Portugal

[frogbeastegg]

Portugal needs to be unlocked before you can play as them. To do this you can either complete a campaign (on any difficutly, long or short setting) with one of the five starting factions, or you can edit the preferences file. To do this open your Sega/M2TW folder/data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says
campaign imperial_campaign
playable
england
france
hre
spain
venice
end
unlockable
sicily
milan
scotland
byzantium
russia
moors
turks
egypt
denmark
portugal
poland
hungary
end
nonplayable
papal_states
aztecs
mongols
timurids
slave
end

Change it so it reads

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
england
france
hre
spain
venice
sicily
milan
scotland
byzantium
russia
moors
turks
egypt
denmark
portugal
poland
hungary
end
nonplayable
papal_states
aztecs
mongols
timurids
slave
end

[MadKow]

Started a Portuguese campaign, cause i had to, on M/M with 1 turn-1-year.
First thing that strikes you is the oddity of having Portuguese in Pamplona, but I guess you have to shrug and move on from there...
Here are some early thoughts

Early moves
You start in a split position with the City of Lisbon (Lisboa) and the Castle of Pamplona. Your first move should probably be on Zaragoza, that falls easy to your northern troops.

Now the big question would seem to be Moors or Spanish.
For loyalty to the church I went for the Moors. Granada is not too well defended, and King Afonso Henriques took it and sacked it.
This is important because you start with a fairly large army, considering your weak economic position. Those 4000-5000 florins are invaluable to kick start your economy.

I joined my fleets and moved them to Gibraltar, to prevent a counter attack from North Africa- fleets block land bridges. Watch for pirates, they attack hard and repeatedly. If you happen to be at war, repeated attacks by pirates and enemies can wipe out and apparently decent fleet without, you being able to do a thing.

After that I took Cordoba and Valencia. The French declared war on me. Even after I neglected to take Bordeaux, as suggested by the Noble Council. The small army they sent to siege Zaragoza was repelled by the forces that I had used to take Valencia and the filed for peace.

In the mean time, Guilds started to offer to settle on my lands. One welcome was the Order of Santiago. Immediate access to Foot Knights is a welcome strike force for a very light weight infantry rooster.

I will definitely use them when I go against the Spanish, next and take over the Peninsula.

Units
This leads me to some comments on the units. Portuguese Javelinmen are a decent early unit, with heavy losses I could use them to storm a wall defended by spears and other javelins.
Almughavars should prove even better, of course. But I don’t expect them to excel against later cavalry heavy armies.

The Aventuros look somewhat promising for that, a line of them (if they can keep it with their impetuosity) backed by Almughavars should be a challenge, if the stats translate into action.

I have yet to have a major field battle. All my major ones were sieges. Where the mobility of the troops is less important than their range or sturdiness, your early troops provide neither, so I have yet to discover exactly the field tactics that make the Portuguese Army shine. As for powder, I have no idea what impact will bring, yet.

After consolidation the Peninsula ill cross the straight and take the lands of Northern Africa, present day Morocco. That’s what Portuguese did.
And then, who knows, the New World… Or those vineyards in France… we do like wine.

[MadKow]

Rethinking after trying game on H/H.

After some experience on a higher difficulty level, i think it may prove more wise, for the initial strategy, to deal with the Spanish first, and fast.
Toledo appears very developed and becomes a fortress fairly soon into the game. That means Feudal Knights, both mounted and dismounted start coming your way.
Using the strategy of blocking Gibraltar, but concentrating on eliminating the Spanish in the first few rounds may prove the most effective path to peninsula domination. I you are lucky and catch them off guard, you can take their land in 4 turns, as complained by someone.

[Pretorian]

I agree.
Spanish have to go first as they will become a power horse in no time.
Dealing with Spain in the beginning is the best way to aproach the Portuguese campaign, after aquire managment over the peninsula (moors have to go down also) I'm thinking about going to north Africa to continue my conquest of moorish lands or go against France as I'm Allied with England and France is already bleeding to their armies.
Either way so far and playing on M/M I think Portugal is a very entertaining Faction to play, but the start is not easy.

[Pretorian]

In a more detailed manner here goes my first turns and the total domination of The peninsula.
On turn 1 gather all your troops around Lisboa and go for the spanish castle. At the same time gather all your tropps in the fort Portugal has near france and go for the spanish city in the North.
Gather some mercs to your troops.
In turn 4 the Spanish are out of the game.
Retrain your troops, build your cities a little (conquer one rebel city and a castle near your original fort) and go for the moors.
If you blockade the passage to North Africa with your Navy, the Moors aren't very strong in the Peninsula so destroying their presence is even easier than the spanish, 2 turns will do.
France started attaking me at this point so I had to take their 2 castles near my borders. Once taken, garrison them well and you have a great line of defence to the rest of Europe.
With these 2 castles I only keep one more (the former Spanish castle in the middle of the Peninsula) all the other castles I conquered where turned into cities.
When the game reaches this point you should turtle a little, develop your cities and armies.
When you are ready go for North Africa and kick some Moorish butt.

A Vitória estará perto, Longa Vida a Portugal:2thumbsup:

[Afonso I of Portugal]

I agree with you. We start with a large army and it's better to deal first with the Spanish. However, block Gibraltar to avoid the Moors reinforcements.
If the Spanish didn't move fast try to get Zaragoza and Valencia first with some mercs units as well. After conquer Spain you are ready to go for the Moors.
If you do this, the Portuguese campaign is a walk in the park!

[{Don}_Sky{Mh}]

The Portuguese Arquebusiers (don't think I spelled that right) have a pretty good ranged attack. Do pretty well in combat as well if it ever comes down to it.

Portuguese Arquebusiers

16 att, 11 sec. att, 11 def and 9 morale

Musketeers

14 att, 6 sec. att, 4 def and 3 morale

Arquebusiers

14 att, 6 sec. att, 4 def and 3 morale

Handgunners

13 att, 11 sec. att, 11 def and 5 morale

I havn't tried yet, but my bet on a melee fight would be the PA

[Von Nanega]

I built forts and staffed them with peasants on all of the passes in the mountain range between myself and France.


(Pretorian)
Spanish have to go first as they will become a power horse in no time.
Dealing with Spain in the beginning is the best way to aproach the Portuguese campaign, after aquire managment over the peninsula (moors have to go down also)
Either way so far and playing on M/M I think Portugal is a very entertaining Faction to play, but the start is not easy.

Concur with Pretorian. I also believe once the reconqista is complete, you need to turtle for a moment. You probably paid heavily in blood to unify the Iberian peninsula. The forts so far seem to keep the French out of Iberia. (about 20 turns or so)
Build those jinettes. They will be your battle winners in the early stage in field battles.

[llewellyn]

first turn i made roads and seiged zaragoza. then i took my southern army took toledo. after i had toled i stateded to pump out heavy cav and then took spains capital and with the rements of my northern army and some mercs i took valencia. after this i opened relations with france and gave them a 20 turn tribute, this bought me some time. then i retrained every single unit i had and bought some more. by the time this was done i had a stack and a half. i sent the full stack to north africe and the half stack to granada. o sacked granada and used the florins to build a new army to take corduba. then my army in NA had conquered up till algeris which i soon took. after that it was fairly easy and by turn 30 i had all of north africa and a lot of priests and cardinals feverently converting the population to catholicism. by turn 50 my economy was back on its feet and i was the richest faction and was producing elite (being feudal knights and almughavars) armies to conquer france and the holy land

[Jonathan_Thompson]

Ugh Portugal some great units but starting position is almost as bad as HRE. I'm halfway through Portugal on VH/VH and this is what my experiences taught me.

Opening Moves

Without a doubt Toledo has to be your first target. Unfortunately your forces are split so you may have to waste a turn joining them for an attack. The reason for this is Toledo appears very well developed and teched up. This means that for every turn the Spaniards have it they are making troops of a higher class than yours. Once Toledo is done things are (slightly) easier. Spain is broken and you will have a brief respite before they try anything. During this time blockade the land bridge connecting Africa and Iberia. If you don't you will get hammered by the Moors as you can't afford another war after Toledo. This is done by putting 3 fleets on the bridge, one on the arrow and 2 on either side of that. Now you can take Leon, Cordoba and Granada with relative ease. Once all of Iberia is yours(including all rebels) you have many options you may want to send a fleet to the opposite side of Africa and start conquering to Timbuktu to supplement your poor economy. You may get unlucky and France will declare war on you (on VH this is a given)But you have a decent platform to launch into Europe.

The Pope

The pope usually hates you. Not alot you can do about it so I usually just take the Exco and move on. If you are trying to play nice guy however it is possible to temporarily lift the blockade on the bridge to africa, send a priest squad across and stack the college of Cardinals with

Units

In early game your units suck, no nice way to put it but they stink. The only decent units are mailed knights and Almughavars (spelling?) but good luck being able to afford them on anything other than easy. Another complaint is the severe lack of spearmen. Aventuros and pikmen are only later in the game
so in the beggining you'll have to use merc spears as the basis of your melee infantry. An important tip is to only occupy Toledo, Zaragoza and the other province on the border to France who's name escapes me. Yo0u need the expand quickly to get to adventuros.

Economy

The Iberian peninsula is not a great money spinner. You need provinces bordering France to be castles for defence. This leaves precious few florins for teching up. Because of this is may be wise to send a merchant force to timbuktu and and build forts on the gold.

Summary

The Portugese are an often underrated faction. Most people choose Spain because of the easier early game but Portugal truly shines in late game with it being the best naval faction and a spread of high quality units. As a last random point you should generally stay away from Mongols and Timuirds. Your armies are not suited to fighting them.

[Aetius22]

I am currently playing a game where I have about 9 cardinals. The pope has been on my side for a long time. Trick is to send a lot of cardinals to convert the Moors and that seemed to work for me.

You really have only two options either take Cordoba and Granada right away, or go for Toledo. If you don't go for Toledo you are taking a risk. I took Cordoba first, but rushed an army towards Toledo from Pamplona. I think no matter what difficulty you play France will declare war on you. Once I dealt with France, Milan declared war on me as well.

The Portuguese have some very nice units that match very well against other Catholic factions in my experience. I will use the Jinetes to maneuver to the rear of the opposing army and the Almughavars towards the front. The Jinetes thin out their heavy cavalry, while the Almughavars take care of the heavy infantry. Then I might charge home with Portuguese knights (mounted and dismounted). But as Jonathan pointed out they don't do so well against the Mongols - then again I haven't found an army that does. In one battle the only thing that saved me from defeat were my aventuros. I am still puzzled as to how that happened - I didn't think they would have survived the barrage of arrows.

I wonder if anyone has used an army composed mainly of Portuguese Arquebusiers against the Mongols? My armies were mainly Almughavars, Jinettes, Portuguese Knights (mounted and dismounted) and Feudal Knights - with one army which had Aventuros and Knights of Santiago.

[Jonathan_Thompson]

I've tried various tactics in custom battle against mongol horde replicas and portugese arbequiser spam doesnt really work. They'll always outnumber you in missle troops as you need to bring along some adventuros to stop their charges. I think the settlement sieges or the peasant auto resolve spam are your only options.

[vonsch]

After trying the Spanish knockout opening gambit, and getting excommed (darned Pope lived forever too!) and having all kinds of trouble as a result, been playing around with alternatives.

This current one was amusing. I piled all the Lisbon troops except a garrison of one town watch and the prince (no sense risking the whole family!) into an army and headed to Cordoba on turn one. Meanwhile, the Pamplona crew has laid seige to Zaragoza. My princess swapped maps with the Moors to put them off guard while the King hired a couple extra merc spear units just in case (turns out I didn't need them, but at least the Sultan can't hire them now.) Oh, and my spy ducked into Cordoba to check out the garrison, of course. It was the Sultan and 3 units. (This is H/M level, btw.)

On turn two I see a force of one unit of garrison spears move out of Cordoba to stand on the bridge south. That prevented me from assaulting Cordoba, so I decided to split off a small group to chase them off, then move the main body into the seige after that battle. Then the survivors of that battle could rejoin the start of the next turn before I began the assault, or that was the plan.

Well, you know the sayings about plans and meeting the enemy...

I wanted to overwhelm the single spear unit with minimal losses, so I set along a unit of peasant archers, one of peasant crossbows, one of garrison spears and the King and his heavy cav guard. I figured I'd set up the archers for a crossfire, either draw the Moors into a bridge battle in range of the archers, or drive them back and charge the cav through to envelop, depending on the enemy reaction.

My King is clearly nearsighted. He didn't notice the Cordoba garrison could see what was happening. When he attacked, the garrison sortied (darned bridge is kiddy-corner, but even though it coulnts as 2 moves to get there, that's apparently "adjacent" in game terms!) so instead of a relatively straightforward and small bridge engagement, it got complicated!

Of course, my main force was out of position to help.

The Sultan had his cav to match my King's cav, and two units of desert archers. Pretty darned even matchup in forces, but the garrison was coming from my left rear and the spears were sitting at the end of the bridge. I wasn't anxious to charge them headlong with my cav.

So I started my spears at them with my cav trotting along behind, and darned if they didn't pull back! I double-teamed my two missile units across and set them up facing what had been my rear while watching the Moor spears pull halfway to the edge before setting up facing my, now, rear. Fortunately, they were far enough away that that posed no morale issues... so far.

Long story short: Sultan's guard charged at my spears across the bridge while the missile units dueled a bit. I swapped my archers to fire arrows and shot into the cav's flanks, had the crossbows also shoot into their flanks, the spears held, and my cav countercharged and we rolled up the Sultan's guard and he routed. :smash:

He got away, darn it. :oops: Solo. My cav chased him off the map and got back in time to see the Moor missile troops on the bridge and the spears almost back too.

My spears, the 20 left, spun and met the incoming Moor spears, my archers pelted them with fire once, and my cav charged into their rear. Instant rout. I had my few spears chase them off the map while the cav charged and routed the archers. :beam:

It ended up being my first heroic victory in this game (only had it a week). The better victory ratings sure are harder than in the earlier games! :2thumbsup:

But the best news, and what makes it of interest in this strategy tips section: My main force just trotted through Cordoba's open gates. I struggled with whether to sack it or just occupy, but since the Sultan refused to ransom all the captives from the earliler battle, I sacked. If he'd paid, I would have just occupied. Sacking didn't damage any buildings, btw. Dunno if that's more good luck, or if it's the assaults that do the damage.

Next Zaragoza should fall this turn too. Have the straits blockaded. Should roll up Granada very soon since my losses were so minimal. The council will probably want me to take Valencia, so I'll be racing the Spaniard for that. With any luck they will bloody their noses on El Cid and I can roll over his survivors.

Then I try to marry a French princess to my prince (or vice versa, if I don't get any husband offers that are too good to refuse before that) to firm up the north border, and ally with the Spanish and try to convert the locals to the true faith as I build up, explore, make diplomatic nice-nice, kiss the Pope's ...err, ring, and start building up some admirals.

I expect the Spanish will pick a fight and I will aim to crush them then. If they take their time, I'll raid and sack in the musselman regions of Africa. Doing all this conversion will let me get at least 3 cardinals in nice sky blue in line for any opening at the top too.

I ended up replaying this opening attack on Cordoba three times (so far) and each time I see something move out to the bridge. This is the first time I tackled it thise way. So it may be a regular Moor move when threatened at that early stage. It does prevent at turn 2 attack unless you do as I did, and also puts a stop to a direct move on Granada, but I don't see why that would be of concern compared to Cordoba. Chalk it up to dumb AI moves, I guess.

[CharleyLFC86]

If anyone else has played yet on VH/VH as the Portuguese, I'm sure you may have become very very frustrated with the Moors and blatant computer cheating. So I had Cordoba under siege with an army of about 1200 under commad of my Prince on about turn 5, and despite the Moors having only about 300 men, on the snuing turn, they managed to increase their numbers to 1400 and sally from their garrison. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't training halt while under siege?! And secondly, they were mercenary troops, despite the fact that they had no general to hire them.... Also, they would have had to hire 7 units of mercenary spearmen, which not nearly enough were available in the territory. And lastly, while consulting with their diplomat, they were read to be "bankrupt."

My point is that it was not possible for them to gain 9 full units of spearmen without cheating. VH/VH should make the computer smarter, not allow it to cheat.

What's worse it that after defeating this army the computer simply did the same thing again. So even though I had Gibraltar blocked with ships, the Moors had a seemingly endless flow of troops to throw at me, and consequently I went bankrupt.

Anyone else encountered this ridiculous scenario?

[Atalus]

plenty of times. Which is why I lead with spies and always have 1 Balista in my army.No building of equipment needed. AutoCalc battles like that and you will win even if your spies can't open the gates. The PC reads that you have one Siege piece and therefor win if you have enough troops.

[vonsch]

Is it possible they had a stack close in the trees? I've seen that happen to me in similar situations. In fact, I had it happen at Cordoba once (on M/H or H/H though). Was a shock.

[Callahan9119]

i dont believe training is stopped during siege, and on VH the computer has a huge money and i think upped recruit limit per turn, plus buying mercs

[PuppetMaster]

My portugal campaign is doing really well, but it is EXTREMELY boring for some reason. I don't have gunpowder yet, but it just seems like I'm playing a different colored Spain, not to mention the accent they gave the Portuguese is TOTALLY not correct with what a real Portuguese accent sounds like haha.

[Alsn]

A tip for conquering spain at the very start:

Move your forces from pamplona down to toledo, but do not attack until your forces from lisbon arrive at leon, buy mercenaries enough that you can take out both cities and then siege them on the same turn.

Now, do NOT attack anything else on the map, just let them be near your settlements as youll wipe them out the next turn anyway.

Then on the next turn the pope will not(or at least he didnt for me, i tried 3 times before doing this with trying to kill the spanish over a couple of turns and every time he would threaten with excom) threaten to excommunicate you and you can just go on and take both of the cities.

Your rep with the papal states will fall with a point regardless though as they dont like you killing a cardinal(spains cardinal dies when you wipe them out) but youll at least have 3-4 crosses left to redeem yourself with.

The french will probably attack pretty soon after(aggressive bastards) that so id recommend dealing with their armies before going on to conquer the moors or any rebels(unless you can do it at the same time, in which case, go for it! :) ).

Just remember to block the landbridge to north africa.

Also, the merchant that i started with was generating ~4-500 cash per turn standing on the ivory or gold at timbuktu, so definitely send some merchants down there(possibly even send some to the ivory below egypt if you want the monopoly).

[Dromikaites]

A tip for the early game: the French sell Bordeaux for a tribute of 1000 coins for 5 turns even as late as turn 25. By that time Bordeaux is pretty teched up so the Portuguese player has access to heavier infantry (dismounted feudal knights).

Another early game tip: if you decide to spice up the game by not coquering Spain early on, then a good idea might be to offer them that their princess marries your faction heir. In my game the Spaniards have only their 2 initial provinces in the Iberian penninsula but instead of attacking the Portuguese they went to invade Brittain.

A comment about the Portuguese troops: to me Portugal looks a lot like RTW's Numidia. Actually the Almughavars are much better than the javeline infantry available to Numidia. A full stack army of 3 to 5 Almughavars and the rest Jinetes + the general can trash whatever the AI throws at the human player, probably with the exception of the Mongols and the Timurids. Of course the player should try to fight on open fields as much as possible (or to defend bridges/fords). Such an army is not good for assaulting walls nor for forcing rivers.

Portuguese and the Crusades to Antioch or Jerusalem:
Both targets might be too far for the Portuguese to get there in time early on. Nevertheless joining the Crusades is a good business not only because of cutting costs, gaining experience and winning points with the Pope. The Crusading army might briefly disembark in Italy and recruit Great Cross units. This special Crusader contraption is a great morale booster and comes with a small unit of spearmen with excellent stats. If you want to use it as a spearmen unit you need first to order them to drop the charriot with the Great Cross. However that would be necessary only on very rare occasions because the troops nearby would take a very long time before routing. The player can flank the AI with its nimbler troops.

[mbrasher1]

Portugal's MA does not give it any units. It may give traits. Does anyone know if it is worthwhile?

Portugal has some interesting units. Jinetes are solid units throughout the whole game. Aventuros are the best pikemen in the entire game.

[Dromikaites]

I've tested in custom battle 3 Jinetes against 3 Mongol Heavy Archers, both sides with golden armor and 3 golden chevrons.

Each used the default single line formation. The Jinetes left flank unit and the center were ordered to charge into the Mongol right flank while the Jinetes right flank unit charged the central Mongolian one. After routing the Mongolian right flank one of the 2 Jinetes (the one whith the least losses) was ordered to charge into the Mongol left flank unit (untill then intact and shooting the Jintes engaged with the central Mongol force). The other one went to help the attack on the Mongol center by hitting them in the rear.

After routing the Mongol center the two badly battered Jinettes attacked the last Mongol unit from behind and from its right flank. The total numbers were almost equal but the Mongol unit ended up completely encircled. Eventually it broke and fled.

The odds were almost equal, with the Jinettes having slightly better close quarters statistics while the Mongols had better range. This experiment seems to indicate a Portuguese stack with a lot of Jinetes and several knights might be able to defeat a Mongol similar stack of archers and heavy cavalry, especially whith the later versions of knights. The general idea would be to have the Jinetes pinning the horse archers letting the knights do most of the killing.

[Si GeeNa]

I've been playing with Lusted's LTC mod, on VH/VH.

I've been on excellent alliances with both Spain and France since the very beginning and it looks set to continue.

Spain is currently expanding into England and France is edging into HRE settlements. I have also since concluded marriage alliances with both Spain and France... it's like a Tripartite Pact.

My hunch is that as long as Portugal remains as a relatively periphery power, i.e., not viewed as a global threat, it will be treated with less hostility. I'm 10th on the faction standings, 1 in Finance and production. It also helps that my diplomats work the ground and give tribute every 5 turns. Current reputation is Reliable.

I've since expanded into Moor territories and taken Marrakesh. Overall, it's been a very satisfying game, different from the typical expand-or-die mindset.

[ixidor]

Ok, advices: as the first moves you should take zaragoza as fast as you can and start marching for toledo. Now zaragoza will be easy to take with the troops you have in the region. Also, make peace with the moors, they usually are very passive and don't attack you, with or without alliance, which is good. By the way, use you princess for diplomacy and she will win quite a few charm, what is good since his husband will have the trait "wife is fair", thus increasing the number of brats for you.

Now, as initial units, just use militia, some mercs if you need and especially, jinetes. Theses guys are one of the best missile cavalry of the game, came very early, are ideal to chase rooters, have armor piercing and are pretty good in melee. Now, just DON'T make mailed knights, his high recruitment cost and that 250 upkeep is insane for you early weak economic, make jinetes instead. And never doubt the power of the jinetes, they are simply game winners:


https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k52/kamhal_2006/TotalWar-HeroicVictory.jpg

Are you seeing this battle? 1 unit from jinetes against 2 of militia SPEARMEN and 1 of crowsbowmen militia (or peasent archers, not sure right now). See the results?

Now, don't exterminate anyone and especially, train some spies. Why? After taking toledo the pope will probably start anoying you but not to the point of excommunicate you. If you use spies to take leon in 1 turn and if you don't exterminate anyone you can beat the spanish and not being excomunicaded. By the way, the initial move should be making MINES, especially on Lisbon. For just 2000 you can get 440 every single turn, which is a lot. After that the world is yours. Take Valencia and sack it for money (don't exterminate or it will take an eternity to make it a big and very profitable city), close your frontiers in the Pirineus, destroy the moors, make a crusade on Jerusalem, get Timbuktu for money. Also, turn every single castle in the Peninsula in cities. I only left Pamplona as a castle, the rest is easily defended with militias, and if the things start go wrong you can also recruit some jinetes in the cities, who will crush any rebels around.

I also recommend to not taking Tunis, it will avoid much pain in the ass against Sicily, Milan and sometimes Venice until you are ready to make a full assalt on the Europe.

[Argal]

As a portuguese the only faction that I played was Portugal of course, after unlocking it.

I've made a campaign game in H/H and in turn 200 I had already wiped out Spain, Moors, England (helped by France), Sicily (after they attacked me in Cagliari), France, Denmark, HRE, Venice and Hungary and Egypt had one City each. I occupied all of western Europe, Central Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa, Middle East (struggling with Mongols and Timurids) and set foot in America.

The first moves that I made was to conquer Zaragoza with the Pamplona army, and Valencia with the army that I carry from Lisbon by sea with some help of fresh recruited troops from recent captured Zaragoza.

Then start diplomacy with the French and ally with them (by this time Spain and Moors are allied which can be a good thing, because if you ally with France nor Spain nor the Moors will do so). After that retrain units and train some more and board them in the fleet that is near Pamplona and attack Bordeaux. In Bordeaux train good units and after 2/3 turns get them to Leon by Ocean. At the same time gather troops in Pamplona, Zaragoza and Valencia and head to Toledo. Combine them to attack the 2 spanish cities in the same move.

After taking Spain out of the map I've got 7 cities giving good income and retraining units, with which I easily kick out the remaining cities in the peninsula, held by moors.

I don't use the fleet to block North Africa, instead I put my king with Jinettes, Archers and Spearman and face the armies of Moors that came from Africa. After defeating 3 armies, wipe out Moors was easy.

One good way of getting some more money and influence early in the game, is to put the princess and the diplomat aboard the fleet that bring the faction Heir and the Lisbon army and after dropping them near Valencia go to North Italy and there you can easily get in touch with most of the catholic factions and establish commercial and diplomatic relations.

I'm starting a VH/VH to see if the AI gives some more fight.

[Captain Pugwash]

when or how do the carvels and grande carricks arrive.

[TheLastPrivate]

Need the event "the World is Round"

[Captain Pugwash]

thanks. Just the des st. files doesnt say that. How do you build mines in lisbon there is nothing there?

thanks

[TheLastPrivate]

Not sure but if its not in the building roster than no mines for lisbon i guess.

[seari]

I'm playing 'the crusader' with portugal.
The first turns, i have sent all my armies to egypt to conquer Antioch. The princess went to the Pope to give him some money, and start a crusade. When I arrived there, i played the game rather chivalrous, not starting the war on egypt and turkey.
Now i'm 50 turns in the game, i've got almost whole the Middle east, except Dongola in the south. My northern border is antioch-edessa-mosul-baghdad.
I'm preparing for the Mongols to kill them with my bloody jinetes!!
Oh yeah, i gave al my areas in Iberia to the pope when i had conquered Antioch

and excuse me for my English, I'm from Belgium.

[rvg]

I'm playing 'the crusader' with portugal.
The first turns, i have sent all my armies to egypt to conquer Antioch. The princess went to the Pope to give him some money, and start a crusade. When I arrived there, i played the game rather chivalrous, not starting the war on egypt and turkey.
Now i'm 50 turns in the game, i've got almost whole the Middle east, except Dongola in the south. My northern border is antioch-edessa-mosul-baghdad.
I'm preparing for the Mongols to kill them with my bloody jinetes!!
Oh yeah, i gave al my areas in Iberia to the pope when i had conquered Antioch

and excuse me for my English, I'm from Belgium.

The only problem is that the Portuguese need to hold Granada (I think) as well as Jerusalem in order to win the game, so if you gave Granada to the Pope, you will have to eventually take it away from him.

[seari]

The only problem is that the Portuguese need to hold Granada (I think) as well as Jerusalem in order to win the game, so if you gave Granada to the Pope, you will have to eventually take it away from him.

I left for antioch on turn 2 and so i couldn't give more than only lisbon and pamplona to the Pope when i reached antioch. So the moors are normally still holding granada.

[Eikon the Magistrate]

Am trying an "African" Strategy with the Portugese on VH atm. At the beginning of the game I moved all forces from pamplona to lisbon. Made an alliance with the Spanish then made a fort next to the south bridge of lisbon territory. Bought all mercs possible. Spammed as many militia troops as possible from lisbon into the fort. Took the pamplona/lisbon/merc army and put em on a boat...sent em to Marrakesh.

Result:

Alliance with Spain
War with the Moors
Loss of Pamplona (civil due to troops not bein there, I had sold all buildings too.)
The capture of Marrakesh (converted to a castle to recoup Pamplona)
The capture of Timbuktu
The capture of Alguin

Overall I find that even though it took me abit longer to capture the 1st territories, (about 17 turns) the empire is now much stronger for it and my main enemy (Moors) are now fractured and weak. The Moors sued for peace and are currently paying me for it. The Spanish are fighting the French. The Pope still likes me. Idk how long this utopia will last though....but I hope until I can get some decent military at least.... Can anyone tell me why even the militia are 1/2 as good as everyone elses? :smash:

[Eikon the Magistrate]

Edit: The Spanish betrayed me soon after ..so I destroyed them. Now I control the Iberian peninsula save for pamplona (reconquered) and valencia ..I gave those territories to the papacy. So I now have a "fortress Iberia" since noone will attack the popes lands coupled with the land bridge to africa (the moors are no moor!) Now my peace loving Portugese can begin their economic supremacy at last.

This was my 1st time playing the portugese... (Always have used Spanish or someone else) I wanted to have an african/new world faction to mess around with (Conquistadors and Sudanese Tribesmen ftw!)

I find the portugese armies are not too hard to get used too esp if you have used the spanish or the russians alot since many units are skirmisher types. Eventually by the late feudal era or so the Portugese start looking like e1 else DFK etc.. and by the Late period they are stronger than many...soo all in all not too bad and a nice change from the usual

x archers
x swordsmen
x spearmen

I always have considered skirmishers to be primal and primitive..indicitive of a dying era and a savage mentality but I must say that x6 Alguhvars throwing spears is a beautiful sight :idea2: the only real issue I had with the early armies is that you have no real "staying" power with most of your forces. Since they are so pitiful I was forced to stagger them 2 town militia or 1/2 spears so the front line was quite small. Buit once again no real difference from the Spanish or Russians as far as strategy goes.

[oz_wwjd]

I've found Jinettes to be usefil in the late game as well.Recently Denmark invaded and sieged my fortress of Pamplona with at least 5 stacks of War clerics,dis feudal knights and crossbowmen/handgunners. I used my jinettes to get behind his lines and fill the War Clerics with javelins,to neutrelize them before they could do any damage.

[Ozzman1O1]

I disagree with starting with spain,and foccusing on africa,ive just conquered all the western map starting with taking large moorish cities,like marrikesh and cordoba, making it really easy to take out spain and france.

[Master Young Phoenix]

I'm now 52 turns away from the end of a roller-coasterride Portugal long campaign H/H, what a great faction the portugese are! I like their retro style. and most of all, I like Jinetes. Viva Jinetos!

what I learned about Jinetes

1. Jinetes are troops without equal, in the right numbers they can handle everything from light foot to the mongol's Bodyguards. If you need troops to face the mongols? "spam_jinetes" is the "code". Get a full stack of Jinetes against one of theirs, and you're set (don't auto-calc, it's a cool kind of battle to play)... a half-jinete, half-infantry should work if you want to take the fight to them and actually conquer some of their settlements. Also, if you go to town in France with your expansion, you'll eventually get into conflict with the scruffulous Danes (sp? it's what all other nations say about them) who have no light cavalry worthy of the name and field mostly infantry.

2. because of their versatility they're an ideal rebel-hunting unit. nice for general-training too.

3. a mixed army however, is far more fun to play with when facing catholics. i didn't need much more than 10 mixed infantry 50% swordsmen/fk, 20% missile, 30% pike (machiavelli's art of war->it works) and fill the rest of the stack with Jinetes. In battle the jinetes skirmish ahead. I like to send them in close immediately where they throw their javelins and cause disorder or enough annoyance to make the enemy advance. When out of ammo, they're either held back to make flank attacks, or to destroy the artillery should there be any... if you're using half a stack of jinetes, pick a few good targets who will give your infantry trouble, like artillery and other cavalry. leave spears to the swordmen.. It's a good idea to get them to the enemy's rear while he advances, Harass them.
Almugavirs are a good supporting infantry unit for Jinetes. they're also decent castle-wall defenders.

4. Cantabrian Circle still rocks (played RTW before).

5. disable skirmish mode before charging into close combat.

Factional:

1. the princess to Spain -and there could be money in this- and in my game, they chose to expand beyond the pyrenees to Bordeaux and Wales (of all places!) because they were the family in-law and allies on good to outstanding relations... untill my nobles required Toledo...

2. If you take out the moors before Spain attacks you, and spain does not take Valencia and goes across the pyrenees you can handle them easily, so blitz those moors. focus on the military building during the 1st generation and get the economy going when Iberia is yours.

3. I should have turteled in Europe and expanded through Africa I think, 52 turns left and the only anti-islam crusade was to Antioch when it was still rebel (others: Genoa, Milan, Tunis, Naples, Riga, Inverness). I should petition another this evening. Due to my grand involvement as champion of the pope i focussed on that front and am now the grand power in Western europe, holding the iberian peninsula, most of France (all but angers), italy except rome and genoa (papal states), the original Venetian continental possessions and budapest. The objective town of Jerusalem still eludes me (had afrika up to alexandria, but the region was a backwater to me)... At the time I am at war with the remnants of the former French dynasty (I have Reims, I am the annointed king-roleplay), the Danes just struck and got excommed and the English betrayed me. The mongols are banging at my door and the Timurids are almost at constatinople, while the mongols threaten the Papal seat of Durazzo (!)

4. With the Papal States being your best friend and all, you need them to pack a punch so they don't nag for stuff. when I gave them Genoa after a succesfull crusade (to genoa, yes), they took Dijon (which I traded for Milan), when I gave them sacked, rebelious constantinople for Milan to up my favour for some leeway with handling France, they became a power in the east and took much of the Balkans and a good amount of lands in Turkey... I think it was the pope who took out Hungary. He was a very usefull ally on the seas too. at the moment, the papal glory on the hellaspont proved to be short lived, the mongols pushed him back to durazzo. Most popes have been Portuguese to, the thing I did do in Africa was build priests. there are a lot of heretics to burn over there. In addition, there are a lot of rebels too, so it's a nice place to drill your Jinetes for a good crusade... which is the way to go next time. If all of Spain is yours, turtle in europe and become an african power. The Sicilians will be excommunicated anyway, like all Italians but the Pope himself.

downside is the fact that the pope can then make more inquisitors faster, but I never had real problems with them (the bagged some priests, nothing important) because of the perfect relationship Portugal had with the pope. another downside is the increase in Papal States Cardinals. If the pope's your friend it's perfect, as you can cooperate to keep one of you both on the seat... and the pope should be your friend after what you did for him. keep relations perfect, ensure numerous cardinals for your most trusted ally (screw all others, if the rep with the Pope is Perfect, he is all ally you need).

5. the plague ain't so bad. due to the resources of 3 factions (my own, the Moors, the Spanish), I could still overpower my European enemies the French and Milanese shortly after the Black death with the surviving troops untill the pope said "when" (he still does that...)

6. the America's are far... the first real expeditions is bound to arrive though.

7. I'm going to get me Jerusalem now, before the official game-time ends. I still have 52 turns to go so I should get another big fleet into the med and a few field armies with dashing generals and make another trip to my long-time ally Egypt... with no crusades against them, we're still allied! it's been more than 3 centuries no less!

8. spam_jinetos

:slomo:

[Maltz]

This is my favrotie opening movies on VH/VH. It seems to hurt diplomacy though.

Turn 1: Gather all forces from Lisban and take Cordoba. Use the spy to open the gate. Gather all forces from the other town to proceed to Leon. Proceed to block the straight to prevent the first wave of Moors coming.

Turn 2: Gather all forces from Cordoba (leave 2 for the garrison) and attack Toledo.

Turn 3: Besiege Leon. Next turn take it.

Turn 5: Besiege Toledo. Spy opens the gate.

So by turn 5 all major threats on Iberia is neutralized, and you have 5 of the best developed cities. Pope rating is 4 crosses from the bottom.

Troubles:

- I always get an annoying landing of the Sicilians (half stack) at turn 6.

[Tamerlane]

Why play Portugal when you can be Timurids?

[BharatRakshak]

After reading the strategies here, I decided to make my opening moves to take out Spain first. Even before going for Zaragoza, I brought my army from Pamplona into Toledo, and the army in Lisbon up to Leon and sieged. By turn 4/5, Spain is gone, and no exco warning from Pope either. Then Cordoba is sieged in about turn 8, about to fall with land bridge blockaded. Granada should fall after that with a small garrison there now. When taking Toledo from Spain, I did it under heavy rain cover to protect better from the arrows.

After getting Iberia, I'm not sure what should be my next move. I've played as Moors before, and it is very tempting to go from Pamplona-Zaragoza to Bordeaux-Toulouse. Now you get two castles as border provinces instead of a city and a castle. Also neither is in Iberia, so you have a line of defence behind you. Yet when I played as the Moors, I would often lose Toulouse to some massive Milanese or French army. AI doesn't like you being so secure. See my ideal thing to do after having Iberia and the entire Western half of Africa is to go take the British isles, and maybe Scandinavia also.

Maybe this game as Porto...I'll take Bordeaux and Toulouse and then give them to the Pope.

[Shigemasa Oyamada]

This is my first post on this website's forum, and I decided to do so in the MTW2 section since its my favorite of the series. I've done all the factions at least a few times, and I decided to do a Portuguese campaign in which I took all of Iberia, conquer North Africa and then wait for the new world. I'm currently on turn 57, just starting some forays into North Africa from Marrakesh. Generally I'm not too agressive, so usually the only wars I start are for rushing a nearby faction or from Crusades/Jihads. This sort of game with a very powerful late-game faction suits me :laugh4:


First thing I did was what seems to be the convential rush tactic for the Portuguese, rushing Toledo. However, instead of focusing all my soldiers at Toledo I sent my Pamplona army north to Leon to save time. The gamble paid off as encountered none of the stacks nearby Toledo, allowing me to simultaneously take both Spanish settlements and wipe them from the face of Iberia. The Pope at first didn't take to this very well and His Holiness excommunicated me. However as soon as the Spanish were destroyed I was reconciled for some reason :inquisitive:.

Cordoba was my next target, falling with minimal fuss (I had blocked Gibraltar with my ships, something that I didn't know one could do until I read that was possible on this forum) and Grenada followed suit. Zaragoza was overwhelmed by my stack of Lusitianian Javelinmen and Jinetes, who then turned to destroy the Rebel remnants of Spain. My army in the south moved on to Valencia, but his most holy Pope decided the the Crusades were my true calling. He demanded I join in on the ride to Jerusalem or face the Spanish (Portuguese?) inquisition. I didn't care about him excommunicating me, so I thought I wasn't gonna let some guy in a pointy hat with a Penchant for calling random (often important) familiy members the defilers of God's will hold me hostage. I needed all my troops so I decided an Assassin to end his name-calling would be my solution.


The inquisitor showed up in his white garments ready to have them covered in the ashes of the unfaithful, but apparently he decided some other locale was in more desparate need of his services and completely disappeared (he moved into the fog and never returned :end:) without so much as even gracing the air with the smell of burnt heretics.

Meanwhile, my conquering of Iberia was completed ~:cheers:. I consolidated my position for awhile ( I had converted Granada and Valencia to cities long ago, all I really need is Toledo and Pamplona). I had already mapped out all my settlement's futures. Lisbon unsurprisingly would be my Port of riches and home of the Merchant's guild hopefully. Leon was to be my Theologian refuge, again hoping to get HQ since the priests that come out do so practically as Cardinals. Corduba is my Assassin training camp, Valencia my re-education center for turning unwanted thieves into spies of the state, Toledo my Swordsmithery, Pamplona my Horse genetics labratory and Zaragoza will be my Alchemist Capital.

France to the north, as I well know from past games, tends to get quite envious of Portuguese control of Iberia. Seeing a full stack comprised of Mailed Knights and Mounted Sergeants at the NE corner of the Toulouse region ( Pays de'Orc in NTW), I decided some kind of wall was necessary. This wall, the wall of faith, consisted of Bordeaux and Toulouse (which I blitzed) under the control of the Papacy. It was a triple win for me, since it raised my relations with the Pope to Perfect, prevented the French or anyone on the continent from attacking me by land. Lastly, it was easier to keep contact with those settlements than Rome, so my diplomats never have to go far to distribute my gifts of goodwill to his most holy Pope.


And now I started the second step of my planned game: become Overlord of western North Africa. To jumpstart my invasion I convinced the Pope to call the Holy Chastisement of Crusader armies upon Marrakesh (to which many European nations responded). Marrakesh proved poorly defended and I occupied it in one turn with my catapults. The heir of the Moors rose with an army from Timbuktu to challenge me in the Atlas mountains, but in vain as my supieror Crusaders made mincemeat of the Javelinmen and Spear Militia. I am currently sieging Algiers with my Lusitanian Javelinmen/ Jinete army, and my Crusader army marches ever so closer through the unrelenting Sahara towards Timbuktu as we speak.


Some notes about the units: Jinetes of course are Awesome cavalry, using their ranged attack to Shishkebob knights and charging the Militias that comprise the early armies. However the pathing always gets me, ensuing that even skirmishing against melee units resulted in a couple casualties. Almughavars have always been a favorite of mine, throwing Javelins to perforate armored foes and pummeling early units in melees. I'm looking forward to getting the Late-game units. i'm one building away from Aventuros in Toledo. Portuguese Arquebusiers are good. being a pretty balanced unit, but the long range of Musketeers is too good for me to give up (They're pratically snipers! Anyways, Aventuros give them a wall of steel to hide behind when enemies get close). Portugal is one of my favorite factions, and I hope you enjoyed reading my post as much as I enjoyed making it :flybye:

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Note to self (and others):

When thumping Spain out early in a "blitz," equip the toledo strike force with TWO ballistae units. If the interior gate towers burn the first unit (which happened to me) while the gate is only 60% wrecked, you lose and are threatened with immediate excommunication. Only a one-turn "fait accompli" can avoid this.

You can certainly continue to fight, remove Spain, and then move forward under Papal hatred, but it will slow you down a lot. On VH/M I was winning time and again, but had so many Catholic enemies that I could barely re-tool for the next batch in time to knock them down. Buidling under these circumstances is slow (and I lost my chance at a Portugese Pope by one vote....). By the time I turned the corner and begain to really develop the power to expand, I was already facing cannon towers.....

Note:

Late Portugese armies have a good troop selection. One of the better pike units in the game, sword militias for defense, basilisk artillery, and powerful caracks. Only comparative weakness is castle swords -- dismounted feudals are all you get, no chivalrics or anything else. To be fair, this isn't a dire limitation.

Add in some merc longbow and hackbuts and you have a nice mix.