The OE should most definately have Greek and Slavonic cultures. While I agree, this does have the problem of easy conversion to Islam we should remember that the reason the Balkans aern't Muslim today is because the Ottomans made it illegal fo European Christians to convert to Islam in order to preserve the tax base as well as ensure a supply of Christian boys for the kapikulu/janisaries. Unfortunately, the game mechanics cannot handle the reality of Ottoman history.
Historically, Greeks and Slavs made up most of the governmental positions inthe empire. The government was largely composed of kapikulu, the best of whom were selected to be janisaries. During the Phanariot period of Romanian history, Phanariot Greeks (Greeks living in Constantinople) were appointed as governors of Wallachia and Moldavia. The head of the Orthodox Church was a government official. The Bulgarians were willing subjects of the Empire, many converted despite the law. The Slavic and Greek parts of the empire prospered greatly under Ottoman rule, because even though they paid higher taxes than the Moslems, they paid lower taxes than they had before. Trade increased and was largely in Greek hands.
I would also say that despite the fact that Albania
eventually converted (and not all the way as it is still 30%-40% Christian today) the area was always unruley. Moslems didn't become predominant there until the last decade of the XVIIIth Century. While the Bogomil Sect of Bosnia also converted to Islam, even today, the majority of Bosnia/Hercegovinia is Christian (Orthodox and Catholic).
Jacob Oppenheim, no need to appolgize.
mnorrefeldt, the Ottomans have a stability problem, having four to six different religions in their empire, as well as several non-state cultures. Th purpose of the Fratricide and Bakshish events is to help keep the OE alive.
As for why choice_B is so harsh,
Yoghurt, imagine if the
entire government (from Constaninople to Algiers) suddenly revolted. It's gonna hurt, and it's gonna hurt bad. Also, the choice_A's start getting nastier and nastier, as it was the creeping power of the kapikulu which changed the OE from the terror of Europe to the sick man of Europe. A human player needs a real incentive to hurt himself for the long run. When faced with having your diplo-sliders changed in a negative direction, you need a -6 stab to motivate you to make the "right" choice.
BTW, a couple of sultans tried to break the power of the Janisaries. They ended up dead. It wasn't until 1826 that their grip on the throat of the empire was finally broken. By then it was almost too late.
I am, however, open to being convinced otherwise.
