My experience fighting the Ottomans - Has anybody else encountered this issue?

I've just hit 1750 in my game as Austria, and i have been at peace and trading with the ottomans since the very first turn. Since a couple of turns in, the Ottomans have been militarily feeble and financially destitute, despite not actually being at war with anybody but the Russians, only the two don't fight each-other, they just sit at war and never fight.

So around 1740, i decided it was time to rid Greece of nasty Islam and replace it with nasty Catholicism, and i invaded. I took 4 provinces from the Ottomans in Greece, including Istanbul, Venice took the other 2, and in all 4 provinces i encountered resistance from only 1 unit of militia, and the mobmen that cities automatically spawn.

1 unit of militia defending the entirety of Greece. So, once i had carved Greece up the way i wanted it, i paid the Ottomans for peace and trade. I noticed that i couldn't see any Ottoman naval units on the map, so i sent a single ship sailing around trying to find one... there were none.

At this point i sent rakes all over Ottoman territory in search of their armies. They have none. The Ottomans have not a single army on the map, just 2 cities each with no more than 2 units of irregulars. The Ottomans are a dead empire... They recruit nothing, they build nothing, they do nothing.

It's like the AI controlling them fell asleep.

Anybody else noticed anything this peculiar?

CA have finally done something historically accurate! :laugh4::laugh4:

That is, in fact, quite contrary to my experience. I had a trade route with the Ottomans in my GB campaign, and every turn I'd have to watch a dozen plus 3-4 ship fleets move around the Adriatic/Aegean Seas. I also saw a whole bunch of small troop movements up through the coast of Greece.

What you seem to be describing is basically what I see currently in India in my UP campaign. I've purchased Bengal and the coast province below it from the Mughals, purchased Carnatica from the Maratha and Goa from the Portuguese, conquered Mysore and Gujarat once it went rebel but traded it to Britain. The Maratha still have Hyderabad, Bijapur, the province between Bijapur and Gujarat, and one north of there between Hyderabad and Hindustan. Aside from a small 4-unit raiding force the Maratha have flitting around in border territory, neither one is moving at all. The Mughals have a full stack in Punjab, a full stack in Hindustan, and a full stack sitting in a rice estate next to Hindustan!

The Maratha have a full stack in Bijapur and a full stack in Hyderabad, but other than a few ships and the aforementioned raiding force, I haven't seen a single troop movement from either of them in years. They just won't move.

It's not that they have armies and aren't moving them... That's nothing new, we saw things like that over and over in Rome and Medieval and all their expansions, it's that they simply have no armies and aren't doing a single thing.

In 50 years of campaign, the only activity i've seen from them is when they offered to trade my province of Croatia for common land enclosure technology...

That's it... in 50 years of campaign that is all the Ottoman AI has done... tried to buy Croatia from me with common land enclosures. I feel bad about taking Greece from them now. I may even lose sleep. I think i'll just give it back.

Infact, i'm just going to go ahead and conquer all of their victory conditions, and then hand them over to them.

I would say it's a bug .

As I think of it , it might have been in effect for France in my own game , judging by the pitful army they presented when I conquered them {at the time I merely figured they had recently lost the bulk of their army and navy to another faction} .







P.S. : yes , I know , I am now Master of the Obvious :)

The Ottomans were at least navally active in my Marathas and GB campaigns, pirating the Med and even sending trade fleets to trade theaters. They even launched raids into Russia in my GB campaign.

The only passive faction I've seen so far is the Barbary States, and that is after all their fleets are destroyed by various major & minor faction navies.

I had a similar experience, but as the Ottomans, and invading America. GB hadn't put any troops there. The Cherokee have a few full stacks, but I landed one stack on the Carolinas, and by the next turn that stack had reached New York, capturing everything along the way.

GB had zero armies on the ground in America.

That's another thing i've noticed, major nations make no attempt to defend their overseas possessions, ever, especially not single islands.

Inland of America you may find one or two militia units defending the province, but on the islands there is never anything but mobmen.

No, I've seen multiple full-stacks in New France, although Spain decided to make all their units in Cuba. Idiots.

The natives all have full-stacks in their cities, as does New Spain, Louisiana, and the 13 colonies. AI Britain tends to stay up in Rupert's land with one as well.

But yeah, the small islands don't seem to have any defenses.

I remember playing as the Ottomans and getting really annoyed at how much I had to constantly keep paying to build up the entire area economically especially in terms of trying to equip a good army as well. When doing this, I had my protectorates, Georgia and Dangstan both attack me, I had Venice and Morocco both attack me. Russia accepted peace on the first turn for like 180 gold, so no war with them.

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Originally Posted by TiberiusBeskar

I remember playing as the Ottomans and getting really annoyed at how much I had to constantly keep paying to build up the entire area economically especially in terms of trying to equip a good army as well. When doing this, I had my protectorates, Georgia and Dangstan both attack me, I had Venice and Morocco both attack me. Russia accepted peace on the first turn for like 180 gold, so no war with them.

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I think that may be the point. they have a vast area right from the start, but only 3 cotton farms and the area is very underdeveloped.

It may be random: If the AI manages to build up the area, keep peace with its neighbours and keep the trade routes secure, it will thrive, but otherwise, it won't.

Poor AI performances require some humor to keep the mood up I guess.

I've found all major powers in Europe to be pushovers compared to the minor nations. From the looks of it Georgia should be able to annihilate the Ottomans with ease.

Additionally they seem to build alot of naval assets for no apparent reason.

I found that their capitol was not well defended but Ankara had three stacks around it. One of the stacks allowed my veteran army to capture the city and then decided to counter-attack. Two stacks of mixed troops ...I thought I might be in trouble but they really were nothing to handle.
After that, there were no real challenges from them. They had several navies spamming up the Mediterranian and I finished them off fairly quickly. They did have some of the better ships that I captured in the game in those navies.

This happened in the late game. The war was started by them , but finished by me. Some faction emerged (the Malamukes?) in some of their territories. I had been trading with them prior to that, so I had no need for their provinces.

Yeah, I noticed how minor nations some how seem to get loads and loads of money from no where to field like 2 full stacks of army and keep their territory to the highest standards while lets say Austria in the beginning completely fails to do similar in comparison.

In my Marathas campaign the Mughals have been up to nothing much.
Mysore has a full stack + a bit but the biggest Mughal concentration I've seen is only about a half stack & that only appeared after I've taken over about half their empire.

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Originally Posted by TiberiusBeskar

Yeah, I noticed how minor nations some how seem to get loads and loads of money from no where to field like 2 full stacks of army and keep their territory to the highest standards while lets say Austria in the beginning completely fails to do similar in comparison.

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Absolutely. I don't know what's wrong with the AI but I think it's woefully inadequate for a game that's major push is single player strategy game. The only fights worth mentioning that I've had have been with minor nations. Major factions are completely inept.

I'm not sure what mammals they used to test the GC but I'd imagine it wasn't human.

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Originally Posted by TiberiusBeskar

Yeah, I noticed how minor nations some how seem to get loads and loads of money from no where to field like 2 full stacks of army and keep their territory to the highest standards while lets say Austria in the beginning completely fails to do similar in comparison.

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Sounds like money script fail

ALERT ALERT

I found an Ottoman army.

Oh wait it was a bunch of trash 9 random melee's and 2 Isrealys(or however it's spelled). This faction will be my primary target for every game I play from here forward.

Sounds to me like ca have tried to fix the over the top flood of non stop full stacks the overly agressive ai would constantly send at the player in previous versions, but went too far. We've gone from one extreme to the other.:juggle2:

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Originally Posted by Dayve

That's another thing i've noticed, major nations make no attempt to defend their overseas possessions, ever, especially not single islands.

Inland of America you may find one or two militia units defending the province, but on the islands there is never anything but mobmen.

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France has been building up stacks in Upper & Lower Louisiana (circa 1726), the Dutch have a mighty full stack in Curacao. I'm not sure if the AI recruited there, or transported from Holland. A Dutch colonial militia unit is now wandering around in my French Guyana territory (I'm playing GB).

I'm not sure what Spain is doing, but Florida is completely empty. New Spain had New Andalucia (or whatever the province south of Curacao is) full, before I took it.

Since the AI absolutely cannot transport troops via ship, he recruited them there. The Ottomans aggravated me so much that I gave up on that campaign about 5 turns in. If the historical Ottomans were as weak as the faction in ETW, then they would have ceased to exist in the 1700s instead of lasting up until 1918. They have CRAP! I can understand sub-par troops, but they don't have any of those either!

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Originally Posted by miotas

Sounds to me like ca have tried to fix the over the top flood of non stop full stacks the overly agressive ai would constantly send at the player in previous versions, but went too far. We've gone from one extreme to the other.:juggle2:

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LOL Overly-aggressive AI, in a Total War game!? ROFLMAOCOPTERSBBBQTITTIES

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Originally Posted by ROFLMAO

LOL Overly-aggressive AI, in a Total War game!? ROFLMAOCOPTERSBBBQTITTIES

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Yea who would of thought some of us don't like fighting 8 full stacks each turn, per faction at war with.