Turks, Egyptians or Almohads?

[m52nickerson]

I was thinking of starting a campaign as a muslim faction after I finish my Polish domination of the world. Who do you think is the most fun to plays as out of the three, starting in early?

[phred]

I like the Turks. A fun variety of units (with Janissaries available in High) and a more challenging starting position than the Eggies or the Almos.
If you devote Rum to building castle upgrades and spearmaker upgrades (along with the Grand Mosque and Military Academy), you can train Janissary Heavy Infantry in 1205

[bretwalda]

I like the Turks. A fun variety of units (with Janissaries available in High) and a more challenging starting position than the Eggies or the Almos.
If you devote Rum to building castle upgrades and spearmaker upgrades (along with the Grand Mosque and Military Academy), you can train Janissary Heavy Infantry in 1205

I agree, I suggest the Turks, as well. Maybe you should mod Grand Mosque non-unique so that you can produce v1 JHI in Bulgaria and v1 JA in Georgia.

Turks have a nice unit roster, archer heavy armies are prone. I just love Turcoman Horse (from Tripoli, Master Horse Breeder: v2 from start. ) They can chew up almost anything with modest spear support...

I also love Ottoman Inf, Ghazi, SoP all great units, nice units in all eras.

[Budwise]

Depends on what period you will start in. Personally, I like Elmos in Early. The Berber Camels are greatly UNDERRATED by Frogs stat guide, I found many uses for them and the AUM just kick the s*** out of early Catholic units.

Because I just absolutely love Polearms, I would say Turks are great later on but Egypt kinda puts me off. I have no interest in ever playing them.

But some ideas why I like Berber Camels is to start off, they are good archers. Try putting them right behind your archer line. Because I like archers up front, have the infantry archers and then the camels right behind them. Because they are higher up, they don't lose the accuracy bonus. Also, they may not be the best head on like the B Camel Warriors of Egypt. They don't need to be. Hit the enemy horses with a unit and flank them with the Berber Camels. Hope you like horsemeat. While waiting for the unit to pin the enemy horses, use your bow on something else.

[econ21]

Perhaps the best PBM we ran here was as Almohads:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...3&postcount=98

I was lucky enough to pick up the campaign mid-game and have to fight it out with a massive Byzantine Empire. The Almos have it easy early game as AUM are very powerful and Spain is a good piece of real estate to own. But they start to suffer later, when their unarmoured spears face massed heavy cavalry.

Egyptians and Turks might be strategically rather similar. They have to kill each other, then Byzantium. Egypt might be fun having to cope with crusades though. Turkey definitely gets better units later on, but starts off with a weaker strategic position.

[Kommodus]

The Turks, in my opinion, have the best army in the game, and one of the most fun to play with. They have highly flexible units, including great horse archers, hybrid infantry capable of both ranged attacks and melee, and, of course, the fearsome JHI in the late game. They have interesting, diverse enemies in early and can fight effectively on any terrain. This makes them, in my opinion, the best choice.

The Egyptians are actually rather similar to the Turks, and a number of units are shared between the two factions. However, as the game progresses they do not get the Jannisaries, but instead get the Mamluks, which are not as good. However, they still have a strong unit roster with good flexibility. Their starting position is very strong, and crusade are not very difficult to fight off. When I played them, I started in High so I could kick out the French crusaders that were already in Palestine.

The Almohads probably have the most unique army out of all the factions, but I don't like it much, as I find it less flexible and balanced. AUM are excellent, but vulnerable to cavalry, and you never get any truly great anti-cavalry units: you always have to use a combination of stuff to defeat cavalry (i.e. pin with Nubians, flank with Berbers or Muwahid Foot). Nubian spears, the best traditional spearmen you get, are poor. Most of your units are present in early; you won't get much more as the game progresses. This leaves big gaps in your force: no good heavy cavalry (Ghulams are fragile), no fast horse-archers (Berbers are slower), no independent anti-cavalry units, and no awesome elite units.

So I would pick the Turks for a fun game.

[dgfred]

Great replies guys , keep 'em coming. I've never played the
Turks , but I may give them a try now . I have
played Almos and Egypt- Almos can easily dominate early and Egypt is
kinda fun fighting off Crusades- but I have mostly been a HRE freak .

[mfberg]

Turks are great if just for JHI in High. Just make sure you have the infrastructure built up to make that military academy in Bulgaria and Georgia, as well as wherever else you want to make them. I usually take Carpathia sometime in the 1200's to make a weapon upgrade for my Janissary units (I'm just mean that way, I mean why would anyone want +4 armour, +4 weapon, +1 valor JHI, nothing can stand in their way.)

mfberg

[bretwalda]

Turks are great if just for JHI in High. Just make sure you have the infrastructure built up to make that military academy in Bulgaria and Georgia, as well as wherever else you want to make them. I usually take Carpathia sometime in the 1200's to make a weapon upgrade for my Janissary units (I'm just mean that way, I mean why would anyone want +4 armour, +4 weapon, +1 valor JHI, nothing can stand in their way.)

mfberg

You must have modded the game to allow multiple GM - right? ;)

[Ulair]

You must have modded the game to allow multiple GM - right? ;)

Or: build GM in Bulgaria; start building MA; tear down GM; build GM in Georgia; start building MA; rinse; repeat.

Always felt this is a bit cheesy, though?

[m52nickerson]

The Turks it is. Thanks for all the replies.

[mfberg]

You just have to destroy the first one AFTER building the Military academy, then build one in another province. It is time consuming, but you have a couple of hundred years. Usually I end up with 4 military academies, Constantinople, Bulgaria, Carpathia, and Georgia. I use Constaninople to build JHI first, (later I may build a JI there, but they are a bit redundant with JA and JHI) then switch to Bulgaria, Georgia for JA, and Carpathia for upgrades. My GM go in Constantinople first, then Bulgaria, then Carpathia, and last in Georgia.

mfberg