Easiest patch to play as The Ottoman's?

[Sfan]

Why do people think they're stronger than ever this patch? They lost 8% RCC and some cores compared to just a few months ago. What did they gain in exchange exactly?
Venice and Austria do not instarival anymore, so they might even ally, and Hungary has been buffed recently, and the Mamluks are A LOT stronger than 2 patches ago, and Russia has been buffed. I'd say 1.18 or 1.19 was stronger, without any second guess. Honest question.
They are still the easiest nation (well Ming probably is, but noone ever plays Ming because well... Ming....), but I think they're slightly less OP.

So, to answer original question, I'd say 1.18. Ottoman government and Institutions was their last buff and it was on 1.18, and since then they have been slightly nerfed and some of their neighbours buffed.

 

[Ase Of SpADeZ]

It's Admin 17. 7 would be a bit too OP.

typo XD

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Why do people think they're stronger than ever this patch? They lost 8% RCC and some cores compared to just a few months ago. What did they gain in exchange exactly?
Venice and Austria do not instarival anymore, so they might even ally, and Hungary has been buffed recently, and the Mamluks are A LOT stronger than 2 patches ago, and Russia has been buffed. I'd say 1.18 or 1.19 was stronger, without any second guess. Honest question.
They are still the easiest nation (well Ming probably is, but noone ever plays Ming because well... Ming....), but I think they're slightly less OP.

So, to answer original question, I'd say 1.18. Ottoman government and Institutions was their last buff and it was on 1.18, and since then they have been slightly nerfed and some of their neighbours buffed.

For WC purposes, none of the small hits the Ottomans have taken (or even the significant 13% hit to RCC) in recent patches can touch 1.20 era absolutism, even in 1.22 absolutism + earlier rev makes WC with Ottomans easier now than in 1.19.

 

[GurenGaaze]

I have the same question, which patch is the easiest to do an WC on. But with ANY country (And how on earth do people manage to WC with a minor like Ulm?!)

 

[petertju]

I have the same question, which patch is the easiest to do an WC on. But with ANY country (And how on earth do people manage to WC with a minor like Ulm?!)

Probably Ottomans are one of the easiest countries to do it with, its the only country I managed it with

 

[LordPavel]

I have the same question, which patch is the easiest to do an WC on. But with ANY country (And how on earth do people manage to WC with a minor like Ulm?!)

1.20 or 1.21, not sure, with the bug with no time limit. Even a not good player can do it if he take time.

 

[Zyce]

For WC purposes, none of the small hits the Ottomans have taken (or even the significant 13% hit to RCC) in recent patches can touch 1.20 era absolutism, even in 1.22 absolutism + earlier rev makes WC with Ottomans easier now than in 1.19.

So, it sounds like 1.20.1 is the patch level I should try if I'm able to keep Absolutism maxed-out - and if not, to play on 1.18.1? It did feel like the Mamluks/Persians were a lot tougher in the recent patch. Is there any DLC I should disable/enable? I have all the released DLC except Mare Nostrum and Third Rome enabled. (I'm garbage at naval stuff, and afraid of Muscovy so I disabled those.)

I have about 70 hours in the game, it seems like Ottoman is the easiest to blob as for a new player, no one's really said otherwise that I can see. Ming does feel really boring, since I'm itching to fight.

 

[PhoenixG]

Eh, Muscovy only looks big. Their economy starts weak and doesn't get much alliances.

 

[Sfan]

If people say admin efficiency to justify that this patch is easier than 1.19, I agree, from a WC perspective only (and I don't think someone struggling with the Ottomans is interested in Absolutism stacking and WC). But then 1.20 is still better anyway.

1.20 is undoutbedly the best patch to get a WC as ANY nation. 97,5% admin efficiency ftw. Not like it's hard on top of everything... Start as France, turn Reformed, form Prussia in 1710. Sooooo broken. Or start as someone else and form France in 1610 and Prussia in 1710. Keep French ideas to have a better synergy with Reformed and Humanist. That's just 8 times less cost for everything than current patch. A small detail.

 

[Robert de Bruce]

With 70 hours played just don't think about World Conquest. The people answering you here range from 2k+ hours played to 4k+. For a first Otto game you will be fine if you reach "definitely the Sultan of Rum" and "Unify Islam" early and "Master of India" with "That's a Silk Road" mid game and "Over a Thousand" with "A Decent Reserve" late game. If you manage to achieve all of this you can be very proud of you. Insane rated achievements like World Conquest are a long term project.

 

[Aepdneds]

The most important thing for a world conquest is that you already played a game until the end, so that you are aware of the changes in gameplay in the endgame. Try to activate the Court and County disaster, try to become revolutionary so that you are prepared to utilize these tools in your real world conquest run.

Also you should know that vassals are counting as your territory for the achievement.

 

[BarrosRodrigues]

For WC purposes, none of the small hits the Ottomans have taken (or even the significant 13% hit to RCC) in recent patches can touch 1.20 era absolutism, even in 1.22 absolutism + earlier rev makes WC with Ottomans easier now than in 1.19.

I am sorry but in 1.19 the Ottomans were way more competitive for WC than now. Absolutism only kicks in by ~1610 and until then, unlike 1.19, they´ll struggle with lack of points to core. The coring time went up by a lot (which means slower expansion, less money and more rebels) and they´ll be spending an extra ~0.65 adm per dev cored. Unlike 1.19 the Ottomans are now abysmally boring and any horde runs circles around them WRT fast WCs.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I am sorry but in 1.19 the Ottomans were way more competitive for WC than now. Absolutism only kicks in by ~1610 and until then, unlike 1.19, they´ll struggle with lack of points to core. The coring time went up by a lot (which means slower expansion, less money and more rebels) and they´ll be spending an extra ~0.65 adm per dev cored. Unlike 1.19 the Ottomans are now abysmally boring and any horde runs circles around them WRT fast WCs.

This thread is about the *easiest* one, not the most efficient or strongest to contest . If you wanted that you'd pick a horde, probably still 1.14 unless I'm missing something.

 

[BarrosRodrigues]

This thread is about the *easiest* one, not the most efficient or strongest to contest . If you wanted that you'd pick a horde, probably still 1.14 unless I'm missing something.

I stopped recommending the Ottomans for WC (even for the newest players) after they lost the -33% coring cost. A WC as Ming >Manchu is IMO way "easier". What´s funny is that the Ottomans before losing the -33% coring cost NI were both effective and "easy". This patch is great for hordes too, I can finish a WC way before 1600 as a strong horde.

 

[PhoenixG]

I stopped recommending the Ottomans for WC (even for the newest players) after they lost the -33% coring cost. A WC as Ming >Manchu is IMO way "easier". What´s funny is that the Ottomans before losing the -33% coring cost NI were both effective and "easy". This patch is great for hordes too, I can finish a WC way before 1600 as a strong horde.

The problem with Ming is you need to balance it out with keeping the mandate high, so it wouldn't be a standard blobbing campaign. While Ottoman got his RCC nerfed, it's still just a standard blobbing campaign.

 

[BarrosRodrigues]

The problem with Ming is you need to balance it out with keeping the mandate high, so it wouldn't be a standard blobbing campaign. While Ottoman got his RCC nerfed, it's still just a standard blobbing campaign.

Ming only really needs to balance the mandate before passing the reforms to get the coring discount after that it really does not matter since we can overwhelm the enemies with numbers. Regardless everyone bordering Ming will be willing to become a tributary and the few unwilling to do so will provide a nice avenue for expansion.

 

[Zyce]

I'm currently playing on 1.19.1 instead of the 1.22 (last patch before MoH, I believe) following some of the advice here. I have a strategy and some goals worked out now:

1. Lock down Albania/stop Genoa (without getting killed by Europe) while taking Constantinople
2. Conquer Anatolia, solidify European relations (ally France, stay neutral/ok with Austria, etc)
3. Conquer The Levant/Middle East (the Mamluks, Persians, and Timurids seem a lot stronger now)
4. Between wars on the Eastern front, take Wallachia and The Black Sea, possibly take Bosnia/Serbia
5. Finish off The Mamluks/Timurids/Persians, own the Middle East/North Africa

For a first Otto game ... "definitely the Sultan of Rum" and "Unify Islam" early and "Master of India" with "That's a Silk Road" mid game and "Over a Thousand" with "A Decent Reserve" late game ... achieve all of this you can be very proud

Great advice and some lofty goals. I'm not sure if I should be switching to 1.14 or sticking with 1.18/1.19 for RCC, but I think I'm definitely headed in the right direction. I'll pop back to the current patch once I've scratched my itch and beaten my previous blob-record. Thanks to everyone who's offered advice/perspectives, I learn a lot on these forums.

Any other hints or advice on patches/playstyle are definitely welcome.

 

[liveandletdie14]

Why do people think they're stronger than ever this patch? They lost 8% RCC and some cores compared to just a few months ago. What did they gain in exchange exactly?

I don't know about player control but I agree that the AI Ottomans seem more powerful this patch.,

I remember a couple of patches back when Ottomans sometimes never really expanded but in terms of this patch in my personal experience:

• Always super aggressive - always conquer their cores, anatolia, byzantines straight away in the game sometimes even a lot of Mamluks and Qara early game (i.e pre 1500)
• Always keep up on tech and sometimes way more advanced especially militarily
• Always keep a huge standing army over 200,000 in my last Russia game and I'm pretty sure they didn't have quantity ideas (the game was even more annoying as they allied Ming with a combined force of over 500,000 which made conquest impossible)
• Always have good rulers and always get a ruler because of new government form
• Always have a strong navy looking at nearly always the country with the most heavies and gallies (always most gallies)
• Ally with France/Spain a lot in the game now especially after 1500
• They don't usually conquer western Europe (though I had 1 recent game where they conquered Austria) instead going on a killing spree across Persia, Arabia, sometimes Poland and Russia
• You kill a lot of their army they spam mercenaries with god generals.

Compared to previous patches when sometimes the Ottomans barely expanded it is probably 95% of the games I have Ottomans are hyper aggressive. Hopefully the next DLC might impact on balance of power in the region though giving more possibilities than complete Ottoman domination every game.

 

[Sfan]

New government form, on par on tech, good rulers are things related with 1.18 patch, which is why we all agree that 1.18 was a major buff.

The other things are more related with the AI improvements and the increased agressivity towards weak neighbours. That does not buff player Ottomans, to some extent it nerfes every player AI because there are more lategame AI blobs.

 

[Robert de Bruce]

I have to admit I think best for you would be to play on current patch. I think one time you want to experience new features, that come with Cradle of Civilisation or a later patch. And when you learned the game with an even older patch, you have more to learn instead of skipping outdated rules you don't needed to know about. But you don't need to throw your current game away.
Especially for an Otto game you don't really need a certain patch. Ofcourse it's different with another patch, but the difficulty is comparable at all I think, although it's ofcourse not exactly the same.
You can also aim for different or additional achievements than the ones I mentioned. I just listed those that came in my mind at once. Other ones are for example Market Control or Fanatic Collectivist.