Ming is enormously overpowered this time around, as long as you don't get low legitimacy (in which case restart or use Bureaucrats faction to boost claim strength through events) before westernizing.
First, switch to Eunuchs, start fabricating a claim on Chagatai, and take either Kara Del or Sarig Yogir, vassalize and force religion at the same time. You usually get the mission to annex Kara Del so ue that and hte usual KD/SY alliance to get Sarig Yogir as a vassal. If the mission doens't show once you switch to Eunuchs, start fabbing on KD too.
Cut through Hsenwi, Taungu, and Pegu or Arakan, and then colonize to Maldives (160 range is enough), Mahe (need the Exploration +50% range idea for 240, northern Madgascar, fab a claim on the southernmost African province you can (near the center of its sea zone coast please), invade him and take it, core it, jump south, ideally to Cape in one shot, if impossible do a two jumps, Cape, then next to Kongo, and then somewhere near Cameroon, followed by either meeting Portugal near Gold Coast or pushing further west means fast westernization.
For ideas, you have two options: Exploration/Expansion/Humanism (westernize once you get the +3 Heretic tolerance)/Quantity (for the 4th settler policy)/Admin/Diplo/Quality?/Whatever
OR, and I recently realized this would be FAR better than having to fab so many damned claims to not bleed DIP once other nearby powers westernize, and the Admin as group 3 cuts the core cost far fatter than fabbing and waiting a few techs more for admin ideas: Exploration/Religious (the +3 True Faith tolerance gives a huge reduction to unrest if you convert all your provinces and hunker down to westernize, it also allows you to not spend DIP on wars basically anywhere)/Administrative/Quality (since you didn't get Expansion you need not get Quantity, Ming has huge enough Quantity anyhow)/Economics (to SPAM buildings with your enormous Ming funds)/Diplo/Trade (let your colonies do most of the colonizing, and conquer other colonies if you feel the need)/Whatever coupled with religious gives that culture change reduction policy if it's not Influence, if it is, whatever you want.
EDIT: sorry, I previously mixed up Diplo and Influence.
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