A Guide to the Ottoman Empire

[Astaroth]

The Ottoman Empire

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. An Overview of the Ottoman Empire
3. The Neighbors of the Ottomans
4. The Strategy
5. Summary

I. Introduction

The Ottoman Empire lies between the east and the west, between orient and occident. Founded on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, it grew and prospered, becoming one of the most important powers in the known world. Ottoman troops pushed deep into Europe, sieged Vienna, conquered Rhodes from the Knights of St. John and seized the whole Middle East. The empire is a massive melting pot of different cultures, religions and peoples and its capital, Istanbul, connects the east and the west.
However, the glorious times of the Ottomans are long gone. Corruption has spread in the empire and it is now way behind Europe technologically. All attempts to capture Vienna have failed and the Ottomans are now in a disadvantageous position on the Balkans. Whilst, Russia has come closer to the Black Sea and is constantly pushing deeper into the territory of the empire's allies. In the east, Persia has become strong and is preparing for war. Abroad, the Ottomans have missed the opportunity to seize colonies in the Americas or India and are no longer a global power. The Ottoman Empire is now at the crossroads - if it isn't reformed soon, it will break apart and its enemies will conquer the remnants. This poses a great challenge for the Ottoman Sultan and only a great leader will be able to bring back the empire's former glory.

Therefore, playing as the Ottomans in Empire: Total War is undoubtedly very challenging. However, it also gives you the opportunity to test your skills as a monarch, reformer, economist and general. Furthermore, the Ottomans are arguably one of the most unique factions in the game and offer various strategies and tactics. But let's start.

Choose the Ottoman Empire in the faction selection menu and decide on the campaign and battle difficulty. I for my part will play on VH/VH for it poses the greatest challenge and is the most rewarding in my opinion. Feel free to go for an easier difficulty setting, though. Then we have to choose our victory conditions. I'll play a "long campaign" but you may of course also choose one of the other available options. This is what your campaign selection menu could look like now:

But enough preparations, time to get started with the actual campaign! Many challenges lie ahead of us.

II. An Overview of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire lies in the European theater of Empire: Total War and stretches from the European continent over the Asian one up to Africa. With its twelve regions, it is undoubtedly amongst the largest factions but it's in a precarious situation. In order to get a better understanding of the empire and its problems, we shall have a look at its government, economy, infrastructure and other important aspects.

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The Ottoman government and military at the beginning of the game.

The Government

The Ottoman Empire is an absolute monarchy, ruled by a Sultan. That means that the monarch can remove his minsters from office whenever he wants to by replacing them with another hopefully more capable man. This is obviously a big advantage as incompetent people will not be able to damage your finances, prestige or military strength. On top of that, the Ottoman nobles fully support their monarch and are very happy with this type of government. As a result, you will be able to set their taxes up to a very high level without them complaining. That will definitely be a boost to your treasury. However, an absolute monarchy is based on the oppression of the lower classes so they will try to improve their situation, even if that will result in rioting and revolting. If a lower class revolution manages to succeed, the empire will turn into a republic and its flag will become the modern Turkish one. Being a republic offers many advantages without a doubt. To begin with, the lower class is obviously much happier and much more willing to pay higher taxes and to obey. Furthermore, you'll be able to advance and develop without problems as the people will not be opposed to it anymore. As a result, stronger troops, better formations and more profitable buildings become available. Another plus is a good standing with all other republics in the game. However, that leads us to the downsides of being a republic. Most major nations are still absolute monarchies and won't be all that friendly towards republics. Therefore, being a republic may well worsen your standing with some important countries. Another disadvantage are the unhappy nobles who'll refuse to pay higher taxes. On top of that, you will no longer be able to dismiss and appoint ministers all the time. Only one minister can be removed each turn and new elections might well bring incapable people to power. Negative consequences are not unlikely.
However, there is yet another possible type of government: a constitutional monarchy. If the nobility in a republic manages to revolt and to overthrow the existing government, a constitutional monarchy will be founded. As the name suggests, it is a mixture of a republic and an absolute monarchy. As such, the king will have quite some power but it is somewhat limited. The lower class people will support him but not to the extent of which they'd support a republic.
In conclusion, each of the three different types of government has its advantages and disadvantages. In the end the choice who your country should be lead by comes down to personal preference. Some might want to have total control about everything while others prefer to further democracy.
I for my part tend to stay with an absolute monarchy at the start of the game as it grants me military advantages, improved diplomatic standings at the beginning and full control. Once I have established the Ottoman dominance over the Middle East and the Balkans, I like switching to a republic in order to avoid constant riots by the lower class, to boost my technological advance and to improve my economy.

At the beginning of the game, the Ottoman leader is average at best but at least you can remove your worst ministers and replace them with better ones.

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The diplomacy at the beginning of the game.

Diplomacy

The Ottoman Empire has a long history of conquering other nations and fighting with its neighbors so many of them are still rather hostile towards it. The Austrian Empire which borders the Ottoman Empire in the north might no longer be at war with the Ottomans but the Austrians are still trying to expand on the Balkans. The last war between the two nations doesn't lie far in the past and their relationship is still everything but friendly. In the northeast, Russia is eager to conquer the Crimea in order to gain access to a Black Sea port. Your protectorate - the Crimean Khanate - cannot defend itself against the superior northern European power so you have no choice but to defend it. Unless you want to abandon it of course which would further strengthen the 'Russian Bear'. In the east there lies Georgia which might not be your enemy but will certainly use any opportunity to expand if you show a sign of weakness. Persia on the other hand is openly hostile towards the Ottoman Empire and will aggressively raid your docks and towns.
In conclusion, it's quite obvious that the Ottomans do not have many friends amongst their neighbors. However, other European nations such as France might be good partners for an alliance. It's also possible to establish trade relations with other nations in order to improve your economy. Later on, these trade partners might very well become allies.
But no matter how you turn it, the Ottomans will have to stand and fight alone for the first few turns of the game.

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Economy and Infrastructure

The Ottoman infrastructure is seriously underdeveloped. There are few regions with advanced roads, most buildings and towns are on a very low level of development and there are hardly any advanced governing buildings either. While most (European) countries have improved farms and mines with good output, the Ottoman ones are still rather unproductive. This is one of the main reasons for the relatively weak economy despite the high population and size of the empire. Since they aren't very advanced, the governor's residences are inefficient and the tax income is low. The fertile areas in Mesopotamia and Egypt aren't productive enough because there are only minor farms. While the empire controls a very long coast which is abundant in fish, the fisheries are too small to make a difference.
Therefore, the Ottoman Empire clearly has the potential to become a great economic power but currently it has many considerable problems. Fixing the economy and infrastructure should definitely be the Sultan's priorities.

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Religion

The Ottoman Empire is one of the few Muslim powers in the game. However, it also controls vast Orthodox and Catholic Christian lands on the Balkans. That results in local unhappiness and unrest. Dealing with these problems is certainly of great importance when playing as the Ottomans. There are two possible solutions: either you try to convert the whole Balkans to Islam or you have to compensate for the religious unrest by constructing other buildings which will improve the public order (such as calligrapher's schools). However, while you begin the game with two Imams already, it will definitely take a long time to convert everyone, especially since you do not even have the money or resources to build advanced mosques or other religious buildings.
Therefore, it would be wise to concentrate on more important issues for the first few turns. You only have to act once the population becomes increasingly unhappy and rebellious.

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Military

Over the past few decades, the Ottoman Empire has also fallen behind militarily. Europe's leading powers have superior armies, more advanced artillery and better disciplined soldiers. Whereas they can train reliable line infantry relatively early on already, you have to rely on irregular troops, weak melee units and peasants. Not to mention that your army is quite small at the beginning of the game and has a hard time protecting your long borders. Therefore, it's important to improve the Ottoman military considerably before facing any major European nations. Try to avoid a war with your powerful northern and northwestern neighbors and focus on Russia, the Caucasus nations and Persia instead for their armies are not as superior. However, you have to keep in mind that the Ottoman Empire simply cannot finance any major military expeditions early on so you have to stay in the defense for several years. Your empire is large enough already, it's more important to improve the infrastructure than to conquer even more lands. But let's move on to the next chapter.

III. The Neighbors of the Ottomans

The Ottomans have conquered ranging from the Balkans to Arabia and from Egypt to Mesopotamia. Therefore, they also have many different neighbors from various cultural backgrounds. In the west, the Ottomans share a small border with Venice which owns the Morea in southern Greece and with the Ottoman protectorate of the Barbary States in northern Africa. In the north, the Ottoman Empire borders its second protectorate, the Crimean Khanate and the Austrian Empire and Poland. Finally, the Ottomans share a short border with Georgia and a long border with Persia in the east.
In conclusion, the Ottoman Empire is surrounded by plenty of potential enemies and is thus clearly in a rather dangerous - one might even say precarious - situation. Therefore, we will now analyze the neighbors of the Ottomans one by one in order to get to know their strengths and weaknesses. That way, dealing with and defeating them will be much easier.

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The Barbary States

The Barbary States lie on the coast of northern Africa and are one of the two Ottoman protectorates. They are infamous for raiding foreign ships and trade routes in the whole Mediterranean and are hostile towards most nations. However, they play a relatively minor role in the Ottoman campaign. While they won't be of much help they do not demand or need anything either. Their relations with the Ottomans are good and the alliance between the two countries is stable. Therefore, you can basically ignore them for the majority of your campaign, unless you want to conquer their lands of course. Defeating them wouldn't be a big problem either, since their land armies are small and not particularly powerful.

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Venice

Venice owns the city of Patras in southern Greece and thus borders your Empire theree. However, the Venetian garrison is small and the region is of little importance. Venice might not be friendly towards the Ottomans but its power in southern Greece is very limited and poses no threat to the empire. Therefore, you have two possibilities: you either ignore the small town or you conquer it. I for my part would go with the first option since the province is very minor and there's no point in starting a war with yet another nation. As long as you don't attack their small city, the Venetians will most likely stay peaceful which can also be an advantage considering how powerful their fleet is. If you ignore the Morea, there is one enemy less who might block your trade routes or harbors.

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The Balkans and the Austrian Empire.

The Austrian Empire

Historically, Austria is one of the Ottomans' major enemies. The Ottoman Empire tried twice to seize the Austrian capital Vienna and the war between the two nations has been going on for several centuries now. However, now peace has been made and the countries are no longer enemies - at least not officially. Despite that, there's no friendliness between them and a new war might well break out.
Due to the ceasefire with the Ottomans, Austria has focused on Europe where Prussia is trying to gain dominance over Germany. Furthermore, it is trying to protect its interests against the powerful France. Therefore, the Austrians are not really interested in a war with the Ottoman Empire right now. The Ottomans should use this to their advantage by concentrating on their other foes. Austria being busy means that there is one less problem for you to worry about. The Balkan cities can be left with very small garrisons and you can spend your resources on expanding economically and improving your infrastructure.

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Poland

Poland is a strong kingdom in Eastern Europe but it's of little importance in the Ottoman campaign. The border between the two nations is very short and lies in the far south of Poland so the country will not make any attempts to invade your lands. Poland is busy with its other neighbors and doesn't have any interest in attacking the Ottomans. Nor do they have the manpower or resources to send troops to the Balkans. Therefore, you can simply ignore Poland for the time being.

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The Crimea and Russia.

The Crimean Khanate

The Crimean Khanate is your second protectorate and lies on the northern shores of the Black Sea. It's a small and relatively weak country but will attempt to defend itself against Russian attacks from the north. However, unlike the Barbary States it can barely hold its own so it will most likely fall to Russia unless you help defending it. Therefore, it's important that you constantly support it. Russia is very eager to attain a Black Sea port so it will raid the Crimea and the surrounding lands very often. Since you're at war with Russia anyway, it makes sense to push the Russians back and out of your protectorate. Merely defending its capital isn't enough because the Russians will raid nearby towns, effectively ruining the Crimean Khanate's economy. Generally, dealing with Russia is very important but we will get back to that in the next chapter.

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Georgia and the Caucasus.

Georgia

Georgia lies in the Caucasus, next to the Black Sea and is a small yet rather powerful country. Its capital is protected by a relatively big army which will grow steadily over the course of the game. While this faction might be peaceful at the beginning of the game, its hostility and aggressiveness increases along with the size of its army. You don't have to worry about Georgia for the first few turns but eventually they might well decide to conquer Armenia. You can try to build a strong garrison in the city but since your eastern border is long and your troops are thinly stretched it's not clear how effective that would be. Last but not least, Georgia also fields an army which is almost as advanced and disciplined as those of the major European powers. Therefore, you will be fighting an uphill battle against this small nation.

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Mesopotamia and Persia.

Persia

Persia and the Ottoman Empire have a long history of fighting against each other. This is no different in the 18th century and Persia will use every opportunity, every sign of weakness to capture Ottoman lands. Over the first few turns of the game, this faction will amass its armies near your border. Eventually, your towns will be raided while the Persian fleet will capture your port in the Persian Gulf. With Georgia invading your lands from the north, it'll be hard to protect all of your towns so your best option is probably to defend the regional capital Baghdad.
Generally, Persia is your major enemy in the east due to the size of its empire and its hostility towards the Ottomans. However, it isn't as advanced as most European powers so your troops will not fight an uphill battle. Furthermore, Persia's economy isn't that strong either which means that a major war will exhaust the country's resources relatively quickly.

After this short overview and analysis of the Ottomans' neighbors, we can finally focus on the next and most important chapter - the strategy. It will feature a step-by-step guide to the Ottoman campaign which will hopefully enable you to achieve dominance in Europe and the Middle East!

IV. The Strategy

The Ottoman Empire is surrounded by many hostile and dangerous nations so making a good game plan is a necessity. Since the Ottomans control such a huge empire, there are many possible strategies. However, not all of them are viable and choosing the wrong one might well result in the destruction of your empire. Therefore, we shall now analyze the Ottoman campaign step-by-step in order to achieve victory eventually.

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Take Kiev.

Step 1: Staying defensive and facing Russia

As I've already explained earlier, the Ottoman economy and infrastructure are extremely lacking at the beginning of the game. Therefore, it is important to rebuild and improve both before starting any major wars. There is no point in conquering new lands before the whole empire is reformed and can compete with Europe's major powers. Your first priority should thus be to avoid new conflicts while defending your borders. Currently, you have only two major opponents: Russia and Persia. Therefore, you should amass your troops near your borders with the two countries. Persia will stay defensive for a while since it cannot afford a major war yet. However, Russia is eager to attain a Black Sea port and will thus do everything to conquer the Crimea. It's very important to stop the Russians from achieving their goals for otherwise their strength will increase considerably. While Austria might not be friendly towards the Ottomans, it has enough problems in Europe and will most likely stay peaceful. This allows you to move all of your troops from the Balkans and Greece to your protectorate, the Crimean Khanate. You can now focus on defending Russia's attacks and raids and do not have to worry about any other European powers. If necessary, you might also want to train a few new units to help against Russia.
All the while, concentrate your eastern armies on the Persian border and stay defensive there. You do not have the manpower or resources to invade Persia and there is no point in starting further wars in the east just yet. Georgia is peaceful for the time being and will not become hostile until later on. Use your resources for upgrading your farms and other economic buildings while researching more economic technologies. It's also important to upgrade your governing buildings, especially on the Balkans. This will increase your tax income considerably while also making the people happy and decreasing the chance of a riot happening. Since improving your infrastructure is expensive, you won't be able to afford many new soldiers. Therefore, you have to rely on your existing armies when fighting against Russia. After you have defeated a few Russian armies, the 'Russian Bear' will become exhausted. This will allow you to push back the Russian troops and to seize Kiev. But what do we gain by conquering that city?

• First of all, it obviously weakens Russia while strengthening our own empire.
• Secondly, it takes away pressure from your protectorate - the Crimean Khanate - and means that you do not have to worry about defending it anymore.
• Thirdly, it destroys Russia's ambitions of conquering a Black Sea port. Furthermore, it also means that Russia won't be a threat anymore for quite a while.

Once the city is yours, the war in the north will essentially be over for many years. Russia's other cities are far away and the country will be too busy with its other neighbors to retake Kiev. Therefore, conquering it will free up many resources for other projects. You can now finally focus on rebuilding your economy which will become very important soon.
Since there aren't any major sea powers which you have to worry about, you might use your fleet to escort one or several trading ships to a nearby trade theater. It also helps to gain trade rights from nations such as the Marathas or Britain for trade will boost your income significantly. A good trade relationship can also be the base for an alliance which is especially important for the Ottomans since they will have a hard time finding reliable allies early on. In general, your early strategy should consist of three main parts:

• Military: stay defensive and avoid new conflicts. Focus on Russia and conquer Kiev after a few turns. In the east, stay defensive and protect your border against Persia.
• Economy: set up the taxes as high as possible while avoiding riots. Furthermore, invest most of your money into upgraded governor's residences and new economic buildings such as farms, mines and ports.
• Technology: focus on researching economic technologies. Only research military ones as well once you have two or three schools, colleges or universities.

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Defeating Georgia.

Step 2: Georgia and the recovery of Russia

After several years, Persia will become increasingly aggressive in the east. Your towns will be raided and smaller Persian armies will roam your land constantly. In order to deal with this, you have to begin focusing on your military. Upgrade your barracks in Baghdad for the city will be your main troop production center in the future. Keep training soldiers there and make sure to repel the Persian raiding parties and to repair your towns. However, you mustn't ever leave Baghdad undefended since otherwise, Persia will seize the whole east of your empire. You won't be able to defend all of your towns in Mesopotamia but the most important thing is to increase the size of your army constantly while killing as many Persian troops as possible. Sooner or later, Georgia will become increasingly aggressive as well. Over the course of the game, the small country's army will grow and its hostility will increase with its strength. Eventually, Armenia will probably fall to the Georgian army. Since you are busy defending against Persia, there is little that you can do against that. Georgia's army is of a similar quality as the armies of Europe's major powers so you would be fighting an uphill battle. Instead, focus on defending Baghdad at all costs and stop Georgia from conquering Anatolia. Once your economy can afford it you can also train a few troops in Istanbul to help defeating Georgia's invading armies.
Your goal should be to build a huge field army capable of defeating Georgia while keeping at least half a stack in Baghdad to defend it against Persia. There would be no point in conquering the Caucasus nation if you lost your main military base in the meantime. Therefore, you cannot attack until you have a sufficiently strong garrison force. By now, it isn't necessary to defend your Mesopotamian towns anymore and defending Baghdad itself is all that counts. Furthermore, you have to be quick if you want to conquer Georgia. Otherwise, Persia might use the opportunity to attack your flank, effectively defeating your offensive.
In conclusion, it's obvious that you have to be very careful and quick. If you fail, you will most likely not have a second chance for a long time. You need at least one full stack to defeat Georgia so you also shouldn't attack too early. Once your army is ready, march against Armenia and conquer both of Georgia's regions within two turns. Now that the small country is defeated, you can finally focus your full attention on Persia. However, your army will be exhausted so it's important to replenish its ranks over the next few turns. Repair your damaged buildings, train new forces in Georgia and Baghdad and fight off Persia's raids. By now you should be able to defend your lands properly and could probably invade Persia soon - if it wasn't for the recovery of Russia.

While you were busy fighting Georgia and Persia, Russia has recovered from its past defeats and is eager to regain Kiev. It's of great importance to defend the city so train as many soldiers as necessary to garrison and to hold it. However, merely defeating Russia's invading armies isn't enough this time. Our goal is to end the Russian threat for a long time so we can finally focus on our military campaigns in Persia. There are of course several possible ways to achieve this goal.

• Attempt to conquer Moscow and the rest of Russia. I for my part would advise against this since Russia's lands are poor and very large. As a result it will be hard to defend them.
• Keep defending. Amass a strong army near the Russian border and crush all Russian troops which dare to cross it. The problem with this is that it forces you to fund a strong army which will cost you a lot of money.
• Raid Russia. Simply build a strong army and raid the Russian lands, burning down Russia's villages and cities. I for my part prefer this option by far since it will considerably weaken your northern enemy yet it won't cost you much upkeep since your army will be fighting and becoming smaller constantly.

Now that we have decided on a strategy, it's time to remove the Russian threat once and for all!

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Raiding the Russian hinterland.

Step 3: Against Russia and Persia

Keep defending in the east while preparing an army in the north. Use Kiev as your military base and scout Russia's lands in the meantime. Once Moscow is undefended, march towards it and seize it at once. Now proceed to destroy every single building in the city itself and in all nearby towns, effectively ruining the region's economy and infrastructure. Once you have achieved this goal, march towards the Russian hinterland to avoid Russia's returning army. While the empire will retake its capital soon, its economy will be effectively destroyed. Use the remainder of your army to repeat the procedure with Russia's other cities and eventually divide it into many small raiding parties which can then burn down villages all across the Russian empire. This tactic will undoubtedly weaken Russia considerably, turning it into an economic wreck. It will no longer have the resources to raid your lands, let alone to retake Kiev. Now that this threat is essentially gone, you can once again focus on Persia.

Conquering Isfahan.

By now, your eastern armies should have grown a lot. Persia will be exhausted by the war so it shouldn't be hard to seize Azerbaijan with your army from Georgia. Persia will now be surrounded by your troops with one of your armies approaching from Baghdad while the other one controls Azerbaijan. The time has come for the killing blow. Attack Isfahan simultaneously with both of your armies and seize it quickly. Persia won't be able to resist anymore so conquering the city shouldn't be too hard. Since Isfahan is a great troop production center, you should spend the next few turns repairing the buildings and replenishing your armies. Persia is merely a shadow of its former glory by now so all there is left to do is conquering its remaining two settlements. Simply march towards Afghanistan and finish off Persia finally. The war of attrition has slowly but surely ruined its economy, paving the path to its eventual destruction.

And now your empire's powers has finally reached a new peak. Persia and Russia, its old enemies and rivals lie in the dust. Austria has exhausted itself over countless wars against Prussia and Poland. The Ottoman infrastructure and economy have recovered and the Ottoman army can now finally compete with its European counterparts. The empire is no longer weak and full of corruption but rather strong and rich. It ranges from the Danube to the Ganges, from the steppes of Russia to the deserts of Arabia. By now, nobody can resist its power anymore and the Ottoman armies are feared from Europe to India. You have successfully managed to defeat your enemies and paved the path to a new age of Ottoman dominance. No matter which target you decide to go for in the future, you should manage to be victorious.

Even conquering your longtime enemy Austria is within the realms of possibility now. Use your advanced barracks to build high quality janissary troops and proceed to conquer the Austrian Empire. Two stacks should suffice since Austria has lost many troops and a lot of money fighting against its neighbors over the past few years whereas your empire used the time to prosper and grow. Another possibility would be to conquer India. Whereas the Mughals should be on the brink of destruction, the Marathas will be exhausted by their long war against the Mughal Empire. Therefore, conquering the continent is very well possible and would give you access to its many riches. Additionally, you can also build a navy to either seize a few trade theaters or to conquer the American continent. At this stage of the game there won't be much which could still stop your expansion!

V. Summary

In conclusion, the Ottoman Empire is clearly amongst the most intriguing yet also most challenging factions. Surrounded by hostile nations and corrupted from within the empire is at the crossroads. While it has a great lot of potential, it is in a rather precarious situation and bringing back its former glory is a daunting task. However, this is also what makes the Ottoman campaign so enjoyable and thrilling. One little mistake might well result in defeat so only a capable general and cunning leader will come out on top in the end. In my opinion, nobody should miss out on playing as this great faction for achieving victory with it is extremely satisfying. But now go ahead and conquer the world with the Ottoman Empire! Lead this proud nation to new peaks of power!

[Slaists]

A great guide, +rep for it!

From my own experience: at least on VH campaign difficulty in v 1.2, Austria, Poland and Venice are likely to declare war on Ottomans despite having their own problems in Europe. As long as Ottomans maintain some cheap garrison forces in (an Israeli unit here and there + some melee Janissaries when available) Bosnia, Serbia and Moldova the feeble attempts of Austria and Poland to take those provinces can be thwarted by using city defenses and good battle-map play. Don't oversize these garrisons though. As long as the garrison is not large, AI seems to send small, defeatable forces; once the garrison becomes substantial, AI sends a stack...

I'd advise taking Morrea as soon as possible; once Morrea is Ottoman, Venice no longer has teeth...

Once I had taken Kiev, I granted it to my protectorate: the Crimeans who proved to be more than able to hold this northern front for me. As soon as I did that Russians accepted peace + paid me 1000 pieces of gold. Additional upside from this action: the Ukrainian army becomes available to take Georgia and subsequently Dagestan followin up with Azerbaijan and eventually Persia. Georgia declared war early on in my campaign + they're dangerous since they could field line infantry and cavalry armies early on. The same applies for Dagestan. Hence my advice: a wise Sultan should take them out asap.

Oh, another thought: use your navies wisely. Venice and Austria tend to send out fleets of indiamen; starting Ottoman navies + some sloops/gallies are sufficient to capture good portions of these merchant fleets. These loots allow Ottomans to take part in trade theaters early on.

[uzi716]

As I said before the crash, great guide. If only if it were there when before I gave up on my campaign.

You didn't mention Dagestan, in my previous campign I found them to be a major pain in the ***. They also get European style units too.

[Bylandt]

Very good guide.

I just played the Ottomans. They're not the easiest faction to play, but not that hard either with the right strategy. Once you do well in the first ten years, things get quite easy.

My own guide to the first years:

1. Make peace with Russia. You'll have other enemies to deal with soon enough.

2. Ottomans are not as poor as they may appear. Of all nations, they have the most commercial ports to start with. With the right changes in government and getting the best trade agreements, you can have a surplus income of 10.000 from day 1. What other faction has this? The ports also mean you can build 5 dhows each two turns.

3. The real initial challenges are in Asia, not in Europe. You will be dowed by Georgia, Daghestan and Persia soon.
- upgrade barracks in Bagdad. By far the most cost-efficient unit you can build are the jannissary melee infantry. They can deal with anything that comes their way and are cheap to maintain. Bashi-bouzouks(sp?) and other cheap troops can be added to serve as garissons later.
- consider building a small warfleet (at least 4 brigs/sloops) in the Bagdad port. The Persian fleet has one pesky big ship.
- build a smaller defensive force in Bagdad to hold off the Persian incursions
- the main army should assemble in Armenia. Strike against against Georgia as soon as feasable. From there, march on Daghestan.
- after you've dealt with these two, all the available forces can be used against Persia and victory us assured

4. In Europe in the meantime, redistribute your forces along the frontier with Austria. In my game, Russia, PL and Venice left me in peace. Austria did attack before I could finish things in Asia, but their forces were to weak to do much damage.

5. If Morrocco dows on the Barbary States, do not enter the war. You want the straights of Gibraltar safe for your dhows and trade to pass through. If Morocco is already at war with Spain, you can offer it protectorate status.

[infusion]

Great guide! +rep. Gives me the confidence to start playing as the Turks again, after my last failed attempt.

[mir24]

Hey Astaroth, great visual guide! Kudos to the effort you put in.

I'd like to add my two cents here though, based on my own experience of playing the Ottoman faction.

1. Morea, Georgia: Should be taken as early as possible within the first three turns once the Ottoman's have sufficient strength to do so. These cities train at least one unit per turn and as you've pointed out, Georgia itself has VERY decent units. The quicker you eliminate them, the better.
2. Dagestan: Should also be taken as early as possible, for the same reason.
3. Russia and the Crimean Khanate: I agree with you that the Crimeans must be supported from the start by assisting them in repelling the Russians. Once their initial army is destroyed, Kiev will be virtually undefended and can be conquered easily. One alternative to holding Kiev is to gift it back to Russia in exchnage for a peace treaty, techs and tribute. Another alternative is to gift it to the Crimeans and let them wreak havoc on Russia. Thus freeing up your armies in the North.
4. Persia: Can be left alone for a while. Try signing a trade treaty with them if possible. It will ward off any wars while you build up your strength to invade them.

Myself and many others have written at length on this so I won't add more. Please see other tips and strategies on the Ottoman Epire here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...=234632&page=3

[Sultan Mustafa]

I actually saw that Georgia and Daghestan were easy i defeated both of them in the first couple of turns and i got ifshan from persia im worried of taking the austrian lands :/

[Astaroth]

There are of course many different ways to achieve victory and every campaign is a bit different from the one before it.

Anyway, I considered conquering Georgia early on but as far as I remember it is rather heavily defended at the beginning of the game. Keep in mind that your army in Mesopotamia is relatively weak and that you can't afford to train many new soldiers if you want to build up your economy. Taking the Morea is possible as well but you do not gain much by conquering it and Venice's fleets might begin blocking your trade routes and ports. Therefore, I decided against conquering it early on.

[uzi716]

That is unless you destroy Venice's fleet first. I managed to slaughter their fleet with a bunch of galleys and sloops, then constantly raid their trade routs (for some reason you can't blockade or dock in the port in Venice, which stinks because blockading it would really cripple them.

Also, did you encounter a large army when you take the Persian capital? When I attacked it they had a garrison over 2000 strong, which dwarfed my depleted army of 800.

[Astaroth]

That is unless you destroy Venice's fleet first. I managed to slaughter their fleet with a bunch of galleys and sloops, then constantly raid their trade routs (for some reason you can't blockade or dock in the port in Venice, which stinks because blockading it would really cripple them.

I tried to avoid building a big fleet and focused on building up my land army instead.

Also, did you encounter a large army when you take the Persian capital? When I attacked it they had a garrison over 2000 strong, which dwarfed my depleted army of 800.

By the time I attacked Isfahan, I had more than two full stacks whereas Persia's army had been reduced to less than 1,000 men. I scouted Persia constantly and waited until my troops outnumbered the Persian ones before I attacked.

[Heinz Guderian]

Nice write up. Rep+

[Black Prince IV]

I was thinking of another strategy. How would selling your three provinces that border the European nations work. I was thinking that you could sell one to Poland, one to Austria, and one to either Prussia or to Austria. That way you only have one border to defend, you can build infrastructure with the money and most likely get an alliance leaving you with a solid border to the West. Then you focus on raising an army in the East to take out Persia, Georgia, and Dagestan. Once you did that you could build up until you have a good economy and launch an attack on Europe.

[Astaroth]

I was thinking of another strategy. How would selling your three provinces that border the European nations work. I was thinking that you could sell one to Poland, one to Austria, and one to either Prussia or to Austria. That way you only have one border to defend, you can build infrastructure with the money and most likely get an alliance leaving you with a solid border to the West. Then you focus on raising an army in the East to take out Persia, Georgia, and Dagestan. Once you did that you could build up until you have a good economy and launch an attack on Europe.

This seems to be a possible alternative and I'd encourage you to try it. However, I think there are a few things you have to keep in mind:

• Will you actually manage to sell all of those provinces? And how much money will you get for that? Is giving up three regions for little gain really a good idea?
• Your border to the north might be shorter as a result but that doesn't mean that your neighbors would be less hostile. In fact, giving your regions away might encourage them to expand further. Not to mention that it will also strengthen them.
• If you give up your European regions temporarily, Russia will definitely seize your Crimean protectorate sooner or later. That will weaken your position further and Russia might will expand further into the Balkans or the Caucasus as a result.
• Selling your territories will result in a loss of tax money which in turn means that you won't be able to field a large field army. Therefore, it's doubtful that you would be able to field an army strong enough to beat Georgia, Dagestan and Persia.
• The European front is usually not very busy anyway. All you have to do is to keep small garrisons in the cities and to fight off Russia's attacks from the north. The gain from having a protectorate and the money which you will earn via your farms and other economic buildings on the Balkans probably exceeds the upkeep cost of your northern army.

In conclusion I'd probably advise against giving up your European provinces. Generally, I only abandon regions if I either cannot hold them (such as Armenia in the Ottoman campaign) or if losing them doesn't affect me at all while defending them would be very hard and costly (an example for this would be Florida in the Spanish campaign. Losing it will barely affect your campaign whereas it would be hard to defend it against constant attacks).

[uzi716]

Hey, I have a quick question....

I captured all Morea, Dagestan, Georgia, and all of Persia (except Afghanistan, Mughals got that). But right now, things are quiet in the Balkans, so I want to take some land in India, before the Mughals are overrun by the Marathas. But, the Mughals still have control half of India and their navy will crush my weak Indian Ocean fleet. On top of that I have great relations with both Indian nations (which I woud like to keep), so could you give me some short term tips to help me plan my invasion of India.

Thanks...

[Comatose]

With India,

In the two Ottoman campaigns i've completed, I've always started with an two prong invasion attempt on India.

Two full stacks starting in Afghanistan/Baluchistan,

• One heads south-east towards Sindh then moves towards Gujarat
• The other heads eastward towards Punjab then makes its way to Hindustan.

(I've always started in the North when conquering India simply because the concentration of Muslim populations makes the territories easier to control).

The idea is to capture these production centres a.s.a.p and start pumping out Janissary Line Infantry en masse. Build a few full stacks and take multiple cities before they can react.

The first 1.2 H/H campaign went well with India being relatively very well developed by both the Maratha's and Mughal Empire. This meant their buildings were upgrade beyond what I had researched and were able to pump 5 Janissary Line Infantry per City (awesome sauce).

The second 1.3 H/H campaign was a bit of a shambles with neither Mughal or Marathan states reaching fire-by-rank technology. It seemed both states were grinding each other down while Mysore lay the smack down on the southern most Marathan provinces (Capturing 4 of them by the time I arrived). I spent 10 turns building their buildings before launching the full-scale assault.

Oh and don't worry about keeping good relations with either Indian Empires. You want to take all of India. Its just ridiculously rich. The territories you capture will easily fund your blitzerg of India and then some. But the time I conquered all of India, I had 6 full-stacks in the theatre and was still making 40k. After quashing resistance to foreign occupation (and disbanding said armies) i was making 80,000. Have good trade relations and im sure that figure can double easily. Needless to say conquering Europe became child's play after taking India

[uzi716]

Thats a great strategy but, unfortunately the Mughals snatched Afghanistan before I could, and my industries are still in the process of being developed, so money is tight...but, how about if I try getting military access, (getting to the capital of Afghanistan will take at least 2-3 turns). Then I have the oppurtunity to strategically position armies so I can capture several cities at once.

[Comatose]

That could work,
Another thing that might work is trading one of your balkan territories for Military access/Territory swap. (I trade all my balkan's holdings minus Greece, Morea and Istanbul for peace treaties or trade agreements simply because things got too hot).

[uzi716]

So I only got to play a little today, but I know I have to go republic soon. Unrest is crazy and I can't tax the lower class, but the thing is it is too early to become a republic, and if I do change then everyone will hate me...

what should I do??

[Banana Jelly]

All i have to say is + rep

[German Spartan]

;-) good job nice walkthrough