My long overdue overly long review of the Brazilian Revolution rework

Age of Empires III: DE III - Discussion
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At some point in the last two years, the Brazilian Revolution, available to Portugal, Italy and the Dutch, received a semi-complete rework adding a bunch of new cards, some even unique to Brazil, and making it a more complete Revolution with a 24 card deck. I wasn’t playing much AoE3 at the time, so I didn’t give it much attention until now. Those who know me on this forum know that I have some strong opinions on how and why Brazil should be featured in the game alongside the USA and Mexico, so naturally I too have some opinions on the Revolt option.
I’ll break it down by sections:

1)Portuguese Stuff
As expected, the Brazilian deck inherits some cards from Portugal: Feitorias, Donatarios, Bandeirantes, Land Grab and Town Militia(the latter two are also available to basically everybody). All are a fair choice, it would be weird to not have Bandeirantes and Donatarios in the deck. Brazil also gets Portuguese Cassadores, which makes sense.
There are no Dutch or Italian cards on the Brazilian Deck.

2)Native allies.
Brazil lost its signature Legendary Natives card, but now has access to four different native allies’ units: Tupis, Caribs, Jesuits and Akans. Tupis and Jesuits are fairly obvious choices. Caribs are a bit odd, since there aren’t that many Carib natives living in Brazil, they are mostly present in the Guayanas and the Caribbean, but they are fine I guess. Given the options currently available in the game, Tupis and Caribs are the best allies to represent Brazilian first peoples. It would be nice to have Guaranis, Jês, Tapuias or Charruas as more accurate options though.
Then there are the Akans, which are the only representation of the black population of Brazil. While there were Akan people brought to Brazil by the slave trade, enslaved Yorubas were likely more numerous and had a much deeper impact in Brazilian culture than the Akans. If I could offer a suggestion to the devs, I would replace the 24 Akan Allies card with the African Roots card(from the Haitian Revolution) which features both Yoruba and Akan units and technologies. Speaking of technologies, it would be nice to have access to the technologies of at least one of the four native allies, instead of just the units.

3)Unique Brazilian stuff
Now for the actual unique Brazilian features, we got:

  • A)Voluntários da Pátria: Weaker but more numerous revolutionaries that are generated for free at the Town Centers. They are mostly unchanged from the previous versions of Brazil. I never liked how the Voluntários ended up being the ‘cannon fodder’ revolutionary that you’re supposed to just spam…

  • B)Jagunços: Brazilian version of the Comancheiro. Mostly unchanged from previous patches, just a Comanchero with some new stats and a cool Cangaceiro hat. By the way, why aren’t cangaceiros in the game yet?! The Portuguese explorer skin doesn’t count.

  • C) Independence Dragoons. Also unchanged, they are fine.

  • D)Minas Gerais: Re-unlocks settlers and gives you a coin trickle. I would swap this card’s effects with the TEAM Bonifacio card.

  • E)TEAM Bonifacio: Ships a random prospector and increases mines’ yields. This should be Minas Gerais’ effect.

  • F)Brazilian Importers: Ships infrastructure wagons and makes future shipments arrive faster. I have no idea what this is supposed to be referencing… Are we importing buildings materials? From where? Is this supposed to represent the portuguese royals’ stay in Rio de Janeiro? What is this?!

  • G) Bahia: Ships Jesuit Conquistadors and 2 extra churches. I bit of a odd choice of a name for the Jesuits card. The Jesuits were all over the place in colonial era Brazil, this one could easily have been named after any of the Brazilian provinces. Bahia has a lot of very interesting history that could be featured in this card instead. Perhaps this one could be renamed to more specifically reference the “Jesuits College” in Salvador.

  • H) Rio de Janeiro: Unlocks the Capitol and most of its techs at a discounted price. Fair enough.

  • I) Amazonia: Gives you a wood trickle and increases wood gather and yield rates. Its ok, but could be more creative… A bonus were trees last longer and give you coin in addition to wood would be a cool nod to the Brazilwood trade or the Rubber trade.

  • J) Wildlife: Gives you a bunch of Capybaras, Tapirs and Jaguars. Wildlife?! Really, you couldn’t think of a less generic name? Call it “Pantanal”, it fits this card perfectly.

4)Other stuff
What else… Brazil can build 4 extra Town Center(6 with Donatarios), which combos with Feitorias and the free Voluntários da Pátria for a lot of free resources and disposable units. Minas Gerais and Amazonia add even more trickles of resources and so does Bahia with the extra churches…
There are shipments for extra Forts, Ironclads, Gatling Guns and… Soldados? Ok… Personally, if I had to pick a Mexican unit to borrow, I would take the Insurgente, it fits very well with Brazilian history and it’s another cheap and highly spammable unit to go along the Voluntários da Pátria.

5)What else is missing?
No São Paulo? No Pernambuco? No Rio Grande do Sul? No Grão-Pará? Brazil is a large nation with a lot of really interesting local histories to tell. If only there was an in-game mechanic where you could feature a bunch of different provinces, or states, with distinct regional identities…
Also, there are almost no navy related cards. The only one is the 2 Ironclads shipment, which is given as a generic card to all Revolutions by default. The navy used to play a huge role in the Empire’s politics, being able to reach distant parts of the Empire much faster and more effectively that Brazil’s relatively young Army could. Even during the Paraguay War, the navy played a key role in taking control of the Plata river and blockading Paraguay. It should be better represented somehow.
I have a bunch of other ideas that could make into the game, which can be found in my pitch for a Brazilian civ.

6)Conclusion
I have been clamoring for more Brazilian representation in this game for so long that I can’t really complain about getting a rework, it’s better than nothing and I sincerely thank the devs for giving some attention to a feature of the game that most players likely would ignore. But there is still so much potential left on the table, so many cool little histories to be told, I really wish that this rework is not the end of it.

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Good review. :slightly_smiling_face:
I think most of us who love revolutions can agree that it feels a bit unfair that revolutions feel so bland compared to the French Revolution, which shows the passion of those who created it.

I hope to see more fans of this mechanic come out, talk about improving it and come up with ideas that are fun and better represent the revolutionary civilization. After all, if we don’t do it, no one else will.

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I’m not entirely sure, but I think that this is supposed to represent the large amount of imported goods that Brazil purchased from the British post-independence.

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Algún día agregarán a Brasil como nueva civilización federal y con ello nutrirán esta revolución

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Let’s hope so.
(20 characters)

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This is a major bone I have to pick with most people who talk about changes in AoE3, so don’t take it personally. The issue is that AoE3 is not a history simulator. For some reason people think that this game and it’s elements are supposed to precisely recreate history. They don’t. They can’t. They won’t. AoE3 is an RTS first, then a historically-based game.

When I read this review, I was expecting to hear some sort of commentary about the game play, the design of the revolution, its goals, its balance, its strategic uses, etc. There’s none of that here. It’s half of the review that’s missing, and arguably, the more important half since it’s the part that could win or lose a game. Again, this isn’t a personal attack. It’s a critique aimed broadly at many in this community who don’t really think about this game as a competitive RTS game first. The devs have to. We can just play against a highly exploitable AI and play at whatever difficulty we want to get the experience we want. We can use the game as a history simulator, but that’s not what it’s designed to be.

That said, some comments on the revolution:

  • The revolution has a LOT of passive income. The feitorias, factories, and auto-generating units all contribute a passive economy and military that’s as formidable as any: S. Africa or Dutch. Ideally, this would mean you have a lot of space for your own military, but you don’t because the VdP consume it with cannon fodder. If you’re early enough to revolt, you can get some value out of that, but anything later than 30 minutes, and it’s just annoying bloat that strategically, you’re better off turning off, which is a real shame.
  • On the VdP, again, they’re spawning out of every TC, so you have to use the military waypoint which has to be point and clicked or manually custom hotkeyed. By turning off the spawns, and then selecting all the TCs to turn on spawns at the same time, you could synchronize the waves, but you’re better of spreading them out. They do not allow overpopulation. You will quickly find that you don’t have room for units which actually do hit hard enough to matter if you max out the TCs and VdPs.
  • The passive economy itself for Brazil is massive. It has a Dutch vibe in that you’ll run fewer villagers and 140-150 of your pop cap into army.
  • You’ll want to max out natives to overpopulate your army. You’ll need the extra punch power because the VdP do not hit hard enough to kill anything. They’re literally cannon fodder just there to provide HPs that the enemy has to set to 0.
  • There is a strong focus on light cav with this revolution, which pairs nicely with Ports’ custom cards
  • As was noted in the OP, there’s little to nothing for a navy, so it’s better for land maps

Overall, it’s a very frustrating and difficult revolution to play because the VdP are so weak. Even after you set up the full passive economy Brazil offers, an absolutely monstrous economy to be fair, you’ll have difficulty spending the resources because you’re constantly fighting the pop cap. The result is a very gimmicky game play where you’re trying to figure out how to precisely time spawns that allow you to overpop and synchronize those with the VdP waves to use as cover. The AI is adept at wiping all of this out rapidly, if you’re looking at playing this late in the game or in treaty mode. It’s very weak to massed artillery or massed grenadiers.

Edit: on Brazilian Importers - I suspect what they’re getting at is that Brazil was a massive exporter of raw goods both to Portugal and to other European powers like Britain, but because of the rigid control of the local economy, did NOT develop a local industry to produce fine goods. They exported sugar rather than develop a large rum making industry, for example. They exported wood rather than mill it and refine it into furniture and other finished goods. It had to be imported, and there was big money to be made importing those goods in the early history of Brazil.

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I respectfully disagree. AoE3, or any of the other Age of games, is indeed not a historical simulator, but it is history based and that is just as important as the gameplay. We want our history games to be historically authentic, to translate real history into fun and immersive gameplay. Otherwise, why bother making new scenarios, unit skins or icons for the techs?

There is a little bit… I did mention how you can build a ton of TCs, get lots of trickles and free units and the lack of navy related bonuses. But yeah, I was mostly concerned with the historicity and references the devs drank from to create this version of Brazil.

Do they? Surely, it’s their responsibility to keep the game balanced in order to sustain the competitive community. But they also need to cater to more casual players or the history nerds, like myself, who like the setting. I don’t think its a matter of one thing being more important than other, but finding balance.

Ok, let’s go…

Agreed. The VdP end up being more of an liability than an asset to the player. They’re absurdly population inefficient. VdP have 1/2 of the HP and 1/2 of the attack of a generic Revolutionary, but the same population cost. Which means that even a 200 VdP army will only have the effective combat capability of 50 generic Revolutionaries.

Depending on how well you set-up your base before revolting you might not even need to train settlers again. A TC spam with feitorias + Minas Gerais + Amazonia + 2 Factories + Banks(if you’re Dutch) + Lombards(if you’re Italian) can keep you going for a very long if needed, not that you should. Revolutions are usually best if used quickly, Brazil doesn’t have any great military bonuses and the longer the fight lasts, the more likely it is for your enemy to out tech you and overwhelm you with superior units.

Independence Dragoons, Jagunços and Jesuits are all Light Ranged Cavalry. The Dragoons are strong, if you got Portugal’s upgrades before revolting, but otherwise they are just ok. Depending on the situation, Jagunços might be the most cost effective alternative.

Which is a shame, but to be fair… Many other revolutions also have nothing to offer on water maps. Argentina, Peru and, surprisingly, the American Revolution have barely anything water related on their decks.

Same verdict here. Voluntários spam is a terrible strategy. Brazil needed a power unit that could actually benefit from the VdP meat shield, but it doesn’t.

That’s probably it… Still, I think this is such a weird card for some reason.

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The historical Voluntarios da Patria were military units, not revolutionaries, I would prefer that the Voluntarios da Patria were like the Musketeers with a different skin and perhaps have similar stats to the Russian Rekrut (a little cheaper and a little weaker). This way the Town Centers spawn Voluntarios da Patria (only one at a time), and they can also be trained in the Barracks.

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I would prefer a Brazilian Revolution that could go “Imperial” like Revolutionary France, and get new cards like RF does, to a new Brazilian civ to be added to the game

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