Turks late - not much time to conquer

[Australianus]

Money restrictions make early conquest difficult. Sure Constantinople falls early and the Egyptians have a rebvellion but it is difficult to get the florins together to build the units necessary to conquer quickly and at the same time build grand Mosques and Military Academies. The Golden Horde can be a fly in the ointment also.
Any ideas? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif

[Si GeeNa]

Well, Launching Jihads will take a big burden off your treasury. You can launch multiple Jihads and place garrisons under them. In this way, the maintenance costs of the units are absorbed into the Jihad.

Of course, this is a particularly easy method to manipulate the Jihad Marker.

Anyway, just go at the Byz... and get the Monies off them...

You might not need to tech up your units too fast as your hybrids, like Ottoman and Futuuwa Inf are nasty stuff against most Late units still. The Horde is a waning force and from the Geo-Politics of that scenario, everything bodes well for the Turkish game.

Try the Byz and understand how difficult it is to maintain an empire in decline.

[Hurin_Rules]

I have never found the higher tech Turkish units to be all that worth it, with the exceptiong of Janissary Inf and Janissary Heavy Inf, and you can only ever build one of those a turn. But you have lots of good, cheap, low tech units to make up the gap. Ghazis are cheap and pack a punch. Pump them up with armor and morale upgrades and they can do a number on just about anyone. Futuwas are tough but undisciplined. Turcoman horse are great for taking out royal knights (just don't get into melee with knights). With Constantinople, Egypt, Antioch and Tripoli, you can get some massive trade income going. Just gotta watch the Italians or anyone else building up a navy. I try to hit the Byzantines first, take Constantinople and perhaps Bulgaria, but don't go any further. If you do, you multiply the number of fronts you are fighting on. Instead, look south to the Egyptians. You can go all the way to cordoba with only one or two fronts/armies, and some of their provinces are rich.

Overall, I like the Turks. They can't really go toe to toe with the Catholic CMAA until you get JHI, but you can put together cheap, fast, hard-hitting forces and wear down just about any enemy over time. Get your generals some stars, crank up the armour and weapon bonuses and look south. Good luck

[Cebei]

If you go against anyone, try to use Turcoman horse first before full conquest. Get your most unimportant general and send a skirmish force full of THs into the province, soften up the defences with arrow rain, withdraw from the battle and then enter with a full army next turn.

I love those Turcomans..