MEIOU WC Roman Empire game. Started in 1356, not the rebirth scenario.
Edges condensed as I haven't fudged around past those areas.
Red dots are fully colonized/cored now, giving me reach to nearly any point in the Americas. Blue circles are colonial conquests [thefts] from Portugal, who was there before I explored them.
Early game was a total pain in the ass, but I did not savescum my way to victory. In fact, I lost quite a few times completely due to poor planning and Ottomans steamrolling me.
Oddly enough it seems the AI isn't interested in colonization besides Portugal, see that bit below Fez I've left untouched? I'm simply seeing how long it takes anyone to try to get it.
I took Quest for the New World as soon as I got to level 15 trade, so I was getting 7 settlers/year as soon as Early Colonization began, so I think I won the race. Its simply a matter of time before I have North America and all the Carib now that my reach is 350+.
I'm thinking of leaving this save alone and picking it up as another nation. Possibly Wales. I think I've won at this point as Rome, and it'd be kinda neat to see if I can take on a
real enemy.
Oh, and I only broke badboy limit once. But Jesus was that a bad time.
This is a very limited AAR. I've had to beat the hell out of all the HRE major powers [especially Hungary] Castille and Britain many times over, so much that they don't even bother attacking me anymore. If they get dragged into wars they immediately request white peace. So I make sure to hold their capitals until WE is maxed, out of spite. I think I've single-handedly caused most major powers to progress backwards, and caused a Catholic Pope schism. Note the little grey parts of Britain, that's a new Papacy.
At this point I'm waiting for infamy to cool off a bit more so I can Annex the Rome Papacy [finally got them back to 5 provinces] and get it over with so they stop attacking me all the time. Gotta give them credit for being brave, though.
One thing I'm not sure of though, is how exactly do you achieve 'The Third Rome' trigger?