England/Great Britain: Should I convert to Protestantism?

[Corvus_Alt1]

So, I'm having a little conundrum trying to decide if I should stick to Catholicism or convert to Protestantism. Right now it's 1516, I'm the Curia Controller with 4 cardinals, and so far Protestantism has hit a couple of my vassals in the low countries and converted one small province of super-Denmark, who is my ally with my dynasty. Catholic reform desire is at 101%, though that can change depending on what I choose with the Bible Translation event my game is saved on.

While I'll admit that there is an advantage to turning Protestant, I'm hesitant to commit my 3rd Idea Group to Religious Ideas. My current plan is to go Exploration, Quality, Economics, Expansion, Defense, Naval, Trade, then perhaps Offense. Alas. I have no idea how to alter my plan smoothly if I decide to pick up Religious Ideas. Ugh, I'm stumped.

[Kagemin]

If you can stay Curia controller and don't have huge problems with Protestant provinces in your realm there's no reason to go Protestant.

[Corvus_Alt1]

True, though there is also the idea of converting for the sake of roleplaying and getting more of the historical events. Out of curiosity, do Innovative Ideas increase the probability of provinces converting? Because if I do convert, then taking Innovative might be a good idea for the sake of replacing the Curia benefits I lost. Then perhaps I'd change the plan to Exploration, Quality, Innovative, Expansion, Economics, Naval, Defense, then Trade.

[Kagemin]

I don't think there's anything in the Innovative events concerning the Reformation (apart from Optimism from that idea group actually slowing the spread of the Reformation down).

Innovative is generally a strong idea, especially if you can take it early. Almost all the benefits from it are over time though, so at first it sets you back a bit compared to other ideas.

Personally I don't like the Economic ideas too much, unless you're having inflation issues from gold mines. Money usually isn't that critical a ressource (especially later in the game), if you plan on colonizing anyways I'd take trade earlier instead of Economics. That's at least party personal preference though.

And it's difficult to effectively realize the planned idea groups like that anyways. It depends too much on the rulers you get and how the game is going for you (in which groups you find yourself having a surplus of power points) usually. There are a few cases where you absolutely need a certain idea (religious or exploration for example, or a military one if you're fighting a lot), but othter than that I'd go with what you need at can afford when a new idea unlocks.

Hard to say what you have in mind and how the game is going for you though, in the end you can go with whatever you want for whichever reasons. :p

[Corvus_Alt1]

I suppose plans never go exactly as I'd like them to considering how much the rulers' skills factor in. And while I agree that Trade is preferable to Economics in some ways, I find Economics can pay off in spades, especially in keeping inflation and costs down.

I suppose I'm mostly concerned about possibly needing to take Religious Ideas if I do want to switch to Protestantism, and I do find the reduced Idea costs a very tempting reason to convert. I just don't know if I should be intentionally trying to encourage Protestantism to spread or not.

[Kagemin]

I think if you are (and can stay) the Curia Controller, Catholicism is the best religion in the game. It's just also the worst religion for everyone else...

And I'm not really sure if you need Religious ideas for switching to Protestant. Once the religious zeal has run out you should be able to convert pretty much all the provinces (if you have the advisor and some decisions).
And if not you could always let some protestant rebels do all the work for you and the accept the demands...

If it's at least mostly for roleplaying reasons just wait for some protestant rebels to pop up and let them convert everything for you. Else I'd just stay Catholic.

[Corvus_Alt1]

I suppose staying Curia Controller does mean keeping the extra diplomat, bonus leader slot, small technology cost reduction, prestige and legitimacy boosts, and divine sanctions for royal divorce. Does that inherently make it superior to a 10% tax modifier and idea costs reduction though? Eh, probably. Well, I suppose I'll just see what happens.

[Vyndicu]

I have a question regard being the Curia Controller yourself.

If I have 4-5 cardinal for "Austria", with me playing as Austria, and I decide to convert to Protestant. What happens to all of that cardinals? Do they just quit and let new cardinal in? I did that once to just mock the catholic countries (I hate spam vote anyway). I was wondering what was the consquences of doing that.

[Corvus_Alt1]

All of those cardinals then switch their allegiance to the Papal State, so the Papacy becomes the controller of its own curia. Saw that happen everytime a country switched to Protestantism.

[Vyndicu]

Interesting.