The French income is huge even without French culture, though not getting Picardie early is costing you the full advantage here. The Reformation will begin some hard decisions for you if you expand elsewhere in Europe. You will have a lot of Protestant provinces at home, mostly Catholic ones in France and then Calvin comes along and Reformed is everywhere you look. The wrong choice will cut off even more income, so use Elizabeth's Adm skill to convert as many heretics as you can.
My last game as England had me take all France's coastal lands keeping them out of the colonization business altogether. They never mounted much of an attack after the 16th century because they were too weak. Occasionally, France would find itself on the wrong side of an alliance war and I had to vassalize them. Then I vassalized Spain. Then I was unstoppable.
My last game as England had me take all France's coastal lands keeping them out of the colonization business altogether. They never mounted much of an attack after the 16th century because they were too weak. Occasionally, France would find itself on the wrong side of an alliance war and I had to vassalize them. Then I vassalized Spain. Then I was unstoppable.