Ottoman Empire Grand Campaign Guide

Overview

They assembled from all sides, one after another, with arms and horses and all the panoply of war…Tired of fighting against the whole world? Victory in Grand Campaign with Ottoman Empire is nigh-on-impossible, but this walkthrough introduces a new strategic approach of ultimate diplomacy usage in early game.

Prologue

This guide was prepared considering a short campaign with Ottoman Empire at very hard difficulty level.
It is assumed that the player is familiar with basic aspects of campaign map and battles.

1. Introduction

History repeats itself. Each time we begin a new campaign, same events occur with slight differences. For example; either Great Britain or France invades Egypt, Persia blockades Mesopotamia port, Georgia invades Armenia. Despite whatever we do to prevent, Austria brings thousands of troops to our borders and continuously attacks. Even if we succeed to break first few waves, they are ultimately unstoppable.

We may field many armies, gain many heroic victories; but we always fail to maintain a good economy. Players usually underestimate the power of navy, or they have to, as upkeep of the armies hold a big percent of treasure. As a result, every single trade route gets blockaded. Even if we survive a hundred turns under those conditions, campaign evolves into a me vs. all situation.

There are two golden rules of this game, as you know:

1. Maintain a good economy,
2. Hold naval superiority at all costs.

Despite enemies’ head start in naval technologies, we need to do three things to recapture naval superiority:

1. At least two military ports (Antalya and Cyprus recommended)
2. First building in queue should be Admiralty in capital
3. After establishing the Admiralty Building, we need to aim blue technologies.

Enemies of a good economy are:

1. Upkeep costs of the armies,
2. Blockaded ports or raided traded routes.

Rules above imply that we must prevent land attacks, disband armies and aim for a powerful navy. To prevent land attacks, we need to secure our borders. Now let us see how to do that.

2. First Turn: Diplomacy

Here we start by securing our borders. We need to make a few agreements first.

1.Armenia Treaty
Signatories: Ottoman Empire – Persia
Terms:

• Armenia will be left to Persia,
• Both sides will have military pass,
• Alliance will be established,
• Trade agreement will be established,
• Canister shot and Improved grenades techs will be given,
• Persia will give 2000 golds to Ottoman Empire.

Underlying causes:

• Georgian attacks will be prevented,
• Mesopotamian port will be secured,
• Persia will no longer pose a threat,
• Persia, Georgia and Dagestan will fight each other (probably Persia will conquer the others)
• Aim of the fifth point is that we hope Persia holds against Maratha longer by the aid of those techs (v1.2 edit: Actually, they will not. By the time Mughal is finished, Maratha will already be unstoppable.)

2. Balkans Treaty
Signatories: Ottoman Empire – Mughal Empire
Terms:

• Serbia, Bosnia and Moldavia will be left to Mughal,
• Both sides will have military pass,
• Alliance will be established,
• Canister shot and Improved grenades techs will be given,
• Muhgal will give 12,000 golds to Ottoman Empire.

Underlying causes:

• Austrian, Polish and Russian land attacks will be prevented,
• Financial support will be provivded,
• Resistance against Marathas will be improved,
• -MOST IMPORTANT- You should gather your forces at the fortress in front of Transylvania. Otherwise Austria might either declare war on you or Mughal. When we prevent this declaration, Austria is more likely to go into a war with Russia and Prussia, where we should support Prussia technologically. Later in the game, Austria will try to attack Bulgaria. You will spot the army marching but its arrival takes several turns due to land effect, which gives you a good amount of time to prepare.

3.Tripoli Treaty
Signatories: Ottoman Empire – Barbary States
Terms:

• Protectorate status will be canceled,
• Alliance will be broken.

Underlying causes:

• This alliance was preventing us from seeking for allies in Europe.

4.Other
Establish as many trade agreements as possible.
We must state something here: there might be a connection between trade agreement and aggression of Great Britain.

3. Internal Policy

Now that we have secured our borders, we need to accelerate our economical progress.

First turn:

• Convert the madrassa in Mesopotamia and textile building in Egypt into schools.
• Of three ports in Syria, convert the one in Cyprus into shipyard, and designate the rest as one for fishing and one for trade. (v1.2 edit: you actually may convert both of remaining two ports into trading ports as Syria has no towns left. Observe the wealth level of towns and convert the poorest port town into shipyard)
• Fire your poor statesmen. Repeat this process until you get at least 4-star or better statesmen.(Keep an eye on their traits to learn where they fit best) (v1.2 edit: You may rather want to keep your population happier than getting %1-2 tax bonus at this time. Try to keep popularity high by not appointing statesmen with “harsh reputation”.)

General:

• Establish a commercial fleet in Mesopotamia port and send them out for valuables.
• Do not field any armies except for ensuring public order. You may need an army against Austria in early game. Use this army to attack Transylvania, capture and leave it to Mughal Empire. (v1.2 edit: Capturing Transylvania and handing off to Mughal is not fully tested and may provoke Austria to declare war on Mughal)
• Start building a navy from the very beginning of the game. You should build ships in every possible port to have a chance against Royal Navy. You must outnumber them, prepare for battle. (v1.2 edit: You may find Galleys and crescent formation useful at the beginning.)
• Begin using Fifth and Fourth Rates by 1709.
• Do not hesitate to spend on navy. They will bring home double their upkeep by raiding trade routes.
• Armies will mainly consist of Cemaat Janissaries as infantry regiments until Nizam-ı Cedit becomes available.
• Upgrade military buildings in Mesopotamia. Prepare for battle against Persia.

4. General Foreign Policy

General:

• Establish a powerful navy in Mediterranean. Guard the entrance of Adriatic and Messina straight. Make sure no one enters Eastern Medierranean. (v1.2 edit: do this immediately at the beginning of the game)
• Do not hesitate to give away technologies to the enemies of your enemies. Sell techs to minors for 1000 or 2000 golds.
• Do not declare war on any country early in the game.(except for Venice)
• Do not enter any trading ports. Raid trade routes from a position very close to the port, but do not blockade the ports.
• Armies will consist of Cemaat Janissaries as infantry until use of Nizam-ı Cedid.
• Do not defend Crimean Khanate. (we know this will upset you, but don’t) Instead, bring a few ships near Bakchisaray port and raid Russian trade as soon as they capture the port.
• Morocco should be watched closely. An early war with Morocco would damage trade profits. It takes a long time to reach Gibraltar to defeat Moroccan Navy.

Policy against West:

• Capture Morea in the beginning of the game or wait for Venice to attack on you. The second choice will prevent you from getting into a war with Italian States. Well, Italian States will not pose any threat at all. Decision is up to you and won’t make any remarkable differences in gameplay. (v1.2 edit: Keep a low profile if you want Venice to declare war on you, do not recruit new units in Greece)
• Send out one of your Imam’s to Kiev. By 1730’s, most of Kiev’s population will have converted into Islam. The other one cannot be effective in Austria. You should consider using him on your own lands.
• Establish strong relations with Prussia and Sweden. When the time comes, establish alliance with them. Do not hesitate to teach them technologies. This is the only way to stop Russia, Poland and Austria.
• Either Great Britain or France will try to invade Egypt by 1709. You must sink the fleet carrying troops. Fortifying the cities or recruiting troops absolutely has no use.
• Either Austria or Venice will try to invade Morea. Place a fleet at a point where you can interfere with any fleet with intention of landing troops to west of Greece. Sink the fleet carrying troops.
• Avoid a war with Spain before having enough naval power.
• Block the entrance of Mediterranean at Gibraltar as early as possible. This will delay Spanish attack on Morocco.
• When you consider expanding your empire, do it in Africa. Conquer the south coast of Mediterranean. If you wish to enter Europe, do it from westernmost point: Iberia.
• If you seek for some conflict in Europe, capture Kiev and try to hold it. (v1.2 edit: Expect and prepare for another front against Poland in this case

Policy against East:

• Watch Mughal’s recession in India closely. After Mughal’s fall, capture rebel regions in Balkans and hand them over to Maratha in return for an alliance, military access and money(try something around 4000 for each region).
• When Maratha comes to Persia, break your alliance and cancel military access. You should break this alliance before Persia asks for help in order to avoid a diplomatic penalty with other nations.
• Shortly after breaking the alliance, Persia will declare war on you. Here you will need to use some skills against outnumbering Persian armies.
• Do not enter any war against Maratha. If they ask for military pass(they will), simply accept it. You may support their enemies.
• If you seek for a bloodier game, gather your eastern forces in Mesopotamia port beginning from the first turn, send them in front of Goa. Capture Goa as soon as Portugal falls. Note: Remember that after Maratha declares war on you, there might not be return to peaceful days. You probably will not be able to establish good relations with this nation, which means that statements about East policy above possibly become unapplicable. I do not recommend this in short campaign.

(v1.2 additions)
For those who would like to invade India:

• Start recruiting units in Mesopotamia from the beginning.
• Directly go for Mysore before Marathas gain full power.
• Within a few turns of capturing Mysore, if Marathas still hasn’t declared war, take initiative and attack Carnatica,
• Blockade all Marathan ports, do not let them trade or build ships. This is relatively easier as Maratha has no significant naval power.

Congratulations, you have landlocked Maratha.
Practically, if you succeed doing those above, you can already declare your campaign victory.

5. End Game

• If you feel like you do not have a good economy yet, wait for last 5-6 turns for a final conflict in Central Europe. Holding Vienna for too long might not be possible otherwise. Apart from Austria, it may even cause some other nations to attack on Vienna such as Prussia or Poland.
• We assumed that Austria still holds Vienna and Presburg. However it is possible that these cities might fall to Poland or Prussia.
• Do not let Maratha capture target cities before you. This would cause too much trouble.
• Concentrate your forces somewhere near Budapest. You will need at least 4 full stack armies of well quality for this operation.
• Rush for Budapest and Vienna.
• Invade Venice.
• Hold those regions until 1750.

Epilogue

In conclusion, the maint point is that you should pick the right ally. When you find it, you can fight against the whole world.
As you see, this guide will not get you into many land battles, cunning tactics etc. As long as you outnumber your enemies at seas, you will not have any problems to execute those points told above.