This is my own personal ETW Safavid Empire in 1741, for those who'd like to discover this faction. It's been playable using the All Factions unlocked NoFow mini-mod (one file only) and considered a "minor" faction by the game, but as you all know Sega and CA will burn in hell for that...
Anyway, I took the reins of Safavid Persia in ETW, who starts with 4 provinces including very large and rich Persia itself and a well-developed Azerbaïjan. Afghanistan and Baluchistan are very poor and remote, but their deserts are natural wallas against any Indian invasion, and the Mughal cousins are very friendly. The Eastern Front is safe from now but beware of revolts in Afghanistan who has a high unrest level (Mujaheddin!) as you can expect.
Global ETW Map of Persia and Middle-East after a long but victorious War against the Ottoman arch-rivals. Attention, big sized pictures.
The first challenge is to control and beat your neighbors, especially warmonging Daguestan and Georgia. The Ottoman Empire will take this opportunity to attack you, exactly as they actually did IRH. But this time, you comand and reverse the odds.
I did OK playing in H/H and finally took down all 3, stopping at the doorsteps of Anatolia and pushing through Middle-east and Egypt. Now the Ottomans are logically backstabbed by all their European foes, which left me free hands to conquer all Maghreb.
The Western Marches: I'm now in Algiers with my best General & Army. They're tired, decimated, living in ruins, but victorious!
I now enjoy a period of relative peace because Ottomans have been badly weakened, Barbary States have been crushed and Europeans are my friends since I got rid of Moorish seadogs for them. Well... Britain and the Dutch are beginning to lure on my lands with colonialist envy. Caution is required.
As you can see, my Safavid Shah (btw CA could have taken out "Sultan") is very old and weak. Actually he succeeded to his brother who was even worse. He's a puppet in agolden cage. The reality of the power is in the hands of the Grand Vizier and his Ministers, all excellent.
The expansion of "my" Safavid Empire wasn't due to our own policies but to the turmoil in Caucasus and the inept Ottoman governors of Middle-East and Africa. I never had to declare war myself, even if I logically allied with the rising Russian Empire so Europeans would think twice before trying anything against us.
Thanks to a booming commerce, we could afford to take a unique opportunity by sending an "afghan" Safavid army in India. In Western India he Hindus have rebelled against Mughal harsh rule, so I decided to submit them and acquire their wealth. It worked fine except for the high unrest. Now I even have an Indian outpost in the heart of India. This could pull me into trouble though...
The Eastern Marches: an opportunistic move.
Here we are now in 1741. I hope I helped you discover this Faction, its lands, units, opportunities etc. More to come about Units. I guess Ahiga will make a nice post about Qizlibashi musketeers.
PS: game interface in French, but you can deal with that ~BP