I played a few rounds as Persia and once I accepted my fate as always, always, always going to be defeated by Russia no matter how I tried the game becomes fun. Peace out in the war if you can without becoming a vassal (for me that involved becoming a nuisance and never surrendering or going into a direct battle unless I could win). Once at peace, build up, and then just start crazed invasions of the Ottomans. Haven't had that much fun basically running away from Ottoman troops. They were so distracted by my invasion that kept cutting off their supply lines they never made it too far into my territory because they had to deal with my running around all over Mesopotamia.
Added about twenty more hours of playtime to my MotE experience.
Added about twenty more hours of playtime to my MotE experience.