Playing as Portugal

[Drake Rlugia]

Does anyone have any tips for playing Portugal? I just started a game with them using WATK, and it's quite fun.

I started off pretty decent. I took Tangiers off Morrocco, and proceeded to slip into European isolation. I sent my explorers to the west, eventually establishing colonies in the Bahamas and Bermunda. I also have some preperations in Haiti and the Cayman Islands.

Expansion into the Orient and Africa are rather moot. I siezed two Saharran provinces from Morrocco (proceeding to the convert them to the one true faith), but otherwise I'm building a few centers so that my ships are safe from attrition. I'm doing well in the tech-race. My finances are a little shaky, but I believe that can be blamed on the limited number of provinces I have. While two nations have saved up the required sums to become DotF, I am barely hitting 200 ducats. This is mostly due to my colonization. Inflation is 1%, due to a mishap when I forgot to move my slider during stability.

 

[SeedSnatcher]

Try going to the Americas? That's where I usually explore.

 

[unmerged(18992)]

Try Not to Take any of those useless North African provinces like you did. Early on before you have a country with a strong enough economy, these prvinces with their arab culture are rather useless, as is any province which doesnt havet he same culture as that of the country. All they really do is put a drain on your economy, making it take longer to research things and they dont generate too much profit either. Even Tangiers isnt so great.

Other then that, Just try exploring along the african coast, into the americas if you like, and initially dont colonise provinces with low econmic value, its a waste of time untill you have a strong empire. Just go for the good ones at first (Gold, spices, etc)

 

[unmerged(53611)]

i am playing as port. i DID colanize africa but i AM new. i lost most of my TP in america to a war with spain i also lost oporto (note this is my 3rd game) and i had it on normal/normal i am now the most advanced on land and trailing behind england in naval... one tip tho DO NOT fight enermies by your colanies in africa or india (round the cape of good hope) you cant move armies fast anuf

 

[Dell19]

When fighting nations a long way from home it is usually best to have transported at least 20k troops before you declare war. In my Dutch game I decided to annex Madagascar and was successful by being able to quickly annex their provinces. If you want to attack a non Pagan nation then you need to be even more prepared because you don't want them to have built or build a huge army.

 

[unmerged(32886)]

The road to success for Portugal is trade and exploration. Best to tech Trade continuously and when getting the ahead of time penalty, switch to Infra. As to the colonists, I rarely use TP's since I consider them a waist of colonists. When your trade income is up, 1 month of minting should give you plenty of money for colonization. I'd say around 1550 you should easily get 400d/500d monthly income from trade alone (provided you know all CoT's in the world). As a rule of thumb, try to use all available colonists and merchants at all time.
As to conquest, those sunni provs are worthless. Go for pagan instead (Inca/Aztec, ...) and then convert them. If you haven't got many cities/colonies, you might even consider changing religion to Protestantism.

 

[Drake Rlugia]

Wow, that's alot of money for Portugal, especially so early!

I'll probally restart my game. Things haven't gone so well, money is rapidly depleting, not to mention I lost a good portion of my starting navy in hapless exploration.

 

[unmerged(53611)]

i put every thing into exploring lol (i am new) i think its better that war i love it. but then again war is soooo cool o well everything leads to war!

 

[unmerged(18992)]

Hmmm African Provinces can be good, im pretty sure there are alot of spices and a gold mine somewhere on the coast, just dont try colonise crappy provinces like tasseret which youll end up spending about 800 gold onfor a crumby province that brings no real benefits. Better to wait till you have a better one to colonise and spent it on a manufactory or something.

You can colonise the crappy ones later when you have gold to spare.

 

[George LeS]

Portugal is my favorite country.

1. All colonies in the Indies, & most of the Americas, MUST be garrisoned or fortified, or Spain can steal them under the ToT, once it fires. The exceptions are Brazil (to which you have ToT rights), & N America, north of the Carolinas (more or less).

2. TPs are NOT useless, but they do need careful handling. The legitimate early uses are (1) to get the bonus for building a colony, & (2) to prevent the attrition. The latter is especially useful on the W African coast. Just build them along the route, especially in the seazones close to your port, as it is on the return trip that time-at-sea is highest.

3. Do not ignore the (historical) eastern explorations. There are several events which will help you when you go that way (Kilwa, Goa, Macau), plus CoTs. The E Indies are full of rich provinces. Run explorers down the Afr coast, build a colony somewhere along the way, & discover India, then Malacca, then China.

4. If anything, 1% inflation is arguably too low. It wastes the full effect of deflationary events (usually 2%). OTOH, you don't say what year it is, & before about 1490, it's a good idea to keep it down. Beginning about 1490, & increasingly for the next 75 years you'll likely have to inflate, to maintain the troops you'll need, if you want to take advantage of the great leaders you'll get, Albuquerque & Almeida. (And later, de Sousa & Mem de Sa). These guys can conquer lots of pagans for you (plus some other provinces so rich you want them despite the negatives). It ultimately is worth the inflation to expand then, as after about 1560, you'll never get another chance like that. Even 10 or 15 % is acceptable, if you gain enough for it.

 

[unmerged(43369)]

Portugal is my favorite country.

1. All colonies in the Indies, & most of the Americas, MUST be garrisoned or fortified, or Spain can steal them under the ToT, once it fires. The exceptions are Brazil (to which you have ToT rights), & N America, north of the Carolinas (more or less).

I agree - Portugal is also my favorite country.

I have played several Portugal GC's, and I have never had problems with an AI Spain in the West Indies during the ToT. For some reason, Spain never bothers to go after the West Indies (on WATK - Curacao, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, St. Martin, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico), so you should be fairly safe colonizing those provinces (but Spain will go after Haiti and Jamaica, so avoid those provinces!); and, most of the West Indies are great provinces - fairly cheap and easy to colonize, high income and trade, and you will generally have a COT in one of them. I always go for those provinces first (I usually get them all before Spain even begins to explore), then look for select provinces in Brazil (the sugar and tobacco producers) and India (Goa, Diu, Cochin, Madras), and then some spice islands in Indonesia and the Pacific. I find that Africa is too difficult to colonize, except for the provinces on the Cape (and, that is a good place for a port if you plan on sending your explorers to India); another good place for a port is Sao Tome (Cameroons coast), which is very easy and cheap to colonize. Qeshm (in the Persian Gulf) is one of the best provinces - 5,000 natives with low aggressiveness, easy and fairly cheap to colonize, huge income and trade value. Mauritius and Reunion (east of Madagascar) are very easy provinces to colonize, and fairly productive.

If you colonize all over the world, you should eventually end up with 7 or 8 COT's, all of which will be monopolies for you. With a high trade tech and lots of COT's/monopolies providing extra merchants, you can make a killing as a trader (I have had monthly incomes exceeding 1,300 ducats).

Another great aspect to colonization is that your provinces will all automatically have Portuguese culture and Catholic religion, so you won't suffer the tax/production penalties for wrong culture and wrong religion (30% for each). For that reason, I will rarely (if ever) take provinces in North Africa - even if you manage to convert them (at approximately 25% chance for success, 300 ducat cost, per conversion attempt), they will still be "Arabic" culture, which means a 30% penalty. But, if you like being a Reconquistadore, then it can be kind of fun battling with the Moors for 400 years.

You should hit max tech levels in all areas some time during the 1770's, at which time you can beat up on the rest of the world, if you get bored being the "sugar and spice" king.

 

[unmerged(62118)]

DO NOT CONVERT TO PROTESTANTISM!!! Spain will eventually be the most powerful CATHOLIC country in the world. Do you really think it's a good idea to piss them off? They're your next door neighbor, ALWAYS maintain good relations with them. O and nobody really ever explores down Africa for a LONG time so take advantage of it.

 

[George LeS]

I mostly agree. One thing I always try to do, is get almost every island I can. Portugal is one of the few nations which can actually take advantage of seapower. This is helped by a design flaw: your ships never become obsolete. So, ships you got free, when Gil Eanes shows up, can still fight Boney.

It depends, in part, on which mod you're playing. AGCEEP & EP both give great events for El Mina, in W Africa. Some give bonuses for African colonies, as well.

In all mods, the pagan African nations are well worth conquering (Benin, Oyo). Mali makes a better vassal, though the gold province (Jenne?) is worth taking. Oh, yes, there's a good gold province in Siberia (Enkan). You should get there far before everyone else.

On Spain & the ToT, my experience is varied. Sometimes they leave you alone, but I have seen them get agressive. (Of course, I switch between mods a lot, & don't always remember which is which.) I believe they are less likely to use the ToT, if you're their ally.

One other bit of advice: in the XV & early XVI centuries, RM every elector in the HRE. It's free, & you may get lucky, & win election. It's worked for me several times. If Manuel is Emperor, a lot of your MP problems are a lot easier.

If you do really well, you may want to accept vassalization from Spain for 60 years, just to make it more challenging.

 

[unmerged(43369)]

One other bit of advice: in the XV & early XVI centuries, RM every elector in the HRE. It's free, & you may get lucky, & win election. It's worked for me several times. If Manuel is Emperor, a lot of your MP problems are a lot easier.

Thanks for the tip on the HRE election - I'll give it a try!

 

[unmerged(32886)]

DO NOT CONVERT TO PROTESTANTISM!!! Spain will eventually be the most powerful CATHOLIC country in the world. Do you really think it's a good idea to piss them off? They're your next door neighbor, ALWAYS maintain good relations with them. O and nobody really ever explores down Africa for a LONG time so take advantage of it.

Why not? Have you ever looked at the advantages of it? Also if you, as Portugal, have something to fear from Spain when Protestantism enters the picture, you're definately doing something wrong.

 

[Battle bunny]

Well, the provinces Algarve and Oporto never concern me... you should win a colonial war, but otherwise I just stack up an army in Tago to hold off. Colonies>two crappy cities.

 

[unmerged(62118)]

I'm just saying that Protestantism isn't a very good idea when you have THAT powerful of a CATHOLIC nation right next to you. I mean Portugal isn't always known for military might, and your nation is small and spread out. So unless your willing to fight a LOOONG and costly war against them and most likely Austria etc. I wouldn't do it, there's too much at risk. They're a HUGE colonial empire also, I've seen them rob Portugal of there empire many a time.

 

[unmerged(32886)]

I'm just saying that Protestantism isn't a very good idea when you have THAT powerful of a CATHOLIC nation right next to you. I mean Portugal isn't always known for military might, and your nation is small and spread out. So unless your willing to fight a LOOONG and costly war against them and most likely Austria etc. I wouldn't do it, there's too much at risk. They're a HUGE colonial empire also, I've seen them rob Portugal of there empire many a time.

Ah, but that was AI versus AI. Portugal played by a human shouldn't have too much probs with Spain at all. If you want, you can even conquer them and turn into Spain yourself by event. But that makes you even more powerful and takes away the fun of the game IMO. I played Protestant Portugal several times now and Spain hasn't responded to that with war or anything. They tend to look more at your overall power than religion. And if your fighting skills suck, a couple of bribes turns them into your best friend .

 

[BurningEGO]

I see no point in actually going Protestant in an SP game as Portugal. It will only increase taxes by 10% and Portuguese taxes will always stay low for the entire game, even with that little bonus. Reformed, however, seems more tempting. Trading in SP can give you awesome amount of cash, and the 10% extra TE from reformed faith is always nice to have. Tech speed is also better then the one Protestantism has to offer. But if you prefer to stay catholic, you will also manage to be HRE if you do thing properly.