Now I'm well aware what I'm about to suggest means that it is nigh on impossible to actually "win" the game unless you're very quick but try this.
Play the game with -ian on and start in early as the Almohads. The rules are, every 30 years, you switch to the next faction on along the number bar (1,2,3,4,5 etc). I know this might sound quite strange or tedious but you really can learn a lot about the games various factions and strengths, plus you get put into a lot of very challenging scenarios which mean it is very difficult to achieve any form of dominance on the map due to the short time period and if you do, its going to mean there's a healthy challenge waiting for you when you next switch.
In my attempt, I took most of Spain with the Almohads and strengthened Africa. Then went on a rampage against the Turks and Egyptians as the Byzantines, nearly annihilating both, but then I had to actually play as the Egyptians.
This was one of the most difficult campaign experiances I've ever had, trapped between the Almohad and Byzantine massive power blocks with only Egypt and Cyrencia to control. Every turn was basically a fight for survival and winning battles was not good enough. They had to be won well. Aggression was pretty much impossible until the Spanish were able to give the Almohads a series of decisive wins that put them into civil war and allowed me to move westwards with a few battles and some bribes. The turn after the civil war started, Sinai finally cracked but the Byzantines never pushed home the advantage to take Egypt. They just stopped or went home. Maybe the Turks remerged or something.
Anyway, that may not sound impressive, but if you were there you'd agree just staying alive was a huge challenge. And you get LOTS of those playing this way simply because its sort of like playing against a players country.
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