Without changing the civ purpose (late game gunpowder naval civ) but giving them something to make their early game more manageable and try to be historically accurate here are some proposals:
1st: A small forest spawns next to the TC : This would save wood from not needing to build first lumber camp and time spent walking there. King Dinis planted a pine tree forest that would later allow the Portuguese to use the wood to build boats and start the age of discovery. (Still exists today, Pinhal de Leiria). On the downside that was planted in the 13th century and the Dark Age is early middle ages so it’s not super accurate also it could create issues with map generation.
2nd: Portuguese start with 50 bonus stone and receive 100/150/200 for each Age: This would allow them to build outposts and/or stone walls to better survive their weak early game without compromising building TC’s in the Castle Age and would also give them the choice to save it to build a Castle faster or more TC’s. Downside is might make tower rushing too strong and it’s an annoying tactic for most. I don’t know if Portugal has more stone than other countries, but Portuguese pavement is quite famous and there’s many old stone buildings. (probably true in most of Europe tbf)
3rd: Allow Organ Guns to be built on the Siege Workshop after researching Carrack.
4th: Buff Elite Organ Guns: Organ Guns are strong in Castle age and too weak in Imperial due to the lack of upgrades when compared to most units that have upgrades from blacksmith. Or maybe add bonus to organ guns stats in Arquebus tech.
5th: Portuguese can build one (free?) Feitoria in Castle Age: This wouldn’t change their weak early game but allow a faster boom when they reach Castle without food investment.
6th: Add a bombard Cannon to Feitoria so it can defend itself and even be used offensively: Maybe too strong/annoying since it only makes their late game stronger without affecting early game issues.
7th: Portuguese can research Chemistry in the Castle Age: You can still lock bombard towards, bombard cannons, cannon galleons and hand canonneers behind Imperial Age but this would allow them to have higher damage Arbalests in the Castle Age and allow them to research Chemistry while aging up to Imp so they can start pumping out gunpowder units as soon as possible. Another way would be to let them build all gunpowder units in Castle Age but with nerfed stats.
I like the 2nd, 3rd and 4th the most, they are simple to implement and good by themselves, what do you think?
This sounds hilarious. Gimme Castle Age HC
At my level the main balance problem would be Castle Age BBC with >8 range, because those could take out castles too easily. You’ve already suggested various ways to avoid that. (Either locking BBC behind Imperial or gimping CA BBC range.)
the problem with this is they will be pushed more towards xbows than organ guns or HC; once you get to imp, you just research arbalest+bracer and produce those cheaper BBC, get arquebus and maybe siege engineers and end it.
nah, they’re produced fairly fast after conscription and doesn’t fit the tech name anyway
yeah this is probably the best approach, also maybe buff arquebus or reduce its price, Its a bit expensive for all its nerfs now
I also wonder how much lacking gold shaft mining affects them
I think buffing organ guns should be the priority, if we want to keep them a navy/gunpowder civ that’s fine, and if we want them to be a late game power that doesn’t have a ton of eco bonuses, we have to make that late game army comp impressive. I don’t think the Portugese have that right now, I’d much rather have Jannissaries or Conquistadors. Eliminate their minimum range, give their additional bullets more damage, give them slightly better accuracy, and give the Elite Organ Gun more HP and melee armor. Only getting 2 melee armor and being unable to upgrade that at all through the blacksmith is pretty weak, even HCA get 1+3 melee armor. The problem is, cavalier and paladin just annhilate organ guns with pretty minimal effort, especially with the minimum range.
I agree with this. Organ guns hit a power spike in castle age, but fall off in imperial. This change would give the Portuguese a viable unit to use in imperial age. I also think that buffing arquebus to increase projectile speed/damage or something similar would be cool to see.
Feitoria are a building that are really only seen in the late-imperial age. I think allowing the Portuguese to construct one Feitoria in castle age is a cool idea that will give more use to the building and allow for some interesting castle age gameplay.
This sounds like it would be a paint to implement.
given how valuable stone is, this could cause far reaching ramifications. so many options unlocked with 150 extra stone by the time you hit feudal. and 300 by the time you hit castle.
they also get a much higher increase in power compared to most units when they upgrade.
that said i feel an accuracy increase could definitely help elite.
feitoria is an incredibly gimmicky building and i don’t know if i would want a civ balanced around a gimmick.
oh god, i can see the viper trolls now.
this actually pushes them more towards archers then HC due to the better accuracy and the more damage they would pump out.
1st - this will be not only resource buff, but also very good defensive bonus, because with additional forrest near TC portos will be able to much easier wall. Interesting one, but I think hard to implement.
3rd - not after Carrack, this is naval tech. After Arquebus.
4th - this will happen most likely. Good one.
6th - Bombard Feitoria can be too much, but allow Feitoria to have firepower similar to TC with garrisoned 20vills is worth to discuss.
