Ah Portugal, the slowest, defensive, hardest to play Civ out there. How could they possibly be aggressive? I'm currently exploring this and I invite you to explore with me.
Because the Ports lack villager shipments, you have some interesting choices for your first shipment.
Notable cards for the Ports:
Team Cheap Outposts.
This reduces the cost of outposts from 250 to 175. Perhaps this can be used to solidify your forward base? Also very useful with a Russian or Native ally in team games. I usually play Russians, and I would love my blockhouses to cost 175, because I build a lot of them.
Team Colonial Ranged Cavalry
Age 2 Dragoons can be useful, but if you think about it, maybe not. Your age 2 military is going to mostly consist of Pikes and Muskets anyway, which are both effective against cavalry. Again, if you have a Russian ally, however, who lacks Pikemen, and who's weak Muskets don't do much against cavalry, he would find this useful.
Colonial Militia
We're trying to be offensive, so this isn't likely to be useful. However, if you think outside the box, you can put your second TC behind your forward base, to really solidify it. This would basically guarantee age 2 indestructibility of your forward base, if you backed it with a few outposts. Still, maybe not the best idea.
Economic Theory
In "theory", this is a fantastic card, but most civilizations can't find the right time to send it. 3 villager shipment, or distributivism, or schooners, is just better. We're assuming you're on a land map. I have found that this card makes the Port rush actually possible, so this would be my recommendation.
Land Grab
Totally underrated card. The ROI on it is fanstastic, but you have to wait a while. It doesn't have any short term impact. Because the ports are food intensive, and I generally put 8 vills/mill because of that bonus discovered, I'm likely to build 4 mills and 3-4 plantations/game. That's 200*4+320*4=2120 wood. It's another one of those cards that people want to use but can't find the right time to. I find it useful even if you're not turtling.
Advanced Trading Post
Everyone has it, but other than Ottos, no one really uses it. It's a good card, one that won't save you too much wood in the long run, but keep it in mind on TP heavy maps with strong natives.
Furrier
You want to pump both TCs, this shipment will help you do this.
I've mostly been experimenting with economic theory.
Anyway, here's where the seeming contradiction is. If ports Rush, they can't pump both TCs, squandering their main advantage. With just 1 TC running, they become the most generic civilization in colonial, with nothing available but Muskets, Pikes, Xbows, and Hussars. So the goal has to be to pump both TCs constantly while producing military. For this, we need a LOT of food.
How to do it:
Normal start, herd, build house, age with 14-15 vills. Use the 400 wood politician (I have yet to experiment with the 500 food politician. It's possible he's better.
While aging, put 3 guys on coin. Put 4 guys on wood. The rest stay on food. Build a market when you get 100 wood. Research hunting dogs immediately. Que up some vills. When you age, collect the wood and start building a barracks asap. Build a house. When you get 100 more wood, build a stable. 100 more wood build a house. Que up 1 Musketeer and when he's almost finished, press shift and que 5 more. You want to never cease production of muskets or villagers. Whenever you collect enough wood, build a house. Get the second hunting upgrade asap. Keep up vill production. Distribute the vills as needed, but I'd send the first 3/4 to food. At some point you will be imbalanced and will need to redistribute villagers to mostly food and coin. If you have no housing issues, build some outposts if you have the extra wood. When you have a decent amount of food and gold, que 1 hussar and when he's almost done add 4 more. Try to keep both TCs running.
Backtrack a little bit. Your second TC should be close, but far enough to get some new hunts. Herd the animals in between your TCs.
I use a few military cards and most resource cards for age 2. My first card is usually 6 Muskets or 8 Xbows. I have both 700 and 600 food in my deck. Send these for Hussars, and extra musks, and to keep both TCs pumping. You can also send the 700 wood card for Pikes and Xbows, and to maybe build a second barracks. I use the 700 gold card for aging mostly.
By 8 minutes, you can have more villagers than your opponent (unless he's British), and a pretty good sized army of Muskets, Pikes (mostly for anti-building purposes), and some Hussars to take out light infantry. You NEED the Hussars, because a pure Musket rush will get slaughtered. Your attack might not cripple your opponent, but it should slow him down or force him to use resources on defense. While you're attacking, keep your economy going.
That's all for now, I gtg. I might add to this later. Let me know what you think.
Because the Ports lack villager shipments, you have some interesting choices for your first shipment.
Notable cards for the Ports:
Team Cheap Outposts.
This reduces the cost of outposts from 250 to 175. Perhaps this can be used to solidify your forward base? Also very useful with a Russian or Native ally in team games. I usually play Russians, and I would love my blockhouses to cost 175, because I build a lot of them.
Team Colonial Ranged Cavalry
Age 2 Dragoons can be useful, but if you think about it, maybe not. Your age 2 military is going to mostly consist of Pikes and Muskets anyway, which are both effective against cavalry. Again, if you have a Russian ally, however, who lacks Pikemen, and who's weak Muskets don't do much against cavalry, he would find this useful.
Colonial Militia
We're trying to be offensive, so this isn't likely to be useful. However, if you think outside the box, you can put your second TC behind your forward base, to really solidify it. This would basically guarantee age 2 indestructibility of your forward base, if you backed it with a few outposts. Still, maybe not the best idea.
Economic Theory
In "theory", this is a fantastic card, but most civilizations can't find the right time to send it. 3 villager shipment, or distributivism, or schooners, is just better. We're assuming you're on a land map. I have found that this card makes the Port rush actually possible, so this would be my recommendation.
Land Grab
Totally underrated card. The ROI on it is fanstastic, but you have to wait a while. It doesn't have any short term impact. Because the ports are food intensive, and I generally put 8 vills/mill because of that bonus discovered, I'm likely to build 4 mills and 3-4 plantations/game. That's 200*4+320*4=2120 wood. It's another one of those cards that people want to use but can't find the right time to. I find it useful even if you're not turtling.
Advanced Trading Post
Everyone has it, but other than Ottos, no one really uses it. It's a good card, one that won't save you too much wood in the long run, but keep it in mind on TP heavy maps with strong natives.
Furrier
You want to pump both TCs, this shipment will help you do this.
I've mostly been experimenting with economic theory.
Anyway, here's where the seeming contradiction is. If ports Rush, they can't pump both TCs, squandering their main advantage. With just 1 TC running, they become the most generic civilization in colonial, with nothing available but Muskets, Pikes, Xbows, and Hussars. So the goal has to be to pump both TCs constantly while producing military. For this, we need a LOT of food.
How to do it:
Normal start, herd, build house, age with 14-15 vills. Use the 400 wood politician (I have yet to experiment with the 500 food politician. It's possible he's better.
While aging, put 3 guys on coin. Put 4 guys on wood. The rest stay on food. Build a market when you get 100 wood. Research hunting dogs immediately. Que up some vills. When you age, collect the wood and start building a barracks asap. Build a house. When you get 100 more wood, build a stable. 100 more wood build a house. Que up 1 Musketeer and when he's almost finished, press shift and que 5 more. You want to never cease production of muskets or villagers. Whenever you collect enough wood, build a house. Get the second hunting upgrade asap. Keep up vill production. Distribute the vills as needed, but I'd send the first 3/4 to food. At some point you will be imbalanced and will need to redistribute villagers to mostly food and coin. If you have no housing issues, build some outposts if you have the extra wood. When you have a decent amount of food and gold, que 1 hussar and when he's almost done add 4 more. Try to keep both TCs running.
Backtrack a little bit. Your second TC should be close, but far enough to get some new hunts. Herd the animals in between your TCs.
I use a few military cards and most resource cards for age 2. My first card is usually 6 Muskets or 8 Xbows. I have both 700 and 600 food in my deck. Send these for Hussars, and extra musks, and to keep both TCs pumping. You can also send the 700 wood card for Pikes and Xbows, and to maybe build a second barracks. I use the 700 gold card for aging mostly.
By 8 minutes, you can have more villagers than your opponent (unless he's British), and a pretty good sized army of Muskets, Pikes (mostly for anti-building purposes), and some Hussars to take out light infantry. You NEED the Hussars, because a pure Musket rush will get slaughtered. Your attack might not cripple your opponent, but it should slow him down or force him to use resources on defense. While you're attacking, keep your economy going.
That's all for now, I gtg. I might add to this later. Let me know what you think.