turks and jihads

[Ragss]

its about 1350 and im playing turks, I absolutely LOVE them. They have so many awesome unique units. I know some arent completely Turk unique but whatever. Ghazi, for instance, are so freaking fun to use. You can charge them into anything and they will fight to the last man.

Jannisary heavy can take anything on, and horses are a joke to them. I once held a bridge map against 5000 mongols with 2 groups of Jannisary heavy, one unit of Turcoman horse, and 1 unit of futtuwa.

Then there are all the great hybrids, Ottoman, Jannisary Infantry, Turcoman, Futwwas. Once they are out of ammo you still have good infantry standing there.

The only unit I dont like is Spahi of the Porte. It sucks that my king and is 4 sons are all these near useless units.

On to the real question, how the hell do I use jihads? I have 4 of them sitting in various provinces and I have never once been able to use one. Even when the province boardering was hostile.

[Shahed]

You can use a Jihad only in "defence".

For Example:
The Byzantines attack and conquer Nicea.
You have a Jihad sitting in Armenia (Peking, wherever).
You can now use this Jihad against Nicea to retake the province.

It is the same for any province that you lose.
You can use a Jihad on that province.
Hope that helps http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Shahed]

Oh and the Jeeeeehad will only be active so long as the Ribat which produced it is active. If the Ribat which produced the Jihad is destroyed, the Jihad will disband.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[motorhead]

Be careful - each failed jihad costs your ruler influence and piety (successful ones gain both). Don't let a province with jihad markers get captured. Don't build too many in one province. If a natural disaster wipes out your ribat, all your jihads "fail" and your ruler is likely to face a civil war with his lowered influence.

(** you can also abuse jihads by unleashing a flood of them to boost your ruler's infl/piety thru the roof, plus you always get more than 500 florins worth of troops from each one. IMO it's fun the first time, but if u keep using it, it makes muslim factions way too easy).

[Ragss]

ahhh I see. When I was trying to figure out how to build multiple Grand Mosques I destroyed my Ribat in Rum, where a Jihad was sitting. Needless to say the next turn I had a 10,000 troop 10 province rebelion on my hands. Thank god for quick save :P

[katank]

yep, flooding jihads of four or more in a single year will send your sultan to max influence and piety easily in most cases.

BTW, it is waaaay too easy. I've wiped out the mongols using jihad flooding before. provinces I send up to 80% zeal produces such good troops.

BTW, if target prtovince is more than half muslim and rebel, rebels will hand over province to jihad without fight.

Note: can also be abused. Ie. assasinate khan and send jihad to kill horde without a fight.

cheesiness galore though. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

Ah, the power of cheese.

I enjoy raiding. Go pillage and burn some province you don't intend to hold. You not only get the money from the destroyed buildings, but a permanent Jihad-starter.

Another trick is to bribe an enemy governor, delete all the buildings to get some or all of your bribe money back, disband the bribed units and leave the province in revolt. Then declare Jihad on it.

Try putting inns in all provinces with ribats, too. There's little chance of a Jihad failing if you control the sea and can put multiple Jihads in one province. So, you can hire all the mercenaries you want without fear of filling the holy war with disloyal trash that will turn on you. You also don't have to pay the maintenance fee for mercs as long as they are in Jihad.

Invade a province with strong fortifications, then withdraw. Declare multiple Jihads, which usually give you plenty of siege equipment. Put in all the decent, armored merc infantry you can find. Assault the castle with mercs. Disband the surviving mercs when the Jihad's over. Put the decent, regular-army troops from the Jihads into your army.

=================

Futtuwas are one of my favorite units now. Any light cavalry charging those archers gets a nasty surprise.

The problem with Sipahi of the Porte is size. Twenty men is not enough mass for a unit of horse archers.

The thing I like the most about the Turks, though, is the money. They quickly overrun Egypt (using katank's patented Kidnap the Sultan attack) and quickly build up enormous trade from Antioch and Tripoli.

Not only do the Turks get great units, but you can afford them.

[lancer63]

Last night my turks invaded the sicilian papal states. Weak forces there. They retreat to their castle and my boys go back home. I receive announcement that I just lost The Papal States. Three turns later I hold a Jihad convention at the Papal States Plaza http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif
7 Jihads from all over the mediterranean meet there on the same turn. The sicilians say ciao to this world and the Pope has a new neighbor to worry about.

But the best thing is that I got 4, yes 4, new JHI units out of the blue and other Janisary lesser units and none came from Rum which is my Janisary central. That and my sultan turns influence superstar, 5 years later his sons begin to come of age and it's Bizantine times all over again. His kids are all 7-8 star generals an that for a Sipahi unit means every volley of arrows drops loads of enemies.
I love this game. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[Bhruic]

Siphai of the Porte shouldn't be looked at as "Horse Archers". They do have arrows, yes, but their combat stats are just shy of Late Period Ghulam Bodyguards. They can be used like any other Prince/King unit, with the added benefit of being able to shoot a volley or two at an opponent before charging them. In that respect, I find them quite useful.

Bh

[AgentBif]

Quote[/b] (motorhead @ April 15 2004,23:12)]Be careful - each failed jihad costs your ruler influence and piety (successful ones gain both). Don't let a province with jihad markers get captured. Don't build too many in one province. If a natural disaster wipes out your ribat, all your jihads "fail" and your ruler is likely to face a civil war with his lowered influence.
Hey, that's great info... thanks for the warnings

[The_Emperor]

ahh yes Jihads, the great strength of the Muslim factions.

Unlike catholic crusades Muslims can have as many Jihads running as they like at any one time...

If you use Imams to upgrade the Zeal in your provinces, those Jihads are going to be massive armies in no time.
This makes Jihads a great way to raise additional troops without the constraints of time and money.

When combined with raiding tactics (you only need besige a castle keep or fort to make a province a viable target for Holy War), Jihads can be a very effective force.

Hmm all this talk about multiple Jihads reminds me of an Eddie Izzard sketch... "How many Jihads you got going now dad?" http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[katank]

yep. cheese galore. my kdnap sultan thing works so well, too well.

In my current Turk game, by 1105, I had roughly 40k in the bank.

By 1170, currently, I own everything east of Prussia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, and Egypt with the exception of Rhodes where I'm holding the byz as captive trading partners.

The treasury is at 1.3 million florins, our fleets cover the seas and Imams in every province. Constantinople is at 80% zeal and producing huge jihads with silver armored futuwwas filling the stacks.

BTW, my 4* syria boys are stalking enemy agents all over the map and slaughtered the uppity pope when he called for Crusades against me. Ignorant fool http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

BTW, Papal States and Rome are 100% muslim now. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

All hail the glory of Allah and his mighty Turkish empire with citadels everywhere.

Turks are almost too easy.

Also, Siphai are just 20 men since they are royal BG and can't be 40. Their stats are great though and a bit of supporting fire is still good.

Like boyars, these as generals can pepper the enemy from a safe observation area behind the lines and then their melee power can be used to devastate flanks when needed.