Questions about monopolies

[unmerged(35764)]

I'm new to EU2 and was playing with Austria, and I noticed something. When I got an absolute monopoly in a CoT (20/20 merchants), the CoT would start to shrink and eventually dies off. By the end of the game there were 3 CoTs left in Europe.
My first question is, am I actually right that a lack of competition kills a CoT, or was it just a coincidence?
And second, what's the best way to maximize income, get monopolies and if one CoT dies flood another, or just try to keep 6-7 slots?

 

[unmerged(29218)]

Welcome to the forum!

You are right: Lack of competition kills a CoT.
Consensus is that, at least to start with, the goal should be to keep five merchants in every CoT. A monopoly (six merchants) is much harder to maintain, and if the CoT is full it will only bring 20% extra revenue. Also, the CoT is more likely to embargo you if you stomp in and monopolise.
Of course, should you own any CoT, you can monopolise that without fear for repraissals.

 

[unmerged(35764)]

Thanks. I'll give that a shot in my next game.

 

[unmerged(19042)]

The other thing is as Austria you are probably eating up the Germans minors that would naturally send merchants to your CoT, countries like SPain and England who have their own CoTs are unlikely to send merchants to Bohemia or Danzig unless the value of the CoT is good (which isnt usually the case for Bohemia or Danzig or Mecklemburg). You could always release a minor or two as vassals.