AI Castile got the wrong ideas.

[Olenksey]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, I am a relatively new player who, after several unsuccessful attempts at enjoying and succeeding at the game, finally managed to start well as Aragon.

My plan was "not colonize yourself, but get Castilian colonies due to Iberian marriage". The wiki advised it+my previous attempts at colonising were not really good, so I decided that I should leave it to the AI.

The game progressed well. Around 1468 I get the Iberian Wedding and click "yes, please, PU Castile". I suppose the first idea group was already unlocked by all Europeans. So, as we are talking about Castile, they must have already picked "exploration", right? Right?

Wrong.

Several of years pass. I discover that I can actually view the country's idea groups through the diplomacy screen (yeah, I do not have a lot of experience). I look up Castile and I see... Expansion ideas.

Yeah, they do not have exploration, but they already have expansion.

Today I went to the wiki and looked up idea groups. I learnt that 1) AI does not pick expansion if it does not have exploration and 2) if it is a subject, it will not pick exploration. So my thought "okay, for now they can't colonize but once they get the second idea group they will pick exploration and we will really hit it off" kinda flies out of the window.

Is picking expansion before exploration a bug? Do I still have any hopes of my plan "use Castile as a coloniser" succeeding? Is there a way of fixing the issue except "load the save before Castile picked their first idea"? Should I really care about colonising that much?

The issue is that I fully realised the situation only when I got to 1494. Reloading is an option, but I'd rather not pick it.

 

[grotaclas]

Today I went to the wiki and looked up idea groups. I learnt that 1) AI does not pick expansion if it does not have exploration and 2) if it is a subject, it will not pick exploration.

1) is wrong and the wiki doesn't say that. But 2) is correct. So Castile will never pick exploration ideas if you PU them before they pick their first idea group. The only way to fix that would be to go back before the iberian wedding fired(or to a save in which the event is open and reload the game every 4 months so that the event never closes)
Castile was able to get expansion ideas as their first idea group, because they bordered an uncolonized province(at the start of the game they border the uncolonized province Tenerife)
Expansion ideas might be enough for Castile to colonize something once they discovered the provinces because of natural spread. And if you have the Golden Century expansion, you have a mission to PU Portugal and you could use them to colonize for you. If you don't have the expansion, you could try to conquer part of Portugal so that they are well below 100% warscore and then vassalize them in a subsequent war. But make sure that they have at least 5 provinces in Europe, because otherwise they might Flee to Brazil

 

[Olenksey]

Castile was able to get expansion ideas as their first idea group, because they bordered an uncolonized province(at the start of the game they border the uncolonized province Tenerife)

Oh, that's what it is. The wiki did say that "having exploration" is only one of the reasons for picking expansion, but I thought "well, Castile does not qualify for any other condition, so it must be this". I forgot that it borders Tenerife. Thanks for the explanation!

If you don't have the expansion, you could try to conquer part of Portugal so that they are well below 100% warscore and then vassalize them in a subsequent war. But make sure that they have at least 5 provinces in Europe, because otherwise they might Flee to Brazil

Portugal is my staunch ally.
Whom I have a royal marriage with.
Oh, and the Portuguese ruler is 38 and has no heir. And all he has to do is to die...
Hmmm. That's a lot less work. I ought to give it a try.

 

[Battlex]

Oh, that's what it is. The wiki did say that "having exploration" is only one of the reasons for picking expansion, but I thought "well, Castile does not qualify for any other condition, so it must be this". I forgot that it borders Tenerife. Thanks for the explanation!


Portugal is my staunch ally.
Whom I have a royal marriage with.
Oh, and the Portuguese ruler is 38 and has no heir. And all he has to do is to die...
Hmmm. That's a lot less work. I ought to give it a try.

Portugal is super easy to PU if you can get them to fight England a bit before, and then break allaince before truce is up

 

[TheSpider]

I think subject nations can pick Expansion if they have a colonist in their national ideas. I released Asturias as a vassal once and they took Expansion, just not Exploration. It was enough for them to form Colonial Brazil.

 

[Big Bad France]

Why not just get someone else to share maps and then share those maps with Castile? They should have 2 colonists with expansion ideas. Just be careful because if they grow too much, you won't be able to form Spain.

 

[Olenksey]

Why not just get someone else to share maps and then share those maps with Castile? They should have 2 colonists with expansion ideas. Just be careful because if they grow too much, you won't be able to form Spain.

I don't have mare nostrum, although I'm planning to purchase it. I hope it won't break the current game.

 

[Big Bad France]

I don't have mare nostrum, although I'm planning to purchase it. I hope it won't break the current game.

Owning the DLC won't break the game, but you won't be able to activate it with that save.

 

[Travis_Bickle]

I do wish PU subjects would pick exploration.

When you get the PU over Castile from the Iberian Wedding as Aragon, a Castile that takes Exploration is far more useful than one that takes Economic/Espionage or something.

One time as England, I got a first 10 years PU over Portugal, but it was pretty much useless because they never bothered colonising.