Another one starting as a Muscovy vassal:
The start was a bit easier than Perm - Muscovy attacked Tver before Novgorod, which gave me time to get both NOV and Lithuania as allies (also got eased tensions event for fast relations). Diplomacy was kinda difficult afterwards though, boxed in between larger powers and even Denmark was attacking me after I took over Livonia. At some point I was even allied to Muscovy, but that turned sour after I took some provinces from Novgorod. Managed to form Russia in 1550, made it to Siberian horde land only in 1576 and figured I'd see if I can still get the Relentless Push East by powering through some Ming tributaries - here's the result, had to switch religious to expansion to fill the gap between Udi and Kamchatka (even then it took something like 2 years to send a colonist) but basically it's doable in 20 years even if you have 0 colonies before that.
The start was a bit easier than Perm - Muscovy attacked Tver before Novgorod, which gave me time to get both NOV and Lithuania as allies (also got eased tensions event for fast relations). Diplomacy was kinda difficult afterwards though, boxed in between larger powers and even Denmark was attacking me after I took over Livonia. At some point I was even allied to Muscovy, but that turned sour after I took some provinces from Novgorod. Managed to form Russia in 1550, made it to Siberian horde land only in 1576 and figured I'd see if I can still get the Relentless Push East by powering through some Ming tributaries - here's the result, had to switch religious to expansion to fill the gap between Udi and Kamchatka (even then it took something like 2 years to send a colonist) but basically it's doable in 20 years even if you have 0 colonies before that.