posted 11-20-08 07:32 PM EDT (US)
Hello to all of you out there! I, murdilator, played Portugal as my 1st civ in AOE3. I became good with them, and have recently come back some to them. I will go through their basic units, and a few basic strategies.
Portugal receives one free covered wagon every age, which can transform into a Town Center. The early Town Center can help with more production of settlers and can help against a rush. In addition, the free Town Centers also save the Portuguese player wood, as Town Centers cost 600 wood a piece, and can be built starting in age 3. Portugal can get up to four Town Centers, which can actually be increased to six buildable Town Centers with the “Donatarios” card. In addition to this, Portugal’s access to Royal guard musketeers and Royal Guard dragoons, not counting powerful skirmishers and a good artillery selection, gives Portugal a powerful late-game. However, Portugal does not have settler cards, so you will have to order crates of resources or cards that boost your gathering rates such Furrier, Economic Theory, 300 wood, 300 food, etc. The Portuguese have a seven-settler start, plus their explorer has a unique ability to spyglass, which allows them to scout around their own base easier, as I will go through later.
Portugal has a seven villager start, as I have said before, but they lack starting crates, plus they don’t have too many good rush shipments. The slow start can really set you back. That is why most people call them UP (UP is Under Powered) in Supremacy games.
Best Units: Dragoon, Musketeer
These guys are a special unit. They are classified as Ranged infantry, Gunpowder Trooper, and infantry. They are skirmishers that have 50% range resistance and have 4.5 speed, giving them the “sleight of hand” on micro. In addition, they cost 80 food 35 coin, being cheaper than the regular skirmisher of 50 food 65 coin. This makes them more versatile, and Portugal has two shipments in age 3 containing cassadors: 7 cassadors and 8 cassadors. However, they have lower hit points than most skirmisher units but have a higher attack. This makes them more susceptible to cavalry attacks; they should not be left out in the open. They are available starting in age 3. Cassadors can be upgraded to Guard and Imperial status. Cassadors cost 1 population.
Crossbowmen are the basic archaic archer unit. They are classified as Archer, infantry, ranged infantry. They are used against slower Heavy infantry units, but unlike most archers, these guys can hit and run. Crossbowmen, also known as “x-bows” have about the same hit points of a cassador, but have only 4.0 speed and do significantly less damage to heavy infantry units. The Crossbowmen’s 20% range resistance should help against ranged infantry, but just like the cassador, the lower hit points makes them susceptible to cavalry. Portugal has two major shipments of these: 8 in age 2, and 10 in age 3. At 40 food, 40 wood, they mark an early inexpensive skirmisher type, and they are available starting at colonial age. These are available in age 2. Crossbowmen can be upgraded to veteran status; Portuguese crossbowmen can be upgraded to guard status with the church tech “Bestieros.” Crossbowmen cost 1 population.
The musketeer is the backbone of the Portuguese military. They have a decent ranged attack, a good hand attack of 13 with a smashing 3x bonus to cavalry, mounted with a 20% hand resistance. Topped by that, musketeers have a relatively moderate cost of 75 food, 25 coin, and have 150 hit points. They are classified as infantry, heavy infantry, gunpowder trooper, ranged infantry. However, they lack range and are rather slow, so chasing down cavalry and being hit and run by skirmisher units sometimes make these units frustrating to handle. They come in three major shipments for Portugal: 6 in age 2, 8 and 9 in age 3. They are however, Portugal’s most all-rounded unit. They are available in age 2. Portugal’s musketeers can be upgraded veteran, Royal Guard, and Imperial Royal guard. Musketeers cost 1 population.
Pikemen are the basic archaic anti-cavalry unit. They are relatively cheap at 40 food, 40 wood, plus they do significantly more siege attack than musketeers. They have a lower hand attack of 8, but a 5x bonus to cavalry, and are relatively fast with 5 speed. As a unit, they have a lower hand resistance of 10%, which does sometimes become problematic when fighting heavy swordsmen or high-attack cavalry. Portugal has only one prominent shipment of these – 10 pikemen in age 3. Pikemen are also available in age 2. Pikemen can be upgraded only to veteran status. Pikemen cost 1 population.
Halberdiers are basically a supped-up pikemen. They have a large hand attack of 25, but only a 2x bonus to cavalry. Supported with a large hit point count of 200, they are not to be underestimated. On top of that, they have 36 siege attack, but only 10% hand resistance. However, they are slower than pikemen, at a speed of 4, and are quite expensive for an infantry unit – 50 food, 70 coin. They will not usually fair well against skirmisher units, but are decent at killing musketeers and fighting hand infantry. However, when paired up against strong hand infantry such as dopplesoldners, samurai, or even Janissaries, they will drop like flies. Portugal has two prominent shipments of these – 7 and 8 halberdiers in age 3. Halberdiers can be upgraded to guard and Imperial status. Halbardiers cost 1 population.
Hussars are the basic hand cavalry. They fight well against skirmishers, artillery, and villagers, but lose badly to dragoons and heavy infantry. They are expensive at a price of 120 food, 80 coin, but are well worth it if you are fighting skirmisher-based teams such as Russia. They have a good hand attack, and moderate speed, which makes them decent for raiding villagers. In addition, they have 20% range resistance which allows them to run from town center fire, and run away from ranged infantry when they need to. They are available starting in age 2. Hussars can be upgraded to veteran, guard, and Imperial status. Hussars cost 2 population.
The dragoon is probably Portugal’s best unit. It has a decent ranged attack with a 3x ranged bonus to cavalry. The dragoon is very fast, and therefore can easily hit and run. However, it starts out with only 12 range, but can be upgraded to 14 range by the arsenal, later followed by the unique card “Genitors,” which provides dragoons with 6 additional range, adding up to 20 range total. They cost 90 food, 90 coin, and have a 30% range resistance. Portugal has two prominent shipments of dragoons: 4 and 5 dragoons in age 3. In addition, Portugal has a card called “Dragoon Combat,” changed into a cavalry combat, giving dragoons 20% boost and hussars a 15% boost; It is available in age 3. Dragoons are available in age 3, but can be trained in age 2 by the Portuguese card TEAM early dragoons. Portuguese dragoons can be upgraded to veteran (veteran upgrades free) Royal Guard, and Imperial Royal Guard status. The dragoons costs 2 population.
Organ guns are a unique unit to Portugal, and they replace falconets. Some folks aren’t happy about this choice. Contrary to popular belief, organ guns are actually better than falconets by a large margin, only falling short of siege capabilities. They are cheaper than falconets at a cost of 100 wood, 300 coin, and have a lower population count of 4, but have a lower hit points of 150. Organ guns deal a 33 x6 (it shoots 6 times) equaling a 198 whooping attack. Unfortunately, Organ guns have a 0.5x bonus to cavalry and light infantry, along with a 0.5x bonus to artillery. They cannot be left out in the open; they will die too fast unprotected. Portugal has three prominent shipments of these – 2 in age 3, 3 in age 4, and 5 in age 4. They are available first in age 3. They can be upgraded to Rauble and Imperial Rauble. Organ guns cost 4 population.
I will only go over these guys because the Portuguese have special mortars. They cost a lot at 100 wood 350 coin, and can only attack buildings. However, it really pays off to have at least 2 or 3 mortars lobbing at your opponents buildings from 40 range away. But the Portuguese have a insane card – it is called “Range finding.” It grants +10 range to mortars, and counting in those 20 range dragoons and 20 range cassadors, you’ll be in trouble once you see that army coming towards your base. Portugal has two prominent shipments of mortars: 2 and 3 mortars in age 4. Mortars are also first available in age 4. Mortars can be upgraded to howerter and Imperial Howerters. Mortars are 4 population.
In addition to the Organ gun and the Mortar, Portugal has access to 3 other types of artillery pieces and also petards. Actually, Portugal has one of the best if not the best artillery selection in the game. Heavy Cannons are the best anti-infantry in the game but can only be trained from factories or shipped from the Home City; they cost 7 population. Culverins are the strong, long-ranged, and basic counter to artillery. They are, however, lacking the their damage to infantry and especially to cavalry, but it is always good to have 2 or 3 of these guys in you army – you never know when you’ll have to deal with protected artillery quickly; they cost 4 population. Horse artillery are a extremely fast artillery piece, and are made for a pitched battles. They are relatively strong, and are an easy replacement for the falconet, especially since Portugal gets organ guns instead; they cost 6 population. If in a long battle, horse artillery should not be trained as much – use organ guns or heavy cannons to deal the damage. Horse artillery are first available in age 4. Petards can be a tide-changer. Although they are only a one-time use, taking down a Town Center, followed by slaughtering villagers can be a devastating blow to your opponent. On top of that, they force your opponent to focus on defending while you are outflanking his/her army. They present a great tactical advantage, but beware when you fight other European civs – or you might be caught in the same trap as you were planning for them. Petards are first available in age 3. They are 1 population
(if image does not appear: this is what they look like: )
Minutemen could jokingly be called Portugal’s “best” unit. The reason is that Portugal has an extra town center early on, plus Portugal’s early defensive capabilities provide shelter for this unit. Minutemen are first available in age 1, used as a defense. They are most prominent in age 2 and age 3, but can be used for the later ages. The unit loses health as time goes by. They start with 200 hit points, and 26 attack, but will, in a minute or two, come down to 1 hit point. That way, minutemen are not durable musketeers, mainly because they don’t have a bonus against cavalry. But rather, instead of this, they have a 2x bonus against artillery. This will make sure that you won’t lose easily to one falconet. Minutemen can be called in batches of 6 ONE TIME from each town center for a price of 150 food, 150 coin, and can be trained in an additional batch of 15 ONE TIME from each town center for 400 food, 400 coin when Colonial militia card has been sent. If a town center is destroyed and built again, you can again call minutemen from that town center. But remember not to be extravagant with them; they rot quickly, so only call them when the time is right. They cost 1 population once called out.
(The Cards are have their name above them, below the name is the picture to the card, just incase any of you could be confused.)
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(Actually this card is supposed to look like an old man with a long gray beard and a hat.)
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This is unique to the Portuguese. Their explorer can use a spyglass revealer to find a certain spot on the map. Most people waste it, however. I actually would use this to try and find your 2nd huntable group. If you are on Water, send it out into the nearby ocean (close to where you are going to fish) to search for whales. Never use your spyglass ability at the same general spot as to where your explorer is going. It is a wasted spyglass that way. Put it on the opposite side of where you are scouting – that way, you can get double the scouting done in 1 minute. Your 2nd Spyglass can look for more whales on a water turtle, look your or 2nd or 3rd huntable groups if you haven’t already found them, or look for an ideal place to set up your FB (FB means Forward Base). Your 3rd Spyglass should look for the enemy FB, or look for his settlers – that is if you are planning on raiding him or her.
Hope this tip helped some!
I’m not an expert at this, but I’ve seen a couple recordings and they are good (aka Asgard vs. Luigi). The basic layout is 5 villagers go to food, two on crates – that is, after you gain enough from the food crates to que one settler. After that, send the crate villagers onto food, and build more onto food until you have 14. Build 1 house; if you are on a high-crate map, then you might consider building a trading post as well. Here are two starting options:
Your 1st card should be Furrier (if I’m right) or Economic Theory:
Age up with 500 food politician, and gather 800 food. Que one settler. Once you hit 800 food, distribute some 4 to 7 of your settlers onto coin, but leave the rest onto food. Send your 2nd Town Center (Your Covered Wagon) in front of your town – place it by some resources. It can be an early wall against a rush. However, if your facing a faster rush civ, I would place the extra Town Center closer to your other one, but still in range. If your opponent rushes it with a small army (such as 8 to 13 pikes) early, you always have those minutemen to call out of it. That is why you should have the 800 food prepared – just a little extra in case, and also for the later FF. 2nd Card should be 700 coin.
Do exactly like you did at
If this works out right, you should have some excess coin. If your opponent(s) isn’t rushing you hard or rushing you at all, you might as well que some more settlers from the 2nd Town Center, since you still have 7 gatherers on it. Once the coin arrives, send 3 to 4 of your coin settlers onto the crates – keep the others on it for some irregularities or mishaps (“miscalculations”) in your strategy.
(sorry for picture being so big)
However, in most cases, unless you get a good XP stream, you will want to save your cards for either 5 dragoons, 8 cassadors, 8 halberdiers, 2 organ guns, 1000 coin, 5 mamelukes, 9 musketeers, Dragoon Combat, 4 dragoons, 7 cassadors, Refrigeration (20% food gather), Royal Mint (25% coin gather), 1 fort wagon, or 1000 food.
Before you advance to age 3, try and que a barracks, and a stable, eventually queing a house or two. According to my knowledge, a fast Portuguese FF can be anywhere from 5:45 (maybe 5:15?) to 6:30 – the faster, the better. Once you have advanced to age 3, you should have some (hopefully) 19 to 25 settlers, and should have something like 8 to 13 settlers on food, 3 to 5 on wood (for housing), and 8 to 11 on coin.
4rd Card for Option #1, 3rd card for Option #2 (in most cases)
You should start queing up cassadors ASAP, and try and build some dragoons as well. If you protect your economy, you should be doing relatively well. So 6+5 cassadors (more on the way), +5+4 to 5 dragoons starts being a sizable army.
5th card for Option #1, 4th card in Option #2 (in most cases; IF you have shipped 5 dragoons)
So you see that 6+5+(5 more qued)+8 = 24 cassadors, + 5+5 dragoons = 10 dragoon and + 5 hussar (just for help against ranged infantry) should be a extremely formidable force. Keep on with Cassador/Dragoon production from now on, and if you really have a problem with ranged infantry, Ship These (BEWARE: they do cost 1000 coin):
With 1450 HP and 40% RR, little can stand to these heavely armored cavalry – and considering you support of 20+ Cassadors, 10+ Dragoons, and hopefully 5+hussar, you will be able to outflank him as well – two separate groups of cavalry, plus a devastating force of dragoons and cassadors – it is just that, nigh-untouchable army.
If your opponent has massed an early pike or cavalry army, and your dragoons won’t be able to deal with it or they are coming out to late, here is what you should ship (BEWARE: they do cost 1000 coin):
With 540 HP (HP means Hit Points), 58 dmg with 2 area (two spaces close to the unit) and 116 caption (total damage possible), and 40% hand resistance, these units will end any unexpecting opponent – especially if he is attacking your Town Center or you hide these guys with some other units. By themselves, I’d reckon these guys could take down 20 hussars or 40 pikemen and still be ready to fight some more. They have 4.5 speed, but are awefully expensive and they can be hit and run pretty easily, unlike mamelukes.
However, if your opponent is becoming greedy for slaughtering your cassadors, ship Dragoon Combat:
This will give your already Veteran Dragoons 280 HP and 30.8 attack (x3 vs cavalry, x2.75 vs Light Infantry). If you happen to get an arsenal later, don’t forget to get CIR (Counter Infantry Rifling; 200 wood, 200 coin) and Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10% dmg for dragoons, +2 range for dragoons; 200 food, 300 wood). If you upgrade all of these, dragoons will have 280 HP, and 33 dmg (v3 vs cavalry, x2.75 vs Light Infantry) and 14 range.
After you have shipped either (usually Dragoon combat and 5 Mamelukes) of these cards, you are free to use what you need (aka 1000 coin, 1000 food, 8 halberdiers, 9 musketeers, a fort, or 2 organ guns).
Hopefully this has helped you a bit, but don’t expect me to be a master at this – I am just trying to give a decent overview of each basic strategy. Any help or suggestions would be fantasic. Thanks!
)I have perfected a Portuguese land-turtle. I also got some of these ideas from SoccerStar's Portuguese Turtle, but have adapted to fit my own version. It's strong, versatile, but won't work fighting a very fast rush. I personally like it because it
Anyways, first things first. Send 3 of your 7 starting settlers directly to huntables, letting the others gather the food crates - until you have at least 100 food to que up a settler. Then switch 3 more of your crate settlers onto food. If you are on a high crate map, then leave 2 settlers on the crates.
All settlers qued in Discovery age will go to food; que settlers onto food until you have 14 (12 or 13 for faster age up time; weaker economy though). Start your herding now; the earlier, the better.
This is situational. You DO NOT need to order this card if you see that your opponent is not rushing. You will still keep your settlers on food until you can age up. When TEAM Cheap Outposts is half-way shipped, you can still cancel it. However, if you do age up with it, and expect a rush (or at least you know that he/she will), age up with the Quartermaster, or 400 wood. When aging you may want to put 2 to 3 settlers onto coin and 2 or so settlers on wood - This can be a Semi-FF as well. Plus, why not build some soldiers if you need?
(sorry for this exact image being so big)
This, along with the 400 wood (700+400 wood), will quickly grant you sufficient resources to construct a house or two, all your towers (175 x 7 = 1225; if you have a few wood cutters you will be fine, and assuming that your opponent will attack you once you have 6 towers, making a bad mistake.), and whatever else you need.
However, if your opponent is lightened up a bit, and you are stuck longer in colonial, then ship this:
This will allow you to construct settlers more constantly, and give you a more solid economy. This is the result of turtleing when things don't exactly go your way.
Now we must go to the other Option.
.If you see a rush coming, your two batches of 6 minutemen can easily ward them off - most people don't run against regular batches minutemen - instead they just attack them or the buildings. Either way, you win.
This is a extremely basic guide to Portuguese Turtleing. It does not work against all civs, but should do you well. The main reason that I haven't gone in depth in this part of the guide is because this strategy basically follows the Portuguese FF pattern afterwords.
Merry Christmas! (written 12/9/08)
This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has played as or fought against the Portuguese on water. Basically, what I do is a Tower Boom and Fishing boom + building 2 caravels +2 privateers – gaining the seas. Anyways, first things go first.
Send your spyglass towards the water to look for some whales. If you don’t plan on fishing right away, send it to look for you 2nd huntable group. If that is already in sight, send it to look for your 3rd, which should be opposite your explorer on the other side of you Town Center. 1 settler immediately goes to build a dock, and send that settler back onto wood after the dock is done – usually do this on a higher crate map. If on Borneo or Indochina, I would wait a bit before building up fishing ships. 1 settler goes immediately onto wood, and send 4 of the others onto hunts (after you have gotten enough food to que one settler crate), and one onto the rest of the crates. Build a house. After done with the crates put that settler onto wood. Que up settlers onto food. Your 1st card should be one of these:
Schooners should almost always be your 1st card. It will make your fishing boats cost 40 wood a piece. By this time you should have around ~70 to ~100 wood. Construct some fishing boats onto FOOD FIRST. In addition, create 4 settlers onto food, being 4+4, and construct fishing boats onto food until you have about 5 of them. Then send your 6th fishing boat to scout out the nearby water for whales and such. Don’t forget to scout the whole part of the sea with the boat as well. 8 hunters + 5 fishers is pretty strong food eco – although you will be slightly behind your opponent at this time. So after you have 8 settlers on food, build 3 to 4 more settlers onto wood, until you get about 6 or 7 on wood.
You shouldn’t think of shipping this one first – in most cases. I further wouldn’t usually recommend this one, but if you feel as you need a lot of early extra wood for a trading post or need to get ready to construct outposts, and want to do fishing a bit later, send this. When sending this, it will provide you with ample wood to get going – if you don’t already have enough. In addition, if you send this, you won’t need to build 3 to 4 settlers onto wood – put them onto food. This card should mainly be for land maps – not as much for water. However, if you want to age up faster, I would choose this:
This card gives you 15% faster hunting and 20% faster Berry gathering. It would be the equivalent of perhaps 2 settlers early on, but might be good as 4 settlers once aging up. It is a card to be considered, but still, in Water Turtles, I would not prefer such cards – although you do surprise your opponent, who believes you might do a full-fledged WT (WT means Water Turtle), while you advance quickly. However, the 1st card should usually be Schooners.
So, you have built your fishing ships and you have your settlers, now send one vil to start herding back to your Town Center. Age with 400 wood, and keep building fishing ships – when you need to, create your 2nd house. In this time, if you have spare wood, I would create a 2nd dock, and start building fishing boats onto whales – that way you can afford Minutemen and market upgrades, eventually earning Fortress age. 2nd card should be this, which I have seen so many people make the mistake of not shipping:
Whoa?!? What does this do? I haven’t used that “sucky” card for ages. No really, think about it. -30% wood cost for Towers. Not actually to bad eh? So you will have 175 wood outposts. This should fall in line with your (hopefully) 7 woodcutters. So at this time, you should have some 8+5 (or 7) = 13 or 15 food miners, 7 wood cutters, and probably 5 to 9 coin miners (fishing boats on whales). During this time, you should have some spare wood, so move a few food settlers onto wood, and start constructing outposts – you should be able to start on about 2 outposts by now.
Once you hit age 2, you will receive 400 wood, and you probably, if you have kept constructing fishing boats, should have about 13 to 19 fishing boats total. Start queing up settlers (onto food from 1st TC), and send your 2nd TC to go near some wood, in range of your 1st Town Center. Once the 2nd TC is complete, que about 5 settlers from it onto wood. Build market (For trading gold to wood, gold to food), and buy some wood (if you don’t already have it) for some more outposts, plus construct 2 more outposts with the wood you have received. Counting in you 2 already built outposts and your 2 more on the way, build about 2 more outposts, and soon finish up your construction of outposts. You should have about 19 to 23 fishing boats, 21 settlers, and (hopefully) 6 (7th going up) outposts at your disposal by around ~6:15 to ~6:45 (and that was back in Vanilla! WOOT!
). You should upgrade your fishing boats at your dock and woodcutting + villager strength at your market (if you haven’t already). Soon upgrade log flume (20% wood cutting) and long lines (30% fishing) as well. Your 3rd and/or 4th card should usually be one of these: Rendering Plant OR 700 wood OR Colonial Militia OR 2 Privateers (500 coin)
Rendering plant gives 30% faster fishing rates. Ship this if everything is going well, and no opponent is attacking, or if your opponent is doing a weaker rush, and you have a decent amount of wood. You will age up faster once this is sent, and use your new found coin to buy some food at the market – you want to age and get dragoons+cassadors at home and hussars+petards on the assault.
(sorry for this exact image for being so big)
If you are having a hard time with getting wood, ship 700 wood. It will allow you to construct a caravel or two, and upgrade Armor Plating (50% warship HP; if you have a good water eco, why not secure the seas by +50% more HP warships?). You must remember that you must control the seas in order to win a game like this. 700 wood can also help you build a barracks, houses, a stable, and help you to build whatever you need – to finish your outposts and maybe get a trading post.
Ship Colonial Militia if you have seen or your spyglass has spotted his forward base, and you see a sizeable army (mainly if it is a large pike or high-siege attack army) heading your way. Usually, don’t even call out your Colonial Militias – the 1st wave should be easily shattered by your towers and by your two batches of 6 minutemen (if you need them). Usually smart players will not attack you once they see so many outposts, and see themselves lose a couple of soldiers. The main point in this strategy is that you want your opponent to rush, and to rush hard; your fishing economy will sustain you through attacks and grant you stunning victories – don’t forget to trade at your market for food or wood if necessary.
Ship two Privateers if you feel that your caravel and/or armor plating won’t be enough. Usually 3 ships are >
Advance to age 3 with either the Exiled Prince (ages up very fast) or The Admiral Ocean of the Sea (1 caravel + 400 wood). Either way, it gives you a free Town Center.
So keep on the production of settlers, and out-boom the opponent! Your 4th or 5th or 6th card should probably be one of these:
If you are needing more defense, ship Improved buildings or 1 fort wagon. Improved buildings will give you quality buildings, while the fort will give you massive map control. If you are stuck on the defensive, construct 2 or 3 culverins, and about 10 to 15 dragoons and 20 to 30 cassadors. Try and buy a few mercenaries if possible.
Ship 3 Caravels if you are further worried about the water or you have not shipped 2 privateers or 700 wood. These will give you water power and you can also use them to transport raiding parties of 10 hussars and 5 petards (Known as coup de main). This way, you will be able to construct another dock, and you should still get armor plating, and even get a frigate if necessary. Also, this will open the rest of the seas up to your occupation. Go and spam fishing boats and build more settlers.
Ship Whale Oil if you want super fishing boats. You will easily gain gold to buy mercenaries, dragoons, artillery (later), and cassadors. Whale Oil also grants you the ability to buy 4 privateers (if you need it or have it in your deck, which it should be), and also allows you to get to industrial faster. Be careful not to ship this before you control the seas much, because otherwise you could be spoiled. Also, this card allows access to culverins, which take out artillery, which is one of the only counters to this strategy.
Ship Refrigeration for a constant stream of settler production. Fully upgrade your market, and with your excess coin, advance to industrial age – build troops to defend yourself, then get guard units – don’t try and get stuck in age 3 unless you really need to fight back. If you need some powerful troops early on, buy some mercenaries, and build some units that complement them.
By now, you will want to start finishing your 1st layer of wall and perhaps start your 2nd. Don’t forget to place a layer by the ocean – you don’t want your opponent to sneak up on you.
Also, build an artillery foundry when advancing to industrial (or before you advance to industrial), and build some petards. Create a stable (or saloon,; if you have cavalry mercenaries there, build some), and build some 5 to 10 hussars. Put them on one of your caravels, and try and build a galleon up their for further use. Send the small army to load off behind his base, and send the petards in to attack the town center first, then follow afterwards with the hussars. They should be in LOS of each other though, and 4 petards will bring a Town Center down to 100 Hit points, while 5 will secure it. If one petard dies, just kill the remaining Town Center with you Hussars. Then go and try to kill as many settlers as possible – if his army is midfield, you will have given him a stunning blow. In addition, by advancing to industrial you further demoralize him. If you fighting an Asian, its even better. Instead of killing his Town Center, go and hit two of his wonders – 3 petards to one, 2 petards + 10 hussars to the other. Also, if he/she is an Asian civ, try and get 10 petards and 15 hussars. That way you can take down the Town Center and Two wonders, while you kill some 10 to 15 villagers. There’s nothing worse than to see your Town Center destroyed and the majority of your settlers killed while you see your opponent age up ahead of you! Control over the sea means that you can march armies unchecked into his/her base, which gives you the element of surprise. It also provides a backup economy – just incase you should have something go wrong.
So, even if you attack fails, you have your opponent on the defensive. Quickly get to age 4 with the 1000 coin politician (The Tycoon), and keep your production of settlers and fishing boats going until you have about 110 to 120 villager population total. Mercenaries, Guard Cassadors, Guerrios Musketeers, Jinete Dragoons, artillery, Guard Hussars, and a superior defense and economy should gain you the win!
This is the basic overview of the Portuguese Water Turtle. After these, you can ship what you want. Don’t forget to have 15 Barbary Corsairs (INFINITE) in your deck and Dragoons combat and factories, etc. Those are necessary cards, but it all depends on your situation from then on.
You will know what to ship once you have gone through this experience. My experience with this strategy comes from at least 60 games of water Turtleing with Portugal, so don’t worry, if you do everything right, it should be a killer Strat! Don’t forget to put your own embellishments in: don’t play a game totally by the book, but rather, do what you need to do in order to win. Hope this helped some of you out there!
Contrary to my Water Turtle guide, this should not be as tedious. It is a very basic overview, consisting of your first 7 card(s) order. It also includes a good way to find out how to boom efficiently (I hope at least).
Of course, there are a lot of treaty players, and some who do not know how to play as Portugal on NR - I, to, was like this, until my brother started playing as them. However, I learned this strategy from Queen_of_Kings, so I send my thanks for him teaching me it. From my knowledge, it should go like this (with of course proper settler management you guys learned from supremacy
): 3 settlers to food crates, 4 others go immediately to hunts. Explorer should spyglass an area where you think your 2nd or 3rd nearest hunts are so that it will not be troublesome finding them (its in my basic tips, on the top of Strategies in this post). Immediately start queing settlers onto food, and promptly put two others onto food - the last settler should be on 1 wood crate, immediately going to food afterwards. He/she should build you 1 house. Start herding back your hunting group, and keep queing up settlers onto food until you reach 14. First card should either be
Once you have shipped one of these(both work out well, but furrier is preferred), age up to age 2 with 500 food. Keep all 14 settlers on food until you reach 800 food - then quickly switch all of your settlers to the nearest coin mine, and pre-que one settler from your Town Center. When you age up, DO NOT send one of your coin settlers onto the food crate, but rather, have the settler that is being qued up go onto the food crate. DO NOT que up more settlers at this time. Your 2nd Town Center, your 1st free covered wagon, should either go near some rich area to herd back more hunts or go right smack dab next to your 1st Town Center. Your 2nd card should be this:
It just so happens that once your food crate is totally gathered, you should have just the right amount of coin necessary to age up to age 3. Age up ASAP (ASAP means As Soon As Possible) with the Exiled Prince, which is Ages Up Very Fast. Quickly switch all your settlers back to huntables, every last one, and start to que settlers onto food from your 2nd (especially) and 1st TC's. Keep queing until you have 20 to 25 gatherers (If you are having problems with food, go with the 25; its more solid). You should reach age 3 anywhere from ~5:30 to ~6:30.
Once you hit age 3, send your Covered Wagon out either to some plentiful place or right next to your other two. Immediately start queing settlers from it when it is up. Your 3rd card should be Refrigeration:
Once you hit 20 OR 25 food (its been a while so my numbers are a bit shaky) gatherers que up 9 to 12 settlers onto coin (its been a while so my numbers are a bit shaky), que 5 settlers onto wood for market upgrades and future housing, and finally upgrade your market upgrades, food upgrades coming first. Your 4th card should be Royal Mint:
As Portugal, you will want to take advantage of your 4th Town Center, so age up to age 4 with The Tycoon, which gives 1000 coin. Que more settlers to food, until you reach 35, then que more onto coin until you get 25 to 30 (its been a while so my numbers are a bit shaky). Now Que more settlers onto wood until you get about 15 (for capital upgrades). Once you hit industrial, which should take place anywhere from ~12:00 to ~15:00 ship these as your 5th & 6th cards:
These will help in your production of settlers and aging ability massively. If you don't use these, you'll be in big trouble, or you'll regret them later. As for your 4th TC, do with it what you did with the others. Finish off your queing of settlers by putting 5 more onto food, 5 more onto wood, and the rest onto coin. Advance to Imperial with 2000 coin politician, El Presidente. You should probably use your 7th card as is:
Upgrade your capital, and start building your walls and such. After this, send Textile mills, Cigar Roller, Economic Theory (If you haven't already sent it), Genitours, Sustainable Agriculture, Treaty of Torsillas (for +20% milling), Riding school (-40% Cavalry train points), Fencing School (-40% Infantry Train points), and Advanced Arsenal before the treaty is over. This is a basic guide and a basic strategy, and some of the cards later mentioned (Textile mills, etc.) are not in order. However, get economic cards first, but always remember to have Genitours shipped.
Once I get my computer up and working, I could hopefully post a deck for this strategy.
I personally like to have my army as this: 5 heavy horse guns (soon to be Imperial), 40 Imperial Guerrios, 15 Imperial Jinete. Advance Arsenal should help your troops as well. Be sure to bring 4 to 5 settlers to construct a Forward Base, consisting mainly of Stables and Barracks. Put 2 Artillery foundaries and possibly put Outposts to kill the few soldiers who try and sneek around to there
.Hope this helped you some!
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This is the basic overview of the Portuguese. My gaming computers are not functioning well (yet, ironic since both have hard-drive problems), but hopefully I might get a deck up here soon some time, when my gaming computer(s) is up and running again. Hope this helped some of you!
Regards to all of you,
murdilator
[This message has been edited by murdilator (edited 12-19-2008 @ 06:58 PM).]
