r5: 13 colonists working for me, and I have to control zero of them.

I really hate colonizing. It's slow, it's repetitive, it's logistically annoying, and it takes up an idea group. So instead I try to vassalize any country that takes exploration, or that gets a colonist in their national ideas. An AI without exploration or a colonist in their NIs will almost never pick expansion, but if they get the NI colonist they'll usually put it to good use.

All combined I'm paying subsidies to make sure that all my vassals and their CNs are colonizing at max capacity. The hope is that, around 1700-1725, most of the colonizing by the mother countries will be over, and at that point I'll integrate.

The main downside is obvious - I get no strategic control, and no CN merchants. But when I am this rich already anyway ... who cares. I'd rather not have to deal with the annoyance of colonizing.

I did integrate Castile, because I have had continual diplomatic relations cap issues, but also because I wanted their money steering toward Genoa and making me rich instead of them. Otherwise I'd normally keep them around.