Without further ado let's have a look at the last set of suggested NI.
I'm quite happy with this set, if I might say so myself, it's not overpowered, and it follows the historical path, development and ambitions of Portugal.
Traditions: Why I changed them from the first proposed set? The first proposed set was focused on the house of Burgundy, while the second one is on the House of Aviz which has produced numerous prominent figures in both European and global history, including Prince Henry the Navigator, King Manuel I of Portugal, and Holy Roman Empress Isabella of Portugal. Numerous Aviz dynasts have also claimed thrones or titles across Europe, including King Peter V of Aragon and John, Prince of Antioch.
Colonial Range is self explanatory, Madeira and Azores were discovered and colonized under the patronage of Henry the Navigator before 1444.
Now on to the controversial one.
ICA:
Portuguese military organisation in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
centuries:
From 1380 to 1415 fundamental developments occurred in the Portuguese way of war. As
well as a move in the theatre of operations from the Iberian Peninsula to North Africa, we see shifts in the construction of castles, in tactical paradigms and in the composition of
armies. While some changes were the result of the intensity of warfare between Portugal and Castile after 1369, others were made possible by the treaty of peace between the same kingdoms in 1411, allowing Portuguese martial reorganisation to take place without external pressure.
The early fifteenth century saw the introduction by João I of measures designed to
improve the operational efficiency of the royal army. These included the designation of a permanent number of 3200 ‘lances’ (mounted men-at-arms) to constitute the back-bone of his army. Five hundred of these lances were provided by the major vassals of the monarch. A further 2360 corresponded to the lower-ranking vassals of the king, who were capable of mustering smaller retinues, and to individually summoned knights. The remaining 340 lances were the responsibility of the military orders.
The Order of Christ, created in 1319 by King Dinis (1279–1325) from the ashes of the Templars, and the Order of Santiago would provide 100 lances each. The Order of Avis (founded in 1176) was required to provide 80 lances, while the Hospitallers were assigned the task of contributing 60 further lances.The effectives also included men-at-arms recruited from towns and villages within the vast domains of these powerful institutions and under their jurisdiction and authority.
The Portuguese king also sought to improve the efficiency of the royal army by regulating how soldiers were mobilised and paid. In the early fifteenth century, João sought to abandon the model of payment based on the allocation of quantias ‒ wages paid yearly in money, lands or revenue ‒ which had been prevalent since the beginning of the fourteenth century, along with the corresponding obligation that the person who received such monies or lands should mobilise a given number of lances proportional to the value of the quantia.João replaced this model with a salary which was directly proportional to the required days of service, similar to contemporary English and French systems.During the Ceuta expedition, we thus find Portuguese men-at-arms serving for 700 Portuguese pounds a month and foot soldiers for 400.
These reforms concentrated mainly on the military contribution of the nobility, which included not only men-at-arms but also an unspecified number of foot soldiers (perhaps two or three for each lance), and also on the contribution of the military orders. But the crown had other important military resources. For example, there were the urban militias.
Divided into cavalry and infantry forces and composed of men armed and equipped according to status, these militias had played an important role in previous centuries, particularly during the reconquista. Although by the early fifteenth century the militias had become less important, they continued to be an indispensable element in Portuguese royal armies. Particularly significant were the militias of the most populous cities:
Lisbon, Santarém and Coimbra.
Towns also supplied crossbowmen, organised through the conto (‘fixed number’). The system of the besteiros do conto (‘the fixed number of crossbowmen’) was created by King Dinis in the late thirteenth century. By 1421–2 it had grown to 5000 men, drawn from about 300 recruitment units spread throughout the kingdom, as is revealed in the charter in which João I and his son and heir, Prince Duarte, remodelled the number of men which each of those units was compelled to mobilise. This is one of the most interesting and original features of Portuguese medieval military organisation, for it gave the
monarch a fixed and predetermined number of combatants from a quasi-professionalised regime with its own command structure. These crossbowmen were well trained, well equipped with good weapons and a fixed amount of ammunition, and were kept at a high degree of readiness so that they could be summoned quickly whenever their services were needed, including naval and overseas campaigns such as the expedition to Ceuta.
The most significant change in the way war was waged occurred on the battlefield.
Pitched battles such as Atoleiros in 1384 and Aljubarrota in 1385 ‒ both impressive Portuguese victories over Castilian armies ‒ were characterised by the application of the same tactical models which English armies had developed during the first phase of the Hundred Years War and which had assured them of success at Crécy and Poitiers (and which were to give them victory at Agincourt). These key strategic and tactical improvements consisted of increased attention to the terrain and the ways in which it might be used to good effect against the enemy by taking advantage of natural obstacles and, where necessary, reinforcing them with artificial obstructions and traps. This use of terrain was aimed at disrupting the enemy charge and breaking the momentum of the attack. When placed to protect the wings, these obstructions could also prevent flanking manoeuvres and compel the opponent to narrow a frontal attack. Another major innovation was the extensive use of archers, especially in the Portuguese case crossbowmen, placed mainly on the wings, a tactical solution which made any offensive manoeuvre even more risky and damaging, as happened at both Atoleiros and Aljubarrota.
The key ingredient in the success of these tactical formations rested on having warriors willing to defend every inch of ground, and who could maintain discipline and cohesion when facing the advance and violent clash of the enemy charge. That was why the foot soldiers drawn up in the vanguard and on the wings often had dismounted men-at-
arms intermingled with them. Here they boosted motivation and discipline and prevented the flight of the infantry even when under serious threat; these men-at-arms also assisted in absorbing an enemy’s offensive manoeuvres and in launching counter-attacks.These were the main tactical principles that, thanks to the contact with English allies in the 1380s, were practised for the first time and with astonishing results at Atoleiros and repeated even more spectacularly at Aljubarrota by Nuno Álvares Pereira, the Portuguese constable. He was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and successful generals of his time.
+10% Infantry Combat Ability
+25% Colonial range
Legacy of the Navigator
The success of the India nau depended on 15th-century innovations in Portuguese shipbuilding that greatly improved the seaworthiness and longevity of the ship. Notable among these were the use of iron nails (rather than wooden pegs) to hold planks, the mixing of lead in the seams, and a caulking technique that improved upon traditional oakum with 'galagala' paste (a mixture of oakum, lime and olive oil, producing a kind of putty that could be pressed between the planks). Hulls were amply coated in pitch and pine tar (imported in bulk amounts from northern Germany), giving the India naus their famous (and, to some observers, sinister) dark tone.
−33% Morale hit when losing a ship
+5% Ship hit points
Feitorias
A Portuguese trading post, usually fortified and built in coastal areas along the West and East African coasts, Indian Ocean and Brazil, from 1445 onward. It served simultaneously as market, warehouse, navigation support and customs, and was governed by a feitor (factor) to dominate the local trade with the Portuguese kingdom (and thence to Europe).
+10% Fort defense
+10% Global trade power
India Armadas
Naval artillery was the single greatest advantage the Portuguese held over their rivals in the Indian Ocean – indeed over most other navies – and the Portuguese crown spared no expense in procuring and producing the best naval guns European technology permitted.
King John II of Portugal, while still a prince in 1474, is often credited for pioneering the introduction of a reinforced deck on the old Henry-era caravel to allow the mounting of heavy guns. In 1489, he introduced the first standardized teams of trained naval gunners (bombardeiros) on every ship, and development of naval tactics that maximized broadside cannonades rather than the rush-and-grapple of Medieval galleys.
The Portuguese crown appropriated the best cannon technology available in Europe, particularly the new, more durable and far more accurate bronze cannon developed in Central Europe, replacing the older, less accurate wrought-iron cannon. By 1500, Portugal was importing vast volumes of copper and cannon from northern Europe, and had established itself as the leading producer of advanced naval artillery in its own right. Being a crown industry, cost considerations did not curb the pursuit of the best quality, best innovations and best training. The crown paid wage premiums and bonuses to lure the best European artisans and gunners (mostly German) to advance the industry in Portugal.
In this respect, the Portuguese spearheaded the evolution of modern naval warfare, moving away from the Medieval warship, a carrier of armed men, aiming for the grapple, towards the modern idea of a floating artillery piece dedicated to resolving battles by gunnery alone.
For the aristocracy, the expansionist and warlike policy initiated in
Northern Morocco meant, mainly for the noblemen pertaining to secondary
lineages as well as for the second sons, better opportunities to enrichment
and social promotion. Indeed, due to the permanent situation of war,
exacerbated by the old religious antagonism between Christians and Muslims, these men could enhance the honour of their families and also their revenue, through the favours granted by the king as payment for their military
achievements and also the sacks and pillages of the Moroccan populations.
Moreover, the organization of the strongholds that were eventually conquered would require the settlement of a number of military and administrative posts, and, in the event of a significant territorial conquest, they could also dream of the possibility of building land domains.
+1 Artillery
+1 Leader without upkeep
Spice Trade Monopoly
By the year 1511, the Portuguese were in control of the spice trade of the Malabar coast of India and Ceylon. Until the end of the 16th century, their monopoly on the spice trade to India was exceptionally profitable for the Portuguese. The main product brought back to Lisbon was black pepper.
+15 Trade Steering
Ordenancas
The Ordenanças (meaning literally "Ordinances" in Portuguese) were a militia-type organization that existed in Portugal and in some parts of the Portuguese Empire (especially in Brazil), between the 16th and the 19th centuries.
After some failed attempts made earlier, the Ordenanças were instituted by King Sebastian of Portugal on 10 December 1570. They were the first country-wide system of conscription in Portugal and thus are considered the ancestor of the future Portuguese national army.
They were organized in territorial captaincies (capitanias), covering the area of a city, town or municipality and included several companies. Each captaincy was under charge of a captain-major (capitão-mor), appointed by the respective municipal councils or, in areas where an alcaide (castle governor) existed, he assumed that role. Therefore, the organization and command of the Ordenanças usually fell to the most notable local residents of each region.
The base of the Ordenanças were the companies of 250 men. Each company was headed by a captain, assisted by an ensign (alferes), a sergeant, a marshal (meirinho) and a scrivener. It was divided in 10 squads, each one headed by a corporal (cabo de esquadra).
For King Sebastian's Morocco Campaign of 1578, the Ordenanças mobilized 32 companies with a total of around 8000 men, constituting four terços of the Portuguese expeditionary army.
+30% Army drill gain modifier
Bandeirantes
Long story short, Gold rush.
+15 Global settler increase
Pombaline Reformes
Pombal secured his preeminence through his decisive management of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, one of the deadliest earthquakes in history; he maintained public order, organized relief efforts, and supervised the capital's reconstruction in the Pombaline architectural style.
-15% Construction Cost
Ambition
+20% Global tariffs
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