MTW Viking Expansion Revisited - Help With Belated Mod?

[OldMan]

Throughout my years of playing this game, I have stuck with the Catholic factions. Due to this modification and the need to test play, I have played the Egyptians and the Almohads, but always to defeat.

-- I build a great kingdom with lots of troops, lots of influence, rich economy, loyal generals.
-- Inevitably, Catholic factions or 2 start messing with me and launching crusades
-- I have tried weathering the Catholic attacks, but the always just widdle me down to eventual defeat
-- Because I can't just weather it, I become aggressive, and pursue my protagonist
-- I do well at defeating my enemy, generally obliterating the faction, but I end up in Catholic lands
-- I sac the papacy to stop the crusades
-- I put 2 or more Alims on conquered Catholic provences, and watch the percentage of Muslim followers grow to my favor
-- Revolts. I beat them back, and it doesn't matter what I do: Release All, Enslave Ringleaders or Enslave All, the revolts are incredibly persistent!
-- I build buildings that create happiness, build economy, etc. but it just doesn't seem to help
-- Meanwhile, the Catholics start sinking my navy
-- I am developing, training men and Jihads, to keep what I have and to replenish my diminishing troops, so I can't replace the navy as my hands are full
-- Because of the revolts and everyone else that smells blood, my troops become diminished
-- I can not push forward, and I can not hold what I have, especially since ships are being sunk, which makes my entire empire vulnerable
-- As I am slowly being defeated, I try to pull back, giving up provences, so that I can again focus on navy and get back to developing
-- Civil war, always
-- Armies cut to a fraction of what they were by my own men, development set back, no influence, vulnerable seashores, more civil war from my pissed off generals, aggravating the situation, my new rebel faction leader, little more influence than the original, downward spiral, slow defeat.

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So, what's the deal here? How do you win with Muslim factions? Why don't my Alims seem to quell uprisings by converting the populace, like my Priests and Bishops are able to do? If pursuing my protagonists overextends my troops bringing inevitable defeat and weathering the protagonists' attacks defeats me slowly, then how do I win with the Muslim factions?