Hello! once again I'm here to suggest changes to Portugal National ideas, that remain subpar, and do not accurately represent the path the Kingdom followed during its rise and eventual decline during the game time frame. I have been doing research, focusing not only in the military but also in the social and economic aspect of Portugal history, and as such i will try to present an unbiased set of national ideas, with linked sources to back it up.
Portugal, like his Iberian neighbors, was a kingdom forged in the fires of Reconquista, achieving his current borders with the definitive capture of the Algarve in 1249, 195 years before the start date present of the game. this gave ample time to Portugal develop its infrastructure, economy, while the rest of Iberia engaged on the Reconquista, finally ending in 1492.
During this time many Kings left their mark, especially King Dinis where he advanced the interests of the Portuguese merchants, and set up by mutual agreement a fund called the Bolsa de Comércio, the first documented form of marine insurance in Europe, approved on 10 May 1293. Always concerned with development of the country's infrastructure, he encouraged the discovery and exploitation of sulphur, silver, tin and iron mines and organised the export of excess production of agricultural crops, salt, and salted fish to England, Flanders, and France.
This can justify the increased trade efficiency tradition, and despite my previous issues with the choice, it can be easily justifiable.
Afonso IV legacy was granting public funding to raise a proper commercial fleet and ordered the first Portuguese maritime explorations, which can justify the exploring range tradition.
Now moving to the 1st Idea, Legacy of the Navigator.
Henry is regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration. Under his direction, a new and much lighter ship was developed, the caravel, which could sail further and faster, and, above all, was highly maneuverable and could sail much nearer the wind, or "into the wind". This made the caravel largely independent of the prevailing winds. With the caravel, Portuguese mariners explored rivers and shallow waters as well as the open ocean with wide autonomy. In fact, the invention of the caravel was what made Portugal poised to take the lead in transoceanic exploration.
I will leave Morale hit when losing a ship, for romantic reasons, sailing the unknown required nerves of steel, and its fitting in my opinion.
But now the caravel should have a special mention here. i have decided to go with the Square Rigged Caravel, and as such give Portugal Light Ship Combat Ability 20% (before you huff and puff check the nations with LS CA)
Towards the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese developed a larger version of the caravel, bearing a forecastle and sterncastle – though not as high as those carracks, which would have made it unweatherly – but most distinguishable for its square-rigged foremast, and three other masts bearing lateen rig. In this form it was referred to in Portuguese as a "round caravel" (caravela redonda) as in Iberian tradition, a bulging square sail is said to be round.
It was employed in coast-guard fleets near the Strait of Gibraltar and as an armed escort for merchant ships between Portugal and Brazil and in the Cape Route. Some consider this a forerunner of the fighting galleon and remained in use until the 17th century.
2nd Idea, replace the name Afonsine Ordinances for Feitorias and leave the production bonus.
Feitorias served simultaneously as market, warehouse, and support to the navigation and customs. Portugal's first Feitoria overseas was in Mauritania (West Africa) and, in time, there would be multiple ones, extending all the way to Macau and, of course, on the New World. They were governed by a feitor ("factor") responsible for managing the trade, buying and trading products on behalf of the king. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a chain of about 50 Portuguese forts either housed or protected feitorias along the coasts of West and East Africa, the Indian Ocean, China, Japan, and South America. The main Portuguese factories were in Goa, Malacca, Ormuz, Ternate, and Macau. They were mainly driven by the trade of gold and slaves on the coast of Guinea, spices in the Indian Ocean, and sugar cane in the New World. They were also used for local triangular trade between several territories, like Goa-Macau-Nagasaki, trading products such as sugar, pepper, coconut, timber, horses, grain, feathers from exotic Indonesian birds, precious stones, silks and porcelain from the East, among many other products.
With this we come to the 3rd Idea wich i will name the Military Order of Christ, and i leave a text from Judi Upton Ward, Military Orders Volume 4 on land and sea.
The return of Vasco da Gama from Calicut resulted in the formation of a strategic awareness that the eastern seas were a hostile place for the Portuguese.
The urgent requirements of the novelty of the war on the eastern maritime front implied the sudden re-emergence of two realities that, in the last years of maritime exploration in the southern Atlantic Ocean, had tended to diminish greatly in terms of their traditional importance: on the one hand, the idea was again put forward that the crusade was a factor that legitimized the war, and, on the other hand, there was also a need for the king to reinforce the military preparation of the human resources involved in the armadas sailing to the Indian Ocean.
We do, in fact, have information showing that this problem was fiercely debated in the royal council, with the final option being in favour of offensive military intervention. In this context, the monarchy chose to support an intensive programme for the recruitment of military personnel, who, for quite understandable reasons, were sought among the members of the military orders. There then came a period in which significant use was made of the knights and commanders of the military orders, with many of them being transferred to the Order of Christ.
The king – I reiterate – was the governor of this Order and, for the reasons already mentioned, since the mid-fifteenth century it had enjoyed spiritual jurisdiction over a region that stretched all the way to the East. In this way, the scenario was created that legitimized such actions (in both ideological and legal terms), favouring this recourse to the knights of the Order of Christ, despite the difficulties that naturally arose in the process of transferring from one military order to another, and which were eventually overcome.
From this, it is understandable that a recent study of the presence in the East of knights from the military orders, in the first two decades of the sixteenth century, has produced a substantial list of names: ninety-seven knights have been identified. Some of them were important figures in the context of Portuguese history in the East at that time.
For example: Afonso de Albuquerque, a knight of the Order of Santiago and governor of India; António de Saldanha, a knight of the Order of Christ and admiral of the fleet in 1517; Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, a knight of the Order of Christ and governor of India; Duarte de Meneses, a knight of the Order of Santiago and governor of India; Fernão Peres de Andrade, a knight of the Order of Christ and commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1535; Francisco de Almeida, a knight of the Order of Santiago and viceroy of India; Henrique de Meneses, a knight of the Order of Christ and governor of India; João Freire, a knight of the Order of Santiago and commander-in-chief; Jorge de Brito, a knight of the Order of Christ, captain of Malacca and commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1520; Joao de Melo, a knight of the Order of Santiago, captain of the fleet of Lopo Soares 1515–18; Lds de Meneses, a knight of the Order of Christ and commander-in-chief of the fleet 1518–26; Manuel de Lacerda, a knight of the Order of Christ and commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1527; Pedro de Mascarenhas, a knight of the Order of Christ and captain of Malacca; Vasco da Gama, a knight of the Order of Santiago, and later of the Order of Christ, commander-in-chief of the armadas of 1497 and 1502, and viceroy of India in 1524.
With this said, i would give 10% Infantry Combat Ability to Portugal to buff their army.
4th idea would be the Cartaz System.
The "cartazes" licensing system was created in 1502 to control and enforce the Portuguese trade monopoly over a wide area in the Indian Ocean, taking advantage of local commerce: the cartaz was issued by the Portuguese at a low cost, granting merchant ships protection against pirates and rival states, which then abounded in these seas. However its main purpose was to ensure that merchants paid the tax in Portuguese trading posts, directing them to the feitorias in Goa, Malacca and Ormuz, guaranteeing its monopoly on the spice trade and other products.
Officially, no vessel was permitted to sail in the Indian coast without this document, risking losing their cargo, being attacked and even sunk by the Portuguese - mainly Muslim, Hindu and Malay merchant ships. Every year, during the monsoon, Portuguese fleets patrolled the coasts requiring this document.Later, as Portuguese lost influence, the issue of cartazes become in itself an important source of income for the crown.
This would give the 10% global trade power.
5th idea, Encourage the Bandeirantes and this would give +15 Global Settler increase.
The Bandeirantes, literally "flag-carriers", were explorers, adventurers, slavers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They led expeditions carrying the Portuguese flag, the bandeira, claiming, by planting the flag, new lands for the Crown of Portugal. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 1494, by which the Pope divided the new continent into a western, Castilian section, and an eastern, Portuguese section.
6th idea can remain the same.
7th idea remains the same but would change for Lines of Torres Vedras.
The work began on the main defensive works on 3 November 1809, initially at the Fort of São Julião da Barra and almost immediately afterwards at the Fort of São Vicente (St. Vincent) overlooking the town of Torres Vedras and at the Fort of Alqueidão on top of Monte Agraço. The entire construction was carried out in great secrecy and the French never became aware of it. Only one report appeared in the London newspapers, a major source of information for Napoleon. It is said that the British government did not know about the forts and was stunned when Wellington first said in dispatches that he had retreated to them. Even the British Ambassador in Lisbon appears to have been unaware of what was happening. These defences were accompanied by a scorched earth policy to their north in which the inhabitants were told to leave their farms, destroying all food they could not take and anything else that may be useful to the French.
Although ultimately contributing to the success of the defence, this policy led to high rates of mortality among the Portuguese who had retreated south of the lines. By some estimates 40,000 died.
The Lines were not continuous, as in the case of a defensive wall, but consisted of a series of mutually supporting forts and other defences that both guarded roads that the French could take and also covered each other’s flanks. The majority of the defences were redoubts holding 200 to 300 troops and three to six cannon, normally 12-pounders, which could fire canister shot or cannonballs. Each redoubt was protected by a ditch or dry moat, with parapets, and was palisaded. By the time the French reached the First Line in October 1810, 126 works had been completed and were manned by 29,750 men with 247 heavy guns. Wellington did not use his front-line troops to man the forts: instead, manpower was mainly provided by the Portuguese. Construction continued after the withdrawal of the French and was not fully completed until 1812.
On completion there were 152 fortifications with a total of 648 cannon.
And ambition the same.
Portuguese ideas
Traditions:+15% Trade efficiency+25% Colonial range
Legacy of the Navigator
−33% Morale hit when losing a ship+20% Light ship combat ability
Feitorias
+10% Goods produced modifier
Military Order of Christ
+10% Infantry combat ability
Cartaz system
+10% Global trade power
Encourage the Bandeirantes
+15 Global settler increase
Royal Absolutism
−15% Construction cost+0.50 Yearly absolutism
Linhas de Torres Vedras
+10% Artillery combat ability+10% Fort defense
Ambition:
+20% Global tariffs
Portugal, like his Iberian neighbors, was a kingdom forged in the fires of Reconquista, achieving his current borders with the definitive capture of the Algarve in 1249, 195 years before the start date present of the game. this gave ample time to Portugal develop its infrastructure, economy, while the rest of Iberia engaged on the Reconquista, finally ending in 1492.
During this time many Kings left their mark, especially King Dinis where he advanced the interests of the Portuguese merchants, and set up by mutual agreement a fund called the Bolsa de Comércio, the first documented form of marine insurance in Europe, approved on 10 May 1293. Always concerned with development of the country's infrastructure, he encouraged the discovery and exploitation of sulphur, silver, tin and iron mines and organised the export of excess production of agricultural crops, salt, and salted fish to England, Flanders, and France.
This can justify the increased trade efficiency tradition, and despite my previous issues with the choice, it can be easily justifiable.
Afonso IV legacy was granting public funding to raise a proper commercial fleet and ordered the first Portuguese maritime explorations, which can justify the exploring range tradition.
Now moving to the 1st Idea, Legacy of the Navigator.
Henry is regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration. Under his direction, a new and much lighter ship was developed, the caravel, which could sail further and faster, and, above all, was highly maneuverable and could sail much nearer the wind, or "into the wind". This made the caravel largely independent of the prevailing winds. With the caravel, Portuguese mariners explored rivers and shallow waters as well as the open ocean with wide autonomy. In fact, the invention of the caravel was what made Portugal poised to take the lead in transoceanic exploration.
I will leave Morale hit when losing a ship, for romantic reasons, sailing the unknown required nerves of steel, and its fitting in my opinion.
But now the caravel should have a special mention here. i have decided to go with the Square Rigged Caravel, and as such give Portugal Light Ship Combat Ability 20% (before you huff and puff check the nations with LS CA)
Towards the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese developed a larger version of the caravel, bearing a forecastle and sterncastle – though not as high as those carracks, which would have made it unweatherly – but most distinguishable for its square-rigged foremast, and three other masts bearing lateen rig. In this form it was referred to in Portuguese as a "round caravel" (caravela redonda) as in Iberian tradition, a bulging square sail is said to be round.
It was employed in coast-guard fleets near the Strait of Gibraltar and as an armed escort for merchant ships between Portugal and Brazil and in the Cape Route. Some consider this a forerunner of the fighting galleon and remained in use until the 17th century.
2nd Idea, replace the name Afonsine Ordinances for Feitorias and leave the production bonus.
Feitorias served simultaneously as market, warehouse, and support to the navigation and customs. Portugal's first Feitoria overseas was in Mauritania (West Africa) and, in time, there would be multiple ones, extending all the way to Macau and, of course, on the New World. They were governed by a feitor ("factor") responsible for managing the trade, buying and trading products on behalf of the king. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a chain of about 50 Portuguese forts either housed or protected feitorias along the coasts of West and East Africa, the Indian Ocean, China, Japan, and South America. The main Portuguese factories were in Goa, Malacca, Ormuz, Ternate, and Macau. They were mainly driven by the trade of gold and slaves on the coast of Guinea, spices in the Indian Ocean, and sugar cane in the New World. They were also used for local triangular trade between several territories, like Goa-Macau-Nagasaki, trading products such as sugar, pepper, coconut, timber, horses, grain, feathers from exotic Indonesian birds, precious stones, silks and porcelain from the East, among many other products.
With this we come to the 3rd Idea wich i will name the Military Order of Christ, and i leave a text from Judi Upton Ward, Military Orders Volume 4 on land and sea.
The return of Vasco da Gama from Calicut resulted in the formation of a strategic awareness that the eastern seas were a hostile place for the Portuguese.
The urgent requirements of the novelty of the war on the eastern maritime front implied the sudden re-emergence of two realities that, in the last years of maritime exploration in the southern Atlantic Ocean, had tended to diminish greatly in terms of their traditional importance: on the one hand, the idea was again put forward that the crusade was a factor that legitimized the war, and, on the other hand, there was also a need for the king to reinforce the military preparation of the human resources involved in the armadas sailing to the Indian Ocean.
We do, in fact, have information showing that this problem was fiercely debated in the royal council, with the final option being in favour of offensive military intervention. In this context, the monarchy chose to support an intensive programme for the recruitment of military personnel, who, for quite understandable reasons, were sought among the members of the military orders. There then came a period in which significant use was made of the knights and commanders of the military orders, with many of them being transferred to the Order of Christ.
The king – I reiterate – was the governor of this Order and, for the reasons already mentioned, since the mid-fifteenth century it had enjoyed spiritual jurisdiction over a region that stretched all the way to the East. In this way, the scenario was created that legitimized such actions (in both ideological and legal terms), favouring this recourse to the knights of the Order of Christ, despite the difficulties that naturally arose in the process of transferring from one military order to another, and which were eventually overcome.
From this, it is understandable that a recent study of the presence in the East of knights from the military orders, in the first two decades of the sixteenth century, has produced a substantial list of names: ninety-seven knights have been identified. Some of them were important figures in the context of Portuguese history in the East at that time.
For example: Afonso de Albuquerque, a knight of the Order of Santiago and governor of India; António de Saldanha, a knight of the Order of Christ and admiral of the fleet in 1517; Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, a knight of the Order of Christ and governor of India; Duarte de Meneses, a knight of the Order of Santiago and governor of India; Fernão Peres de Andrade, a knight of the Order of Christ and commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1535; Francisco de Almeida, a knight of the Order of Santiago and viceroy of India; Henrique de Meneses, a knight of the Order of Christ and governor of India; João Freire, a knight of the Order of Santiago and commander-in-chief; Jorge de Brito, a knight of the Order of Christ, captain of Malacca and commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1520; Joao de Melo, a knight of the Order of Santiago, captain of the fleet of Lopo Soares 1515–18; Lds de Meneses, a knight of the Order of Christ and commander-in-chief of the fleet 1518–26; Manuel de Lacerda, a knight of the Order of Christ and commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1527; Pedro de Mascarenhas, a knight of the Order of Christ and captain of Malacca; Vasco da Gama, a knight of the Order of Santiago, and later of the Order of Christ, commander-in-chief of the armadas of 1497 and 1502, and viceroy of India in 1524.
With this said, i would give 10% Infantry Combat Ability to Portugal to buff their army.
4th idea would be the Cartaz System.
The "cartazes" licensing system was created in 1502 to control and enforce the Portuguese trade monopoly over a wide area in the Indian Ocean, taking advantage of local commerce: the cartaz was issued by the Portuguese at a low cost, granting merchant ships protection against pirates and rival states, which then abounded in these seas. However its main purpose was to ensure that merchants paid the tax in Portuguese trading posts, directing them to the feitorias in Goa, Malacca and Ormuz, guaranteeing its monopoly on the spice trade and other products.
Officially, no vessel was permitted to sail in the Indian coast without this document, risking losing their cargo, being attacked and even sunk by the Portuguese - mainly Muslim, Hindu and Malay merchant ships. Every year, during the monsoon, Portuguese fleets patrolled the coasts requiring this document.Later, as Portuguese lost influence, the issue of cartazes become in itself an important source of income for the crown.
This would give the 10% global trade power.
5th idea, Encourage the Bandeirantes and this would give +15 Global Settler increase.
The Bandeirantes, literally "flag-carriers", were explorers, adventurers, slavers, and fortune hunters in early Colonial Brazil. They led expeditions carrying the Portuguese flag, the bandeira, claiming, by planting the flag, new lands for the Crown of Portugal. They are largely responsible for Brazil's great expansion westward, far beyond the Tordesillas Line of 1494, by which the Pope divided the new continent into a western, Castilian section, and an eastern, Portuguese section.
6th idea can remain the same.
7th idea remains the same but would change for Lines of Torres Vedras.
The work began on the main defensive works on 3 November 1809, initially at the Fort of São Julião da Barra and almost immediately afterwards at the Fort of São Vicente (St. Vincent) overlooking the town of Torres Vedras and at the Fort of Alqueidão on top of Monte Agraço. The entire construction was carried out in great secrecy and the French never became aware of it. Only one report appeared in the London newspapers, a major source of information for Napoleon. It is said that the British government did not know about the forts and was stunned when Wellington first said in dispatches that he had retreated to them. Even the British Ambassador in Lisbon appears to have been unaware of what was happening. These defences were accompanied by a scorched earth policy to their north in which the inhabitants were told to leave their farms, destroying all food they could not take and anything else that may be useful to the French.
Although ultimately contributing to the success of the defence, this policy led to high rates of mortality among the Portuguese who had retreated south of the lines. By some estimates 40,000 died.
The Lines were not continuous, as in the case of a defensive wall, but consisted of a series of mutually supporting forts and other defences that both guarded roads that the French could take and also covered each other’s flanks. The majority of the defences were redoubts holding 200 to 300 troops and three to six cannon, normally 12-pounders, which could fire canister shot or cannonballs. Each redoubt was protected by a ditch or dry moat, with parapets, and was palisaded. By the time the French reached the First Line in October 1810, 126 works had been completed and were manned by 29,750 men with 247 heavy guns. Wellington did not use his front-line troops to man the forts: instead, manpower was mainly provided by the Portuguese. Construction continued after the withdrawal of the French and was not fully completed until 1812.
On completion there were 152 fortifications with a total of 648 cannon.
And ambition the same.
Portuguese ideas
Traditions:+15% Trade efficiency+25% Colonial range
Legacy of the Navigator−33% Morale hit when losing a ship+20% Light ship combat ability
Feitorias+10% Goods produced modifier
+10% Infantry combat ability
Cartaz system+10% Global trade power
+15 Global settler increase
Royal Absolutism−15% Construction cost+0.50 Yearly absolutism
Linhas de Torres Vedras+10% Artillery combat ability+10% Fort defense
Ambition:+20% Global tariffs
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