Quote Originally Posted by alh_p View Post
Why do you want to shift from a republic to a constitutional monarchy?? A republic has the clamour for reform and a research bonus. Const Monarchy has no penalties or bonuses -but longer lived ministers.

Starting as a republic is a definite advantage IMO, despite the bad-will (-15) it generates due to everyone else being an absolute monarchy.
Absolute monarchies have a big advantage when it comes to ministers . Not only are there no elections as you correctly noticed , but you can freely swap around ministers and choose which "opposition" member you wish to place in your ministry of choice {simply click and drag} .

Have a lackluster treasurer whom would however make a cracking good naval minister then swap them .
The ex-naval minister {now treasury minister} isn't really good for anything but one specific minister has cornered the market of treasury qualifications , swap him up .

You can only boot one minister per turn , but you can swap as many ministers as you want and swapping for an opposition member has the same effect as booting {bad minister gone , new one next turn or so} so in effect you can boot as many as you want each turn .

You can get quite exceptional ministers by careful selection as Absolute Monarch and keep them far longer {especially if you pick them young} thus your empire can actually be more prosperous and stable with some sensible management .