Might be a dumb question, but can you change the primary holding type of a county? (for example, from a town to a castle). Ormond is a Grand City rather than a country, so I regularly get the wrong government type penalty.
1. Make someone baron of the castle first, then grant him the county title. I
The capital settlment will change to the castle.
2. If you want to keep the county all the time, I think it might be possible (and unlike the above I really can't say this for certain because I can't remember ever doing it myself) by either just taking over the castle as well (making it shift automatically like above), or if it doesn't happen automatically you might be able to grant the city without granting the county.
It might he profitable to own a city yourself though. After building a couple of economic buildings and setting the stewards to tithing in the county you get quite the income boost. I often claim the city in my capital province so I can get taxing bonuses from both the castle and the city.
The learning curve isn't steep if you start off with a larger power. Starting with one-province counts and whatnot can be quite difficult, but that's more of a challenge thing you can do after you've played for a while.
I disagree. Starting as a king or emperor will leave you feeling overwhelmed in a minute as you have to handle every aspect as the game. Starting as a count or a duke (especially in Ireland) is the best for beginners, as you'll get to know the game from the ground up and add you rise in power also get a feeling for what playing a Big Guy is like.