Help needed playing as Portugal with MEIOU

[Babri]

I played vanilla quite well but I recently started playing MEIOU & I am finding it quite tough. As Portugal or any other small civ I used to go for trading but in this mod Portugal starts with Mercantilism near to max which is bad. I tried to fight wars against the weak France (no army & -ve stability) but I soon realised that my armies couldn't fight well against its allies due to 'coward' trait of my King. What am I supposed to do before getting 'Quest for the New World' ? I can't fight, my merchants get kicked out of COTs. It is really frustrating.

[Babri]

Waiting for replies. Anyway I have improved the condition but I still need some tips when playing MEIOU. The leader traits sometimes create lots of problems for me.

[IZob]

Dont play the mod? Vanilla seems hard enough to me

[nhytgbvfeco2]

Dont play the mod? Vanilla seems hard enough to me

once you get the hang of it vanilla isnt so hard

[Akar]

Dont play the mod? Vanilla seems hard enough to me

Vanilla is a cakewalk

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

Vanilla is a cakewalk

Only as significant factions. I dare you to say that playing as a faction using the Muslim tech tree.

[Stevcho the Serb]

Where are your missions taking you? Saving up some money for defender of faith is good, you have holy war casius belli. Try getting Canarias islands, maybe Sicily (even if its aragon), key is make alliances on begining, try England or France and Naples for example. Muslim nations are not bad for expansion either. I play Castile, and i conquer half of africa before Quest for New World.

[IZob]

Thats because you two are probably playing as the easy factions

[Akar]

Thats because you two are probably playing as the easy factions

Only as significant factions. I dare you to say that playing as a faction using the Muslim tech tree.

Easy you say?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Moldavia to Romania

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I also had much larger borders than the Romania one as both Serbia and Athens, though I couldn't find my pics of those games.

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

Easy you say?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Moldavia to Romania

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I also had much larger borders than the Romania one as both Serbia and Athens, though I couldn't find my pics of those games.

I didn't say the game is easy. You did. And playing as Muslim nations are much more challenging, due to the awful tech-tree and the tendency for much more powerful Christian nations to use the holy war casus-belli.

[Akar]

I didn't say the game is easy. You did. And playing as Muslim nations are much more challenging, due to the awful tech-tree and the tendency for much more powerful Christian nations to use the holy war casus-belli.

I have done a game as a muslim. As Oman and Morroco, they were really easy. Their sliders are godly. Besides, have you never played Moldavia (War at day 1 with GH) or Urbino (DOWed by Papacy on day 1) or Bar (Burgandy has cores on your only province)?

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

I have done a game as a muslim. As Oman and Morroco, they were really easy. Their sliders are godly. Besides, have you never played Moldavia (War at day 1 with GH) or Urbino (DOWed by Papacy on day 1) or Bar (Burgandy has cores on your only province)?

Yeah. They were fun but only moderately challenging for me. I guess we just find different things easy and hard.

[SLN445]

Try playing as Ireland =P

[Babri]

Try playing as Ireland =P

I've played as Irish minor in vanilla & it was pretty easy once you were able to hold off against England's initial invasion.

Only as significant factions. I dare you to say that playing as a faction using the Muslim tech tree.

How about Timurids => Mughals

Where are your missions taking you? Saving up some money for defender of faith is good, you have holy war casius belli. Try getting Canarias islands, maybe Sicily (even if its aragon), key is make alliances on begining, try England or France and Naples for example. Muslim nations are not bad for expansion either. I play Castile, and i conquer half of africa before Quest for New World.

I've improved my situation a bit by now. Any tips for colonization ? What ideas should I take apart from Merchant Adventures & Quest for the New World. Should I switch my sliders towards Free Trade or Mercentalism is better for a colonial power ?

[SLN445]

I've played as Irish minor in vanilla & it was pretty easy once you were able to hold off against England's initial invasion.

Done it in DW? they slap you alot in that.

[Babri]

Done it in DW? they slap you alot in that.

Yes. Had to reload a couple of times before forming Ireland. It needs a bit of luck & skill. Try playing as Aztecs. It is even more tough.

colonism is pretty easy considering in MEIOU ai tends to spam colonies less, and the player almost always colonises first, especially as portugal/spain, so you shouldnt worry about that at all!
infact in my england game i had 12 colonies until i finally welcomed spain into the new world.
sliders? i dont know, depends on what your going for, same for NI's. just be warned that colonisation works by certain time dates in MEIOU(early colonisation>more advanced type of colonisation.) each newer type gives more colonists and a better colonial growth bonus (the lower levels actuaslly decrease colonial growth, so once you do get a colony you'll have to spam colonists at it to grow otherwise it decreases in size) so try not get too many colonies at a time

Thanks for the tips. BTW is it worth conquering Aztecs & Mayans (they have forts unlike in vanilla & better troops) ? And where are the North American natives gone ?

[Akar]

I'm actually in the progress of playing a munster game

[SLN445]

Munster? thats cheating!!! got to play Leinster =P they are way more sexier

[Akar]

It actually was Leinster, not Munster >.<

[SLN445]

oh? GO LEINSTER!

Warn all the other Irish nations then jump in if they fight =P works wonders.