Overall grade: C+
The thing that I have gleaned from my casual perusal of Portugal’s history is that Brazil, Spain, and Portugal all being separate civs is extremely unhelpful. In culture, historical entanglements, and warfare these three are virtually inseparable, and nowhere is that more clear than with Portugal. This nation has been militarily and politically irrelevant since 1755. Outside of the creation of the Carrack/Nau, and the reconquest of Portugal from the Moors by the Crusaders – a subject thoroughly covered by the existing religious mechanics – Portugal’s military may as well have not existed. The paucity of things about Portugal worth depicting puts us in a bad spot for making extra components for them, but we did the best we could.
Cacador
Theme - C. A light infantry trained by the English from Portuguese recruits to try to slow Napoleon down a bit. It didn’t work, and as far as candidates for unique light infantry go, the Cacadores score far below the Scottish Highlanders, Rangers, Zouaves, Jaegers, Grenzers, and Chasseurs, all of which are highly decorated a memorable infantry divisions that were met with far more success.
Mechanics - C. A random recon stem promotion is also given to the unit on level up. This means that newly-trained cacadores are usually much better than upgraded veterans, because they will get 2-3 free scout promotions in addition to their ranged promos. This mechanic is unintuitive in how it punishes highly-promoted old units and rewards training new recruits. It is also extremely, brutally strong if you manage to get the right mix of free promotions, which is outside of player control.
Uniqueness - B. Well it certainly doesn’t lack for uniqueness, that is for sure. No other unique Gatling Guns, and nothing that gives free promotions like the Fighting Cock mechanic.
University of Coimbra
Theme - C. This is just the oldest university, and for more than a century the oldest university in Portugal. It is neither the oldest, the largest, nor the most prestigious university in Europe, but is at least very influential within Portugal.
Mechanics - A. The UNW gives gold on tile reveal to all naval units 1 tech before the Nau opens up deep ocean exploration. The Age of Discovery ability doubles down on Portugal’s naval exploration and trade theme. The Admiral movement restoration bonus is like a naval version of Sweden’s massive military bonus on GG birth, but unlike sweden, Portugal’s GAdmiral bonus triggers on expend. If this is not suitable for the AI it could be moved to be on birth like the Swedish one, but for now I like the control this gave Portugal on this relatively more niche ability.
Uniqueness – B. It is a UNW that gives some standard UNW bonuses, but also has some very interesting tricks up its sleeve. Overall I am very happy with what UoCoimbra brings to the table.
