Glory be! New cores in Spain and Italy.
I must say the fluctuations in census and monthly tax income are probably due to war tax issues, more than anything -- and other general economic indicators which it's harder to track.
Trade income was way up, and the others generally steadily increased. But trade income would not remain as high as it was, as my bonus melted away...
By February of '62 we’d lost every single merchant. Our merchant empire was dormant, again, because we couldn’t compete with the likes of Trier and Vijaywhosehisking.
Hmm... I think it might be time to expand that gold-bearing province in south America.
The successful conversion of Gibraltar is another big feather in our caps -- possible only because of the economic expansion which brings money in every year. And... of course the conquest cannot be discounted.
Every continental province which I control is now Christian!
I was even thinking that Portugal’s war with Algeria might make the religious map of North Africa even more interesting, when…
Castille, as alliance leader, ended with a white peace. Must’ve really torked the Portuguese off! Oh well.
Cape Colony will provide another way-station into the Indian Ocean and Pacific -- an extension of the line earlier brought to St. Helena Island. Someday I might be able to transport troops to the East Indies to protect my colonies there!
At the beginning of 1562, I decided against holding my money, rather deciding to invest in my defense and economy. We began building a larger fort in Barcelona, to protect our shipyard, and build Constables in Meissen, Bremen and Rousillon, which hopefully will improve our income enough to provide breathing room in future years.
Weirdly, when I checked the ledger at the end of 1561, I found that only one war raged in the whole world!
It’s peacetime, we’re chilling out, and it’s time for us to attend to the defense of our gold-producing province in southern Brazil. If Portugal decides to attack, we’ll want someone there to defend our interests.
And, on that note, war with Portugal becomes all the more likely...
Yaay!
