Another good way to play might also be to establish colonies across the map, but then sell them off to the highest bidder/best tech advanced nation. Sort of like a 18th century real-estate tycoon, only with lots of war and killing.
You could easily amass technologies or even political alliances by subjugating vast tracks of land and then selling them off for some really stuff, then when you're strong enough from your dealings and have enough strong allies start to bully your neighbors a bit for some permanent acquisitions

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