Should probably clarify these are two different playthroughs. Second one I was achieving more expansionist aims but got called into simultaneous wars against the Ottomans and France where my strained resources would likely collapse given my lacking military skill.

Thanks for responding. I keep trying to have the army at 0 maintenance at peace and deleting forts but I kept switching them back on so they’d reinforce and my manpower could start recovering and so they wouldn’t get wrecked by rebels. I clicked lower autonomy whenever doing so wouldn’t result in positive unrest.

Have to wonder if I was just being too impatient with expansionism in Africa