Have I been missing out on Epeiros all this time?

[QuintusSertorius]

Well, there's slow and then there's slow. In my current Pergamon game, I didn't expand out of Mysia for the first 200 turns (50 years). It's a really rich province, so you can get away with that. I focused my external efforts on seeding the nearby settlements with spies and keeping my assassins busy, along with swatting the occasional invasion.
@Ludens - you might be right. I guess the only way I'll know for sure is to try it some time.
@d'Arthez, that's an intriguing roadmap to stability, I'll have to give it some though.