Ok guys, it's minor nation Kaiserreich time! I've decided to give Portugal a go and boy, it seems next to impossible to keep their empire. More so, with the ever belligerent Syndies in the neighbourhood it seems next to impossible to survive! My first attempt ended by me being swallowed up by UoB and French Syndies after the Carlists won the Civil War and I joined their Mediterranian Bloc that was eventually DOWed by the Syndies. I think that was sometime around 1941. (before losing colony after colony to Mittelafrika, Qing, Princely Federation, ...)
Let me summarize my observations:
- Portugal starts with like what - 6 division in total ? Half of which are landlocked in the colonies.
- What happened to the glory or Portugal (navy)? All they have at the start is two outdated DDs and one outdated Sub + 2 transport ships ...
- So damn backward in technology. Even in Navy Tech they don't even have the very basics (Mahanian Theory etc.) covered. Holy cow!
- Few and low skill research teams, making it hard to catch up. Some areas aren't even covered at all (e.g. no specialist for math, chemistry, ..)
- Few transports & escorts, but lots of places to supply. In case of war you pretty quickly run out of supplies but lack IC to quickly throw in another 50 convoy batch...
- low on natural resources, requiring lots of trade (of supplies, thus reducing available IC further)
- no easy expansion given everyone around you is either part of a mighty alliance or much stronger than you are.
I terms of domestic policies I went with the conservatives and eventually went on the "restore the monarchy" but never managed til the end because I got annexed. Any good boosts coming from the restauration?
Anyone trying out Portugal before? Any experiences / tipps to share? What is a viable route to go with that country that does not contain becoming a Syndie?