I always play as the Ottoman Empire. Things go veeeerry slowly at the start (in fact for most of the game) but I have got them up to a fairly decent level before and been in a position to beat Austria and Russia in a war. You really have to use every single unit of resource perfectly though!
Two things get on my nerves:
- how unless you interfere Britain will always annihilate France and probably win the game very early in the 1820 start time.
- the way all the great powers will gang up on you in wars, and won't accept peace until they've destroyed you. It's the same in Imperialism 2, I'm always doing fairly well when suddenly everyone declares war at once!
