Several people in this thread have talked about forced vassalisation as sometimes a better way to get the economic benefits of expansion without the penalties of acquiring provinces. It is now 1660 and I am catching up with Spain. My income has increased considerably, as was predicted. I am keeping my colonies to 4 in the East Indies. I wanted a jump in prestige. I am not accumulating missionaries, because my slider is all the way to innovation, so I can't convert conquered territories. It seemed like a good place to try vassalisation. So I tried it with Brunei. I conquered all of the provinces and got a war score of 100. When I tried vassalisation, I was told that the point value is 172 and Brunei will not accept. I continued for a while, but nothing changed. To make matters worse, Brunei has no ducats, so I can't even get money out of this peace settlement. Have I missed something?
I will definitely check out the tool tips in the province screens. Thanks.