Thanks for all o your kind replies!
I'm already in a FS which I have looked up myself, so that's done.
I really don't get, why at this early stage I shouldn't produce non-boosted goods, will have another look into this.
Negotiation does not count for this quest, I have to fight to progress. So good luck to me finding grounds with troops I can beat.
To address the boosted/non-boosted goods argument: If you're doing things like scouting/completing provinces and participating fully in tournaments, reaching at least 200% (remember, this is 200% on top of your base 100% manufacturing rate) is the point where unboosted manufactories becomes a solid no-go. According to
the chart on this page, that can be achieved by obtaining at least 42 relics relevant to your boost, which happens relatively quickly. At that point, your single boosted manufactory is producing as many goods as three unboosted manufactories at what is effectively a third of the cost in population, culture, and space. It only gets better from there on out. You're intended to use the Trader to trade your boosted goods for your unboosted.
Even if you aren't quite there yet (you will be, trust us on that), the other knock-on effect is the challenge of actually
placing those manufactories in your city. Sticking together manufactories of like dimensions is simply easier to arrange in your city than trying to make room for more types of differently-shaped buildings. And building more roads to accommodate those differently-shaped buildings brings in its own inefficiency:
the space those roads are using could be used for other, more useful things. Like more of the boosted manufactories. Or residences. Or culture buildings.
As for encounters requiring fighting, that might've been a good idea to state that first, as the suggestions in this thread would've (likely) leaned more towards the latter part of what
@Gkyr mentioned. Unless the rewards for that quest are awesome, you're probably better off skipping it. Fighting in the early chapters sucks. Terribly. If you can't skip it (main chapter quest), ignore it while progressing on towards the next chapter in the research tree. The moment you fully unlock the next chapter (usually by completing that chapter's
Advanced Scouts tech), those unskippable quests become skippable (though you may need to refresh the game for that to take effect) until the questline becomes chapter-current.
Though if you do choose to start skipping quests like that, pay close attention to what you're skipping. Some of those quests offer goods, or even diamonds.