Turks - Gunpowder Civilizations

With the Saracens, Persians and Byzantines, the Turks are one of the civilizations belonging to the Middle Eastern culture. Their major advantage is their cheap and strong gunpowder units. They have discount in researching Chemistry and other gunpowder technologies. Their gun powder units have 50% more hp. As gunpowder units cost a lot of gold, to compensate their goldminers are 15% faster. Their unique unit is the Janissary, a special gunpowder unit that has no minimum shooting range. They are the only gunpowder units that are available at the Castle Age. Due to their strong gunpowder force, they could easily rise to dominance in later stage of the games.


It is imperative to advance through the ages as fast as possible. Be sure to hit Feudal by 10 minute mark or earlier. Even though the goal is to reach Imperial as fast as possible, it is advisable to raid the economies of your opponents with your Castle Age light cavalry, utilizing the free upgrade. The goal is not to confront their armies but to weaken their economies with quick and constant light cavalry harassment. Start amassing a Janissary army in Castle Age, supplemented later on with Hand Cannoneers and bombard cannons in Imperial.

Major make-up of your army is going to be masses of Janissary and Hand Cannoneers, along with at least 4 or more bombard cannons, with scores of Hussar cavalry running about and in front of the main army, taking care of enemy Trebs, archers, siege, and other threats. Continue to use the Hussar to thin down the villager labor force of your opponents. It may be a good idea to keep a small contingent (3-5) monks with your main army, not to heal but also to counter any serious threats to this strategy (like War Elephants which have high armor and hp) by eating a more amount of willies this enables the turks to gain more homo points which will win the game

Late game strategy

In multiplayer versus human opponents in a team game, sometimes a stalemate results. One effective but expensive way to break this stalemate is the Turk Bombard Tower (BT) strategy.

To finance this endeavor, make sure to have at least 30 or more trade carts (researched with Caravan tech for faster movement speed) travelling to the most maximum output friendly allied Market. Protect this trade route with a castle or two and a detachment of hussars cavalry. With a financial base set, start building a line/row of BTs, two apiece, and into enemy territory, with at least 4 or more villagers (make sure Treadmill Crane is researched=faster building time). Naturally, have your army protect this incursion. Again, it is advisable to have some monks nearby to heal the force and to take care of any serious threats (like War Elephants or TKs that may ruin this strategy). With a line of bombard cannons digging into enemy territory, your opponents will have a very difficult time stopping this advance. Additionally, be mindful of where you direct your line of BTs. For example, on map like Arabia, where there are sparse forests and wood may become an issue in long games, it is better to build the BT line towards a significant chunk of forest, taking those resources from the enemy to yourself ... as opposed to building a line of BTs into a resource-lacking desert.