You will want to favor techs that give you access to more Trade Routes, because that will aid you in the early-game even if you have few trading partners or are stuck with just City-States.

This means that even if you are put in the situation where you cannot expand to have many Cities, this Civ is more than capable of adapting to those circumstances. Given more Resources will lead to higher Trade Route income, playing Wide with Maria to increase Resource diversity by controlling more land is not a bad idea, but the extra gold will also help a Tall empire get more out of its smaller land area. However, when you are generating massive amounts of Gold, as Portugal is very capable of, Diplomatic Victory always comes to the forefront for most experienced players - just as it does with Venice and other Civs focused on money. Portugal is a very flexible Civ, because their bonus is all about money and that is a commodity that aids in any Victory Condition, from helping with Unit upkeep for a Domination Victory or buying Spaceship Parts with Freedom to win Scientifically. Strategies/Ideas for playing as Maria I's Porgual: The Feitoria gives you a copy of every Luxury Resource a City-State has connected. Despite being a Civ that is very well-suited for Diplomatic Victory, she's not likely to pursue any particular Victory Condition. Trade routes benefit competing Civs, but help you, too! The more incoming, the better. The AI should make use of its Trade Route bonuses, so having the East India Company built in one of your Coastal Cities will make it a better target for her ships. Maria I is middle of the road in many stats, so your experience playing against her can vary wildly from game to game. Playing Against The Maria I AI - Their Tendencies (XML Info and Flavors) Warmonger When playing against Portugal, pillaging a Feitoria counts as an act of war. For an Ally you really want to keep, you may even station your own unit there. This would be particularly potent on a hill. The Feitoria counts as a Fort, so you may want to aid a CS by putting it in a good spot - any units defending there will get a +50% defense bonus. The Feitoria will give you one copy of each Luxury Resource the Civilization has connected, which is typically reserved for when you have an Alliance with a CS. The Feitoria comes toward the mid-game and allows your Workers to build this tile improvement in a City-State's borders, but only on a tile along the coast.

The experience gained will usually be about enough to let it go up 1 level if you have built it from a City with a Barracks, so you can tailor them to your needs.

The Nau does not gain any combat strength over the Caravel, nor movement, however when it is on the border of another Civilization or City-State, it may use its Exotic Cargo ability to generate Gold and Experience relative to the distance it is from your own lands. It does help with City-State trade routes as well, but you are almost always better off trading with other Civs for the gold per turn is typically double. This is usually 0.5 per resource you have available in your Empire, but with Portugal is doubled to 1 gold per - this can add up to a lot of extra gold with many trade routes going to other Civs. Resource diversity grants double gold for Portugal in each trade route.

Civ 5 Portuguese Civilization Civ Bonuses, AI Info, Strategies, Unique Units and Buildings Updated for Gods and Kings and Brave New World DLCs

Civilization 6 portugal