Ways to increase relations

[Nubnut]

This thread has two questions actually:

First: Is it worth it to integrate a huge PU?
Second: Is there ways to raise relations with a PU beyond improving relations and sending a gift?

I'm currently leading a PU with Castille in my France game, the PU was started in 1454 (my luck was incredible, and the HRE has quickly been crumbling beneath my expansions) and the year is now 1527. I was thinking of integrating them to streamline things and ease expansions into the rest of the iberian peninsula but I'm Protestant and as such Castille hates me. Even with +200 relations and +25 from gift I can't get their relations above about 165, and there's no chance of me inheriting upon my leader's death.

So in short? Is there anything I can do to increase my relations? And if I can should I take the time to integrate them?

[VanillaSky]

First: Yes. You'll get all their colonies too!
Second: Yes. Transfer tradepower, give them subsidies, defend their lands against rebels, liberate their lands, fight a war to the end or give them back their cores (if they have lost some in former wars)

[Nubnut]

No lands to liberate or cores to return sadly. But I'll try the transfer tradepower and subsidies and killing rebels route!

[Dingdong09]

There's a lot of small things you can do that add up. Another thing is building up some diplomatic reputation via the diplo tree+ the advisor, it's a small bonus but it can make the difference. You'll also get way more vassals to accept you as their lord because vassalization is often determined on a very narrow point basis.

[Mikey]

Dingdong, diplo reputation has no effect on relations, rather it makes them less reluctant to accept treaties.

As to what to do. You can ask them for trade power, you can guarantee them, you can give them military access and you can subsidize them. All those things add up the relations by small ammounts...
However... you can't do any of that since they are already a dependant of yours.

Your best bet is to wait for rebels to spawn then whack them down before Castille has a chance to do it themselves, note though that you only gain +10 (for every one) and it decays by 1 a year. If a province should fall to rebels you can retake it for a whooping +25 that decays at 5 a year.

[Dingdong09]

Originally posted by Mikehsan:

Dingdong, diplo reputation has no effect on relations, rather it makes them less reluctant to accept treaties.

Didn't realize it had no relation effect, could have swore it did.

[Mikey]

it gives a modifier to acceptance of treaties and on relation movements a year, it does not give a static or variable modifier on relations itself