For the Napoleon: Total War version of this unit, see Beylik Janissary Musketeers (Napoleon: Total War).
Beylik Janissary Musketeers are a type of elite infantry in Empire: Total War.
Description[]
The janissaries are professional soldiers, hardened by arduous training and given the best equipment in the army.
As a force, they are the cream of the Ottoman army but, in comparison to some other nations, they fight in a slightly old fashioned way. This is small comfort to those who stand against them, as the janissaries are personally brave to the point of foolhardiness. They are also given to festooning themselves with weapons and hurling themselves into any fray!
Historically, the corps of janissaries (the term means “new soldiers”) dates back to the 14th Century. They were intended to replace the unreliable ghazi tribal warriors with a force indoctrinated to be completely loyal to the Sultan. This was achieved by taking boys as young as five for training and conversion to Islam if required. The janissaries had their own corps of engineers, supply troops and were even paid regularly, whether they were at war or not! Over time, however, they came to be used as bureaucrats and administrators, and this gave them too much power over the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, the janissaries’ entrenched position in government became arrogance and an entrenched position against change, and so helped the Ottomans to stagnate and decline.
General Information[]
Beylik Janissary Musketeers are the Ottoman variant of Western Guards, possessing better statistics than their lesser counterparts, as well as having the ability to inspire nearby troops. However, Beylik Janissary Musketeers are plagued by various problems: they lack bayonets, they cannot form squares, and they cannot utilize the various firing drills. When entrenched, they cannot erect trenches or wooden barricades to defend themselves. Their statistics are far inferior to Guards in almost every way. Beylik Janissary Musketeers do hold an advantage over Guards in that they only require Drill Schools to train and that they may be trained quickly and in unlimited number. Even when Nizam-I Cedit Infantry become available, Beylik Janissary Musketeers are still useful for their morale-boosting characteristics.
With the Elite Units of the East DLC, Beylik Janissary Musketeers are made somewhat obsolete by Cairo Janissaries, which possess better stats and serve a similar function. However, as Beylik Janissary Musketeers may be trained worldwide when compared to the Egypt-exclusive Cairo Janissaries, they do retain a flexible role as elite infantry that can quickly be called upon.