A general strategy for Portugal

[claudiupb]

A caravel with one extra move as your only UU is terrible though. So no buffs for fighting at all. Worse UU out of all 43, I would say. Even worse that the Korean Turtle ship I think -- which is also terrible -- but at least has a high combat strength. I guess the extra move is good for the main role Caravels have, unfogging the map, but at the cost of never having an advantage in fight?

I think the UU is pretty decent, and it's certainly not the worst in the game, others come to mind like Slinger and the Naresuan elephant. The turtle ship is also a situational bad unit.

Caravels are not really supposed to be used in naval combat (this is why they have the withdraw before melee ability). They are more for exploration and the 1 extra movement for Nau is a good bonus. Plus they also have the cargo ability, which gives you gold AND xp. If you start with armory and get some XP towards that 3rd promotion they can make really good ironclads later on. I wouldn't say that they have no advantage in fight.

 

[megabearsfan]

I am almost certain that Feitorias do not provide the lux benefit if you are at war with the CS (or, much more likely, at war with an AI that has the CS allied). Can anyone verify one or the other?

It did at the time the article was written (at least, it seemed to according to my observations), and the in-game text implies that Feitorias are intended to provide a copy of the resource even while at war:

A Feitoria can only be built in a City-State's lands, on a coastal tile without a resource. It provides one copy of each Luxury Resource type that the City-State has connected, regardless of your status with that City-State, but that copy cannot be traded. It also provides the same +50% defense bonus as a Fort. Can only be built by the Portuguese.

- (http://www.dndjunkie.com/civilopedia/IMPROVEMENT_FEITORIA.aspx)

I just booted up a quick game with a Ren start, built Feitorias in all the CSs, then declared war on them. I kept access to all their luxuries, including the Mercantile's jewelry. So I verified that the Feitoria does continue to provide access to the luxuries even when at war with the CS. This is where (IMO) a lot of Portugal's strength comes from. As long as the Feitorias are not pillaged, they guarantee that you keep access to luxuries, even when the inevitable ideological world war breaks out.

 

[vanatteveldt]

Does the AI pillage your feitorias if they are at war with you, or do they have to be at war with the city state the feitoria is in? Specifically, does a city state pillage the feitoria on its own territory if you declare war?

 

[megabearsfan]

Does the AI pillage your feitorias if they are at war with you, or do they have to be at war with the city state the feitoria is in? Specifically, does a city state pillage the feitoria on its own territory if you declare war?

A.I. behavior is very difficult to test, so I'm honestly not sure. I don't specifically recall ever having the A.I. pillage one of my feitorias, but I think I have had one or two of them were removed by A.I. archeologists doing digs on that tile. So I would say that the risk of feitorias being pillaged by the A.I. is fairly low. Of course, your results may vary.

I'd like to hear other player's experiences with this.

 

[beetle]

I just booted up a quick game with a Ren start, built Feitorias in all the CSs, then declared war on them. I kept access to all their luxuries, including the Mercantile's jewelry. So I verified that the Feitoria does continue to provide access to the luxuries even when at war with the CS. This is where (IMO) a lot of Portugal's strength comes from. As long as the Feitorias are not pillaged, they guarantee that you keep access to luxuries, even when the inevitable ideological world war breaks out.

Thanks for verifying this! That is kind of crazy that one of the most significant perks of CS allied status (the luxes) is available to Portugal no matter what the relationship! I am going to be thinking how best to exploit that. Maybe constant bullying -- because money and who needs friend when you have their toys? Maybe DOW them all for XP training?

 

[megabearsfan]

Thanks for verifying this! That is kind of crazy that one of the most significant perks of CS allied status (the luxes) is available to Portugal no matter what the relationship! I am going to be thinking how best to exploit that. Maybe constant bullying -- because money and who needs friend when you have their toys? Maybe DOW them all for XP training?

Well, the feitoria only grants the luxuries. If you're not allied, you don't get any strategics, or the bonus culture, food, faith, units, or happiness. So there is still value in being friends or allied.