Interesting thread. I am currently rediscovering the Turks. They have some fascinating units. In early, my core army is saracen spears, futuwwa (they replaced the earlier desert archer), ghazi and AHC.

I am plowing through Europe, hurtling towards JHI in Constantinople and Rum by 1205, with Bulgarian production coming online shortly thereafter.

I must admit to being a sucker for province bonuses. They make the unit so much stronger. But even so, futuwwas are superior to the other hybrids -- otto inf, turcoman foot, even to janissary infantry, IMHO. Their fighting ability is not close to janny infantry, but using a janny province for janny infantry is a big mistake: the JHI is so far superior to other melee/flankers that it is better to get more of them and use the comparative advantage you get by combining them with futuwwas (ie, one futuwwa and a JHI will whip a JI and any hybrid. Unless you have a ton of janny capable provinces, better to specialize.)

The Turcoman horse are amazing units. They are perfect for mopping up fleeing enemies -- their attack is higher than Turcopoles, so they are better at this task.

As for the other Turkish cavalry, I feel myself having to adjust my tactics and army approach. Their cav is slightly weaker and cannot go toe-to-toe with Catholic cav arms. That's OK though, cuz you are not supposed to fight cav with cav, but use spears against them. So I asm more sparing in my use of massed cav charges -- they are much more vulnerable.

Anyways, my 2 cents on the Turks.