Portugal has been my favorite civ since original RFC decades ago. I might have played 50 games over each and every version. Therefore I think it's time I finally write a detailed guide.
Before addressing each goal let's take a look at the general situation:
I've most frequently played on Monarch/Epic; epic is more forgiving in fulfilling goals that require lots of long-distance movement. Success will depend somewhat on luck, but most critical is striking an optimal balance between expansion and economy/research. Portugal's largest will expense will be city distance maintenance. It's unavoidable since you need settlements in Africa and Asia, and of course settling or conquering these lands can't be put for too long. Luckily after having played so many games I think I've finally nailed the timing.
The Spanish Question: From Day 1, maintaining Friendly relations with your yellow neighbor underpins your entire existence.
General Advantages:
1.UP negates the urgency to research Optics. This isn't a mere convenience; it allows the player to both gain commerce from international trade immediately on opening borders with far-off civs as well as trade techs to fill in gaps.
2.The UU gives the player a huge head-start in claiming critical land before other Europeans.
3.UP allows the player to pretty much forget about expansion stability.
4.As long as you remain on good terms with Spain you're free from any possibility of invasion.
5. Two UHV goals compliment each other.
General Disadvantages:
1. If you piss off Spain the game is over.
2. You need to build a world-spanning empire from a single city, requiring a disciplined production schedule. Everything you build needs to have a purpose.
1.16 Changes:
1. City maintenance is slightly more forgiving.
2. 2nd UU The Banderainte. I still haven't fully taken advantage but I know its got potential.
3. Settlers can now be used on existing cities to grant every building that would be included with a new settlement. This is pretty big.
4. The Asia area for UHV 3 now includes all of Indonesia.
The Goals:
UHV 1. You have until 1550 but it's important to get this out of the way ASAP due to civs rising and falling unpredictably as well as the Reformation.
UHV 2. 12 TC Resources by 1650. The real challenge. Spices, Sugar, Bananas, Tea, and Tobacco. Bear in mind that slaves can be used in Africa and the New World to instantly hook-up every one of these except Spices (which requires workers to build an orchard or fort). Roughly 8 out of 12 are a sure thing on every game. Two spices in Brazil by the mouth of the Amazon. Two Bananas in North Brazil which appear in 1600. Bananas and Coffee in the Kongo. Sugar next to Quelimane. Tobacco in southern Brazil near Sao Paolo/Portgo Alegre. All of these are in Portugal's Historical Area and also count toward UHV three. I'll list additional options based on circumstances, first with cities that also count toward UHV Three: Sugar near Mogadishu, Sugar in Guyana (can be reached from the northernmost city in Brazil (make sure you check the UHV overlay), Spices on the island of Ceylon (can only founded via peaceful Trading Company Event), Sugar NW of Malacca, Spices and Banana on the island of Java, Banana on Borneo that can be reached from a city on Java. Be advised that this area (as well as Ceylon) lies within the Netherlands' TC area. You run the risk of losing without enough time to make-up. There are 3 more spices, a banana, and sugar at the far end of Indonesia but I don't think they're worth the effort.
UHV 3: Settle 15 cities in Brazil, Africa, and Asia. Too easy so I make an extra challenge by settling cities that are worthwhile instead of just spamming and plopping settlers wherever they fit.
Opening Moves for Nearly Every Game:
Switch from Merchant Trade to Regulated Trade. (It's both the right move and historical. All of Portugal's foreign trade was conducted as a crown monopoly. Hopefully in future versions this will be the starting civic). The initial roll isn't crucial. Some starts are just easier than others. You might get a few extra units, a few civs might hang on for tech trading and open borders. Research order: Paper, Cartography (trade for Compass, preferably with a non-colonial civ), Finance, Cartography, Exploration, Logistics, Optics, Geography. The most crucial techs are Cartography and Exploration, and really Exploration is the last tech you need you win. Try to fill in the other prerequisites through trade.
As of 1.16 it's now once again worth settling Ponta Delgada in the Azores at the game start.
I've tried various configurations for Lisbon but have settled on farms for all non-resource tiles. In 1600 you'll get Corn on tile N of the city. Aim for total growth until every tile (except Ocean tiles) are being worked, then run a single engineer. The reason for the early growth is that at some point Lisbon is going to be producing almost nothing but settlers. The reason for the single engineer is that you absolutely have to pop a GE for the Trading Company. Lisbon simply as to many other things to build to be tied for 20 or so turns building the TC. After you've popped the GE, run an engineer or two merchants. Not crucial at this point. Build aqueduct, bath, wharf (when you get Compass), post office, barracks at some point. Once you've got Cartography, upgrade your starting ships to Carracks, train two bandeirantes, and afterwords build a few more Carracks.
You're stuck in your little corner of Europe for a little while because Spain won't Open Borders right away. It's a matter of luck when and if you'll be reached by the others. The best possible outcome of course is to make contact with everyone in European (best of all Byzantium) on spawn, but it's also not crucial. Somewhere around 1200 Spain gets a scripted war with Cordoba. Declare war on Cordoba and Spain will Open Borders. A few turns later so will France. If Italy exists they'll also OB after a few more turns. Send a cavalry unit east to make more contact.
We can now start focusing on UHV 1:
By about 1250 you're guaranteed OB with England, Spain, France, Germany, Vikings, Poland, Russia (gift Ethics). Half way there. Byzantium is almost never around by the time you get all 14, so when the Ottomans spawn, declare war on Byzantium to get OB with Ottomans. Vikings are also prone to collapse but sometimes they make it. If you can make contact with the Mongols early (usually via Russia) you'll have a tech to gift them for OB. They'll probably collapse before you meet the goal, but you need OB to reach the Asian civs via land, and you'll be able to leave the same unit there in order to maintain contact throughout the game. If China and/or Korea are vassals to Mongolia you'll meet them immediately. If not continue on via the silk road.
You should have Cartography around 1300. You should have been able to get Gunpowder by trade. Load a Bandeirante onto 2 carracks. One ship goes west to drop the Bandeirante off in south america, the other east drop off in Africa, both for goodie huts and to bolster your maps to sell later. Get Conquerors on Aztecs and try to vassalize if you can do so without losing too many units (especially the precious Bombard). After that's accomplished start ferrying your free units back to Ponta Delgada so you're not eating the supply costs (save the missionary!). You'll be eating the supply costs for a while but it's worth it. Make contact with the Inca as far south as possible. I don't even bother with them. I just want the free units (especially bombards!). Start marching these units toward the east coast to be picked up. Ferry these units to the gold tile in south africa (you'll be founding a city here.) Depending on luck the Inca will survive for a while and relations will eventually normalize giving you OB and slaves. The ship that went east should continue to India. OB with Mughals and Tamils. Continue to Far East. Indonesia will require a tech gift for OB but hold off unless you need them. You can get OB with Thailand by declaring war on Khmer. I've never been able to crack Japan so don't waste any gifts. Use this ship to circumnavigate and to the help ferry your free units from South America. After you've circumnavigated start selling maps. You should be able to bank a few hundred bucks.
If all went well UHV 1 should be in the bag. Last game I got it around 1350.
UHV 2 (Phase 1):
With Cartography you can start settling the world. The catch is that you can't without wrecking your economy. And until Exploration you don't get any bonus population or buildings for new cities. You can, however, start dropping off settlers, works, units, etc. Where you intend to settle. Start with a settler in Northern Brazil one tile NW of Spices. There's 2 TC Resources (plus a whale). Second settler one tile N of other Spice. A Banana will spawn in 1600. We're up to 4. Third settle to south Africa Gold tile (Coimbra but I rename Sofala for RP reasons). It's just barely outside you're historical area, but this spot grabs the Sugar and you'll need the stupendous production you'll get once it's improved.
Once you've got Exploration (around 1400) you can settle these spots and Funchal on Medeira for Sugar (unfortunately but accurately doesn't count as Africa anymore). Use a missionary on Sofala. The Trading Company is also available to build, but resist the temptation.
Options: There's a Tobacco in Cuba and a Spice in the Caribbean. They're in a foreign area and don't count toward UHV 3, but they can be decent cities (especially with Feitorias) and aren't killers on maintenance.
Phase 2: Two Broad options are available:
1. Begin major expansion now, ruin economy and research. You can still meet the UHVs, but without the profound economic boosts from Logistics (for Feitorias) and Geography (for trade routes and Colonialsm), you run the risk of severe Recession instability and you miss out on your UU's slave capture ability.
2. This is a more delicate balancing act requiring more risky timing but the reward is that you'll have an economy that will not just sustain but actually benefit from expansion. This is the way I go.
General Strategy: We're going to aim to have at least 600 gold in the bank (map and tech sales), have researched Logistics and then Optics (or be well underway), and have traded for Firearms.
But first, we can use a portion of the free units to conquer Mbaza Congo (scout and use what you think is necessary), the other portion to start sweeping up the East African coast. Mombasa and Mogadishu will either be native or Ethiopian. Shouldn't make a difference. Once you've got The Congo and Quelimane, and you've either researched Optics or are close, its time to use your GE to build the Trading Company and take the pay gold option. The best possible outcome is the peaceful handover of Colombo (which is actually spawned for you), Guangzhou, and Malacca. The worst possible outcome is for a powerful China to refuse, declare war, and destroy pitiful stack before it can make a move, and for Muscat to be one the cities you roll. In my last game both China and Indonesia declared war but I was still able to conquer easily and not face any further trouble. That also gave me extra units without sacrificing population and happiness. Your maintenance costs are gonna increase significantly, so try to keep acquiring gold through trade so you can run a big deficit to get Geography ASAP. Between the extra trade routes, feitorias, and Colonialism turning Lisboa into a commercial powerhouse you'll be in possession of an empire to be proud of.
Time for a TC Resource Count:
3 from Brazil
2 from Congo.
2 from Quelimane and Mogadishu.
1 (possibly two depending on culture) from Canton
1 from Malacca.
1 from Colombo.
10 in the bag. Remember 2 Bananas will spawn in Brazil in 1600. Make sure you have workers or slaves ready to hook them up. That makes 12. UHV 2 and a Golden Age with a century to spare.
Possible Contingencies:
France could settle in southern Brazil if you put off founding Rio for too long. Sometimes France gets vassalized by Spain, making them untouchable. Regardless of Indonesia's tech rate, as soon as they collapse the Indy units will be upgraded to Arquebusiers, possibly leaving 4 of each in the two cities on Java. And of course if you conquer these cities they could be taken by the Dutch.
All the while Lisboa and Sofala will have been producing a mixture of settlers (remember they can be used on conquered cities!), missionaries, workers, carracks if necessary. Lisboa likely will have popped two more GPs. If engineer go for Torre. Scientist bulb techs and use for trade (not set on that as opposed to academy). In my last I game I burned a merchant on bulbing a portion of Economics but realized a trade mission might have been more worthwhile. But of course another Merchant after Economics can build a Stock Exchange. Statesman go for Admin Center somewhere in the east. Feitorias everywhere. Maybe some jails in the far east.
If you want to win UHV 3 the easy way that's your business. I think it's more satisfying to recreate the historical empire. 6 cities in Brazil, 5 in Africa (plus the Cape if somehow Britain doesn't claim it), 5 or so in Asia. You can both win with dignity and be the score leader. Santiago!
