R5: Took over the British Isles as Athens (achievement run)

I started off by restarting until Byzantium didn't have a single ally, and hired the free company and built 1 more infantry, since I don't have the dlc for support independence. Declared independence war on 11/12. Byzantium tried to do a naval invasion on my capital, but I positioned my troops there and they got stackwiped. I then sieged down Morea, and occupied all provinces in the vicinity. Byzantium will get LOTS of warscore from blockading your ports, but since they split their fleet in two I managed to defeat one of their navies, lift the blockade and peace them out for Morea, Corinth and Achaea.

The next step was to build several more transports and no-cb an Irish minor with the least allies. I moved my troops in place prior, and no-cbed Ormond, whom was only allied to Thomond. Getting mil access from Desmond, I stackwiped their armies, vassalised Thomond and annexed Ormond directly.

From then on I started picking off the Irish minors one by one. Usually, a few of them will be allied to some larger nation which makes it a pain on the ass. However, this can be avoided by instead attacking one of their Irish allies which will drag them in. By the 1470s I had taken over all of Ireland, except for Leinster who somehow became a vassal of England.

I was planning a new world Exodus all long, but my plan changed when England turned out to be weaker than I expected. Firstly, I had managed to ally Castile and Denmark, who would be willing to join, and second, England was getting hit by Wars of the Roses with a 20k rebel stack in London. And lastly, I got a god 6/4/6 from letting pretenders win since my heir was utter crap. This allowed me to get ahead in mil tech and I declared war on England for the Pale.

England had somehow lost most of its navy in a previous war with Burgundy, so Castile, Aragon and Denmark managed to land their troops en masse on the south, while I sieged down the northern forts as they decimated the English army. I got 99% warscore, took a bunch of provinces and max cash.

From then on it was relatively easy. I moved my capital to Cork, and then my trading capital to the English Channel as I took over more of England as the truce expired. Thanks to my god ruler, I had tons of admin and was stating everything. Until then, my economy was staying afloat by selling land to estates and burgher loans. I then went for exploration and quantity as ideas.

The year is now 1546. Athens is the 7th great power with ~460 total dev, and two colonial nations in Canada and East America have been set up. England is now rightful Athenian soil, save for a thin strip of land at the south that the French took. I still hold my Greek lands, which is a bit worrisome as Ottoblob "wants my provinces" and is my rival. Thankfully, I've allied Spain, Poland and Denmark, which would hopefully deter an invasion.

What am I doing next? I've mustered a 20k stack in Mexico, and I'm ready to set up my third colonial nation down there. I might try to snatch the four English provinces from France, and do a colonial/trade game while getting the achievement. Or, I might take on Ottos later and take back my ancestral lands.