Annex versus trade.

[antisocialmunky]

The German States are wonderful protectorates if you don't have to conquer most of them. They are great buffer states.

I’ll bet it had everything to do with that teenage kid with the cool bicycle

That's funny, one time I impressed this girl with my bike and had her write a Dear John to her 13 year-old boyfriend.

Yes, I know that was in bad taste, but I'm just kidding around.

[Upxl]

Actually in my later campaign I have few nations that go below or don’t come close to 2000.
With the Italian states for instance trade profit has been more then 3000.
Last night I did the test and invaded the Italian peninsula.
I didn’t look at the details but apparently my total income improved.

That's funny, one time I impressed this girl with my bike and had her write a Dear John to her 13 year-old boyfriend.

I sir demand satisfaction!!

[Fisherking]

The two best trade partners I have found in the game are GB and Russia, though I seldom hesitate to attack if I need to. This usually means Russia, of course. The northern provinces are rich in furs which are better in your hands and Russia almost always is will to make peace with a trade agreement once it looses a few regions, as long is one is Moscow.

[anweRU]

The base trade income you get is proportional to the number of (contiguous) provinces owned by the nation in its home theater. I'm not sure if population plays a role. Thus Russia and the Ottoman empire are (almost) always the two best nations to trade with.

In my current Dutch campaign, the Russians never captured a coastal province, and even lost Karelia to the Swedes. The Swedes were my second largest trade partner (after the Ottomans and before GB), until the idiot AI declared war on Hannover (no border, Hannover doesn't even have a port yet!).

[aimlesswanderer]

As Prussia I have knocked off Austria, UP, France, and Spain. I have made protectorates whenever I could, as long as they are on the periphery of the empire, like Savoy, Italian States, err, Dagestan, and any of the American factions small enough. I can't trade with many of them, but I get income from them at least. It seems like you can only make single province factions protectorates, no matter how crap they are. Sadly pesky Venice didn't want to become a protectorate (or even peace) after losing Venice, (won't even if I offer 30k + tech), and neither did Genoa, so they had to die... after I built my first ship so I could get to them.

The Austrians were down to a single province and I made them a protectorate, but the buggers declared war on me a few turns later, which surprised me, and they didn't last long. Haven't had any trouble with the others. Think I am making 8k from them all, not inc trade.