We are now lean and mean. More than capable of going toe to toe with 90% of adversaries.

Some observations so far:
Blockades cause devastations which will go on to greatly harm Ming's mandate. If you can't beat them in a straight up fight then see if you can play the long game with blockades.
Philippines is a terrible node because only Canton goes into it. The local trade value also really sucks at the moment but I think that changes as time goes by.
You can go well over the naval mandate without causing severe damage to your economy. I am about 20 ships over my limit and the extra costs are only 4 ducats.
Hindu seems to be a decent religion. They can pick from a load of bonuses every time they get a new ruler and their missionary strength is good enough to convert Muslims.
The AI around the Indonesian area is really bad. I think that they struggle with getting their units onto boats.