Also, why make rome a buffer? If we are going to annex Ireland, then we shoudl annex rome eventually.
Because Ireland is close to the home island and just plain in the way. Rome, on the other hand, isn't in our way if you think about it. As a matter of fact, it's probably one of the greatest shields we have if we're able to turn them into a vassal. If we ever go to war with any power beyond Eastern Europe, we can simply march through Rome and use their roads. However, if anyone beyond Eastern Europe tries to come for us, they'll have to go through Rome and it would be
Roman lives being loss and
Rome's issue to fix. We don't need to prop up their infrastructure, that's their job. We just need to prop them up politically with a leader who kowtows to the glory of England.
Like i said, maybe we should explore iceland first. But i am against a city in plymouth, as i dont see a need for it. If we annex the irish mongols then london will control england, and new horizons will cover ireland and plymouth (i think). A city in plymouth would interfere with ireland, hurting us in the long run if we annex them.
Which would bring us into contact with a few more civilizations and given England's inability to barely hold on to what she has, this is the last thing we want to do. It won't hurt us in the long-run if we annex them. It'll hurt them in the long run if we
don't annex them.
We're also technologically inferior to Rome (and yes, the fact they have construction and we don't mean we're behind) and establishing a city in Iceland, which is farther away from the capital than a city in Plymouth would hurt us greatly in the short-term.
And let's face it, this war with Rome will take quite some time and because we have to shift from to war-footing quickly, our economy is going to suffer even once your term comes to an end, especially if we push an offensive. Then we're going to have to pay for the increased upkeep of holding our new holdings (if we gain any).
The last thing that should be on England's mind following the war is expansion into Iceland or Germany. It should be finally improving the countryside of Ravus-York and getting our economy on a stable footing. And Iberia, which has the potential to become a MAJOR source of gold and silver, is so heavily neglected that the region is probably a huge economic death spiral for our economy which, as I stressed, will have to switch to a war-footing and build the military England should've have had built up fifty years ago.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of Englishmen living in poverty because potential places of work (diamond quarries, gold and silver mines, farming of wheat) are being ignored. Iberia has the potential to bring in so much revenue for England but it's been neglected.
At this point, no matter who wins this war, England loses. We're going to lose lives and Antium is a fortress at the moment compared to Ravus-York and if Rome really wants it, Nottingham will crumple. Why is anyone surprised that Rome, seeing a country militarily weak on its borders, decided to invade?
In short, we need to get onto a war-footing (which we are thank God) and peace out with Rome as soon as possible because an offensive is off to the far future and Rome is invading now. After the war, we need to stop expanding because we're not properly using the land we control. Then we should start expanding again.