Once in a while someone brings this topic to discussion again. Personally I believe that what is in discussion is this: is Portugal a niche nation in EU4 or historical? Because, as Early Modern Age historian I say that the current Portuguese national ideas and decisions are somehow biased and not historical.
Like I said in a previous post, Portugal was a trade power because of brute force and diplomacy, not because of any kind of commercial or financial institution that justifies trade superiority, especially when compared with the Italian states, Hansa cities ou Netherlands. Also, the Portuguese Bourgeoisie was small and not rich (at the beginning of the explorations), and some of the richest, the “New Christians”, or converted Jews, were persecuted by Inquisition and forced to pay many taxes to the realm. So, this many trade bonus, honestly, I don’t know where they came from…
About the Portuguese military capabilities, I have to say that the Portuguese force during the period of exploration and expansion was based, of course, on sea power. The Portuguese ships were probably the best in the world until 1550, being surpassed by the British and Dutch, but still maintaining great vessels. I believe any kind of bonus would be historical, but ship combat ability I believe are the most. But the idea of unique ship units for Portugal is great. The Portuguese caravel, “nau” and galleon are good candidates for a mix of trade power and combat ability
The land power is somehow different. Portugal did not have a big standing army, nor is famous about the military organization (though we used the tercio system and, during the personal union with Spain, many Spanish units used Portuguese soldiers together with the Spanish and some Portuguese commanders as well). The kind of warfare Portugal was very successful was amphibious operations and sieges, both attacking and defending. So when people say Portugal should have bonus like discipline, I disagree, it is not historical. Morale, land fire, or infantry combat ability I believe are more historical. But in my humble opinion, the best military bonus to Portugal should be a “+1pipe” in battles in Portuguese provinces. It represents the “home” factor that helped our country in many defensive wars.
I guess some bonus about diplomacy would be historical. Those who are not familiar with Portuguese history might think this is weird but the fact of Portugal being a medium/small country in Europe made Portugal somehow “expert” in diplomacy, not only in Europe, but in every continent, finding local allies to help with the shortage of Portuguese manpower, and turning the natives against each other.
I believe paradox wanted to make Portugal a unique nation, so its NI are “special”, no historical. In order to be historical they need to represent the characteristics the built the empire: diplomacy, commerce, faith and war.