dinofs: Thank you! One of the things I like about Magna Mundi is that it tries to build its alternate history by cramming in a lot of familiar archetypes, themes and situations, so it only seems natural for me to capitalise on that strength by doing the same.
gabor: Yup, Gibraltar was a chore, for a while. Wasn't too big a deal in terms of stability since I miraculously started with a wad of cardinals in the curia, and once (nominal) papal controller still managed to go up a level every 2.5 to 3 years. But definitely an admin effiiciency boat anchor for a few years, although that managed to work itself out without any planning or active intervention from me. Haven't had any really deleterious effects from the Barbary pirates yet, but yes they can be painful and in general I agree that Med provinces can be more hassle than they are worth. Still, I am duty-bound to grab it, and it seemed easier to eat the AE and stab malus in order to wrestle it from small, weak Granada. Better them than a much stronger Castile or Spain a few decades down the road. Was tempted for RP reasons to go after Tangier, but am ultimately undecided. At least Castile can occasionally get friendly (especially when France gets strong), but the Barbary states never really get cosy no matter how much you ply them with confectionery.
Ireland could have gone either way (war or diplomacy), but the 1399 start gives you such friendly relations (150 to 180+) that it seemed like an enormous waste of effort to kick them in the crotch three times each so that you can go to war. Their starting monarchs had respectable stats but a couple years after the start, at least two got horrible successors with worse-than-Henry diplomacy, and it seemed like a no-brainer to try and charm them instead.
You have me dead-to-rights on Burgundy though. My imagined worst-case scenario was that Austria would bail and I would end up fighting Brittany, Burgundy and France with only Portugal and Irish minors to back me up. The imagined best-case scenario was that I would end up fighting Burgundy and France, and Austria would honour our alliance but take half a year to a year to march its forces into the fight. I might have been able to grab Flanders or Picardie within the first year, but I would surely lose all of Guyenne to doomstacks at the same time. And in the end, trading cored, wealthy Guyenne for uncored, wealthy Flanders just didn't seem wise.
Urza: Thanks! The second update was a little wordier than I would have liked, but I'm glad everyone's liking the general tone so far.