Back to EU4 - Why not a looong timeline from 1453 to 1905. The start should be primitive and slow, but as you slowly advance your nation more and more technologies and better units become available. However, this would still be a pre-dreadnought, pre-flight and pre-tank game as none of the above existed in 1905. The most advanced big ship could be the Ironclad Battleship, the most advanced frigate-sized ship could be the Merchant Raider and the most advanced galley-sized ship could be the Monitor. Armies would still only have three branches: Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry.
Because there is already vic2 which is perfect game for 1836 to 1936. There is no reason to expanding timeline to longer than 1836. There would almost 400 to play it is more than enough.