having protectorates suck... because they wont do anything afterwards... nothing they just sit and do nothing... maybe they are supposed to... but i dont like it... i cant order them to go kill for me... so it sux.

and btw you do get everything back, and the bribe needs to be very big yes, usually even millions. so it does work, and its indeed an old trick.

but what truly sux is this: in some patch thougth it was 1.2 you got all the money the protectorates made, now thats something. i made 1.5 billion that way, having 3 protectorates.