I have conquered the world as Georgia on hard difficulty. It was a bit difficult in the beginning but once you get large enough this game gets too easy. I have tried to conquer the world as a native faction but the best boat you can get is a trade ship and only when you conquer a European nation that has a trade port. So it is pretty much impossible to take down the enemy when all you have are ships that have like 4 guns and surrender after like 2 hits. Anyways once you get going this game is too easy even after giving your enemies almost all your money. They don't seem to pump out many armies.

I have played a game once as a native faction and the Dutch almost had all of Europe by the end of the game lol. The French almost always get killed off in the first half of the game.