Consider changing the second English historical goal, I have now played three separate games where I spent large spans (100-200 years) at war with at least two of Portugal, Netherlands, and Spain, and couldn't fulfill the sink 50 ships thing due to not enough enemy ships, at one points I blanketed large swathes of the Atlantic with ships, enough to see most of it, still had issues scaring up enough enemy ships.
In the spirit of BUG, I made a small indicator in the city screen that indicates that number of present and maximum number of national and worldwonders.
I blanketed large swathes of the Atlantic with ships, enough to see most of it, still had issues scaring up enough enemy ships. Another issue is that with the new ship set up, unlocking ironclads makes it harder to hit the ship goal due to being the upgrade of frigates, consider allowing ironclads to count for the goal.
My first target is either India or Babylon, India is the weaker target and they fall if you deploy your main army against them, but then your core territory is exposed to the Parthians, who are too numerous to defend against only with a token force of archers.Are you immediately pushing to Egypt and Greece? If you postpone and let greek and maybe roman invasion events trigger you might be able to hold against barbs too