So, let’s recap. I have vassalized Castille and Portugal, mostly wiped Aragon away, finally wiped out the Mamluks, begun expansion into India… So yeah, lots of progress.

But now it’s 1601, and Absolutism is about to appear. Time to start thinking in terms of conquering everything.

Here’s what I want to do: I’m going to trigger a Golden Age just before the Age of Reformation ends. I’ll try to do an Absolutism boost right from the start of the age, by capitulating to the demands of particularists rebels and then redropping my autonomy, and then firing Court and Country immediately. This means, unfortunately, tanking my unrest a few years before the age hits.

Particularists appear, then I grant them their wish of increased autonomy (only to immediately lower it across the board, boosting my Absolutism.) And then it’s time to endure the Court and Country disaster (which, as disasters go, isn’t too bad.) I even manage some conquests during that time, and then it ends and I have lots of absolutism and everything is perfect forever.

Until I fall into the Diplomatic Power trap. See, with that much administrative efficiency, I can afford to take enormous peace deals and not worry too much about overextension. But those are all Unjustified Demands, meaning they cost me diplo points. To mitigate that, I need to complete the Influence idea group… and I forgot about it. So I end up in a cycle where I spend all my diplo points in peace deals, and fail to fulfill my ideas or advance my diplo tech. Which could potentially delay me getting to tech level 23 and the glorious Advanced Casus Belli.

I catch myself just in time. Seriously, I put my campaigns on hold, I spend a fortune on diplo advisors, I set my national focus to Diplomatic… and wait until I complete the Idea group. Then I start warring again, but slowly enough that my tech manages to catch up just in time.

Then I start reducing enemies to nothingness.