What is going on?

[Narox]

When i play muscovy/russia I alsways make sure to stay at max relations with the ottomans. In my own games the ottomans don't expand to the north all that often thankfully. Maybe a little when they get the crimean khanate as a vassal - but by that time there is usually a relative balance of power and i make sure to have good allies. They can be a scary lot that is definitely true.

 

[rubinedan]

View attachment 613748

You're in a geopolitical knife fight with one of the biggest, baddest empires in the game (at the height of their historical strength).

- I believe regular Ottoman units are better than most European units for early/mid game.
- You're 100 discipline is concerning because it's bad against 112.
- High morale alone tends to fall apart against good discipline, which they have. It means you take heavy casualties one-on-one, and still lose.
- Strong allies are important. Poland wasn't strong (Not without Lithuania or Commonwealth) . The Mughals suggestion is a good one.
- However if your allies are getting besieged and surrendering, then you probably needed to take out some of their armies earlier.

Ideally, You need a tech advantage on them.

If you're going to do this, particularly for the first time, don't do it on Ironman.
Mistakes are normal.

(Edited: spelling, formatting, concision)

wow this is complex lol

 

[Titanius Puffin]

One does not simply 'fight' the Ottoman Empire.

Boromir said it best.

 

[Big Bad France]

I had completed defensive ideas, my mill tech was 13 and theirs was 14. my comp is 4 cav, 12 inf and 12 arty. They just mixed it like an AI.

My Discipline was 100, theirs is 112 a bit before the war. They have completed the offensive ideas

Someone else already pointed this out, but you should always fill combat width with infantry and a few cav before adding artillery to a stack. Your battles will go much better. It's also going to be better to have more stack-width armies supported by just a few cannons for sieging than fewer armies with tons of cannons. At least that's true in the 1500s. Defensive ideas are the best choice as Russia, imo, so no problems there. Just try to start your wars when you are on equal footing tech-wise. The Ottomans are going to have a stronger army than you with more discipline, more pips, and maybe more morale. You counter that by forcing them to take attrition. Good troops starve and freeze just as well as bad troops do. Your ability to raise streltsy and Russian ideas should allow you to easily out-manpower them.