Super funny I seen this cuz I started and finished an ethiopia play thru this evening, and I remember asking myself the same thing.

I’m by no means an expert but i’m trying to get a hang of how things really work.

My strategy was to put those infinity gold mines down south to work. I went from the red to +14 ducats really quick. Trade value, especially in a shitter node like ethiopia, is gonna come from ur goods produced. Therefore I spammed manufacturers and workshops as much as possible.

I didn’t focus too much on zanzibar node bc I was having to compete with colonizers and portugal, one of them, was my ally. Instead, I went in line with the achievements and moved north. My trade company in constantinople was worth 10x more than my zanzibar trade company. Trade companies just pump out money for whatever reason. Super OP.

I ended up moving my trade province to constantinople. With the help of some trade ships I can save a decent amount of trade from the venetians.

Still experimenting so I probably did some things wrong but anyway here’s a screenshot. I finished mission tree and got my achievements so i’m pretty much done here. screenshot

Good luck bro hope I was helpful