Accidentally inherited Sweden + Finland as Muscovy, what should I do with it?

[unmerged(521638)]

5.2 DW Beta, Hard difficulty. Muscovy. 1477. Goal is just a big powerful Russia, not WC.

I inherited Sweden as Muscovy by accident. I don't have cores on it. It is wrong culture, wrong religion and very poor. I could remove 10-11 infamy by releasing it. I have 10 infamy.

Should I release it as a vassal? I'm guessing the answer is yes.

What about the Finnish land? Finland is a 3 province Orthodox vassal. I also inherited 5 additional Catholic Finnish provinces, one of which is a Swedish core, but I can keep it if I sell it to Finland then diplo-annex them. I can diplo-annex Finland easily, due to my huge Sphere of Influence, although there is a big queue of other vassals waiting to be diplo-annexed.

Once I form Russia I will have cores on the three provinces currently held by Finland. But it seems unlikely that I can keep Finnish as an accepted culture even with every Finnish province, since they are so poor.

Should I just give all these Catholic Finnish provinces to a vassal Sweden, diploannex Finland for my cores and call it a day?

Should I sell Finland all these Catholic Finnish provinces and diploannex when they convert them to Orthodox?

Or should I actually keep a number of provinces? These provinces don't provide a lot of tax, but as long as I own them they mostly trade in my CoT in Novograd, giving me some income from furs, etc. The fur provinces are all green on the economic map, everything else is yellow.

I understand that I'll probably be fine either way, but I'm trying to gain a better understanding of optimal play.

 

[Junuxx]

There is no 'optimal play' since there is no obvious value to optimize. If it's all about short term research speed, sure, release Sweden as a vassal. But with decent trade goods, Scandinavia isn't all that terribly poor. And the Swedish coastline will boost your naval force limits considerably, which might definitely be useful.

 

[n0thin]

You say you want a big powerful Russia. So just keep it and kill everybody else who gets near to you...

 

[masteriw]

Release Sweden but deliver Finland all her cores imo.

 

[Xeorm]

As long as you can afford the missionaries and a stack to patrol for rebels, I would keep it. It's decent land, and will be very important for giving you some naval forcelimits.

 

[chgrogers]

I WOULD convert Stockholm to Orthodox and then release Sweden as an Orthodox Vassal. Let them do the work converting.

 

[ashalia]

I agree with Chgrogers. I think it's the best idea in your current situation.

 

[ZomgK3tchup]

Retrieve all of Sweden's cores, convert Stockholm, release Sweden, and keep Finland. This is partially for roleplay purposes and partially to at least one strong ally. I also recommend taking Norway back from Denmark and releasing it as a vassal as well.

You'd be looking at the whole of Scandinavia bar Denmark as vassal states. This leaves you free to expand into Eastern Europe and Asia without having to defend your north. It also means that you get 50% of Scandinavia's income plus two permanent allies without having to do anything after vassalizing them.

 

[AlHasanAlbaghdadi]

That Denmark looks appetizing

 

[Gamera]

For roleplay, i'd do either:

-give Finland its historical provinces (well, today's borders if you prefer). release Sweden and then dissovle vassalization. Enjoy having a faithful Finland vassal (kinda historically the situation past 1810)
-invade Denmark, take Lappland and Jamtland. Convert Stockholm and release it as your faithful orthodox vassal. Give him Lappland and Jamtland. Enjoy having a mid XVI century orthodox Sweden as your ally.
-remove cores of Sweden in Finland, release Sweden and annex Finland.

I personally go for huge vassals (so huge Sweden here)...they can make wonders

 

[Noctus]

1st off annex Finland, as they currently hold St. Petersburg. This province belongs to Mother Russia!

Then i would release Sweden (after converting Stockholm!) and sell them the two other currently-Finnish provinces to get a noticeable powerful vassal to guard your north-western Front. And do your naval bidding.

I prefer having one noticeable vassal than two or three minor one who´s contribution to warfare is easily brushed away, especially at sea where bigger fleets are better fleets.

And as a mid-to longterm goal you can look at either playing a bit more in european politics to get Norway from Denmark and incorporate that into your vassal Sweden (longtime goal: vassal-form Scandinavia to have a powerful dog of battle on your chain), or be content to have vassal-Sweden guarding your border and thus feel free-er to go colonizing into Asia.

 

[mejla]

keep it all. wasn't that after all what russia desired? I say play a bit RP and all of Baltics and in your case all of Scandinavia shall be yours. Forget the cultures. You might be lucky with culture shifts once in a while and you will end up with mongol asia anyway.

 

[BeondTheGrave]

With a quick victory over Finland, you could put a stack up in Sweden and keep those rebels at bay. If you get the over-extension penalty, thats a bit different, in that case release as vassal. If you can hold Sweden, then id either force release or conquer Norway too. Youd own all of the important bases around the Baltic, which youll need to move into Germany.

If you want to release, do Sweden first. Then, when you later conquer Finland you can release them too. That way, when you want to re-annex them you can go Finland, consolidate, Sweden, consolidate.

What I WOULD do tho, is get that Norway and vassilize them.

 

[th3freakie]

Give Finnish provinces to Finland, release Sweden.

This is why I think there should be an event or decision allowing/pressuring big countries to release other big countries they anex, Spanish Succession style, or Spanish-Austrian Habsburgs style. Sweden should become free under someone from your dynasty.