Mizzenmast
Chieftain
This post is just to quickly share some screenshots and insights from a game I played as Portugal a few months back, in response to my own defense of them as a resilient and flexible civ on Deity in this thread.
The game lacked some optimization, but it was great fun and produced a strong narrative, with Maria clawing her way from mediocrity to global dominance through the late-game subjugation of her powerful grandson Pedro. Portuguese Uniques were integral to the success of this mission. The screenshots are all from turns I happened to have saves from (I reloaded frequently to practice war). Later, I plan to upload my results from another challenging Portugal start provided by @Tiberiu in the linked thread.
The early game was smooth but very average. There was not much space to expand, especially because I did not want to forward settle Assyria. My other neighbors were Netherlands and Carthage. I ended up taking 4 or 5 policies in Liberty before switching to (and eventually completing) Tradition, already planning for my late-game to be Tall in my homelands and Wide through conquest. I only ended up settling 3 initial cities before getting caught up in building Nat'l Wonders. I tried to play very conservatively/defensively, bothering to get Walls in my flatland city to shore up my weakest link, and using all my TR's for diplomacy (encouraged by the Portuguese UA). But it made little difference, as Assyria and Carthage were about to jointly war me when I paid Assyria to attack Carthage. Overall, it was a smooth but humble beginning, and my Demos were unremarkable for the mid-game. I emphasized Culture throughout to get lots of Policies (emphasizing happiness) and give my Ideology some defense when it was time to pick. Ignored all World Wonders, but zipped through all the National Wonders, including Heroic Epic in the cap.
Eventually I did settle a 4th Tradition city near the Dutch. In the next 100 turns, I scouted the world, raised a ton of Nau gold, got my Feitorias, and discovered Brazil across the ocean, a massive runaway with the largest empire, best science, and nearly every Culture wonder. He could not be a more perfect target: not only could he end the game through Culture quickly, but I stood to become the strongest civ by warring him alone. I picked +2 Autocracy for my Ideology (through 3 purchased Factories), and at some point took the last policy in Liberty, and I actually took a Great Admiral to prepare for my big push. Got my only Wonder, Brandenburg Gate, to get more Frigates with Range. I started things off with a blitz of the Dutch frontier around t220, quickly taking a couple cities with Artillery, then making peace and coalescing all of my forces into a tidy amphibious formation to assault Brazil:
I was a bit scared to be going for massive war with mostly wooden ships and only Riflemen this late in the game, but was actually very manageable because I had large numbers and Clausewitz Legacy around t240. Brazil had a lot of Submarines, so I was radaring everywhere, and either avoiding them, or swarming and sinking isolated ones. Having many Naus was powerful for this purpose because of their flanking, and I had promoted all of my ships with Targeting for maximum sea power. In the above you can see I have started to upgrade some Nau to Ironclads, and these allowed to take down 95-defense Manaus at an earlier turn (my Frigates were very slow to bring it down on their own). After Manaus, I got a beachhead on the main continent, landed all my forces, and held position against Pracinhas with the help of one Citadel. I eventually took Rio with Artillery, upgraded to Battleships and Infantry, and swept through two more cities. At t275, I had about doubled my population to 200, was loaded with Wonders, and had taken out the biggest victory contender. (Next but less serious contender was Arabia, who was accessible just beyond Brazil.) At this point I had depleted my happiness, felt dominant, but also pulled in all 4 different VCs, so I stepped away from the game for a bit... and didn't return. Screenshots show the state of Brazil's fractured empire, with Fortaleza next on the kill-list; the peace deal he was offering by now; and my demos.
Overall, I really enjoyed the arc of this game, with a slow start, and having to slam into the leader in order to avoid loss and achieve a winning position. Portugal's uniques were all appreciated under challenging initial conditions: International TRs were helpful for surviving my neighbors (I did eventually befriend all 3 of them during the midgame), Feitorias expanded & secured some happiness and, indirectly, timing gold, and Naus/Ironclads were a vital component of my navy, with more timing gold. Being able to buy Factories asap and having plenty of gold for upgrades was necessary for making the war go smoothly.
The game lacked some optimization, but it was great fun and produced a strong narrative, with Maria clawing her way from mediocrity to global dominance through the late-game subjugation of her powerful grandson Pedro. Portuguese Uniques were integral to the success of this mission. The screenshots are all from turns I happened to have saves from (I reloaded frequently to practice war). Later, I plan to upload my results from another challenging Portugal start provided by @Tiberiu in the linked thread.
The early game was smooth but very average. There was not much space to expand, especially because I did not want to forward settle Assyria. My other neighbors were Netherlands and Carthage. I ended up taking 4 or 5 policies in Liberty before switching to (and eventually completing) Tradition, already planning for my late-game to be Tall in my homelands and Wide through conquest. I only ended up settling 3 initial cities before getting caught up in building Nat'l Wonders. I tried to play very conservatively/defensively, bothering to get Walls in my flatland city to shore up my weakest link, and using all my TR's for diplomacy (encouraged by the Portuguese UA). But it made little difference, as Assyria and Carthage were about to jointly war me when I paid Assyria to attack Carthage. Overall, it was a smooth but humble beginning, and my Demos were unremarkable for the mid-game. I emphasized Culture throughout to get lots of Policies (emphasizing happiness) and give my Ideology some defense when it was time to pick. Ignored all World Wonders, but zipped through all the National Wonders, including Heroic Epic in the cap.
Eventually I did settle a 4th Tradition city near the Dutch. In the next 100 turns, I scouted the world, raised a ton of Nau gold, got my Feitorias, and discovered Brazil across the ocean, a massive runaway with the largest empire, best science, and nearly every Culture wonder. He could not be a more perfect target: not only could he end the game through Culture quickly, but I stood to become the strongest civ by warring him alone. I picked +2 Autocracy for my Ideology (through 3 purchased Factories), and at some point took the last policy in Liberty, and I actually took a Great Admiral to prepare for my big push. Got my only Wonder, Brandenburg Gate, to get more Frigates with Range. I started things off with a blitz of the Dutch frontier around t220, quickly taking a couple cities with Artillery, then making peace and coalescing all of my forces into a tidy amphibious formation to assault Brazil:
I was a bit scared to be going for massive war with mostly wooden ships and only Riflemen this late in the game, but was actually very manageable because I had large numbers and Clausewitz Legacy around t240. Brazil had a lot of Submarines, so I was radaring everywhere, and either avoiding them, or swarming and sinking isolated ones. Having many Naus was powerful for this purpose because of their flanking, and I had promoted all of my ships with Targeting for maximum sea power. In the above you can see I have started to upgrade some Nau to Ironclads, and these allowed to take down 95-defense Manaus at an earlier turn (my Frigates were very slow to bring it down on their own). After Manaus, I got a beachhead on the main continent, landed all my forces, and held position against Pracinhas with the help of one Citadel. I eventually took Rio with Artillery, upgraded to Battleships and Infantry, and swept through two more cities. At t275, I had about doubled my population to 200, was loaded with Wonders, and had taken out the biggest victory contender. (Next but less serious contender was Arabia, who was accessible just beyond Brazil.) At this point I had depleted my happiness, felt dominant, but also pulled in all 4 different VCs, so I stepped away from the game for a bit... and didn't return. Screenshots show the state of Brazil's fractured empire, with Fortaleza next on the kill-list; the peace deal he was offering by now; and my demos.
Overall, I really enjoyed the arc of this game, with a slow start, and having to slam into the leader in order to avoid loss and achieve a winning position. Portugal's uniques were all appreciated under challenging initial conditions: International TRs were helpful for surviving my neighbors (I did eventually befriend all 3 of them during the midgame), Feitorias expanded & secured some happiness and, indirectly, timing gold, and Naus/Ironclads were a vital component of my navy, with more timing gold. Being able to buy Factories asap and having plenty of gold for upgrades was necessary for making the war go smoothly.
