Portuguese Civ

[Tranquility]

Ision has a point. Portugal is in my opinon great, on a condition, you aren't playing a pangea(archipelago are the besat for them). I actually think the carrack is a cool unit, pretty pwerful for a nice amount of time(not as much as the dromon though). I like to play portugal when i'm in archipelgo. All civs with seafearing(maybe there are 2 exceptions, but still) have a wasted trait, cause building ships in the long run in these games won't help a whole lot. If you take an archiplego, and have a good boat unit(england, byzan, porto) controlling the seas can have an advantage.

But hey, it's my opinion. Your all welcome to disagree.

 

[Tranquility]

Opps, forgot to mention all civs with seafearing in pangea have a wasted trait.

Sorry

 

[KaNick]

I don't think they're one of the best, or even great. Their traits aren't exactly good complements. The carrack isn't very useful in my opinion. So I don't think it is one of the best out of 31 civs.

There are 32, the last one just takes a little work to get in the epic game.

 

[rcoutme]

I am currently playing them in the Seafaring pbem. I will let you know how I really feel (chose regular so far) after the pbem game has gotten a lot further.

 

[Pfeffersack]

@ expansionist

My first thought it was it would be useless on higher levels...but this is isn't true from my experience.It depends mainly on the land structure...on pangäa you can get a lot of advantage of it,even on higher difficulty-the AI is not really good a scouting and never builds additional scouts.This is your chance...every tech you get from it means a tech not to buy or for trade.It will reduce the techlead of the AI.

Portugal is especially useful at completly random maps (flexibility) and on continents.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

@Pfeffersack:
EXP is really a good trait up to Demigod. But I never got anything worth mentioning from a hut in Deity (maybe Pottery or CB, but no expensive tech), always maps, skilled Warriors and 25gp...I consider it great luck getting50gp...
Ision argues mainly with the early contacts/ knowledge of the map, but IMHO SEA even on Pangea is far better for that, and you need to scout around anyway to avoid yokels.
And that is another real drawback of EXP on Deity - technically you're better of without Barbs, especially since the AI tends to pop Yokels next to your Workers and cities

That said, to me Portugal is mediocre. I think Greece is by far better....
No, honestly: I love SEA. It's my favorite trait for the unmodded game. Having a boat UU fits well, but nobody will argue the other 2 boats are better. But starting at the coast wastes about 50% of the benefits from the EXP trait.
And I think, out of all SEA combos, only MIL and REL work worse than SEA/EXP; but MIL works great with the Viking UU, and Spain is one of the worst Civs to play anyway, unless you aim for 20k culture, best Civ for that (Why? Byz would be great, if only the MoM or Colossus/ Glib wouldn't trigger a premature GA).

 

[The Last Conformist]

@Doc Tsiolkovksy: Why are you leaving the English out of the comparison? They're Sea, and the Man'O'War clearly outshines the Carrack.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

@TLC: What do you mean? English are a great Civ.

Having a boat UU fits well, but nobody will argue the other 2 boats are better

Obviously, I'm talking about the MoW and Dromon her

 

[The Last Conformist]

Ah, sorry, misread your post.

I still wonder why you think the Carrack is better than the MOW.

 

[Raio]

HI.

I am also a Portuguese player (also live in OPorto city) and I must confess when I knew the portuguese civ came with C3C I was very excited to play with these civ.

Just to say the portuguese civ was a disapointment to me while the game offer much more powerfull / easy to play civs.

I mean for me Agriculture / Comercial / Religeous are the best tarits to play.

RR

 

[socralynnek]

so, often the Portuguese are the most challenging civ to play...

 

[Longasc]

Without expansionist you trigger quite a lot of barbarians and crap on higher difficulties - I would say Expansionist is especially good on higher difficulty levels.

 

[Vietcong]

ther traits are good
goody huts are alwlas good u get 2-4 freet techs, lots of gold, free citys ect
sefearings good cus u start at cost, alows good groth and a strong fast navie, in other words u explor alot more like this

ther uu is good, u can colinize palces befor others

 

[CivCube]

It all depends on how you play it. None of the civs are really that bad.

 

[dze27]

The debate about the traits is one thing, it's largely a matter of playing style. I do like Expansionist, Seafaring not as much though.

What I don't get are the reasons for the UU being any good. You don't get naval superiority over the contemporaries (2.2.4) vs (1.2.4) (Caravel/Galleon) since a Carrack can't defeat a Caravel/Galleon even half of the time (due to automatic 10% defensive bonus). The upgrade path is irritating since you have to lose an attack point to get the extra unit of carrying capacity, so you probably don't bother upgrading until Transports. The Carrack doesn't have bombard abilities like the Dromon or Man-o'-War. It's not cheaper than a Caravel. It doesn't have extra capacity. I guess if you really like a late GA there is an advantage there, or if your strategy involves trying to take down Frigates or Men-o'-War with Carracks you might gain a small advantage. I just don't see it being very useful overall.

Give me just about any other UU over this one...

Maybe I'm biased, the last game I lost was as Portugal but for me this is definitely one of the weaker civs.

 

[Global Nexus]

I think they should change the Carracks to have 3 defense points AND the ability to cross oceans without Navigation. That would make them better in the game, in my honest opinion, though if you get to Astronomy first, you can basically own all Galleys. But I don't consider Portugal to be a bad civ, really, especially after their Carracks destroyed my navy once. o_o;;

 

[Aggie]

I like the Portuguese, because they are unique. We have a lot of civs with comparable traits and comparable UU's. Portugal is the only one with the combi expansionist/seafaring, making it a great civ on the bigger continents maps (huge and bigger). You have more chances on something good from huts and you can really use the seafaring trait. The Carrack makes it even better. It allows you to cross the ocean FAR before others can do that.

Portugal is THE civ for people who like to advance with contact monopolies and trading. In fact: it's probably one of the best civs to play on a big earth map

microbe already posted a link to a game where the Portuguese are just perfect.

That said: I wouldn't like to be Portugal on standard sized pangaea or archipelago maps. You will then waste either the seafaring trait or the expansionist one. Making the civ rather weak.

 

[raen]

I already said it sometimes, for me is a great civ, Portuguese(in game, and were in real life) are the master explorers, in sea and land, the perfect combination (seafaring/expansionist)

The UU(NAU!!!) can be useful sometimes or not. But its a beautiful ship. The sound of it annoys me tough

And because I have waited for Portugal for more than 10 years, and is a great civ, and above all I am Portuguese, I always play with Portugal

 

[Portuguese]

And because I have waited for Portugal for more than 10 years, and is a great civ, and above all I am Portuguese, I always play with Portugal

Me too
And I don't feel it's that hard, as if I were playing one of the weakest civ's.
People here tend to overvalue building-traits and undervalue Expansionist.

 

[yu173023]

For all Portuguese players (esp. those contributing to this thread), I'll admit I'm a bit envious that you get to have a civ of your own in the game. I'm Canadian (mostly Eng. background) and, as you might suspect, I have trouble really relating to any one particular civ in Conquests. I mean, I could pick from English, French, Celts, and so on...
I've had trouble choosing a favorite civ as a result. I wish I had one civ that is purely unique to my culture/homeland that I could just play by default and take some national pride in. Anyway, on with my point:
I think CivCube basically summed it up...all civs can be played well---mainly depending on your playing style. I think it's great if you enjoy using the Portuguese, especially if you can take some personal pride in it (I know, I know, ...just a game...).
I especially love the way a civ like the Portuguese can dominate the seas in most games...even on Pangea their attributes can be quite useful...Just transport over an invasion force to your enemies...maybe not the most efficient strategy, but it may pay off as you might surprise (shock) them where they least expect it. Enough said. Happy gaming to all you Portuguese fans.