One of my best games ever: Early Turks

[Martok]

Ahem, they have Turcoman Horse, Sipahis of the Porte and vanilla HAs. That's the only mounted missile units they have. In fact they've been condemned as ahistorical in the past for not having enough mounted missile units and too many foot units. It is quite possible to play the Turks without relying too heavily on THA and HA. In Early you can make use of much the same units as the Egyptians with only a few exceptions.

Yeah, I know that's all they have for mounted missiles....but it *feels* like a lot when I play them.

That, and it seems like that's about all you can train at first, and so I wind up with relative hordes of them early on, which bugs me to no end.

[bozewolf]

The only "problem" imo with the Turks is that despite their fun and challenging starting position, once you destroy the Egyptians and have the Byzzies on the back foot, it's pretty much smooth sailing from there. Like Caravel said, you have a strong base with many potential high income provinces completely sealed off by only three regions and a strong fleet. You can sit on your butt for two hundred years, so to speak.


Out of the three Muslim factions the Turks are definitely my favorite, though. I always thought they have more character. Their unit roster appeals to me as well.

[Roark]

Caravel's hit the nail on the head. Turks dominate.

My recommendation for decent Turk players is to solidify Asia Minor, then go on a "tour" through Christian Europe in the High era with your Elites just for fun, razing and moving on. You get to face the best that Christianity has to offer and demonstrate the superiority of the mighty Turcoman Horse whirlwind. The Armenian Heavies and Ghazis break 'em, and the Muwahids and Turcoman Horse can sweep them up.

[seireikhaan]

Eh. For whatever reason, I find the Turks to be relatively easy. Taking the eggies out early is not a difficult task at all; indeed, if you wish to be cheap, the game sets you up for an easy sultan-ransom in the first few turns of the game. The Byz can give you trouble, but that's what saracen infantry+ribats are for. They can take a boatload of punishment, giving plenty of time to gang up the Kataphraktoi with your cheap as hell ghazis. Of course, by the time you're taking the Byz on, ideally you'd have a navy set up to extend far enough to take the byz navies out completely, and ideally stretching a little further, into the adriatic, so you can still pull in a nifty trade income. So you should be able to span camels, ghazis, and saracens like crazy and "horde" the byzantines better(and better commanded, in all likelyhood) troops, with some decent generalling. Of course, this could get horribly screwed up if the byz backstab you before you can set yourself up properly, but as long as the eggies are out, you should be able to focus you're full might on them and wear them down.

Once I get the "big triangle"-aka Georgia, Constantinople, and Egypt(though I generally like to take Greece and Bulgaria if possible as well, even if it means I have an extra province to defend), its ridiculous. The income is so insane, its not even funny. Not to mention that having the magic province(Constantinople), seems to ensure you're royal line can easily become insanely powerful. I had one memorable game in particular where my royal line was literally a manufacturing line for 7, 8 and 9 star generals. So, to avoid getting bored, I'll intentionally load up my eastern provinces just to try and get the Golden Horde to hit my harder.

[gaijinalways]

I found the turks difficult the two times I tried them, but that was a long time ago (can't play any games recently, my pc doesn't allow the games to play after installing, wah). I seem to remember getting ganged up in vanilla expert by the byz and the eggies early, which made life interesting.

[caravel]

Like makaikhaan I also find the Turks stupidly easy these days. The trade income is enormous. Though the same argument can apply to any faction that dominates the region such as the Almohds, Egyptians, Byzantines etc.

To make the campaign more challenging I tend to only conquer as far as Tripoli and Leave the Egyptians with Palestine, Egypt, Arabia and Sinai. I then turn on the Byzantines sooner and try to take and hold Lesser Armenia and Georgia.

[Caliburn]

I think that the Early Turks are challenging in the beginning. With any horse archers and camels they can counter both the Egyptians and the Byzantines. +4 armoured Kataphraktoi can be nasty, but weakened by Turkomans and mobbed by Camels they're not that bad. The Egyptian Peasant Horde can pretty much be taken out by the same combination - the Turkoman Horse wipe enemy camels out pretty quickly after all, and then its mostly peasants and Royals... Or with a very stable Saracen/Turkoman combination. But which to attack first?

I like Turkoman Horse, they're quick, and even with their low morale they do their job ok. I like Turkopoles better, because they won't get smashed if a couple of horses gets stuck in an enemy formation (good defence), and won't rout quite so easily, but of course they're available only for the Catholics, which is sad. +2 Turkoman Horse with religion upgrades are still very useful.

A cheap javelin unit would be great for taking out those nasty Kataphraktoi and Steroid Vikings very early in the campaign. Can't complain with the unit roster, though, I much prefer the "original" setup where not every second faction had a javelin unit (I'm talking to you, Spanish Javelins and Slav Javelinmen!).

Later in the campaign I usually still build a pretty basic Muslim Infantry Tank, it's faster and less complicated to beat enemies than with a cool Camel/HA combo. Saracens Muwahids, Futuwwa, Ghazi, Armenian Heavy Cavalry and a couple of Turkoman Horse for harassment/lcav role, probably with some Saharan or Steppe Cavalry. After taking the two moneymachines the position is even too good, easily defendable and easy to start expanding, which is kind of the same problem as with Byzantium and Egypt as well. At least the beginning is more challenging.

[Knight of the Rose]

I've played the turks several times before, and havn't found them to be particulary difficult in the past. But this time the alliance between the byz and eggies coupled with the fact that I waited until the eggies had build a strong army made for a tough game. If you want it easier you should let the byz wander into the steppes while you take over Egypt.

Somewhat ironic that I - of all people - also underestimated the might of camels in the desert. This, together with joint invasions and civil war really proved a challange. I think, now that the middle east is somewhat secure, it will be smooth sailing, once the crusade has been dealt with. Which might or might not be easy - usually they are not to big a problem... (famous last words)

/KotR