posted 01-16-09 06:39 PM EDT (US)
This is the updated version of my guide - for vanilla use only. I did mean to add recordings but I forgot before I came to uni, now I don't have them.
You play Portugal the exact same way as you do in the latter guide mostly, as LI don't even have a multiplier verse goons at all unlike in TAD. The emphasis on Portugal is goons. I've also found that despite cassadores being worse in vanilla that in small numbers due to their high damage they are decent verse jannisaries, so it is useful to keep some in your deck (but rarely make them). I make musks a lot more too, as meatshield for the goons. Full goons does not beat rods + spanish mix.
Never ever stay Colonial, always semi ff or in rare cases where that will not be beneficial, ff.
One thing I have found incredibly effective is on Land Maps,always send 300 wood first. Instead of ATP this will give you 250 wood for a trade post, and if you get lucky on wood treasures (wood treasures are a lot more common and a lot better than on TAD) chances are you can afford a market with 50 wood already there for hunting dogs.
Even if there are no trade posts, unless you feel you absolutely have to send CM (I can play without it, but keeping it in my deck has psychological advantages, my opponent is wary) send 300 wood. Market (you should always build this to maximise the ports eco advantage), extra house + 100 free wood. It is better than 300 coin as you need all the wood you can get, and by not gathering it as much you are freeing vills to gather food and coin.
Another thing I have found effective is, depending on how quickly you are going to be attacked is to send 700 wood. This is something you must rely on for yourself, scouting and experience verse the civ counts a lot - eg playing Spain? Expect a Spanish FF quickly by 8 min, and always send 5 goons as your third card, and not 700 wood.
The reason I say send 700 wood is because you can get an arsenal for 250 wood then get the Cavalry Cacerole upgrade, which makes your great unit that is already better than it is in TADeven better,and also giving you a helpful 150 wood left over. Depending on how good a player you are, chances are not many will be skilled enough to pull this off but I will say it anyway, you can gather 50 wood and make two stables to compensate foryour early lack of 5 goons. It will mean a slight decrease in vill production but survival of the Spanish FF is crucial. After his shipments are gone you have the upper hand provided you turtled well and didn't sustain too much damage.
Having said all that, it's nigh on impossible to beat a PR40+ Spain player with ports. Ottos are similar on certain maps, silk road means ottomans have a better economyall game as well a having better military which is meant to compensate for a weak eco.
On water maps, take map control. If you place your second TC at the top or bottom of the map your opponent can just outpost the coast and seal you off - effectively losing the game unless you play extremely well.
On vanilla the rush is very popular so a good idea is to take 2 caravels as second card, put the drop point right next to your second tc and use the to aid against the rush. Always handy to keep 150f+150c to use from your first TC if you really have to, never ever lose your second TC without a fight; it's really important.
Don't be afraid to use MM on settlers you see that are going to make a fb near your base. Let your explorer attack them so they think it's just your explorer, then let the MM attack them. Your opponent won't know any different as he wil think it's jusT your explorer attacKing them!
Also get native treasures if you see one, use them to attack vills, eventually he will have to move his vills and get annoyed with this minor pest. However concentrating on small things is distractinghim from the bigger stuff.
I know otto silk road verse ports is often delayed for a better eco as they always assume ports will FF (rightly). I have toyed with the idea of a really fast xbow rush to take the initiative with 700 and 600 coin for hussars. It will delay your economy but if you can set the otto back more than he sets you back you will win! If he has no tps then he has lost his OP advantage. This worked a few times but it was verse Captains - it is still untested.
Don't hesitate to go to Age IV first either. If you can successfully defend yourself and get a Factory or two, you can have Heavy Cannons. He now has two options:
- Age up himself which will give you time, making your move worthwhile
- Make culverins and quickly attack. Remember with your goons you can just wander in and one shot kill thesethings without sustaining many losses. Also remember that he wastes 100wood 400 coin on one culverin whilst you get your Heavy Cannons for free! And that even if you don't have any Heavy Cannons, he has just made a costly unit for nothing!
- Attack with everything he has got. If he is a decent player he will know that Portugal are stronger the later the game goes on, and this is what you should expect if he is a good player. Whether you win or lose this battle will most likely determine the game. Remember 10 villsin a TC, MM, and try to force the fight near your TCs.
I will add more as I think of them later, sorry about lack of recordings.
ESO name: micky_tee
PR: 38
ELO: ~2200
Putting my stats there so hopefully you will actually read this for the reasons I am writing it.
One thing, this Guide will sound condescending, maybe even arrogant, because I am assuming that I am better than you all and I am going to try and teach you how to play the most difficult civ in the game.
First of all, I am not going to write down BO after BO, because contrary to what you might believe, following BO's down to a (micky) tee will not win you the game. If you can't accept this fact, don't bother reading on.
My reasons for writing this are simple, I used to be like many of you, well, nooby, I admit it, however I've recently broken into the top 100 players in the world and would like to give something back to the community where I was a noob and learned from players better than me.
If you are still reading this, then I will write down a few things about Portugal, the idea is to turtle until you have the economy to outspam your opponent, or on land maps, until you reach the third age where you can make use of great dragoons and maximise the 3 TC benefit to the max.
I will be providing recorded games of me, as well as BO's.
There are only three BO's that I use in the whole game, however each split off into freestyle at a certain point.
My first, and most common, is the 5 huss semi ff. The reason I do this is because if you FF and someone makes 5 huss and goes FF, they basically make a mess of your FF time. I do this most times verse Euro civs. The reason I don't do musks is because once I age up I immediately havea stable to exploit goons, which we will cover later.
5 Huss Semi FF BO
13/14 vill age up, 400 wood
300w/ATP-300 wood if you started with 100 wood, ATP and chop 50 wood if aged with 200.
5 on coin, remember, huss cost 80 coin and you need 5, so that is 400 coin + 300 to age with 700 coin shipment.
rest on food
700 Food shipment
700 Coin shipment
Variation - 10 huss semi
600 Food after the coin go fast age to save 1:20
Remember most Euro civs will make huss, if you outmicro him and have more huss, you can harass more, plus fast age up if he makes more
If you don't do 10 huss semi...
Age with 6 cass if you think you can, otherwise fast and get the TC up and start pumping goons.
Cards to send in age 3
5/4 goons, 8 cass, 2 OG (once you got goons) 1000 coin/5 mams, goon combat, in no particular order, always have these in your deck
Raid with goons and keep 2 OG alive whilsty booming from 3 TC. If you aged with 6 cass ship 8 for 14 cass maybe.
From this point on it all depends on what you have to do, I can't tell you what to do since every game you must make your own decisions. That's why the civ is so fun/hard.
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=117926&st=0&p=1305279&#entry1305279
Example in a Portuguese mirror.
15 Musk Semi FF
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=118511&st=0&p=1312703&#entry1312703
15 Musk variation, not going to cover that, because it was freestyle, but worked well verse SIoux. Got 4 vills from him whilst keeping my own for an economic advantage.
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=118510&st=0&p=1312700&#entry1312700
Here is a pure FF verse french double xbow.
The only other strats I do are ones on water, where I hardly ever go FF.
There is a game verse Damnit in which I do a schooner semi ff verse Spain. Here it is, I will explain the BO.
Schooner Semi FF & Pike semi FF verse Japan BOs
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=117998&st=0&p=1305992&#entry1305992
13/14 age up, 400 wood age up
Schooners
Gather 300 coin,
Rest on food
Gather 400 and make a dock,ship 700 wood, second dock + more boats
700 Coin
Decide on which age up benefits you most.
The same build order can be used verse Japan, changing schooner boats to pikes and using 300 wood/ATP as first card.
Go 700 wood if you think he won't rush you and attack his shrines with pikes, if you think he will go 700 coin and age and make pike with xbow if needed, but better pikes and attack shrines. Use 6 age up cass, make cass, ship 10 pike + 8 cass and push into his base. Keep pikes alive for as long as possible then ship goons + make goons and use 1000 coin for Organs after 2 OG card.
The game is here. Read the comments for what I did wrong.
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=118726&st=0&p=1315195&#entry1315195
The only other water strategy I do is the basic water boom:
Standard Water Boom BO
13/14 age up, 400 wood
Schooners
Wood heavy on age up, if you think they are FF'ing go for schooners semi ff
Verse most rushes make one deck and one barracks and make 5 xbow a time with enough pike, and make 2 vills a time and constant boats.
2 Caras, 700 Wood, 8 xbow - one of these has to be your second card, if they age early and you make TC by water they could use 2 caras card to kill it, so to defend it use caras of your own. Plus on asian maps you can gather treasures! 700 Wood to help with your boom unless 8 xbow is urgent, if not then 8 xbow next card.
Keep up what you are doing already,
Age up when you can safely with 700 coin, make use of walls if not Outposts.
Go stable on age up and try to make Goons with arsenal upgrade and card. TC fire + MM should deal with inf, along with 2 OG, cass from age up + shipment. Goons are also great raiders.
http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TAD&showtopic=118281&st=0&p=1309750&#entry1309750
The link above is another Portugal Mirror if you are interested.
5/10 Huss Semi With Fast Mamelukes Verse Dutch
I did this verse Mayh3M and almost won, however being Christmas Day and a few drinks, I was not able to outmicro him enough and finish him off. I was in his base but couldn't do enough damage to take it down. On the first fight he had skirms and ruyters, whereas I had mams + goons and won easily.
Basically, 5 huss semi and age with 6 cass. Keep cav alive as you want to stop him from raiding you, but don't be afraid to raid if you can do some damage.
6 cass age up, however go coin heavy. As soon as you age ship 1000 coin and make goons, but keep enough for Mamelukes as soon as you get another shipment. He will go skirm/ruyter, focus goons on the ruyters then use Mamelukes on the skirms. Keep making goons, mix in some huss if needed, all the while using 3 TC. 2 OG and go offensive if you can but really they are needed for the skirms that will appear. After that, make whatever is needed, remember 10 goons with the GC card will one shot kill a vill - exploit this! When you can, get the arsenal upgrade too.
Dragoons
Dragoons are a sick unit, in early fortress they actuallybeat skirms, skirms do not counter goons as well as they should in this patch, however this will be changed next patch as players like myself and a few other experts can win solely by making goons (Nadoz rec, first link). Goons in melee > skirms.
They also do decent verse muskets and can hit and run pikes, and rodeleros to an extent, provided there aren't many of them.
With the upgrades they are also decent at killing artillery, they beat huss well and if you hold off your enemy with pure goons until you can get mamelukes out, you have a force to be reckoned with, add in 2 Organ Guns and you have an army that could end the game, definitely change it.
If you are interested in more recs search "micky_tee" in Player/Provider.
I think I have covered all of my strategies, feel free to ask questions/criticise me, and you can reach me on ESO (micky_tee). 30/05/2017 EDIT - I've removed my email address.
I will add more tomorrow if I feel it is needed and check this post over to see if I can go into more detail.
armyballer - Another 3v3, this time my team is winning, (about an hour into it). One of the other team players admits defeat and resigns, then out of no where I get OOS message. I'm pissed, I again log onto agecommunity and see I have been given a LOSE. How did this happen?
AceOfKings - ender_ward hacked into your game and made it go OOS
Unban JamesLock
You play Portugal the exact same way as you do in the latter guide mostly, as LI don't even have a multiplier verse goons at all unlike in TAD. The emphasis on Portugal is goons. I've also found that despite cassadores being worse in vanilla that in small numbers due to their high damage they are decent verse jannisaries, so it is useful to keep some in your deck (but rarely make them). I make musks a lot more too, as meatshield for the goons. Full goons does not beat rods + spanish mix.
One thing I have found incredibly effective is on Land Maps,
Even if there are no trade posts, unless you feel you absolutely have to send CM (I can play without it, but keeping it in my deck has psychological advantages, my opponent is wary) send 300 wood. Market (you should always build this to maximise the ports eco advantage), extra house + 100 free wood. It is better than 300 coin as you need all the wood you can get, and by not gathering it as much you are freeing vills to gather food and coin.
Another thing I have found effective is, depending on how quickly you are going to be attacked is to send 700 wood. This is something you must rely on for yourself, scouting and experience verse the civ counts a lot - eg playing Spain? Expect a Spanish FF quickly by 8 min, and always send 5 goons as your third card, and not 700 wood.
The reason I say send 700 wood is because you can get an arsenal for 250 wood then get the Cavalry Cacerole upgrade, which makes your great unit that is already better than it is in TAD
Having said all that, it's nigh on impossible to beat a PR40+ Spain player with ports. Ottos are similar on certain maps, silk road means ottomans have a better economy
On water maps, take map control. If you place your second TC at the top or bottom of the map your opponent can just outpost the coast and seal you off - effectively losing the game unless you play extremely well.
On vanilla the rush is very popular so a good idea is to take 2 caravels as second card, put the drop point right next to your second tc and use the to aid against the rush. Always handy to keep 150f+150c to use from your first TC if you really have to, never ever lose your second TC without a fight; it's really important.
Don't be afraid to use MM on settlers you see that are going to make a fb near your base. Let your explorer attack them so they think it's just your explorer, then let the MM attack them. Your opponent won't know any different as he wil think it's jusT your explorer attacKing them!
Also get native treasures if you see one, use them to attack vills, eventually he will have to move his vills and get annoyed with this minor pest. However concentrating on small things is distractinghim from the bigger stuff.
I know otto silk road verse ports is often delayed for a better eco as they always assume ports will FF (rightly). I have toyed with the idea of a really fast xbow rush to take the initiative with 700 and 600 coin for hussars. It will delay your economy but if you can set the otto back more than he sets you back you will win! If he has no tps then he has lost his OP advantage. This worked a few times but it was verse Captains - it is still untested.
Don't hesitate to go to Age IV first either. If you can successfully defend yourself and get a Factory or two, you can have Heavy Cannons. He now has two options:
I will add more as I think of them later, sorry about lack of recordings.
Putting my stats there so hopefully you will actually read this for the reasons I am writing it.
One thing, this Guide will sound condescending, maybe even arrogant, because I am assuming that I am better than you all and I am going to try and teach you how to play the most difficult civ in the game.
First of all, I am not going to write down BO after BO, because contrary to what you might believe, following BO's down to a (micky) tee will not win you the game. If you can't accept this fact, don't bother reading on.
My reasons for writing this are simple, I used to be like many of you, well, nooby, I admit it, however I've recently broken into the top 100 players in the world and would like to give something back to the community where I was a noob and learned from players better than me.
If you are still reading this, then I will write down a few things about Portugal, the idea is to turtle until you have the economy to outspam your opponent, or on land maps, until you reach the third age where you can make use of great dragoons and maximise the 3 TC benefit to the max.
I will be providing recorded games of me, as well as BO's.
There are only three BO's that I use in the whole game, however each split off into freestyle at a certain point.
My first, and most common, is the 5 huss semi ff. The reason I do this is because if you FF and someone makes 5 huss and goes FF, they basically make a mess of your FF time. I do this most times verse Euro civs. The reason I don't do musks is because once I age up I immediately havea stable to exploit goons, which we will cover later.
13/14 vill age up, 400 wood
5 on coin, remember, huss cost 80 coin and you need 5, so that is 400 coin + 300 to age with 700 coin shipment.
rest on food
Age with 6 cass if you think you can, otherwise fast and get the TC up and start pumping goons.
5/4 goons, 8 cass, 2 OG (once you got goons) 1000 coin/5 mams, goon combat, in no particular order, always have these in your deck
Raid with goons and keep 2 OG alive whilsty booming from 3 TC. If you aged with 6 cass ship 8 for 14 cass maybe.
From this point on it all depends on what you have to do, I can't tell you what to do since every game you must make your own decisions. That's why the civ is so fun/hard.
Example in a Portuguese mirror.
15 Musk variation, not going to cover that, because it was freestyle, but worked well verse SIoux. Got 4 vills from him whilst keeping my own for an economic advantage.
Here is a pure FF verse french double xbow.
The only other strats I do are ones on water, where I hardly ever go FF.
There is a game verse Damnit in which I do a schooner semi ff verse Spain. Here it is, I will explain the BO.
13/14 age up, 400 wood age up
Gather 300 coin,
Rest on food
Gather 400 and make a dock,
Decide on which age up benefits you most.
Go 700 wood if you think he won't rush you and attack his shrines with pikes, if you think he will go 700 coin and age and make pike with xbow if needed, but better pikes and attack shrines. Use 6 age up cass, make cass, ship 10 pike + 8 cass and push into his base. Keep pikes alive for as long as possible then ship goons + make goons and use 1000 coin for Organs after 2 OG card.
The game is here. Read the comments for what I did wrong.
The only other water strategy I do is the basic water boom:
13/14 age up, 400 wood
Wood heavy on age up, if you think they are FF'ing go for schooners semi ff
Verse most rushes make one deck and one barracks and make 5 xbow a time with enough pike, and make 2 vills a time and constant boats.
Keep up what you are doing already,
Age up when you can safely with 700 coin, make use of walls if not Outposts.
Go stable on age up and try to make Goons with arsenal upgrade and card. TC fire + MM should deal with inf, along with 2 OG, cass from age up + shipment. Goons are also great raiders.
The link above is another Portugal Mirror if you are interested.
I did this verse Mayh3M and almost won, however being Christmas Day and a few drinks, I was not able to outmicro him enough and finish him off. I was in his base but couldn't do enough damage to take it down. On the first fight he had skirms and ruyters, whereas I had mams + goons and won easily.
Basically, 5 huss semi and age with 6 cass. Keep cav alive as you want to stop him from raiding you, but don't be afraid to raid if you can do some damage.
6 cass age up, however go coin heavy. As soon as you age ship 1000 coin and make goons, but keep enough for Mamelukes as soon as you get another shipment. He will go skirm/ruyter, focus goons on the ruyters then use Mamelukes on the skirms. Keep making goons, mix in some huss if needed, all the while using 3 TC. 2 OG and go offensive if you can but really they are needed for the skirms that will appear. After that, make whatever is needed, remember 10 goons with the GC card will one shot kill a vill - exploit this! When you can, get the arsenal upgrade too.
Dragoons are a sick unit, in early fortress they actually
They also do decent verse muskets and can hit and run pikes, and rodeleros to an extent, provided there aren't many of them.
With the upgrades they are also decent at killing artillery, they beat huss well and if you hold off your enemy with pure goons until you can get mamelukes out, you have a force to be reckoned with, add in 2 Organ Guns and you have an army that could end the game, definitely change it.
If you are interested in more recs search "micky_tee" in Player/Provider.
I think I have covered all of my strategies, feel free to ask questions/criticise me, and you can reach me on ESO (micky_tee). 30/05/2017 EDIT - I've removed my email address.
I will add more tomorrow if I feel it is needed and check this post over to see if I can go into more detail.
armyballer - Another 3v3, this time my team is winning, (about an hour into it). One of the other team players admits defeat and resigns, then out of no where I get OOS message. I'm pissed, I again log onto agecommunity and see I have been given a LOSE. How did this happen?
AceOfKings - ender_ward hacked into your game and made it go OOS
Unban JamesLock
[This message has been edited by micky_tee (edited 05-30-2017 @ 05:14 AM).]
.
