Chapter 4: Steadily, carefully, and slowly
Another more boring update, I'm afraid. We're still consolidating our country.
More unhappiness among the artisans allows us to move the country to a more free society, with the benefits for technological advancement in mind. We're missing our on a possibly -2 Inflation from a slider move towards Free Subjects, but we also gain a free slider move this way. It's a price I'm more than willing to pay.
Plus, we need our slider moves to move more towards Free Trade. With BB steadily declining, profitable trade is coming nearer and nearer. As soon as we start trading, we can support a larger army, and mercenaries. We only hope that England doesn't attack us before we reach that milestone!
Then this happens: we no longer enjoy the protection of England's sphere. On the one hand, this is a good sign: we're getting too powerful for England to maintain us in their sphere. On the other hand, this means that we're beginning to look like targets for attack, and not like targets for pity and protection... And we're still much too weak to take on England, even with allies.
Due to empty coffers and a dismal state of our nation, our advisor is doing 95% of our research for us. We finally reach Government tech 4, which allows us to build churches and pick our first National Idea.
What do we pick? Church Attendance Duty, of course. Why? Most will already know why, and those that do not will know in a few seconds!
We full-mint to gain enough money to build a church in Munster.
Oh, this is nice: We're no longer in the English sphere of influence, but they decide to guarantee our independence! That will hopefully keep them off our backs for a few more years. It's good to be small, and poor!
As soon as the church is finished, we scrape together the needed ducats to enact the Guilded Iconography decision. Ireland might be about as far away from the traditional iconography centres as you can get, but we're not going to pass on this opportunity! Most of our income still comes from selling off advisors, and the culture boost from Guilded Iconography will help us in this regard.
Now this was the reason we chose CAD as our first NI, as it's a prerequisite for Guilded Iconography. Ireland is so poor, you also need to build a church to even see the decision. Don't get scared if you don't see the decision, and check if you have a church in your country first!
A welcome change from the usual sour English diplomats arrives at the court. A Castillian, richly dressed in pompous fashion. He's asking for our help in their war against Morocco.
With the Castillian navy able to defend the high seas, we're pretty much safe from any attacks. We gladly accept the call to alliance and join the war on Castille's side. What do we get out of this trouble? First, a war, so war taxes and increased income. Second, our troops still are at 0% maintenance. This war is going to be a textbook case of the "Player's Guide to Alliance Warfare": We do nothing. Third, we gain valuable trust with the Castillians. We desperately need to keep this alliance at any cost. The more we grant them their wishes, the more willing the Castillians will be to fight the English with us. Fourth, a nice bonus: it seems we are now crusading! Extra cash without lifting a finger... it's like owning a bank! God for Conchobhar, Ireland, and St Patrick!
Our statesman advisor was fired after reaching the Government tech 4 milestone, and replace with a scientist. We're still too poor to support more then two 1-star advisors (one diplomat, and one for teching). With the extra money from the war taxes and crusading patriotic men and women of Ireland coming in, we soon reach Production tech 4, and can build Constables. This is an important step, as the improved taxation mechanisms will allow us to consolidate our finances and finally support more, and more competent, advisors!
After the months of minting to build constables everywhere, we switch our NI from Church Attendance Duty to Patron of the Arts. CAD has outlived its usefulness. We have Guilded Iconography, and Stability is cheap to regain. But PotA allows us to field more, and even better advisors. The selling of which is still a considerable chunk of our income.
Munster is finally getting into shape. Infrastructure and war taxes net quite a bit of income. Still a pittance compared to England's income, but certainly better than before. It might be time to see what England is doing, over the Irish Sea, and if the time is ripe to ambush them... Next time, that is!