Economic Workings

[drone]

--- Does adding port actually do anything if one has no navy yet?

It won't effect trade by itself, you would need merchant-line buildings for that. By itself, a Port lets you transport units from the province via ships, and allows agents (yours and AI) to come and go with other port-possessing provinces regardless of the naval situation.

--- Economies in general seem to shift a lot and quickly?

Use the 'V' key to check for blocked shipping routes, this is the main cause of big swings in trade income. Not only does trade income get cut, but blockaded provinces can also lead to large increases in ship support costs.

Not really, all an inquisition does is raise zeal to a very high level before the inquisitors go berserk, then zeal drops again drastically. This makes inquisitors zeal raising capabilities a double edged sword. The only economic effects would be if an inquisitor took it upon himself to try one of your governors - thus leaving the province ungoverned and bereft of the additional income bonuses which his governorship produces (high acumen increases tax income/productivity).

Isn't there a correlation between zeal and the governor's piety? I was under the impression that a province's happiness will drop when a low piety governor runs a high zeal province, which might affect tax-rate depending on the garrison strength.