You should do a challenge video along the lines of no islands (only able to attack mainland afroeurasian countries) or no ocean use at all (same as before but now you have to walk to every target you have) because the early game in this was kinda cool IMO.
You didn't have to go fascist, after sending troops back to your capital and waiting the price of a peace treaty eventually goes down, i try to get a ton of army to lower the price but i buy off the cheaper ones inorder to lower the costs and i try to get cheap alliances with weak countries for better relations and economy. hope this helps!
