The Portuguese or Portuguese Empire was a global empire originating from the European nation of Portugal that possessed multiple overseas colonies. In the New World, the Portuguese controlled a large amount of land in the eastern parts of South America until 1822 (most notably Brazil).
The Portuguese are one of the difficult civilizations to play in Age of Empires III due to its relatively slow start. They do begin with one extra Settler more than other European civilization (except the Spanish). However, they do not have any Settler cards in their decks because of the extra Covered Wagons they receive every time they advance in age. Since the Portuguese receive these Towns Centers for free every age, their economy typically becomes stronger as the maximum settler output increases dramatically.
The Portuguese also have a strong navy, light infantry, possess the best all around Dragoons in the game (Spanishunction dragoons hit harder but have fewer hit points) and the combat cards their units get in the Industrial Age can make them quite powerful and difficult to beat in longer games. The Portuguese generally try to get to the Fortress Age quickly due to the fact that they are very strong beyond the Colonial Age. The Portuguese can have three Explorers with a Home City Card. If the Explorers are properly upgraded at the Capitol, then they serve as very effective Infantry. Their Organ Guns give them a distinct combat advantage.
The Portuguese also have a unique spyglass ability their Explorer can use to quickly explore the map or to spy on the enemy. Spyglass is very useful to occasionally ‘check up’ on one’s opponent’s progress. If used in conjunction with Hot Air Balloons, their reliance on scouts and Spies is greatly diminished. That way, one can know where to strike, what structures they have, and what size of a force they have.
Due to the inclusion of the card TEAM Chonindo with Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (Japanese) and the Portuguese card TEAM Fish Market, the two civilizations are very difficult to defeat as a team on maps featuring water. The result of both cards being played is +18% to Fishing Boat gather rates, this almost compensates for the Port card being much weaker than the normal Fish Market card (+25%). It also stacks with the Japanese Fish Market card to give Japan a theoretical +43% greater gather rate in the Discovery Age (78% for whales) and +73% to the gather rates in the Colonial Age (+108% for whales), in the Fortress Age the gather rates for the Fune can be increased by another 125% for a total of +233% to the gather rates.
The base gather rate for a Fune is 0.67 for fish and 0.5 for whales, which is identical to a normal fishing boat. This means the Fune will gather resources much faster than a fishing boat with the above trick.
Added by Abecedar
