Sensible, low-key moves in the first update. I'm following this with interest, hoping that it wil l educate as well as entertain me. :)
I'm very much looking forward to find out what choices you'll end up making, what you'll focus on and what you'll let fall by the wayside. There's so much to do and so little to do it with (relative to the majors).
Anyway, I'm basically repeating myself. :) Here's to more updates soon.
Educate and entertain – my two bywords, I hope!


Rens. Great AAR and congrats on modding Pagim (Old Goa city) back into Portugal.
Next mod should include corrected names for the units :)
Great to see you, Luis! Welcome!


You certainly don't have much to work with in terms of economy. If you can ever muster up a decent military though then that base in Goa would be a very useful springboard into British India. Or maybe we'll see a German expeditionary corps in the subcontinent instead of the sands of North Africa (assuming the
AI's smart enough to do something like that).
I can’t imagine having the time or IC to fully garrison all of my holdings. I’m going to have to pick and choose, and I’m not sure where Goa will come in that calculation yet. We’ll see.


While you have certainly laid out your strategy for short term goals but I am wondering about Portugal in the medium term. Where do you hope to be by 1938 or 39. Are there targets for early land acquisition? What about alliances once your neutrality declines? There seems to be an inclination toward letting the game "take you where it will". While I agree that it it always good to be flexible and capitalize on opportunities, a set of goals are necessary for ultimate success.
Well, I hope to be relatively secure by 1938, because that must be my first priority. My ability to project power will come after that, I expect.

Thanks for reading and commenting, everybody! It’s great to see you all here! We’ll get going pretty soon here.

Rensslaer
 
your strategy supplement turned out very well! thanks a lot!

Thank you very much, Soulitaire! I appreciate that. I enjoyed putting it together.

_______________________________________________________________

Império Novo

As of mid-March, I've finished building the convoy transports I'd needed to keep my international trade going. I was very close to the line, and if I intend to set up more trade deals (as I do) this keeps me covered. The underfunded reinforcements are slowly bringing the total need down, as intended, even though it's not quick.

I've been overproducing supplies, and several countries have asked to buy supplies. This brings in some money. You can see I'm now adding some IC toward extra Consumer Goods. I can't prove it, but I honestly believe I'm making more money selling supplies than I would from the same amount allocated to Consumer Goods. People will argue with me about that, but someone needs to do an analysis -- I haven't yet. The fringe benefit is I'm improving relations with these countries, and because of that, the prices we get on goods comes down.

MarchProd.jpg


I've begun buying extra crude oil from Venezuela and Romania, to try and reduce the loss against my stockpile. The 10 crude oil won't last -- I'll eventually run out of money. But it'll help me stem my losses and keep me from running out very quickly (just in 2 months, I've gone from an oil stockpile of 1920 to 1567). Many would argue that crude oil doesn't matter for anybody, because of the energy conversion being so easy. I'd have to respond that it's not necessarily going to always be this way (post v1.1c), and also that if you happen to run out of energy, you're quickly going to be in trouble. I'm already concerned about my stockpile, which is why I'm setting up other trade deals as I can afford them.

I'm concentrating on garrisons first so I can have some troops everywhere, hopefully. Once I have a little presence everywhere -- so that an enemy can't just walk into my islands and colonies -- then I'll start producing heavier units who have better combat odds. That cavalry guy I have in there is not a primary project -- I'll get some work on the production done, but not at the expense of my garrisons. I'm going to need a mobile force if I ever get into war -- Garrisons won't cut it. I'd love to get to that fort and the transport one day, but can't yet.

Guinea.jpg


Now that my first garrison has been completed (2 brigades of garrison), it's time to start filling in my colonies with protective troops. I'm picking Guinea-Bissau first because it's relatively close, relatively important, and is clustered amongst many of the highest-value targets in west Africa.

You'll see below that west Africa's naval bases are all clustered here -- there are some to the southeast of here, but this is the largest concentration of them. Dakar, the French colony to the far north, also has a factory and a VP.

GuineaArea.jpg


In mid-April, the world starts to change, with Germany reoccupying the Rhineland, and Ethiopia falling to Italy.

Ethiopia-1.jpg


I feel it's wise, in light of the rising tensions, to move my infantry in Portugal proper toward some vital interests. While I'm not particularly expecting Spain to attack me, there's no other neighbor, and so it's natural for me to send defenders to my border, picking locations that coincide with two resource havens.

CoverResources.jpg


And it's just in the nick of time, too! Just two days after I issue this order, the Spanish Civil War begins. Everybody chooses to intervene on one side or the other.

SCW.jpg


Alas, even if Portugal were in a position to play a role in the war (we're not!), no Portuguese leader has the wherewithall to convince our people to go to war yet.

Spain is not yet seen as a threat.

Neutrality.jpg


I've aligned toward the Axis once, I think, at this point. I'm in no shape to enter a war, yet, so there's no hurry for me to enter a factional alliance that might get me killed.

ItalyAxis.jpg


A quick update on that cavalry division -- I've briefly moved it up to the number one slot, just to get it a little further on the way toward production. As you can see, it's going to take me until November to finish it even if I keep working on it at top speed from now (which is mid-May), which I'm not going to.

CavalryQueue.jpg


Reinforcement need is only about 2/3 of what it used to be now. I keep overproducing supplies, but I sell them as quickly as I make them. My supply stockpile hasn't grown much -- still around what it was when I started. But in this time I've increased my energy stockpile by nearly 20,000, my metal by about 800, increased rares by about 600, and my money is still holding out. The supplies are sustaining my stockpile buildup.

I'm concerned about my crude oil, though, and so I'm about to make a move on that front…
 
Hmm, your strategy of dispersing military through the colonies might well prove fatal if you go to war against the Allies too soon. I'd still like to see an invasion of Brazil once the time is right :D
 
Sending garrisons to your colonies might be a good move, but I normally think of garrison troops as third rate soldiers, and they might be quickly overrun if the Allies decide to send a modern army against them. But at the moment at least it seems like you are the only one with troops in the region so that is always positive. Oil might become a problem, and although trade for it is okay at the moment, I think in the end you will need to get hold of some oil provinces because you can’t continue trading for ever, especially not when the war begins…
 
Ahh resource management--the skill that is first and foremost most important for less-than-major countries. You're doing a good job so far!
 
Slow progress at first, but you look to be on the right track.

It'd be interesting to me, but could you rate your colonies, which are most important for you to hold, to which are least vital?
 
I see from your latest screenshot that you have 40 manpower to play with. Even with the additional manpower that has gone into the current builds, that is preciously little. How much does your manpower grow? Sounds like Portugal won't be able to ever afford much in the way of an army... Not to mention that risking any significant forces in battle is going to be a hair-raising experience.
 
No event for you to help the Nationalists?

Johan, we need to have a word. :mad:
 
Must agree with th3freakie. It makes sense for a fascist-leaning Portugal to have some involvment with Nationalist Spain. Whenever those events co-incide. Taking the long view on production strategy. I like it and hope it works.

Vann
 
I must agree as well, Portugal would likely take at least some interest in helping Nationalist Spain, if not directly intervening, at the very least sending or selling supplies to the Nationalists.
 
I must agree as well, Portugal would likely take at least some interest in helping Nationalist Spain, if not directly intervening, at the very least sending or selling supplies to the Nationalists.
That's more or less what Portugal actually did. That and sending "volunteers".
 
I don't have any numbers to back this up, but based on my own playings so far it seems that CG production generates little in the way of money, forcing you to rely on trade to generate income. Of course, this isn't so bad as the only thing you spend money on anyway is trade deals of your own.
 
I hate to intude upon the AAR discussion, but since it was asked, the other three AARs I follow regularly are:

The Setting Sun - Gotterdammerung, Japan 1944 By Remble
Red Star over Blue Seas - a Soviet Navy AAR By th3freakie
Explorations in Strategy - Italy at War By Myth

I think Remble's is THE HoI2 AAR (I wish I could play that well), I love thefreakie's naval slant on a land power, and Myth is doing a great job writing an AAR for HoI3 on my favorite nation to play.

The current AAR (back to topic) is fun. I hope the garrisons don't die miserable, lonely, stationary deaths. I think it's fun that building convoys is important. Somebody else already lamented on the lack of leadership. Wow. No, I mean WOW.

Great job, good writing, keep up the good work!

-- Beppo
 
Much more important than any number of Viriatos Portugal sent, the most strategic advantage Portugal gave to Nat. Spain was the ability to fall back into Portuguese territory to escape encirclement. I don't recall which proeminent Spanish historian said in a documentary on the Portuguese involvement in the Spanish Civil War in the History Channel, but he said that without that strategic advantage, Nationalist Spain could have quite possibly lost the conflict.
 
So you can't simply conquer both Spains? :(
What about Uruguay? :cool:
Sounds like a "mouse that roared" scenario! :) Not this time around... Maybe later.

Hmm, your strategy of dispersing military through the colonies might well prove fatal if you go to war against the Allies too soon. I'd still like to see an invasion of Brazil once the time is right :D
Oh, this is certainly true. This is a "go big or go home" venture. A wise, prudent leader would be staying out of the war entirely and remaining president of a quiet, out-of-the-way country. :rolleyes:

Sending garrisons to your colonies might be a good move, but I normally think of garrison troops as third rate soldiers, and they might be quickly overrun if the Allies decide to send a modern army against them. But at the moment at least it seems like you are the only one with troops in the region so that is always positive. Oil might become a problem, and although trade for it is okay at the moment, I think in the end you will need to get hold of some oil provinces because you can’t continue trading for ever, especially not when the war begins…
Well, garrisons are third-rate soldiers, but they also cost about 1/3 of what regular infantry would, and so they're a good way to get some military value out to the hinterlands as soon as possible. They also defend almost as well as regular infantry -- they just can't attack anyone without the enemy dissolving in laughter! Portugal's empire doesn't have alot of defensive options if it gets into a world war, so I'm just trying what's most likely to give us a fighting chance. This seems to be the way. Trading is one of those special problems -- that's why I'm going to have to stock up while I can.

Ahh resource management--the skill that is first and foremost most important for less-than-major countries. You're doing a good job so far!
Thanks! I actually find it quite fun. It's such a delicate balancing act, though.

Slow progress at first, but you look to be on the right track.

It'd be interesting to me, but could you rate your colonies, which are most important for you to hold, to which are least vital?
Wow. Tall order. They're all important, but for different reasons. I consider Timor less vital, simply because I think I lack the ability to protect it in the time I think I have. If I had time, I would consider it a great extension to my ability to project. I consider Macao more important than Goa, because of some of the opportunities it presents. The islands off the African coast are less important, but still very important because they're way stations and bases for expansion that can't be attacked by land. It's all a kind of jumble in my head, but that's how I can best express it. My subconscious understands the order better than my conscious mind does. :rolleyes:

I see from your latest screenshot that you have 40 manpower to play with. Even with the additional manpower that has gone into the current builds, that is preciously little. How much does your manpower grow? Sounds like Portugal won't be able to ever afford much in the way of an army... Not to mention that risking any significant forces in battle is going to be a hair-raising experience.
It grows slowly... :) Honestly, in my testing I've found that there's no way my IC could produce units fast enough to catch up with my manpower. I'm sure I'll find a different situation when I start to take casualties. That's why I'm going to have to seize my advantages in ways that do not cost me troops.

Taking the long view on production strategy. I like it and hope it works. Vann
Thanks! Yeah, if I get into war before 1939, I'm screwed. Honestly. That's why I'm not so excited to get "involved" in the SCW. However, I wouldn't mind the ability to "assist" as Th3Freakie suggests.

I must agree as well, Portugal would likely take at least some interest in helping Nationalist Spain, if not directly intervening, at the very least sending or selling supplies to the Nationalists.
Welcome, Carmen! Yes, sending supplies would be good. Whether produced by Paradox or by a kind user, I'm sure we'll be seeing such an event at some point.

That's more or less what Portugal actually did. That and sending "volunteers".
As you say... It would be great to be able to do it. I fear the game is too young to include this level of detail, but it will come in time.

I don't have any numbers to back this up, but based on my own playings so far it seems that CG production generates little in the way of money, forcing you to rely on trade to generate income. Of course, this isn't so bad as the only thing you spend money on anyway is trade deals of your own.
Someone on the Forum has suggested their testing shows you get twice as much money for supplies as for CG. On the other hand, this requires there to be a market to sell those supplies, and so... I'm sure it will remain a balancing act.

It will be interesting to see what you can do with Angola and Mozambique... Southern Africa has probably a lot of resources.
Yes, indeed! I'm looking forward to seeing if I can have some kind of impact down there. Not sure yet...

I hate to intude upon the AAR discussion, but since it was asked, the other three AARs I follow regularly are:

The Setting Sun - Gotterdammerung, Japan 1944 By Remble
Red Star over Blue Seas - a Soviet Navy AAR By th3freakie
Explorations in Strategy - Italy at War By Myth

I think Remble's is THE HoI2 AAR (I wish I could play that well), I love thefreakie's naval slant on a land power, and Myth is doing a great job writing an AAR for HoI3 on my favorite nation to play.

The current AAR (back to topic) is fun. I hope the garrisons don't die miserable, lonely, stationary deaths. I think it's fun that building convoys is important. Somebody else already lamented on the lack of leadership. Wow. No, I mean WOW.

Great job, good writing, keep up the good work!

-- Beppo
Thanks! Yeah, I like the way convoys ended up. My leadership is.... little, but manageable. :) We'll see how it works out.

As for other AARs... Intrude away! :D I don't mind at all. Always great to see suggestions of other AARs to follow. I've been hearing about Remble's AAR for months/years, but I still haven't made it over there. I'll have to try again...

Much more important than any number of Viriatos Portugal sent, the most strategic advantage Portugal gave to Nat. Spain was the ability to fall back into Portuguese territory to escape encirclement. I don't recall which preeminent Spanish historian said in a documentary on the Portuguese involvement in the Spanish Civil War in the History Channel, but he said that without that strategic advantage, Nationalist Spain could have quite possibly lost the conflict.
Indeed, that would be good too. But I could actually simulate that with military access. Oddly, I think there's a bug on this feature. I can get military access into other countries easily, but it seems impossible to allow anyone to accept military access into your own country!

Thank you all for paying attention and following this! I'm looking forward to getting into the meat of it -- into the heat of the action!

However, I want to let you know that it's very likely I will restart with v1.2 rather than continue right now. This will hold us back just a few days, I think. We need to figure out how much of an improvement v1.2 will be, but I anticipate it will be pretty big so this would be a much more interesting and effective game in that version. So let's hold just a few more days before I post the next update.

Rensslaer