The Turks in Lands to Conquer mod

[Empirate]

Hi folks,
I'm playing the Turks in Lusted's much-acclaimed Lands to Conquer mod (H/H), and it's proving quite a challenge! If any of you ever finished a Turk LTC campaign, I'd be grateful for any advice you might have.

Right now I'm in a more-or-less powerful position, with every settlement between Nicaea and Baghdad under my control (that makes 14 in all). Antioch and Nicosia mark the southern border, although I had taken Damascus for a few turns before leaving it to rebel. The problem is holding onto all my lands! I'm lacking quality and quantity in my armies (only my mastery of battle tactics is keeping me afloat atm), I'm lacking strategic security (a single crusade could topple my house of cards), and overall I'm lacking money. It's the year 1220 now, the Byzantines and Egyptians are harassing me with fleets and quality full stacks, and I find it near impossible to save up any money. It's horribly hard to tech up my settlements, as I simply don't have the money! Six or seven settlements need basic upgrades (walls/castle), which I can't afford, and better military units seem a long way off at this pace. I manage to earn around 4,000 fl. per turn, which are usually spent on economy upgrades and unit retraining. LTC mod really makes it difficult to become rich! I feel a little like this:

Strategy-wise, I tried to expand into all rebel-held provinces at once, quickly taking Tbilisi, Baghdad, Smyrna, and Trebizond, with Adana and Antioch close behind. Aleppo and Edessa were taken at a more leisurely pace (only about 30 turns back). I've been at war with the Byzzies almost from the beginning, as they saw fit to siege freshly taken Smyrna. I beat them off and ran their army all the way back to Nicaea, which I promptly sieged and conquered. After that, they only sent the occasional stack into my lands, and I was able to keep them in check pretty easily. Only their fleet blockades cost me a great deal of money.

The Egyptians are more dangerous, though, and very aggressive. Every four to five turns, they send a complete army against Antioch or Aleppo. I have a field army there, with constant reinforcements coming from Adana, and it sees a lot of action. Their fleets are also troublesome. After a while, I decided to invest three or four turns' earnings in a decent fleet to sink their ships, and while I can keep them off my back most of the time, the upkeep uses up all the trade money my fleet saves me.
So that's the general situation. I can't seem to make any progress on either front. Luckily, the Mongols have gone north to bother the Russians, and crusades have only been called against the Sicilians (who had Rome at one point). But this won't last forever.

Comments and suggestions welcome!



Anybody there?