Query: Turkish settlement strategy?

The Turks are probably my most played faction so I´ve elaborated a lot with different strategies. One thing that I´ve yet NOT found an optimal solution for is placement of castles.
In my first games I kept castles only in Adana, Acre and Gaza but later found that I really was making alot more money if I converted theese to settlements instead - "if u can build a port, choose settlement". So I moved my few castles to provinces like Yerevan, Aleppo and in some cases Mosul or Baghdad.
With the Turks I like to blitz then turtle. Coquering the last needed settlements in the very end of the game where I will launch invasions from Tunis vs Sicily/ Italy and from Nicaea vs Greece thus conquering two more highly developed castles; Palermo and Ragusa.
Initially I try to secure the Bosphorus and Kaukasus. Towards the Fatmids I usually secure Acre, Jerusalem and Damascus. Taking Edessa and Baghdad usually leaves them with only Jedda on "my" side of the fence. I try to keep the peace with them for as long as possible since I consider them my brothers but eventually, before the mongol and timurid onslaught they are usually gone and sometimes I even go for the rest of Africa.
I´ve found that a very few amount of castles are needed, for any faction, much fewer than I initially understood. So for a Turkish empire stretching eventually from the Kaukasus to the Gibraltar I ususally settle for castles in Timbuktu, Aleppo and Yerevan.

Any other strats or input?

The turks are on of those factions that do not require castles to field decent armies since you can hire your horse archers from cities. I personally wouldn't try to go for all of africa and would stop once i get to the egyptian provinces since the cities are really far apart and not extremely useful. It would be better to expand in two directions at once with one army southwards and one westwards. You can wipe out the Byzantines fairly quickly if you call a jihad at a good time and get multiple jihad armies.

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Originally Posted by Xdeathfire

The turks are on of those factions that do not require castles to field decent armies since you can hire your horse archers from cities. I personally wouldn't try to go for all of africa and would stop once i get to the egyptian provinces since the cities are really far apart and not extremely useful. It would be better to expand in two directions at once with one army southwards and one westwards. You can wipe out the Byzantines fairly quickly if you call a jihad at a good time and get multiple jihad armies.

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I rather keep the Byzantines around as long as possible for trade and to have a nearby jihad-target. As for the unit-rooster, HA´s are not the only answer, and the castles has excellent foot-units which are more useful in settlements against the mongols and timurids.
Setting my final borders at Kaukasus, Bosphorus and Gibraltar lets me defend my empire wit only 3 field armies. You´re right that it would be the same if, instead of Gibraltar, my border was set at Alexandria. I do like though to have a monopoly on ivory, slaves and with strong merch´s in Constantinople a monopoly in silk is feasible. Having Arguin is also cool since I in one game conquered the new world so Bush was brought up a muslim, he he!

I tend to have less castles than normal with the Turks, as they can recruit some excellent units from cities (janissaries as well as earlier horse archers), but their castle units are not to be overlooked. Ottoman Infantry, Naffaratun, later cavalry, and (in the earlier period) Turkish Archers are all fine troops. The problem is finding a good spot to place your castles. In general, I agree with the "if it can build a port, make it a city" rationale, so try to place castles in landlocked provinces with decent growth and access to nearby cities in case of attack. Further, Baghdad can make a fine castle for defense against the Timurids and Mongols. This is vital - if the Mongols/Timurids come after you, you are going to need a multitude of well-defended castles on your eastern frontier.

I also like to keep the Byzantines kicking for as long as possible. Before gunpowder, it is not very beneficial to take them out, as you can't possibly fend off all the European powers that will want a piece of you once you get into Europe proper. Additionally, it's cheaper to use war fleets to block the two land bridges than to keep a full-fledged army nearby. This keeps out Byzantines AND crusaders quite effectively. They make a fine "buffer" between you and Europe this way, and you can turn your attention to Mongolian invasions and cleaning up the Egyptians at your leisure.