That's actually really cool, thanks for letting me know that it is multiplicative and not additive for diplo annex cost. But that doesn't change the argument for all the other power costs that you are going to use, since Coring, Tech, Ideas, and Dev are all still additive, and paying an extra 5% just to make a loan .5 less and for 13 years of inflation reduction worth 2 inflation, to me still feels like a raw deal. I could see turning it on, taking the loans and building the manufactories, the turning it back off. I don't feel like doing the math on at what loan size building manufactories is worth the loans and if the .5 is to break even. I understand that the .5 lets you take more loans, I'm just unsure if without the .5 you wouldn't be able to take enough, or if it's even really worth it in the first place, when you could just delay the manufactories, build them over the course of the game and still be a crazy economic power house by like the 1650's.
I never mentioned it but I agree with OP, that I feel like the +5% seems pretty steep for what you get, and I feel like it could be a less niche pick if they changed it to a different malus. Maybe -10% income instead, like you make less tax, trade, and production. So the burgers will help you pay off loans or deal with run away inflation but they are going to take a piece of the pie while they do it. No idea if that would actually be balanced, it just feels like a bit more flavor to me at least.
You only take it if you absolutely want to stack interest cost reduction. And then only during actual bankruptcy-construction cycle.
The difference between 1,5% interest or 1,0% is rather massive. Not because of the interest expense, but rather the amount of loans you can maintain.
Bankruptcy is forced when your interest expense exceeds monthly income. Going from 1,5 to 1,0 reduces your interest expense by 33% and allows you to have 50% more loans outstanding.
Going Influence-Economic-Administrative gives you high diplomatic annexation reduction, vassal income and interest reduction.
Vassal feeding allows you to conquer more land without being limited as much by monarch points, it grants more resources from conquered territories immediately and generates less AE. If you can stack enough vassal income, and enable scutage your vassal can't maintain an army as it pays all its income to you AND it is always at peace and thus enjoys prosperity for its +25% goods produced.
Excess MP and prestige can be used to buy down the liberty desire of a large vassal quite extensively. IIRC you can get -100% liberty desire by developing 20 times, granting land and placating rulers (though the latter costs 200 prestige total)
Upon reaching tech 11 you unlock manufactories, which can now be built with borrowed money in all provinces of your vassals. They take quite long to build though, so you will need many loans to finance them AND then pay your deficit for five years AFTER they are completed. Interest reduction will come in handy.
I tried this strat with free city shenanigans and also in Tuscany.
You can stack interest through following sources:
-1% (econ + admin ideas)
-0,5% national ideas
-0,5% tuscan missions
-0,5% control over monetary policy
-0,25% or -0,5% for Catholic or Protestant respectively
-1% revanchism
Especially the latter is interesting. You can take a lot of land, trigger coalition, declare against coalition and immediately give away 100% warscore of land. This triggers long truce and grants 100% revanchism (which grants good benefits)
Technically, you only need the monetary policy privilege once your revanchism ticks down too much. And even then, the APC is not that bad a price in this strat.
You spend a lot of monarch points on diplomatic annexation and development, both of which aren't affected all that much.
Also fun fact: if you play as a free city and annex a large vassal, you will temporarily have a lot of dev. You can then hire a massive and cheap Free City Company and give away the annexed land to another vassal to keep your free city status.
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