Ottoman Empire, 1454, in EU2
This is the first game where I've really discovered how fun EU can be, and thus it's the first game I've played thus far. The first several times I played I tried to play as a minor power or non-power and become a regional power, but failed miserably. This was inspired by doing well as Munster in the EU3 demo, albeit probably racking up an insane amount of infamy in the process. But in EU2, I got crushed as Sweden (tried to become independent too soon), Novgorod (everyone hates them at first), and Tuscany (should've known not to fight the Pope). Then I played Aragon and did OK, but the land I conquered from Algiers was useless and there was no great place to go next (Naples being the obvious choice, but I'd arranged a royal marriage with them). Next I tried Naples, and was having a good time after having conquered Sicily from Aragon, until Sicily rebelled and declared independence. So I decided to play someone with a slightly brighter future for a change - and with some halfway decent places to expand to that weren't owned by major powers.
My first conquest was Konga from Karaman, as I didn't want to take on the large Byzantine army at the start of the game. Predictably, the Byzantines declared war on me not long after, so I had to fight them anyway, and ended up accepting just some gold from them to end the war, so I could focus on Turkey instead and stop the war exhaustion sooner. Next, along with my ally Ak Koyunlu, I declared war on Trebizond, who had conquered Candar and Dulkadir (Sivas). I took Candar, they took Dulkadir, and sometime in the 1430s so Georgia annexed Trebizond itself. The late 1430's saw my second war with Byzantium, in which I took Morea.
About the same time, Athens imploded to rebels, and Naples came and conquered it, forcing me to use my navy to get to Morea (the one good thing was this destroyed Athens' Catholic missionary). Venice, meanwhile, was expanding quickly and beginning to alarm me, reaching Kosovo. So I put my conquest of Constantinople on hold, and in the 1438 declared war on the alliance of Venice, Naples, The Knights, and Cyprus. This was not to be a short war. The Athenian rebels took Morea from me before my navy was able to defeat the Venetian navy and send reinforcements, and only after it was retaken could I begin in earnest westward. The war lasted six years, but I took Kosovo, Ragusa (which Venice had annexed not long before the war began), Ionia, and Corfu. Naples wouldn't give Hellas and my navy wasn't strong enough to let me invade Naples proper.
In 1447 I started the Third Byzantine war, which basically was a raid on Thrace. I could have annexed it, but took all of the Eastern Empire's gold instead, with a plan to actually take the city right when the truce expired in 1453. Well, Morea kept revolting and Hellas being Neapolitan was really getting old, so in 1449 I declared war on the current alliance of Venice, Naples, Albania, Siena, and The Papal States. A key mistake was making Albania my primary target, as they also control have of Switzerland and thus annexing them was impossible. But I vaporized their troops, occupied Hellas (again), and then began a slow march up the coast towards Venice (while building up my navy), culminating in the capture of Venice itself in early 1454, for some nice Ottomans-pretty-far-into-Europe action. I then made peace with Venice (separately) for Bosnia, Dalmatia, and Crete, ending their threat. Their wars with Austria and Saxony were enormous helps in my own battles, or I may not have been able to defeat them.
The plan at this stage is to invade southern Italy, to force Naples to hand over Hellas. After that, I'll dispatch missionaries to Bosnia and Dalmatia (Ragusa has already been converted), as I tolerate Sunnis and Orthodoxes equally, but the empire has no place for Catholics, and then I'll finally take Constantinople once and for all!
Elsewhere, everyone is hating on Novgorod as usual, Denmark has been expanding south of late, and The Golden Hoard is collapsing from within (the Timurids have huge revolt chances, too, but aren't caving yet). At one point there was a very funny-looking, thin from north-to-south-but-not-controlling Schwyz Switzerland, too. Piedmonte, Bern, Baden, and Wurzberg. Didn't last too long but for awhile it Switzerland was going imperialistic.
The Ottomans have been fun so far. Lots of core provinces to expand to, no superpowers too close unless you pick a fight with the Mamluks, but some alliances that put up a good challenge. So far I've managed to keep my infamy at zero. That won't last the whole game, but at least I don't already have a big infamy debt 30 years in. I've gone uber-Aristocratic, pro-offensive, pro-land, pro-quality, pro-merchanitilist, and pro-innovativeness in my policies, while being equal in freedom:serfdom and still leaning slightly decentralized.
edit: Fixed link
