I'm starting a new Portugal game to get the Not So Sad achievement (easy enough) and also the Market Control (the challenge). I'd normally dominate the Brazilian Coast and try for the Caribbean but now with 1.5 all the hard colonization work would turn into Colonial Nations so I think trade control would be lost. Any ideas on how to get Market Control in the post 1.5 world?
Portugal 1.5 Strategy Ideas for Market Control
- Thread starter ThuderLizard2
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Colonial nations still iirc give you half their TP. As such you will still dominate the overseas Trade Nodes especially if you add some light ships of your own on TN patrol duty. At the end of they day you need to steer trade to Seville and in my experience Portugal in 1.5 still friggin dominates that node from the get-go 
Does this mean you can gain control of the trade node for purposes of the Market Control achievement through a colonial nation? Will the Colonial Nations expand on their own quickly enough to ensure trade node control or do you still have to keep sending colonist after the CN is formed?
Colonial Nation gets -75% multiplier to base growth, and setter chance penalty. (-10%? can't remember) It's quite slow, And CNs does not start with Ideas so they don't even have colonists for some time. Even after they get colonist, they don't expand until they think they got enough money.
In conclusion, you'll have to seal the coast on your own.
Yep that's how it is, they expand, but only later on so it will be up to you to fund your empire, as they are in effect still part of your empire.
Is it better to build just 4 colonies in one region and then start colonizing another region rather than triggering the CN creation with a fifth province? Also, for North America, would it make sense to form protectorates of the tribes to provide more trade power in those nodes rather than annexing?