Ottoman Empire (Napoleon: Total War)

For the Empire: Total War faction, see Ottoman Empire (Empire: Total War).

Flag of the Ottoman Empire under a Monarchy

Flag of the Ottoman Empire under a Republic

The Ottoman Empire is a faction in Napoleon: Total War. It appears in the Egypt Campaign and the Europe Campaign.

Egypt Campaign

The Ottomans feature as one of Napoleon's adversaries in the Egyptian campaign. They are more competent than Napoleon's other middle Eastern enemies, the Bedouin and the Mamelukes, but still suffer from poor troop quality when compared to the French. They are allied to Great Britain and protector of the Mamelukes. While they have a less versatile roster than their French enemies, the Ottoman Empire has far more starting lands with a great opportunity for economic development, and all their units are resistant to heat fatigue, giving them a large stamina advantage.

The Ottoman Empire is playable in the multiplayer campaign. It begins the campaign in a very poor economic situation, with poor income despite its numerous regions. Its army is also initially far inferior to that of the French. However, the French player has to conquer numerous Mameluke regions, and is also subject to invasion by Bedouin and British armies, which can buy the Ottoman player time to improve its economy and its armies.

Europe Campaign

In the Europe Campaign, the Ottoman Empire begins the campaign controlling the Balkan regions of Rumelia, Romania, Serbia, Greece, and Moldova (as the campaign only focuses on Europe, the rest of its traditional empire is inaccessible). This makes it one of the largest non-playable factions. It borders Russia and Austria to the north east and north west respectively.

The Ottoman Empire fields large armies of very poor quality, often heavily consisted of peasantry. With its limited unit roster, the Ottoman Empire is in a difficult position. It faces unique disadvantages: while it starts with a couple of dhows, it cannot field any more merchant ships, meaning that it one of the only factions that cannot fully take full advantage of trade nodes. Finally, most of its best troops can only be recruited in its starting regions, so in the rare situations it manages to expand significantly outside its initial borders, the Ottoman Empire cannot easily replace lost high quality troops. 

Diplomacy

Initial diplomacy map

The Ottoman Empire is unusual in that diplomatic penalties to territorial expansion don't apply to it fully; it can expand as far as it wants without impacting its diplomatic relations. The reverse is also true, with the Ottoman Empire not growing more hostile toward other factions' expanding. However, the Ottoman Empire still incurs penalties from the factions that it takes lands from, and vice versa.

The Ottoman Empire's hostility to Russia and Austria make it a good candidate for being an ally to France--although securing an alliance early on as France may be difficult due to the historical grievances both factions hold for each other. Both Austria and Russia require Ottoman lands as part of their victory conditions, and so usually have to invade it.

The Ottoman Empire tends to declare war on Austria within the first few turns. It often also enters war with Russia.

Below is a list of grievances/friendships other factions have with the Ottoman Empire initially. This list is exhaustive; factions that are not listed do not have friendships or grievances (they are neutral).

Austria	Prussia	Russia	Spain	Bavaria	Kingdom of Naples	Kingdom of Sardinia
-45	-55	-50	-45	-45	-45	-45
Kingdom of Sicily	Oldenburg	Papal States	Portugal	Saxony	Sweden
-45	-55	-45	-45	-55	-55

Below is a list of grievances/friendships other factions have with the Ottoman Empire if it emerges. This list is exhaustive; factions that are not listed do not have friendships or grievances (they are neutral).

Austria	France	Prussia	Russia	Spain	Bavaria	Greece	Kingdom of Naples
-45	+15	-55	-50	-45	-45	-90	-45
Kingdom of Sardinia	Kingdom of Sicily	Oldenburg	Papal States	Portugal	Saxony	Sweden
-45	-45	-55	-45	-45	-55	-55

Military

The Ottoman Empire fields an unusually wide array of militia (all of which are of dubious quality), below average light infantry, and no elite infantry to rely on. It makes up for this with its above average line infantry, powerful artillery, superb cavalry (particularly its lancers, which are unusually heavily armored) and deadly melee infantry.

Many Ottoman units are so cheap that players using them in custom battles usually have enough funds left over to afford a multi-star general and/or allocate experience. Of the units that benefit from experience, Ottoman melee units are perhaps the best candidates. A Cemaat Janissary regiment with some allocated experience can rout nearly any line infantry regiment if it can close the gap without too many casualties.

Gallery

Ottoman general portraits

Ottoman general portraits

Trivia

• The flag used by the Ottoman Empire under Absolute Monarchy or Constitutional Monarchy is based on an Ottoman army flag from the 17th century.
• The flag used by the Ottoman Empire under Republic is based on the flag of Turkey, however, this is anachronistic as this flag was adopted in 1936 and its earliest appearance was in 1844.