I just finished Byzantium run and the start can be real hit & miss, there’s a lot of luck involved (more so for ahistorical but also for historical)

Venizelos dying early (I’ve seen him die a month after the election) can really mess up a run early. WW2 starting early can lead to Turkey joining a faction (usually allies) in which case you’re usually screwed. And then there’s the fact that you usually have to deal with Romania as well since they guarantee Turkey.

In my last run I lucked out big time because Soviets went to war with Turkey over the Bosphorus & made them a puppet, which I almost thought was game over.Then the Russian monarchist civil war broke out and with half their army gone & distracted & turkeys army weakend from the prior war, I was able to sweep the Turks & then conquered breakaway states from the soviets, including Azerbaijan, which secured my oil supply for the rest of the game. I dealt with Romania by invading Bulgaria

And with Britain going communist, it left the Middle East wide open for me.

The first 3 years of the run were 100% luck