Bump.
I've always loved this scenario, I've tried it a few times as the Byzantines, as they're always my favourite, but despite having a fair amount of success in driving out the Ottomans from Thrace and reclaiming all of mainland Greece and a few Isles, in Anatolia the Ottomans are unstoppable, and generally get a VP victory unless I cheat.(Move all my garrisons one square out of all my cities, gift them to a weak nation, and conquer them all back the same turn artificially raising the amount of VPs I get) Of course, I'd love to be able to win without resorting to such measures, so I fiddled with the Editor to make all civs playable and tacked on a good number of turns as well, and started up a game as the Trapezuntines, as when playing as the Byzantines it's virtually impossible to divert troops to take Anatolia, especially once the Ottomans have full control of the entire peninsula, which they generally do by the time you are no longer just barely managing to survive.
So as the Trapezuntine Empire, I quickly took a number of cities from the neighbouring Beyliks before they fell into Ottoman hands, and enlisted the help of the Mamluks and Cilicians as soon as I learned Diplomacy to help keep the bulk of the Ottoman army in the south.
After two or three failed sorties against Ankara, I finally managed to take the city, which was a decisive turning point in the war. After that I was able to conquer another 5 cities relatively quickly, while the Cilicians briefly took one city before it was recaptured by the Ottomans, then the Mamluks managed to capture 2 or 3 cities as well.
The situation for the Byzantines seems fairly stable. The Ottoman army in Europe has petered out and is beginning to be beaten back by Wallachia and Bosnia. Constantinople remains under Byzantine control, and in Greece the Byzantines have conquered an additional 3 cities, although not much change has happened there for a while.
The problem is, that whenever I hit a certain date(save attached below), the game engine between turns keeps running and does not end. I was very disappointed, as for the first time ever it appeared as though the Ottomans might be eliminated, and I can't finish my game! Any help/ideas that people have as to why this might be(or if the problem even occurs for other people) would be much appreciated.
Here's a screenie of Anatolia right now, if people are interested.