'A useful trick I use when playing as a nation with Protectorates from the start such as Britain, France or Spain is to gift them territory I can't currently hold or govern, allowing my armies to continue on without stopping to quell unrest. Is it that they literally can't betray you, or that due to AI programming, they simply won't? 'Protectorates never betray you and overall are beneficial if you don't feel the desire to take their land' They served almost as good of border protection as the Papal States in M2. Heh, wish I'd have known that when I back-stabbed my protectorates as Prussia, thinking I had no other choice.
In that case, there are some worthwhile purposes for protectorates after all (they seem more useful than vassals did in M2TW, anyway).
