I did this game recently and it was very enjoyable.
Knights are great for escape strategy because of tons of money from raiding coasts. For the same reason Mzab is great for this too.
All you need is to Tlemncen to rival both Tunis and Morocco (or not to ally with them). You don't need to ally anyone.
Start with conquering Achaea from Byzantium, Nothing else. Play with estates to get 3x200 monarch points. I usually send missionary for first month and convert to Orthodox. You want to go to ADM 5 as soon as possible (but without national focus). Don't use DIP points on anything to have 1000 ready to researching Exploration Ideas. With third idea your colonial range will allow you to core Oujda. And from Oujda you can colonize Cape Verde.
The war (no CB) against Tlemcen is crucial. There will be need to go over FL slightly. Dahra fort is usually mothballed. Make sure you have MIL tech advantage. I fought 9 unit army against Tlemcen 12-14 and was victorious.
After taking Oujda it is possible to raid Spanish and French coasts (if you converted). Colonize Cape Verde and after that colonize province in Pernambuco state in Brazil. This is great capital state for new New World empire. No tropical malus for develpment and everything is drylands (only -5%).
From there game is very easy. Take Expansion ideas and colonize like crazy, going almost always over limit (there is a lot of money from coast raiding). Obviously your first Age perk should be +1+1+1 development for colonies. It's good idea to ally either Morocco or Tunis to protect the other one from declaring for Oujda. Ultimately I sold Oujda (I sold Achaea earlier to Venice - I didn't want Ottomans to declare for it) and took The Azores and The Baleares to have bases for riding coasts.
Around 1520 I have a naval parity with Ottomans so I'm not worry anymore that they will declare for Rhodes. After colonizing coast of Brazil and the Caribbean I will go to Asia to introduce coast raiding to India and China.
I checked and Oujda will work for Albania too. Coast of Morocco will work for Irish minors (but Morocco is much stronger than Tlemcen). But without money from raiding coasts it will not be as fun as with The Knights.
Knights are great for escape strategy because of tons of money from raiding coasts. For the same reason Mzab is great for this too.
All you need is to Tlemncen to rival both Tunis and Morocco (or not to ally with them). You don't need to ally anyone.
Start with conquering Achaea from Byzantium, Nothing else. Play with estates to get 3x200 monarch points. I usually send missionary for first month and convert to Orthodox. You want to go to ADM 5 as soon as possible (but without national focus). Don't use DIP points on anything to have 1000 ready to researching Exploration Ideas. With third idea your colonial range will allow you to core Oujda. And from Oujda you can colonize Cape Verde.
The war (no CB) against Tlemcen is crucial. There will be need to go over FL slightly. Dahra fort is usually mothballed. Make sure you have MIL tech advantage. I fought 9 unit army against Tlemcen 12-14 and was victorious.
After taking Oujda it is possible to raid Spanish and French coasts (if you converted). Colonize Cape Verde and after that colonize province in Pernambuco state in Brazil. This is great capital state for new New World empire. No tropical malus for develpment and everything is drylands (only -5%).
From there game is very easy. Take Expansion ideas and colonize like crazy, going almost always over limit (there is a lot of money from coast raiding). Obviously your first Age perk should be +1+1+1 development for colonies. It's good idea to ally either Morocco or Tunis to protect the other one from declaring for Oujda. Ultimately I sold Oujda (I sold Achaea earlier to Venice - I didn't want Ottomans to declare for it) and took The Azores and The Baleares to have bases for riding coasts.
Around 1520 I have a naval parity with Ottomans so I'm not worry anymore that they will declare for Rhodes. After colonizing coast of Brazil and the Caribbean I will go to Asia to introduce coast raiding to India and China.
I checked and Oujda will work for Albania too. Coast of Morocco will work for Irish minors (but Morocco is much stronger than Tlemcen). But without money from raiding coasts it will not be as fun as with The Knights.