This falls under the category of things that are not realistic but also are not cheezy.

Things like giving yourself 1000000 florins to start or swiping are cheezy, and should be avoided.

This build farms/destroy farms practice isn't realistic (no one in history destroyed their own farms in order to get improved farm income later). Its like letting provinces rebel so you can quash the rebellion and get virtues. No one did that, and its really an exploit of the game code.

Since this isnt really cheezy, its a matter of style if you use it. Since I try to follow some rules (like being a good Catholic and not upsetting the Pope, or using only Royals for guvs, or not assassinating loyal generals because they got their ass kicks once and picked up a good runner tag) and playing the game is more important than winning, I prolly won't use it.

ichi