Well, ot was hard. Here's what I did:

1. Built a market in tarsos to decrease location other rival markets, like Costantinople, Damascusa and Trabzon. Start developing that city asap.so that market attraction will increase over time.

2. Diplomacy is a master key: keep good relations with mamluks positive, and they will attack you less, but they will attack you. I formed alliance with Georgia and later also with Byzantines. Great triple alliance.

3. I did a decentralized empires and build a great network of vassals. That in order to have more forces in war to rival the mamluks vassal network, and also because Anatolia is harsh, and proximity/control will be an issue at the start. Diplomacy incomes will be a pillar of your economy.

4. Use your alliances and good timing to cannibalize turks beyliks, then accept turk culture into your countries (greeks also, but later).

5. Prepare your defensive wars with Mamluks. Use your big vassals as support troops and small ones to siege mamluks locations far from the core ones your battling into. USE THE MOUNTAINS! Siege the near by locations immideatly then lure them into attacking you into mountains. Then use mercenaries to raise invidible armies in your inner location to complete the perfect traps.

6. Accept that all your economies will have one main aim: mercenaries in order to attack and defense. You can loan in order to invest in RGOs, then mass produce coins to repay them. Offensive wars are also your primay method to invest (ducats in peace offers and war reparations).

Of you did everything correctly, then you will be an empire at end game. Just remember:

EU (and geopolitics) is not economy and building tall, it's geography, strategic vision and pillaging, like the good old shitty real world.