Mandate of Heaven Ming Questions

[Heindrich]

Does anyone have a link to a good updated Ming guide post Mandate of Heaven?

I've been away from the game since 1.13 (Denmark patch?) and recently bought Mandate of Heaven. I don't have the latest two DLCs (Third Rome and Cradle), but I do have all the others. All the changes and new mechanics are a little overwhelming and I feel a bit noobie again.

For example:

1. Am I right to assume that if you are Confucian, you pretty much never want to convert a province, because it's better to just harmonize in the long run?
2. How do u decide who tributary and who to annex outright? Is there any way to annex a tributary?
3. Do normal vassals count as tributary states when it comes to Meritocracy generation?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Logist]

1. Yes. You basically never want to convert a province unless for some reason you really really want to culture convert a province.

2. Basically you should get as many tributaries as you can unless you plan to expand in that direction or you won't be able to defend them from attack (but as China you should be strong enough that no one will want to mess with your tributaries)

3. If you mean mandate then no. Vassals/tributaries have no effect on meritocracy.