This article is about the consulate ally in Age of Empires III. For other appearances of the faction in the series, see Portuguese. |
The Portuguese are a Consulate ally in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties available to the Indians and Japanese. Like all Consulate allies, 100 export is required to ally with them, or 25 export if the Diplomatic Intrigue card is sent beforehand. Doing so makes the player's buildings cost 15% less food and wood.
Consulate Portuguese allies is also available for the Japanese in the Act I: Japan campaign. Unlike the standard game, they have a different bonus and list of Consulate armies. Choosing to ally with the Portuguese makes the player's villagers train 15% faster.
Description[]
The Portuguese bonus makes buildings 15% cheaper in wood and food. This includes Wonders, so it also helps advance in age sooner. All their shipments send ships, making them powerful on naval maps, but not very useful on maps without water. They provide two ranged infantry Royal Guard units: the foot archer Ordinance Besteiro Crossbowmen and the heavy Legionnaire Musketeers, as well as the light anti-ship artillery and anti-artillery Culverin. The time needed to train these armies varies, but it can be reduced by 50% with the Letter of Good Faith Agreements card.
Technologies[]
Age | Improvement | Cost | Research time | Effect |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fishing Fleet | 250 export | 30 seconds | Ships 3 Fishing Boats | |
Exploration Fleet | 425 export | Ships 1 Caravel with 3 Petards in it | ||
Expeditionary Fleet | 700 export | Ships 1 Ironclad | ||
Portuguese Brigade | 2,300 export | 90 seconds | Ships 11 Legion Dragoons and 4 Horse Artillery |
- The Good Faith Agreements card reduces technology cost by 40% and research time by 50%, except for Brigades, whose cost are reduced by 300 export and do not research faster.
Armies[]
- Standard game
Age | Army | Cost | Train time | Pop. | Consists of |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portuguese Expeditionary Company | 400 export | 20 seconds | 7 | 7 Order Besteiros | |
Portuguese Expeditionary Force | 800 export | 40 seconds | 15 | 11 Order Besteiros 1 Culverin | |
Portuguese Expeditionary Army | 1,600 export | 60 seconds | 27 | 15 Legionarios 3 Culverins |
- Campaign-only
Age | Army | Cost | Train time | Pop. | Consists of |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Portuguese Expeditionary Company (campaign) | 400 export | 20 seconds | 8 | 2 Culverins | |
Portuguese Expeditionary Force (campaign) | 800 export | 40 seconds | 13 | 1 Falconet 2 Culverins | |
Portuguese Expeditionary Army (campaign) | 1,600 export | 60 seconds | 33 | 3 Heavy Cannons 3 Culverins |
- The Good Faith Agreements card reduces army train time by 50%.
Strategy[]
The Portuguese passive bonus reduces the cost of food and wood for all buildings, which can be used for other purposes. For the Japanese, this bonus can be used to build bases quickly or improve the powerful land and water boom, the former through Shrines and the latter through Docks and Fishing Boats.
For the Indians, this bonus is even more beneficial, since their Villagers cost wood, which makes it difficult for them to build bases. The cheaper buildings somewhat mitigate this weakness. This bonus affects Wonders, allowing the Japanese and Indians to advance in age faster.
The Portuguese are also useful on the water. The Fishing Fleet shipment sends three Fishing Boats, which can be used to collect food from Fish or coin from whales. This is especially powerful for the Japanese, due to the large number of shipments that improve the collection of fish and whales, and since the strongest units of the Japanese cost a lot of coin and food. This will make it viable for them to invest in an army of samurai, Ashigaru Musketeers, and Naginata riders. Though the Indians do not have a water boom as strong as the Japanese, the boats can be used to collect food and coin while the Indian villagers gather wood, allowing the Indians to be viable in a water boom by building Docks and creating Fishing Boats.
The second Portuguese shipment is Exploration Fleet, which provides a Caravel and three Petards. The Caravel can be used to explore and support naval combat. With the proper support, the player can unload the Petards and use them to destroy important enemy buildings (such as Town Centers, Wonders, and Factories). This shipment is slightly more useful for the Japanese, since they have the Fune instead of the Caravel, and this shipment lets them have one more light ship.
The last Portuguese shipment, Expeditionary Fleet, sends a powerful Ironclad. With the correct naval shipments, it can increase the dominance and control of the seas. It easily defeats weak ships and can bombard buildings close to the coast (particularly Outposts and other naval defenses that would prevent safe landing). With the support of other ships, especially Monitors that have a similar ability, the Ironclad can clear the coast so that the other ships can disembark ground troops.
The Ordinance Besteiro Crossbowman is especially valuable for the Indians, since they do not have a foot archer unit. The Consulate armies that train them provide a good number of them, and they are a viable option over the Gurkha, since these are expensive and take longer to train. Combined with cavalry and heavy infantry like Sowars, Rajputs, Sepoys, and Urumi Swordsmen, they can be a devastating combo, with the Crossbowmen and Sepoys dealing ranged damage while the melee units absorb damage and protect them.
For the Japanese, the Ordinance Besteiro Crossbowmen are not so useful, since they have the Yumi Archer and the Shinibi, who have better statistics than the Crossbowmen, although these can serve as reinforcements and a unit for emergencies due to the speed and the number that are produce. Combined with Ashigaru Musketeers, Samurai, and Naginata Riders, they have an army with good synergy.
The Portuguese Expeditionary Force Consulate army provides Culverins. They can protect the Indian and Japanese units named above from artillery. Culverins are very useful support artillery for the Indians and Japanese against naval and artillery civilizations. Both can be very problematic on water maps, but Culverins can disrupt enemy ships and protect the coast. With the support of melee cavalry, the Indians or Japanese can eliminate enemy artillery that can be a great threat to the powerful Indian and Japanese infantry.
Finally, in the Industrial Age, the Portuguese Consulate army, which consists of Culverins and Legionary Musketeers, can be shipped. Although the Indians and Japanese have their own Musketeer-type units, and the Portuguese Legionary Musketeers are not available until the Industrial Age, they can still be useful as reinforcements along with the Culverins. The Legionary Musketeers have greater base hand damage than the Ashigaru and greater bonus against heavy cavalry and shock infantry than the Sepoy.
Legionary Musketeers combined with Samurai and Naginata Riders as a shock force and shield and eliminating light infantry and heavy cavalry, Yumi Archers or Crossbowmen for ranged support killing heavy infantry, and Culverins with some Fire Arrows providing fire serving as backup, can be a good combo.
The player can also make an effective combo with the Indians by mixing the Legionary Musketeers with Sowars, Urumi, Gurkhas, or Crossbowmen, Howdahs and Culverins covering these units for their weaknesses and being a perfect combination to kill poorly prepared enemy armies.
In general, the Portuguese contribute a little in everything terms of strategies. If used on naval maps, their passive bonus allows the use of wood for ships, their shipments help in boom, exploration, and naval combat, and their Consulate infantry units help a lot in combat as ranged support, protected by melee units, with the Culverins serving against ships and artillery, supporting naval defense and against enemy sieges.
Consulate allies in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties | |
---|---|
Standard game | |
Chinese | British · French · Germans · Russians |
Indians | British · French · Ottomans · Portuguese |
Japanese | Dutch · Isolation · Portuguese · Spanish |
Campaign-exclusive | |
Act II: China | Chinese Mercenaries · Indian Mercenaries · Japanese Mercenaries |