That Ottoman Empire ... Yeah, I want to take it out.

[Pile_O_Gunz]

Doesn't look like you are strong enough tbh, your navy might take them but you got to remember the Ottomon troops are quality & quantity at this stage and they likely have a 3 star general.

 

[Old Tercio]

1. Take defensive ideas, get the 15% morale
2. build around 20 heavies and 30 galleys
3. Rekt the ottomans
4. Enjoy

The only worry here is Manpower, as Spain is not Manpower heavy.
I would also like to add that having Naples is a big deal as securing the Genoa node is a must when playing Spain, you can get huge amounts of cash just by getting the node secured.

 

[netherlink]

so I set a merchant to collect there and immediately started earning another 4.2 ducats. I'm not collecting in Sevilla, just steering to it.

So you already moved your trade capital is what you say?
If so, you should try sending your merchant to another location than genoa itself and see, what that does with your income. A merchant in your home node does only give you 2 Trade Power, which is ridiculous.

It seems like you are not very familiar with all the rules EU4 has hidden in it, so i would not suggest to try some "pro strategies", restarting early etc.

Instead, play this game as long as you have fun with it and try to learn as much as possible. The game changes quiet drastically in the late game, and you need as much experience as possible to get a grab on the whole colo/trade/war system.

Ottomans were always really strong, IMHO they only became even stronger with the last patches, so it is probably somewhat harder to learn how to defeat them today than it was when most of us started playing.


Regarding Portugal: As long as they are colonizing, i would not integrate them but let him do his job. They are and always will be catholic and in the same culture group like you, so every province they will give you will be as valuable to you as if you colonized it yourself.

You might want to activate the subject interaction "divert trade", so they give you trade influence, which is very important for ivory coast and especially Seville.
Check their liberty desire first, though, since this will increase it by 30%, and as soon as they become disloyal you could get problems.

If you don't want to hassle with portugal anymore, because they annoy you by colonizing where you want to have the land yourself, LD gets critical, etc., you can still integrate them with no big loss. You might want to have Influence Ideas perk 3 first, though, since they might be quiet expensive to integrate by then.

 

[Tweakee]

As Castille, the Ottomans are a blip. They have little to no impact on your income or your territory.

You should be worrying about expanding in directions that help Castille first. Continue colonizing, and beat down France before he allies the Ottomans (if he's already allied, find a French ally you can attack to drag him in w/o the Ottomans to break that alliance). Feed the New World native nations to your colonies to drain their gold mines dry. Look for lands you covet that the Ottomans are threatening, and grab them first.

If you do all that, in 100 years there will be no French threat, and you'll be so rich that you can bring the pain to the Ottomans on your terms.

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Sounds like a problem that could be solved by overwhelming artillery, great generals, & sound maneuvering tactics. Offensive & quality ideas, if you're really desperate.

Let them bleed out their reserves doing sieges w/ huge stacks in Poland/Lithuania. Then concentrate your forces on them, when they're sieging in rough terrain. Rotate armies in & out if you have to. There's always a way to win, unless you're totally outclassed as a nation/alliance. Which as Spain, you certainly shouldn't be.

 

[seriousgigi]

if you attack to ottomans france literally kill you.