Toying around as the Papal States:
For some reason Portugal, Castile and Aragon got their asses kicked by Granada and Morocco. Ottomans as usual going strong and have strong alliances with both Tunis and Morocco. The Mamluks didn't engage much but they hate all three.
I managed to get a war going, over the province of Kotor/Cattaro with the following belligerents:
My side: GOD, Austria & Hungary (integrated right after the war), Castile & Aragon, Commonwealth and Switzerland
Them: Ottomans, Tunis, Morocco, Granada and Ajam (sent 11k troops that we killed off, eventually white peace'd just before the final peace)
So it was an atypical Holy War, reconquista style. Gave Castile and Aragon back several provinces to at least keep a corridor going. Didn't bother with Portugal but I trust they can acquire those back now as they're cut off from the rest.
From the Ottomans I got Kotor which was the war goal, got Constantinople and Gallipoli as well for me. Gave Austria a province north of the Danube to keep their borders tidy and gave Tolcu to the Commonwealth.
Ideas so far, all done:
Influence
Divine
Religious
Next I'm thinking of going Espionage. Gives me insane siege ability (+10% from path and +20% combined with the Divine) plus the extra 1% missionary strength which I need.
Other ideas I'm considering are Innovative, Administrative and Economic but I'm falling behind in the Admin Tech so wanna go diplomatic. As long as I can keep up having such great alliances I don't want to waste points on military stuff and simply just tech up as much as possible until I pick Quantity or Offensive.
Switzerland is my ally but just completed the mission that gives me northern Italy cores. Will say our bye-byes soon.
I'm going to devour Parma soon, Mantova is my vassal, so is Byzantium. Verona and Saluzzo are also allied to Parma so I may pick Saluzzo up and vassalize Verona. Don't have any fear of coalitions as long as France doesn't join. They were part of one that never triggered earlier in the game but even if they do trigger I think there's no problem.
The only concern now is that I have to cut the Ottomans apart in the next 50 years and I have Russia to worry about.
No idea where this save is going, I started it out of frustration of not getting the France BBB achievement yet again and failing to start a successful Byzantium game. But these usually end up being the best ones
This is the first time I picked Papal States in Ironman mode.