jianzhou to qing is one of the most fun short games (ending around 1520 or so, playing qing is a bore) for "landlocked" games you can play, definitely try it if you haven't yet. Very different feel than regular playstyle, you basically continuous hemorrhage money but absolutely massacre your enemies. No idea if you are still able to style on Ming with the new combat system, but in 1.32 and before you could stackwipe 3x, 4x as large armies so long as you attacked them on flat ground with a good general.
Portugal starts with an explorer.
So you technically can use the expansion idea group (it gives two colonists instead of one).
Exploration is still needed to get more explorers and extra colonial range so you should still get that as a first one group. Just that it's technically not necessary.
Make sure you grab as many island in the Atlantic as you can to slow down other colonizers.
Yeah, the gimmick is to use the opening explorer, then make a light ship flagship with the portuguese +exploration range on it. Its still bugged years later, and lets you explore always further than you did before REGARDLESS of your actual colonial range. So you can discover Japan still in 15th century. The idea then is you use your missions to get new explorers when your first one dies; you get two additional ones from missions. Personally, I don't like it as a tactic, opening with an admin group slows you down a lot in opening up your second idea group ESPECIALLY since you are going to be spending tons of admin coring the provinces you backstabbed Castile for.
making the el cheapo light ship flagship is still a good idea, lets you discover america before you even unlock your first idea group and start racking up splendor points, also fulfills a quest to give you perma claims on lower andalucia, which you want to take in your first war with castile.
