without actually playing as the Turks, are there any tips

[chris34au]

that anyone can give me on how to help them become a major power in a campaign? every now and then, they'll take a few provinces early on and seem like they're in really good shape but the Byz and Egypt always seem to team up on them until they're either eliminated or trapped on an island. just once, i'd like to see them survive long enough to produce their Janissary units.

i've thought about trying an Armenian campaign and just trying to help them when they need it but it seems like it'd be kinda crazy to play as Armenia and not make acquiring Armenia a high priority(for +1 AHC and the fact that it's "Armenia" ).

[Trapped in Samsara]

Hi

Not entirely sure I've understood your objective, but...

The Ottoman's/Seljuk's main threats are the Byzantines and Fatamids (Egypt). So, if you want to assist the Turks you need to stick it hard to one of those two. From distant memory, the Byzzies pose the more immediate threat, so engaging them (maybe as the Hungarians) might get their attention and divert resources away from the Turks.

I also seem to recall that the Eggies ruler is very exposed in somewhere like Tripoli, which gives the Turks a chance of a huge ransom if they blitz and capture him.

Hope that helps.

Regards
Victor

[Lexio X]

yeah, attacking the Byz is about the only way to help them get their much needed breathing room. Esp. if they're able to penetrate the Balkans; after that they can pretty much steamroll their way through Eastern Europe or Russia. So attack the Byz and conquer some provinces, leave the provinces you want the Turks to have empty and then declare war on them and get Armenia and then try to get a truce out of them whenever you feel like they'll be able to survive. Knock two birds with one stone.

Only problem is that you'll probably their first target unless Crusades star popping up and they take advantage of the Egyptians situation or they focus more on Europe.

Hope that helps!

[drone]

You could always mod them to have more money/troops at the start...

[Lexio X]

You could always mod them to have more money/troops at the start...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Of, course just pump them up with florins and play as England then you're all good to go.
Now why didn't I think of that.

On a side note, that reminds me of the epic 4 crusades I launched against them to recapture Constantinople after I lost it. Half a million men died for that province and then the Black Death scroll popped up. That was a bad decade for my virtual representation of medieval European History.

[chris34au]

thanks for all of the tips. i haven't ever tried to mod anything in the game before but it sounds like it might be a good time to give it a shot. if i have the gnome editor, is that all that i need to be able to mod the game?

without going too far off topic, is that how some people are able to play as the Swiss? i've always wanted to try playing a Swiss campaign but i haven't ever been able to find them in the game.