Portugal is seriously too rich...

[ahyangyi]

Especially not since your kings will use all of the money on churches and palaces anyway.

But... churches make you even richer!

 

[Chenngis]

While the countries with significant trade share in the Lubeck, English Channel, and Sevilla nodes certainly have the advantage at the start of the game in 1444 for trade income, and those nodes are always valuable - it is not as if they can not be surpassed else where in the world. Here's an example play-through focused on Asia where I'm collecting in the Bengal node. I have the highest trade income and I have the most "Trading in" bonuses.

Personally, I think the worst part about trade in the current version of the game is how it is seemingly impossible to make money from trade if you are downstream from the HRE horde and their numerous inland merchants making trade in Eastern Europe negligible for the countries with provinces in the eastern-European trade nodes.

 

[Agoria]

Portugal also colonizes far above their weight. They colonize like 4 CNs, have 4+ trade companies, and take over the moluccas. There really needs to be a push back on small countries that have such a significant overseas empire. Managing it has to become expensive. France still doesn't colonize nearly to the extent they did, and Portugal goes like 5x harder than history.

Cape/Gold Coast shouldn't be CoTs waiting to be colonized, and colonial conquest shouldn't apply to africans. Portugal grabs Cape 99% of the time, Benin 75% of the time, and Gold Coast maybe 25% of the time.

They actually did take over Moluccas and in some aspects it's inferior to the real Portugal, they generally reach India way later the IRL one, so to me the problem is not that they colonize more than the real Portugal, the problem is that AI does not focus on the same things. The fact that Portugal is too rich does not come from that facts but from their cheap NI's : trade efficiency, trade power, trade range, trade income, 1 more merchant... LOL

Besides some sort of AI focusing adjustment, Portugal's decline should have been modeled. An extreme way would be to do as Lithuania with Poland and Burgundy with Austria : making very likely the fact of falling under PU with Spain.
Another way is to create some modifiers when they are joined in India by other western nations. A negative modifier regarding trade. It would be more dynamic and fair.

 

[Moridin997]

They actually did take over Moluccas and in some aspects it's inferior to the real Portugal, they generally reach India way later the IRL one, so to me the problem is not that they colonize more than the real Portugal, the problem is that AI does not focus on the same things. The fact that Portugal is too rich does not come from that facts but from their cheap NI's : trade efficiency, trade power, trade range, trade income, 1 more merchant... LOL

Besides some sort of AI focusing adjustment, Portugal's decline should have been modeled. An extreme way would be to do as Lithuania with Poland and Burgundy with Austria : making very likely the fact of falling under PU with Spain.
Another way is to create some modifiers when they are joined in India by other western nations. A negative modifier regarding trade. It would be more dynamic and fair.

Make the AI more likely to use privateers and you'll see the Sevilla trade node getting a big chunk of trade value bit off by Pirates. Hence less money to the "camper" nations, so to speak...

Bonus: it's historical xD

 

[PiriReis]

Uggg, because France has swallowed a good part of England and Spain now, Portugal is getting richer and Holland has suddenly become rich.

And look at all the trade goods they control lol.

They have something like 10k trade power in Sevilla alone, and every single one of those little islands around the world that they colonized have fully built up trade buildings

Hansa is making money as well.

 

[Jack45]

Trade seems way too overpowered now. In my game it's not even 1500 and AI Hansa is making more money from trade than anybody but Castille and France is making total.

 

[murlocmancer]

Portugal was filthy rich until the Dutch jacked up all their income since Portugal was brought into all of Spain's wars which killed the nation.