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diegoami

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Mar 19, 2011
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They say Portugal is an easy country to play. But they also say that is not trivial to take it to the very top. I am going to find out and play a Portugal game. It will be a straightforward gameplay AAR.

Settings are Normal. I am still learning the game and I am not striving for optimal play.

House rules are simple :

  • Do not go over the BB limit.
  • Plausible play.
 
Nice! I love a good Portugal game, they're in a prime position to order around some nice uncivs, and they get a huge head-start on colonisation. I'd put them at about mid-tier difficulty, simply because they have a very small number of accepted culture POPs, meaning you can't really get very many NFs going on, and your industry is limited. But that just makes for a fun game :D I'll be following this!
 
@Avindian : Thank you !
@TristramShandy : Thank you for following, we'll see what I will be able to accomplish with Portugal :) I think I can at least do better than the "historical" one.
 
1836-1837 : Portugal - country profile

Meet Portugal, April 1836. It is a small country in Europe, who has only three regions : Douro, Alentejo and Estremadura.

v2_1.jpg


I will use this opportunity to introduce you to the "region" mapmode, which in Victoria 2 is very helpful. Because in Victoria 2 it is "regions" you conquer and colonize, while provinces are smaller entities inside of regions. That's one feature of Victoria that puts it apart from Europa Universalis.

v2_2.jpg


Portugal is a small country, but it has great ambitions. Or it "had" great ambitions. Either way, Portugal colonies are scattered all over the globe. Apart from Brazil, who has declared independence, Portugal has colonies in Southern Africa, on both oceans. Portugal dreams of connecting them.

v2_7.jpg


Portugal also owns the islands of Madeira, Azores and Capo Verde, who are all part of the "Macaronesia" region. Which, according to the Wikipedia, is "a modern collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Europe and Africa".

In this picture there is also "Portuguese Gambia", on the coast of Africa.

v2_8.jpg


Then there are two small provinces in Asia : Goa, part of the "Portuguese Bombay" region, and Macau, part of the "Macau & Hong Kong region".

v2_12.jpg


We are not done yet, there is the province of Dili, part of the "Portuguse Bali" region.

v2_15.jpg


Now we are really done.

Portugal may have a glorious past, but he does not seem to be doing too great at the moment. The country has a very miserable literacy, and is lagging behind technologically. Lacking better ideas, we start researching the cheapest technology, "Early Railroad", and we set our focus on Clergymen on Alentejo and Estremadura, the two most populous mainland regions.

v2_17.jpg


Portugal is nowhere near being a Great Power, and is a Secondary power - but only just. It is at the 16th place in the global ranking, and is probably even going to be demoted pretty soon - by Danemark, who has a better score.

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It is pretty hard in the beginning to get a positive balance sheet. Probably we should tackle the bad administration problem as soon as possible.

v2_22.jpg


We have a small army, and it is only infantry. Maintaining our navy is our biggest cost, and therefore, as a first measure, in the trade screen we unautomate buying Clipper and Artillery. That will mean that our navy won't be fit for combat at first, therefore we'll try and stay out of trouble.

v2_23.jpg


In Portugal, in 1836, there are no capitalists. Where is the money in the country ? Well, it is the artisans who are making the most money.
Who needs factories when you have artisans ?

v2_25.jpg


Actually, there are provinces that Portugal can colonize from the very start. Learn about the "Colonial Map", that I just learnt how to use. I didn't start colonizing immediately, since Portugal is not a safe Secondary Power, and you cannot colonize if you are just a "Civilized" nation.

v2_28.jpg


We have access to a lot of Grain, Fruit, Wool, but our artisans are also producing a lot of stuff, using the raw materials they find on the free market. Artisans are our asset, obviously.

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By April 1837, we have scored a diplomatic victory. We are allied with Great Britain, the greatest country in the world. And with Brazil, our former colony.

v2_32.jpg


But, as we feared, we have been demoted from Secondary Power status. It is necessary to get some prestige, and at the same time expand our empire. We need an easy state to conquer, and we pick Brunei. The best choice would have probably been Johore, but we consider that country in the UK's sphere of influence - at first.

v2_35.jpg


Brunei is an "uncivilized" country who has only one region, and therefore it is possibile to establish a protectorate on him for a maximum of 10 infamy. Let me introduce you to the "Civilization" mapmode, where you can see what countries are civilized and what are not.

v2_39.jpg


Brunei has just ONE brigade, and it is uncivilized. Therefore we just need to take there a couple of our brigades and it should be easy to take the country from them. Our navy can only carry three brigades, and we pick up the ones who are in Africa on the way there.

I find out that even if you don't buy clippers and artillery your ships still sail and can take you to your goal, but of course, you better not involve them in a fight.


v2_38.jpg
 
Nice first update, I love copious amounts of screenshots :D Your opening moves are a little different to how I'd play the game - in terms of tech, I'd probably rush the Political Thought branch for some +plurality, and then save up for Idealism. I'd also probably have gone for a day-1 justification on Johore, and a day-1 transport of a single division to Africa, just to get a colony started. After declaring war I'd hope that my increased military consumption would be enough to guarantee my secondary power status until the colony finished, and maybe just to seal the deal I would justify an additional humiliate CB on Johore for the comparatively low infamy cost.

Not that I mean to critique: quite the opposite. Your opening moves are just as valid, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how things progress from here!

Also, one other thing: I noticed that even though a Liberal party is in power, their economic policy is presumably Interventionist, seeing as you have taxes <50% on your populate. Does Portugal have any parties with L-F as their economic policy? Could you maybe take a screenshot of the different Portuguese parties?

Can't wait for the next update! :)
 
A great start! I've really enjoyed playing Portugal in HOI 3, and I'm sure it will be even more fun in V2, where there are more options and Portugal is less "off to the side" of the gameplay. It's great that you have so many colonies already -- that gives you access everywhere. Course it means you need to protect them all, too, if you get into war.

Looking forward to this! I'm also glad you're doing this as a tutorial, as I'm going to purchase AHD soon and I'm not familiar with alot of the new interfaces and rules.

Rensslaer
 
Wow, lot of feedback. Thank you.

@TristramShandy : I have no problem with critique, otherwise I shouldn't write an AAR in the first place. Declaring war on Johore and start colonizing, and since you are at war you would get a better war score and stay a secondary power... that would have worked, I didn't think of it. Actually, when I was playing the game, I wasn't aware of the provinces I could colonize from the very start. Thank you for the encouragement ! I will definitely show the parties in power in the next update.
I just picked the cheapest technology, I thought I could not go wrong doing that. But Idealism is of course a priority.

@Belgiumruler : Great, welcome !

@Maggix : Nah, I think that ship has sailed. I'd rather try and sphere them when I am a GP.

@Hoosier_Jedi : Thank you.

@Rensslaer : Thank you. Actually at first I'll try and stay out of trouble. Portugal should be able to become pretty strong in the long run though, we'll see. I started the AAR (subconsciously) as a tutorial, I am not sure whether it will stay this way, but I am happy I can help you learn more about the expansion.
 
1838-1846 : Expansion in the East Indies

In June 1818, we have reached Brunei and we have started occupying it. Regrettably, our ships are damaged.

v2_2.jpg


To repair them, we would need to stay in a level 2 port and to supply them with clippers. But we don't have enough money for that. We regret not paying attention to the way they reached the East Indies, we should have used CTRL+Right Click to keep them on provinces near the coast, and make them take a break in British ports. Like this.

v2_3.jpg


We are ruled by the Septembrists, named after the September Revolution who came to power after a coup d'etat in September 1836, as I learn from the Wikipedia. In 1838, a Constitution also was promulgated. They have a yellow tag, but are Interventionist.

v2_5.jpg


After a war which isn't worth reporting, we also conquer Johore by May 1842. It is practical when you have troops in the region.

v2_7.jpg


By now, since we have a huge passive, we have moved the national focus to Bureaucrats. This is a good time to introduce the "National Focus" map mode.

v2_9.jpg


In December 1845, we have moved our national focus back to clergymen, but I see that bureaucrats and clergymen cannibalize each other somewhat...

v2_17.jpg


The bureaucrats have improved our income and we have some spare money to build some railroads. We have no capitalists, and we have to build them ourselves. This is a good time to introduce you to the infrastructure mode map.

v2_18.jpg


By December 1845, we have annexed also Aceh. We have used the "Protectorate" casus belli on all of them.

We have now some infamy to burn and we can take a break from wars.

v2_21.jpg


We have debts, but we have a decent administration level and we should be able to pay it back if we can stay at peace.

v2_22.jpg


And at least we have moved on to colonizing the provinces that can be colonized. Troops to speed colonization are under way.

v2_25.jpg


The newly annexed provinces give a welcome boost to our income.

v2_26.jpg


We are now a solid secondary power, as Baden is 12 points behind.

v2_27.jpg


And there are some changes in Europe, as the NGF and Italy have already formed.

v2_28.jpg




In this session, we have researched Positivism (Education Efficiency +10%) and Idealism (+50% Research Points).
 
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Italy by 1846? Jesus Christ! Mind you, I don't have AHD, so I had to wait for Garibaldi's Red Shirts as Sardinia-Piedmonte...

You've got yourself a nice AAR here - I'll be following.
 
@DensleyBlair : Thank you for following. Italy formed very quickly, not sure how it works now...

@Hootieleece : Thank you for reading, I will be glad if you can learn something !

@Tufto : Thank you for following and for enjoying plausibility ! :)
 
I must confess that I never played Portugal in Vic II ( shame on me ... ), but it is nice to try to see what can be done with it in a non-gamey fashion. I would say that , for "plausible play" you should atleast gun for the "pink map" :

v8VypQn.jpg


Just not go bankrupt trying to do so as I already seen the AI doing more than once :D

Some kind of revenge upon those uppity colonials of Brazil would also be nice ;)
 
Really nice update, thanks for showing the political parties. It's interesting to know that there aren't any L-F parties at the start of the game - maybe as it goes on, some new parties will pop up. Looks like you're carving a nice little South-East Asian empire for yourself, and the beginnings of an African empire; it was a brilliant move to capture Johore before the UK could get too invested in them! Really good technologies as well, Portugal's crappy literacy really holds her back in the early stages of the game.

Just thought I would share my thoughts on some of the African colonies. You obviously already know about the colonies Portugal can expand into at the start of the game. The other nice African colonies you can get are the colonies you may know of, just across the border from Ethiopia. The colonies have a life-rating of 30, so you either need nationalism and imperialism or prophylaxis against malaria before you can colonise them. However, my favourite move is to get N & I first, which allows you to establish a protectorate on Ethiopia and get the whole 1.5 M people in one fell swoop.

ARIj1rG.jpg


Another great colony to get is the Kuka region just off of Sokoto. This region has a life rating of 35, so you can colonise it with day-1 tech. The problem is that Sokoto is too large to establish a protectorate, even with Nationalism and Imperialism. What I usually do is grab the Zaria region off of Sokoto (highlighted in grey), which gives you access to Kuka (in green), and also has some really nice RGOs (3 of which I've displayed), especially a well-populated coal-producing region. After you've taken one province off of Sokoto, it's small enough to establish a protectorate once you've got N & I. If you do this before 1870, you're in an awesome position to colonise what are imo the best African regions in the game: Warri, Lagos, and the surrounding mid-Western regions.

tQmFcTO.jpg


Getting Zaria can be a bit of a difficult war, because you need to march your troops across uncolonised land, which really increases attrition, and Sokoto can have quite a few soldiers. I usually wait until the '50s, capture Ethiopia, and then use Ethiopia as a spring-board to get Zaria.

Anyway, sorry to hi-jack your AAR - but thought you might want to know about these regions and possible colonies if you haven't seen them before :D

Looking forward to the next update!