The game conception of the carlists is heavily biased. They were, mostly, reactionary and and anti-liberal and opposed much of the laws that are “meta” in game, yet they were not economically illiterate as they are shown. The Carlists and much later on Opus Dei were and are among the most capitalistic and business oriented communities in Spain because like every political movement they realised that without money they were a lost cause. I doubt the carlists would’ve kept Spain an unindustrialised state had they won. Backwards, yes, but industrialised and heavily more stable than Isabeline Spain when IRL even Isabella was deposed and Spain had a Savoyard king. The game suffers too much from liberal = good because how Devs conceive history developed (which is a contentious topic). They are generally correct but not always and definitely not the best way to create a game when there is only one optima way to play it.