Portuguese Civ Mod is an expansion Game Mod for the original (pre-HD Edition) version of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. It adds 18 new civilisations across the world (including the eponymous Portuguese) and numerous new gameplay features that extensively overhaul the gameplay from the vanilla game, including mercenary units, a fifth resource called Experience, a fifth Renaissance Age (adapted from Age of Empires III) and support units available to all teammates in a team game.
The mod can be found on Mod DB
and HeavenGames. Note that it's only compatible with the original 1999 version of Age of Empires II, not the two Updated Rereleases. It is considered feature complete and no longer under active development.
This game contains examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: The vanilla Spanish civilisation has been renamed Castillians (no other changes, except the addition of a support unit and Wonder Power that all other vanilla civilisations also receive), to accommodate the addition of five more Spanish civilisations (Navarrese, Aragonese, Basques, Galicians, Leonese).
- Alternate Company Equivalent: As an unofficial expansion to The Conquerors, this mod includes the author's own takes on civilisations added to the official game in subsequent expansions such as the Portuguese, Berbers, Burgundians, Italians, Malay (Indonesians), Indians (as one single civilisation as was the case in The Forgotten, before the Dynasties of India DLC split it into four), Ethiopians (Abyssinians), Poles (Polish) and Tupi.
- Artifact Name: The name of the mod came from the Portuguese civilisation, which was one of the first elements to be added to the mod (the official Portuguese civilisation wasn't added until 2015, 16 years after the first release of Age of Empires II and 2 years after the mod's). While the Portuguese are now only one among 18 new civilisations (which aren't even the most substantial addition next to even more extensive overhauls), the name Portuguese Civ Mod has stayed.
- Base on Wheels: Raiding civilisations can pack their production buildings into carts and move them to be unpacked elsewhere.
- Crossover: This Age of Empires II mod incorporates features from Age of Empires III, including timeframe (the 16th-17th centuries are added as a fifth Renaissance Age), the Home City mechanic (adapted in the form of the Trade Workshop, where experience can be spent) and mercenaries (units that only cost gold and are more expensive and stronger than regular unit counterparts).
- Decomposite Character: The vanilla Scout Cavalry serves as both the early game scout unit and the first unit in the generic light cavalry line. In this mod, these roles have been split between the Pathfinder (which inherits the latter role, as well as the vanilla Scout Cavalry's graphics and stats) and the Scout (a non-combat unit that serves as a dedicated scout and can be upgraded with a special ability with the Tactics tech).
- Multiplayer-Only Item: The mod does not have its own singleplayer campaign. While the El Cid campaign was updated to incorporate new units and replace the vanilla Spanish (Castillians) and Saracens with new civilisations wherever appropriate, there's not enough room to include every new addition.
- Rate-Limited Perpetual Resource: Unlike in the vanilla game, finite resources is seldom a problem in the mod:
- Experience, a new resource, is earned by constructing or razing buildings, and training, killing or converting units—things that will not stop happening until the game ends. At the Trade Workshop, XP can be converted into piles of other resources.
- The Bank, a new Renaissance Age building, generates a trickle of gold completely by itself, but is limited to one per player (two with the Economics tech).
- Every Real World Map features 3 distinct Rare Resource objects. Rare Resources can be captured by players and, once captured, will grant a trickle of one or two resources.